Jaap Grolleman
Met 2025-12-04 18:00 at InterContinental Shanghai Ruijin, Shanghai.Grew up in the "bible belt" of east Netherlands, but as his friends and siblings looked west, he looked east.
After a stint in Australia, moved to China. Language school and a job.
Practicing talking to strangers in Shanghai, saw a woman sitting alone and asked if he could join her. Now they are married with a new baby.
Considering a move to Netherlands for a while so seeing family won't be all-or-nothing. The influence of where to raise our kids.
Jaap translated my book to Dutch in 2018, and plans to write a book.
I love his blogging at jaapgrolleman.com with insights about life in Shanghai.
People who live abroad tend to think "I'm a world citizen now!" but really our mindsets are more localized than we acknowledge. His Dutch mindset wants to correct people's behavior, but the Chinese mindset is to shrug it off.
His neighborhood in east Shanghai feels like a completely different city than this neighborhood here.