I am in Hilversum now, in the house that Spill arranged for all its personnel worldwide that visits headquarters. Quite convenient, because I am not a big fan of staying in hotels all the time. Especially not the rather mediocre hotels in Hilversum (especially Gooiland and to a lesser extent Lapershoek), or maybe I am just a bit spoilt by Asian hospitality standards. The Spill Residence, as I decided to call it, is a 3-story house (probably from the 1930s?) with 4 bedrooms and a nice small garden. I have a big room with a large desk to work from, downstairs there is a living room with cable TV and big kitchen. The company sends in housekeepers to keep it clean, and the fridge was well-stocked when I came in last night.

This morning I first went for a run in the woods (in order wake up after just four hours of sleep – thanks to my jetlag), and then made myself a “healthy” breakfast of bread with fried eggs, ham and cheese, while watching the Dutch news on TV. Nicer than in a hotel, where I tend to over-indulge on the buffet breakfasts. The other good thing about this, is that some other Spill people might also stay here, which gives me a chance to get to know them better. Today for example, Jonathan (who is running working for Spill Group in Paris) is visiting and we had a beer last night before I went to bed. Spill is growing so fast (not only in China, also in the rest of the world) that it gets more and more difficult to know all the people in the company, and the Spill Residence certainly helps to partially solve that problem.