Tag: Travel

My first time to China (and traveling abroad internationally) was on invitation by Erwin Slegers to help assemble the exhibition 100 Years of Dutch Graphic Happiness and to give a two week long workshop with second year graphic design students at the Nanjing University of the Arts. I did this together with classmate Rein op ‘t Root (and for the workshop also with independent designers Hansje van Halem and Michiel Schuurman). This experience on its own was very unique and overwhelming. 

After being in Nanjing for about two days, I wrote an email to my family to tell them I’m O.K. and am doing good. I also shared my very first impressions of China. Re-reading them, they show well how overwhelming the whole experience was to me. It also shows that, right from the bat, I did not see this is as strange or weird world – rather I saw it as interestingly different. It also shows to me how words alone are not enough to describe the differences I experienced, since most of it is so visual.

The following is an English translation of the original email:

Hi Mum, Dad and Phillip!

From Nanjing China!

Such a chaos, such a great city, and what a country this is.

So Cool!

We are already starting to get used to things, some things are getting habits even.

Flying on its own was already such a special and new experience, but arriving in an enormous city as Shanghai even more so! We got a taxi, and the drive took us 45 min. and still we did not even had seen the whole city. After every curve of the road there was another kind of “Bijlmer” like apartment block, rising to the sky. And apparently people are living in all of them (seen from the laundry hanging on the balconies).

We went with the train to Nanijng and were picked up by Fin Zhao and his girlfriend.

Everything went well. Getting cash out, fine. Buying tickets, fine. Arranging a cab, fine.

And so we arrived in Nanjing, first in the Green Tree inn hotel. Very shabby but everything fine though. It really felt a bit like a book of Adriaan van Dis, or something like it.

The next day we moved to the “professional building” where normally lecturers and other people stay. A good and clean hotel. Chic I would say so.

We are mostly very busy with arranging thing and getting stuff for the exhibition we are building. Everything on the University campus is brand new, because the University just celebrated their 100th anniversary.

They make nice stuff around here, really. Rein says constantly; “they are going to win in this way man!”, and you would actually almost start to think so. Nothing is old-fashioned, everything feels quite normal, but in a Chinese way. Neither do people look funnily to us or anything like that.

We are trying to arrange more practical tools for the exhibition, which we will need to finish things up for example. This we are doing with 5 other students. Its great fun. They are very eager to help us and to talk with us, even though they do not quite understand everything we say in English.

It is truly real great fun here and we are located really in the centre of the city. We literally see everything! We are really in China.

Such great fun, and its not even like the third day.

I’m taking a lot of photos but mostly analog. Still didn’t got much time to keep up with our blog, but surely we will be doing that soon.

Skype too, does not fit so well in our daily routine, but perhaps tomorrow or the day after. We should have a look. Maybe Philip should download it already, and then he can add me to his account.

Hopefully everything is well with all of you as well! Talk to you soon!

Bye!