FRIENDS OF N.I IN CHINA NEWSLETTER

FRIENDS OF Northern Ireland IN CHINA END OF YEAR SUMMARY

 FNIC  – Summary for 2017

NOTE FROM THE CHAIRMAN

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to our ever-increasingly inaccurately named Summer Newsletter. The summer can now be said to be officially over and it is time to look back over our programme for the year. 

We had a great programme of activities with the goal of getting more people together and involved. Currently on our WeChat group we have 149 members and 9 on our committee. There is always room for others who want to be more involved in the organizing of the work we do. Just contact me or one of the others on the Committee and let us know what you would like to be involved in.

We are a growing force in Shanghai and welcome anyone with a connection to Northern Ireland to join our ranks. If you have something to contribute, just let us know and we will find a way to accommodate you. If it is support you need, just ask. We have more than enough talent and experience in the group to help you out.

Enjoy this copy of our newsletter and feel free to share it around.

Looking forward to seeing you all at our next event.

Stephen

UPCOMING EVENTS

Thursday 14^th December - Annual Christmas DinneR

Tipsy Fiddler

March 17^th 2018 – Saint Patrick’s Day Ball

Our Year to date

St Patrick’s Day celebrations at the Kerry Centre

By Andrew Brown (breakfast champion)

Breakfast Champion Feeds Belfast Baps to the Masses

 

On Saturday the 11th March Andrew and the Breakfast Champion team where invited to the Kerry Centre Puxi to cater for the masses at The Feile Shanghai 2017. Bacon and Sausage Baps were on the menu as well as “take home” fry up essentials and were a hit with Irish Patrons as well as the locals and others who attended.

Look out for more Breakfast Champion events, giveaways and promotions in the coming weeks and months.   

St Patrick’s Day Irish community reception

15TH MARCH

At the invitation of the Consul General of Ireland Ms Therese Healy, several of the committee members along with many others attended the reception leading up to St. Patrick’s day, held at the Shanghai centre in Nanjing road. Food and drink was offered, with many of the men opting for the Guinness and the Ladies for Baileys. The relaxed setting soon became lively when a group of Irish musicians dressed in traditional greens performed traditional Irish tunes with fiddles, whistles and accordions, etc. This was followed by a beautiful speech from Ms Healey before food was served, completing a great traditional evening and Irish setting completely in sync with the upcoming holiday. 

The Saint Patrick’s Ball 2017 – The Hottest Ticket of the Year!

 Pictures and editorial by Paul McCarthy

  Over 750 revellers packed into the Grand Ballroom at the Shangri-La Hotel, Pudong to party into the wee small hours.  As ever, Jameson’s Whisky and pints of the black stuff were in full flow.  FNIC hosted 2 tables, kindly co-ordinated by Holland & Sherry.  Guests included visitors from Northern Ireland representing BI Electrical, including Managing Director, Ian Humphreys.  BI Electrical is the first NI company to set up a commercial office in China and FNIC is always pleased  to support its endeavours.  Also in attendance was Miss Bei LI, the General Manager of Wenzhou Chamber of Commerce, who we are delighted to say brought a delegation to Belfast in April.  Guests were treated to a feast of  Irish traditional music, dance and song, - the bewitching hour saw a switch to rock anthems and The Beatles, live! It wasn’t long before the dance floor was packed, with a varied range of dance styles, much of it improvised, on display.  Brendan Brophy and his support team can be rightly proud of the result, as was the Irish rugby team beating England to crown a wonderful night.  We look forward to another evening of “Ceol agus Craic” next year.

  

  
Andrew’s Showstopper Bake Marks Titanic Belfast’s 5^th Birthday
Great British Bake Off Finalist, Andrew Smyth has engineered a bespoke birthday cake to mark the World’s Leading Tourist Attraction, Titanic Belfast’s fifth birthday.

Andrew, who is originally from Northern Ireland, the birthplace of the RMS Titanic, expertly designed the cake’s layers to showcase the enduring appeal of RMS Titanic, Belfast’s ship building heritage and the success of Titanic Belfast.

For the bottom layer, Andrew took inspiration from what first-class passenger Lady Duff Gordon remembered  most about the food on board Titanic - fresh strawberries, grapes and pink roses. He created a luxurious genoise sponge layered with fresh strawberry and red grape jam along with a lightly rose-flavoured buttercream to reflect the first-class experience on-board. Whereas the modern top layer of chocolate cake with a Bailey’s Cream filling reflects Titanic’s Northern Irish roots and celebrates the success of Titanic Belfast today. 

