Traveling the World

Australia is even closer now, and I finally purchased the last remaining flight needed to complete the journey. As surprising as it may sound, I’m paying $50 to fly from Wuhan to a city in the south of China called Guangzhou, $80 from Guangzhou to the capital city of Malaysia called Kuala Lumpur, $50 from Kuala Lumpur to Brisbane, Australia, $50 from Brisbane to Kuala Lumpur, and $80 Kuala Lumpur to Shenzhen, a city in China very close to Guangzhou. Altogether for my flights I’ll be spending about 1/4 the price of a round-trip ticket from America to China (MIA>LAX>Beijing>Wuhan).

I’m having a lot of problems at work, as my co-teacher finds it necessary to challenge me and fight me on every little detail possible. I can’t stand it, and I haven’t told her that in 3 weeks she’ll be forced to fend for herself and teach the kids for a month on her own. I don’t have time to deal with people’s bullshit because life is too short and I want to enjoy myself. Maybe she’ll be even more angry when she finds out I’ve left for such a long time, but she’ll have a month to get over it!

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This is my second Thanksgiving away from home. I was teaching my students about Thanksgiving yesterday, and I explained how unlike our other holidays, we don’t exchange gifts, and instead say what we’re thankful for. My example for them was that I’d be thankful for being back home with my family on Thanksgiving, because I live in China and can’t see them every day. As I said it, I sniffled a bit but didn’t let anything show.
Expats always talk about life in their new home, yet usually refrain from thinking about their old home for fear of feeling emotions one would call normal. I have to admit I have fallen victim of that at some stage in my time here, but talking about these things is normal and all expats should do it to maintain a healthy mental status.

For many reasons, it has been a long time since I wrote. In addition to my four jobs, yep FOUR, I broke up with Lily about a week and a half ago. We were together for almost 8 months, and I saw no end in sight. We had an amazing relationship, and because of that I knew we’d get married and it scared me. As I get older, my brain and heart slowly mature, but I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready to put on the husband or father hats. I know I will at some point in time, but it’s definitely not going to be now.

Back in August during the trip with Alfred, Richard, and Melba, we started getting into nasty fights. I was very close to breaking up with her then, but this was my first real serious relationship and I felt like it’d be bad for me to just let it go without trying to resolve the issue and change the situation to make it better. After talking to her and other people, I realized the problem and after a few weeks we went from almost breaking up to being happier than at any other point in the relationship. That’s when it got tough. Things were so good I thought we’d be getting married, as per Chinese custom. We talked about it, and she confirmed her desire to get married within 2 or 3 years, which was a time period I knew I wasn’t going to be able to commit to, so I made the decision that we’d be better off not together.

You might think I’m an asshole for breaking off an amazing relationship, but I know in my heart it’s unfair to make her wait 5, 6, 7 years to get married when youth is very important for Chinese people. Most girls are married by 24 or 25, and she’s 22 now. Even if we stayed together for 2 more years and continued to have a great relationship, we’d have to part ways at SOME point for her to find someone to marry. I felt it was better to give her more time than less.

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I’ve been working 4 jobs for the last 2 months now, and it’s not THAT stressful. I work at the Elementary school from about 9am-3pm Monday through Friday. I teach Salsa on Monday and Wednesday nights from 7-9pm. I have a private business teaching kids English at my house on Sunday mornings, and on Sunday evenings I teach a class about Western culture at a school nearby. On top of all these things, I’m working on a few business ideas that involve import and export, as well as cooperation with local clubs for my salsa scene dreams

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It seems like just yesterday I was entering in the sacred 16 digits assigned to me by my credit card company in order to pay for my flights to Australia. Back in January it seemed like forever until I actually went on the trip, and yet time has seemed to haven flown by! I now sit anxiously waiting with just over a month and a half until I go, and I’m excited as hell because I’ve been landlocked in China since my trip to Thailand last September! I’ve been living here for just over a year and 4 months, and thinks are a bit boring. Boring? How could it be boring! Well, it is. Everything seems a bit monotonous since I only get to travel once every two months or so.. and in China, time seems static, so 2 months can feel like forever!