2001年，那是我第一次來中國海寧旅行。那時(shí)，我還在澳洲悉尼的一所皮革化工廠工作。我在悉尼當(dāng)?shù)兀ㄎ业木幼〉兀┯姓J(rèn)識一位德國的朋友，他告訴我，他正在浙江海寧的卡森公司工作并且分享了工作上的收獲和與之帶來的自豪感。得知此事，我毅然決然地飛往上海，想要一睹那家公司的風(fēng)采。一下飛機(jī)，我馬上打了輛出租車直達(dá)海寧。我在中國的旅行，就在海寧拉開了序幕……

一年以后，應(yīng)卡森先生邀請，我入職于浙江卡森實(shí)業(yè)集團(tuán)有限公司。在公司里，我負(fù)責(zé)建設(shè)汽車皮革業(yè)務(wù)關(guān)系，也協(xié)助開拓海外國際汽車制造市場。通過引導(dǎo)汽車行業(yè)“走出去”，提升公司的國內(nèi)外影響力，實(shí)現(xiàn)企業(yè)效益最大化，推動海寧的地方經(jīng)濟(jì)。

剛到中國的那會兒，對我來說，一切都是如此的陌生，我不習(xí)慣這里的飲食，也不理解當(dāng)?shù)氐恼Z言，這些都和我曾居住的澳洲悉尼有著無盡的差異。一段時(shí)間后，我的中文仍然說得不好，但是美食的力量讓我逐漸地適應(yīng)了這里的生活。

后來，我在海寧有了自己的家庭。2002年的一天，我在上海遇見了一位名叫凱莉的女士。七年以后，我和她在海寧結(jié)了婚，她成為了我的妻子。如今，我們的女兒已經(jīng)8歲了，在讀小學(xué)三年級。在家里，妻子經(jīng)常做中國菜，有時(shí)，我也會做幾道西餐展示自己的手藝。這些年，我們一家逐步感受到海寧的風(fēng)土人情，見證了它的種種變化，也期盼著它走向更現(xiàn)代化的未來。

2005年，我開辦了一間小酒吧，這多虧了海寧市政府外商投資部門的扶持。與此同時(shí)，我仍在卡森公司工作，但他們對于我這開酒吧的決定十分支持。

這18年以來，我都住在海寧。即使如此，我還是會驚嘆于每日發(fā)生的變化。在我這個外國人眼里，這兒生活環(huán)境宜人，美食文化多元，更為驚喜的是，伴隨著浙江大學(xué)新校區(qū)的落成，其他區(qū)域也在共同發(fā)展，新樓拔地而起、老城區(qū)整修維護(hù)等，城市的面貌煥然一新。同時(shí)，海寧的道路交通情況優(yōu)良，有合理的公路設(shè)計(jì)規(guī)劃，交通安全也都相應(yīng)配套了，沒有出現(xiàn)如中國其他大城市嚴(yán)峻的交通堵塞問題。另外，此處的營商環(huán)境也令人印象深刻，想必是海寧市政府大力支持商業(yè)發(fā)展的緣故，廠家有更多的便利和機(jī)會，也能達(dá)到多方共贏的效果。

當(dāng)然了，除了中國海寧這個地方，我也去過多個其他城市，要說印象深刻的，那就是杭州和安吉的自然美景。行走在坊間的幾個小時(shí)里，我穿梭于這些古老的木制建筑，腦海中想象著的是它一千多年以前的模樣。

話又說回來，海寧是我打心底里樂意居住的城市。在這里，我有了家，有了女兒，有了歸宿。我也可以驕傲地說，我將酒吧從原址移到新址的同時(shí)，也盡可能地?cái)U(kuò)展了業(yè)務(wù)?，F(xiàn)如今，綠洲啤酒廠和牛排餐廳正在蓬勃發(fā)展，對于當(dāng)?shù)厝硕?，這同樣是個喜訊。作為第一家微型啤酒場，我們把真正的精釀啤酒引入海寧，讓當(dāng)?shù)厝似穱L到了更地道的精釀啤酒，更好地服務(wù)了這些客戶群體。它自然而無任何添加劑，你可以直觀的感受到，海寧當(dāng)?shù)厝藢τ谶@精釀啤酒的喜愛！

現(xiàn)如今，我已經(jīng)從皮革企業(yè)退休了，開始專注于經(jīng)營我在海寧開的餐館與酒吧。我鼓勵合作伙伴引進(jìn)新的菜肴和理念，讓經(jīng)營模式更有吸引力和競爭力?，F(xiàn)代和先進(jìn)有著無窮無盡的魅力，新的模式會讓餐館與酒吧迸發(fā)新鮮的血液，海寧也會煥發(fā)新的活力。

我十分樂意留在浙江海寧，期待見證著它下一個18年的變化。

（本文由實(shí)習(xí)生周翼雙整理，感謝馬克提供照片素材）

Surprising Haining

I first traveled to Haining in 2001. I was working for a leather chemical company and had heard from my German friend in Sydney （where I was living at the time）， about a company called Kasen that he was working with so I flew to Shanghai and jumped in a taxi to head for Haining. This was the start of my Chinese journey. I joined Kasen one year later at the invitation of Mr. Kasen to help set up an automotive leather operation and to help with opening up doors to the international car manufacturers overseas. My first impressions of Haining were mixed， as I was quite new to China I was not used to the food and understood none of the language. My Chinese language skills are still poor but I soon got used to Chinese food！ The local people are very friendly and it was easy to become comfortable.

I met my future wife Kelly in Shanghai in 2002 and we married 7 years later in Haining. Now we have an 8 year old daughter who is now in Year 3 at school.? Kelly cooks Chinese food at home and sometimes I cook western food as well.? We are lucky to have our own restaurant where we can also eat together！

I set up my own little bar in 2005 with the help of the Haining government foreign investment department. I was still working for Kasen and they were very supportive for me to do it as I felt there was a business opportunity in Haining for a truly western style bar with western food due to the many foreigners doing business in Haining

I have lived in Haining now for more than 18 years. It always amazes me to see all the changes that take place on an almost daily basis. In the eye of a foreigner， the living environment is very pleasant， there are plenty of restaurants to visit， and the development of areas such as the new Zhejiang University campus is spectacular.? Traffic on the roads is still reasonable without the huge traffic jams experienced in the bigger cities of China. The business environment is impressive with a government that is very supportive to business development. I have traveled to many cities in China. Hangzhou and Anji are two places that I enjoyed especially for their natural beauty; Wuzhen was for me a fascinating experience seeing the real old China in such a beautiful setting. I walked for hours amongst the old wooden buildings imagining what it must have been like more than a thousand years ago. My daughter loves to stay in hotels when we travel but they must have a swimming pool as she loves to swim whenever she can.

Haining is the city I am happy to return to. I have made my home here， my daughter was born here and I am proud to say that since the early days of setting up my bar I have changed location and greatly expanded the business. Now the Oasis Brewery & Steakhouse has flourished. Since we have introduced real craft beer to Haining， we as the first micro-brewery have seen that the Haining locals also appreciate the natural， additive-free taste of real craft beer！

Now I have retired from the leather business and focus on my restaurant and bar business and support my partners to introduce new dishes， ideas and concepts to keep our business interesting and competitive. I am happy to stay in Haining and look forward to seeing all the changes in the next 18 years. I believe that the Oasis Steakhouse and Brewery will continue to play an important role in Haining not only as a hub for foreigners and Chinese to get together， socialize and find new business contacts and opportunities but also by contributing to Hainings international image.