Great British Bake Off Finalist, Andrew Smyth, commented, "I am thrilled to be involved with Titanic Belfast's 5th Birthday celebrations and am delighted to be designing a unique cake for this special milestone. Titanic Belfast really is a fantastic experience, and is a real gem in Belfast's crown; a fitting celebration of the ingenious engineering and majesty of Titanic. It rightly deserves its title as the World's Leading Tourist Attraction and I hope many more visitors get to experience the magic over the next 5 years too!"

Tim Husbands MBE, Chief Executive of Titanic Belfast, “Having been crowned the World’s Leading Tourist Attraction, welcomed over 3.5 million visitors including Her Majesty The Queen, former US Secretary of State and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, TITANIC  director James Cameron, the discoverer of Titanic, Dr Robert Ballard. Today, as we celebrate our fifth birthday with Andrew’s cake, we’re showcasing the allure of RMS Titanic in 1912 as well as its enduring appeal today for visitors at Titanic Belfast. If you fancy yourself as a Titanic Bake Off Champion, check out the recipe at www.titanicbelfast.com.”

Described by The Guardian as "an inspiring testament to the Titanic and the city that built it", Titanic Belfast tells the story of the Titanic, from her conception in the early 1900s, through her construction and launch, to her famous maiden voyage and tragic end.  It is located on the exact spot where Titanic was designed, built and launched. For more information, visit www.titanicbelfast.com.

FNIC BBQ AT HOLLAND AND SHERRY - SUNDAY 30TH APRIL

  Barbecue Party

Not only was it a Bank Holiday weekend, and the last Sunday in April, but the afternoon of Sunday 30th April was also the first FNIC BBQ Party in Shanghai.

And it was a fantastic event at the beautiful Holland & Sherry Villa on Fumin Lu. The sun shone, the drinks were well chilled, the barbecue was lit and the people came and we are certain a great time was had by all.

More than 120 FNIC friends turned up for an afternoon of eating, drinking and socialising, catching up with old friends whilst making some new friends too. The garden was a hub of activity. Gerard did a grand job on the BBQ, the ale was flowing and Alan and Dave were providing the live music.

Upstairs in the lounge, guests helped themselves to refreshing glasses of Pimms cocktails, Prosecco, red and white wines, and I think, even a few glasses of whiskey went down a treat.

A huge thank you to everyone who supported our first FNIC BBQ in Shanghai, and in particular thank you to our generous sponsors; Mark Graham and Holland & Sherry, Andrew Brown, the Breakfast Champion, Dillon King and Camus Yuanliu, David from Westwood Ales, Tom from Laowines and Alan and Dave from the Tipsy  Fiddler.

   

VISIT OF WENZHOU CHAMBER OF COMMERCE TO BELFAST

APRIL 2017

FNIC Committee assisted in the visit of Zhejiang Wenzhou Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai to Northern Ireland in April. 

There were 9 delegates in the group made up of business owners and decision makers of Chinese enterprises with interests in exploring business opportunities in the area of technology, food & drink, investment, education, financial services, etc. 

The group met with H.E Brian Kingston (Lord Mayor) and Chief Executive Suzanne Wylie in the Belfast City Hall. Mark McCann of NI Invest give an introduction of Belfast to the group and the group also met with NWRC and BI Group. 

They also met with Madame Wang, Consul General of China to Belfast as well as representatives of China Chamber of Commerce in Belfast.    

                   

THE LIBRARY PROJECT

After another successful and entertaining Christmas Dinner and fundraiser, FNIC raised 27,030RMB to fund another Library in Liaoning Province - our  second in the area.

This time we denoted to :

Fang Yong Gang Elementary school

Chaoyang County

Liaoning Province

FNIC are happy to support The Library Project which has established over 2,000 elementary school libraries and put more than 1,400,000 Chinese language children's books into the hands of eager young readers. Over 700,000 children now have access to improved educational infrastructure. Together we are changing the world, one book at a time. 

Thank you to everyone at FNIC who bought tickets for our raffle at the Christmas dinner and who donated personally. You have all made this possible.

  

  

    

BRIT CLUB

Brit Club was founded in 2013 with the oversight on Owen Paterson the then DEFRA UK Government Minister.  Currently it has more than 500 members, mostly British expats living in Shanghai and also Chinese with British business interests or who lived or worked in the UK previously. Brit Club's mission is to promote UK-China interests and British culture here in China.  We have the support of the UK Consul General and British businesses. We operate a lively WeChat group and host a monthly meet up where we invite speakers from business, culture and diplomacy to talk about different topics.

That’s all for today folks.

