Posting on behalf of Deborah Rutherford, Operations Leader for HOK in Canada’s Corporate Accounts Practice and President of ARIDO.

December 8th –  Tsinghua University

^Performer

We were at our second conference today out at Tsinghua University, one of the top schools in China. The Forum today was focused on corporate office space and in addition to us Canadian speakers, there were two from China who have worked in Corporate Real Estate groups for large corporations in this region. There were a mix of Asians and Caucasians at the conference, but there were a greater number of people that spoke English than in Shanghai. It was helpful at the break to have more people who spoke English that we could connect with although we had a really good translator this time. I think the only thing he really stumbled over was my last name – I guess Rutherford doesn’t roll off the tongue very easily. It was nice to meet one of my HOK colleagues, Cecilia Lee from the Beijing office who was in the audience today. I love that you can make connections anywhere in the world with people from other HOK offices and you feel at home with them.

^{Cecilia + Deborah}

We had another incredible dinner tonight at a Ching Dynasty restaurant. We never know what is ahead of us, so it was fun to arrive at a brilliantly lit restaurant in a wonderful courtyard setting. The food was delicious; I never know how things will taste that look a little odd to my western eyes. Things that look sweet never are and there are lots of Jello-like items that can be surprisingly tasty. Performers arrived during the meal to present snippets from Chinese opera and play traditional instruments. It’s likely very touristy to go there for dinner, but after all we are tourists and we all enjoyed the experience. To top off the night, it was Theo’s birthday, so Tim found a small chocolate cake for her from a European bakery and brought it to the restaurant for her.

^{Theo’s birthday celebration}

Tonight I found out that Calvin, the young guy assigned to us while we’re here by one of our sponsors (he’s from Beijing, spent 8 years overseas going to school in Canada and New Zealand) is looking for a serious relationship. There are not enough women in China and he’s expected to live at home with Mom and Dad until he gets married. He seems like a real comer, so if there are any girls interested, I’m sure I can connect you with him. Just reply and post a picture.

^{Calvin + Susan}

TO BE CONTINUED…