Traveling the World

Archive for February, 2010

Before I went to Australia, I told myself that from the time I leave Wuhan onward and for the rest of my life, I’m going to do the things I’ve always wanted to do without hesitation. As a result, I went bungee jumping as a nice start to scratching off things from my list. Ever since I got back from my trip, I’ve felt different. I’ve felt better. I think I knew this was going to happen, so I’m not shocked, but it’s something I need to address.

To continue, within the first week of arriving back in China, I got a tattoo to celebrate the almost two years here, as well as it being my 24th birthday and the Chinese Zodiac’s return to the Tiger year (the year in which I was born). I’ve always said that money isn’t that important to me and I only really need enough to survive. The problem with this idea is that I could never save enough to have kids or a wife and make sure they’re happy too. With this came my latest break: I think I’m ready to leave China.

I’ve had some amazing experiences and travel opportunities, and they’ve really made the new me come out and I’m glad for that, but I think it’s time to move on and leave China behind for a different culture, a different location, and a much better salary. So here are the places I’ve been thinking about: United Arab Emirates, Spain, or Israel. Let me explain why.

I came to China because I knew nothing about Asia and wanted to learn about it. I learned a great deal of Chinese (even though I wish my knowledge were much better), the history, the people, and the food. Life here is predictable and boring, even though extremely cheap and simplistic.

I want to go to another culture that I don’t know anything about, and that’s the Arab culture. Now, the reality is that the UAE really only has a few hundred thousand locals, and the rest are expats, so this gives me a chance to learn Arabic on the ground without the need to struggle because everyone speaks English. Another reason for living here is that I can earn between $3500-$6800 a month. Yes, there are 2 zeroes there. Currently, I’m only making $900, which is quite pitiful.

The other country I’d like to move to is Spain. It’s very beautiful with beautiful people, food, language, culture, and especially dancing! It’s very easy to get to the rest of Europe, and with budget airlines like RyanAir located in London, it’d be extremely cheap to fly. I already know a good bit of Spanish, so moving there would help me remember quickly. I haven’t put too much research into Spain yet because I’m working on UAE research first (since the pay is so high and the cost of living would be next to nothing for me).

The last country is Israel. I’ve been there before and seen almost the whole country, but I felt like I wasn’t there for long enough. My Hebrew is quite bad, and so it would be nice after having been away from Judaism for 2+ years to reconnect with my roots (and maybe meet a nice girl, as well as find one for Jason and Rob). I don’t know what I’d have to do to get a good job (preferably outside of teaching), but when I was there in 2006, people were telling me everyone has to be in the military to get the good jobs, which means I might have to do a voluntary training program to then have that credit under my belt to go for the good jobs.

Well, I’m glad I got that off my chest. More information to come in the next few weeks as I decide whether to stay here for another year to save money, or go the UAE/Spain/Israel!