We welcome anyone who wants to contribute, post anything or be part of the team. Please contact anyone on the committee by WeChat or email me at stevefg@mac.com.

shanghai: back to the madness

So after a bumpy return back, I slowly got back into a routine taking some teaching jobs when I could. I got 2 new students, not sure if they are together or what, sometimes I think they are, cos there seems to be a child they both refer to as their's in work...the woman Zoe, loves travel and has some blue in her hair, allen often talks in Chinese so I learn lots of new things including slang.  Apparently you can go to Guam from china from 300 return, it's near the phillipines...sort of. And looks like paradise! though technically an American territory still (there was a war)

Amanda's has had to let me go, fair enough, her level didn't improve much, she has her prounouncation problems developed for a long time and that won't change, but il miss her. During the olympics 奥林匹克 she showed me the hilarious videos of the Chinese female swimmer, who was just so happy to have one, so genuine, and funny, slapping her swimsuit, squealing for joy, talking about her period, she a good natural honest happy role model for the Chinese. 

http://www.boredpanda.com/funny-geeky-china-swimmer-fu-yuanhui-rio-olympics/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGJOoJ22ADc


Their male swimmer on the other hand was fit, the Chinese women were telling the rest of us to BACK OFF haha. 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3724760/Internet-goes-wild-handsome-Chinese-Olympic-swimmer-Ning-Zetao-incredible-physique.html

And the cute funny Chinese guy from lost in journey, had a big scandal as his wife cheated on him with his boss. He's popular because again nice friendly and comes from a meagre background. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_on_Journey
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2029489/chinese-actors-bitter-divorce-becomes-hottest-news-mainland


went to a indian print making day tester with an interior designer who designed cindy (my students) new office
was interesting learning about it. all in chinese too haha. he got me a candle?

Fei, Jimena and her Moroccan friend complete with guitar went to sunny beach in Shanghai one Friday, a man made beach, that of course you paid into but not a soul was around, overlooking the bund, we had canopy beds to chill in and there was a small paddling pool to dip your feet in. Jimena brought uno so I now know how to play. Then she went to Thailand for 10days missing a flight and loosing her phone But she had fun (and thats just how things go in Thailand - mi pen rai as they say) 
ไม่ต้องห่วงMị̀ t̂xng h̄̀wng. 

she brought me back a little key ring and patches 国旗标签 so just need USA and Macau atm. The temperature went back down for. The crazy 40' heatwave. So I  have become a charming brown, darker than most Chinese. Apparently some inject themselves in clinics with whitener, wtf?! A famous Chinese Victoria secret model recently did and she's as white as a page, Wtffff. The latest fad is also a v shape face, having moved on from a4腰 And iphone 腿. But apparently their are sunbeds. A glowing sunbed tan also shows money...but I don't see it catching on anytime soon.

Meet up with the n.i committee, Paul has grown out his hair and looks well, everyone seemed to have done a lot of nice holidaying over the summer. Dill was able to hook me up with some chongqing and chengdu locals for tips on food and places for the October holiday, the guys from last year will also come, Chen Jin lives in chongming now for work anyway 

Got a new roomate from Estonia, one of the Denmark exchange students, and we get in soooo well! A fellow blonde we chat a lot, me her and her Estonian friend Carmen will all go together for the holiday to travel. 

Fei (before he got his visa and left to study in the uk) karin simba and i all went to jinshan beach for the day one Saturday. A nice hot day, again man made and we paid in, this one had a sort of in,and 'sea' as it was right beside the sea. lots of Chinese at the beach, all the kids were  naked in the water pretty much, but having lived in china so long I'm not fazed. 

Started working as a dressing room/photoshoot assistant for modern lady, China's only weekly fashion 优家画报 it's ok nothing special. I help recieve and sort, return, dress the models on shoots, organise and steam. They would maybe offer me something permanent and full from Jan once the visa expires. They can all speak English but we use Chinese. Was Phil who helped me get it, from his recruiting job he met her and forwarded on the my email to the editor, Jerry, she was impressed and let me try it out. Sometimes foreign models, sometimes Chinese. Shot in the countryside of chongming island, hotel rooftops, in car mechanic studios and photography studios. It's interesting. I get paid a little too, and food and drinks. 

I had to pick up a 16year old polish model from the airport to her hotel and pick her up the next day. She was alone, and it's not the first foreign country she's been too. Wtf. I'd not let my kid do that! It's nice to see all the interesting designs and how things are run and put together, useful  for my own business someday!

Met up with Phil for a coffee, or in my case Thai melon juice 哈密瓜果汁. Met with moli before she moves to Hangzhou for uni for a drink at Shanghai brewery, was good seeing her. She says I can stay anytime.She spent her summer at home in Brazil, but after 2 weeks got a little bored haha. But her beach pictures were amazing!

Met up with cookie who helped me get my laptop fixed as it wasn't connecting to the Internet, cost like 600 to fix and sometimes it's still a bit touch and go. We had lunch another day and went to Starbucks is at his work. He moved to a new place new his which has a huge tv screen/protector, ktv anyone? His place is across the pudong  river, but is really nice, he always eats veggie with me which is sweet. 

Applied for some jobs, and one I applied for as an internship called me for an interview, most likely cos I'm british and they are going to do a collection for primark. Called accessory designz. They gave me a project which killed me to do, they guy said it was 70% there (American) but if I worked for them they could give me a visa and train me a bit, and I could also work in the primary project and travel the uk. 12,000 months. 10-15 paid holidays. But no more classes. But it's right beside uni so can maybe squeeze in something. Will start after the holiday. Excited and nervous. Lol. First real job!! Would also do merchandising, will get online classes for Photoshop, illustrator and I design hopefully,,,, let's see. 2 months start is probation period then after hopefully work visa.

Back to classes, in a5. Mainly Koreans, over 2/3 Korean. Just 5 nine Koreans including myself, 4 mothers, and some students from my last class. I really like the classes, teachers are really good, friendly and open, the videos lessons and new words are not only interesting but useful! Will be sad to leave

my new roomie after a successful night at zapatas

the early mornings took their toll quickly

Morning (an adult student) wrote me a piece for the newsletter which I had to translate. Took a while but good practise. I don't think he will have more classes but il ask again after the holidays maybe. He's such a sweetie, sent me a box of moon cakes from the French bakery and an expensive bottle of Scottish whiskey from Scotland, how sweet. 

For the actual holiday (moon cake festival) cookie n I were meant to go to Xiamen for a couple days, but we didn't in the end, we cancelled it due to the typhoon from Taiwan. A plane crashed in Xiamen and lots of property destroyed. Glad I don't live south! So we made a last minute plan to go to putuoshan, slept a lot on the bus which was needed!. The place charges for everything, bus, ferry, island entrance, expensive but basic hotel, But it's a nice island, chilled, not too many there because of the bad weather. We had a really nice vegetarian dinner, tried and discovered that I without a doubt hate 苦瓜 bitter melon? We climbed a small mountain area, visited the temple and found the beach. One side is pristine, only monks are allowed entrance. 

the green stuff is kugua 苦瓜

普陀山岛

We went to the other side, the rain wasn't too heavy nor cold and splashed our feet in the waves. Watched some movies that night, including the hilarious stephen crow movie 'Kung fu hustle' The next day the rain ceased thank goodness! We visited a temple area, known as the bamboo forest but no bamboo was seen. However it was high up and the views over looking the sea onto the other islands was beautiful, after this we went to the golden Buddha/boddhivista 菩萨 (again $$) we headed back to the ferry area finding a private spot on spot rocks jutting into the sea, peaceful, calm, the weather cooling 凉快 it was sad to get the ferry and the bus back. 

菩萨

I chatted away for ages, explaining European names, and teaching him my name (he still can't pronounce it right bless) His dog is like a small lazy unhealthy pig, never been a huge fan of that type, pug like dogs...he held a sort of bday complete with cake for him....as you do. His paintings are breathtaking, he's very talented,  though he works full time as a gym instructor.

Karin my roomie, spent a night in a+e as she sliced/stabbed her leg cutting watermelon, she's my carmen miranda, always eating fruit. She loves unicorns too lolol

befriended a Korean guy who was new to DHU and Shanghai though could speak great Chinese and English, invited him to dashui lake with the rest of us on Friday. Far to get there and nothing special...but we went as a big group, simba with his new dreadlock parrot hair?  Daniel simba carmen karin n their Danish uni friends - ieva, taago, Carmen etc. Was chill. The train bk was nice, chilled. 

beautiful daughter and mother moment on the metro

 I got tickets to a wtcc race from the Danish guy in my class, as it was simbas bday on the Saturday I said karin n I got him a ticket so he'd have something to do the next day. A group was meant to go but the majority bailed last minute. 
I reworked classes to gave the afternoon for the races free even if it took 1.5 hours to get there from the twins, and met Simba karin and Daniel there,  it wasn't the best but we all picked a favourite car to win (loosing badly haha) a Sunday day and a fun way to spend an afternoon