Traveling the World

First Half

sweisbrot — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 19:53:02 +0000

I arrived late to the check-in counter in Shanghai, and it turned out I came at the perfect time, as the girl in front of me received the very last economy class ticket. They overbooked and everyone showed up, so they bumped me up to Business Class for free. For those of you who haven’t had the PLEASURE of experiencing Business Class (I had never experienced it myself until this 12 hour flight across the Pacific Ocean), it’s like being treated as if you were royalty.

I sat down in my seat/lounge chair and relaxed. Shortly after take off, they served the first meal (in this order):

salad with cream of mushroom soup (hot, fresh, and well seasoned)
fresh cut strawberries, kiwi, and passion fruit
fresh bread (came around later and offered fresh homemade garlic bread)
my choice of unlimited alcoholic drinks (I chose to have a “screwdriver,” orange juice and vodka mix)

After I was full, they came around with the ACTUAL meal: green beans, potatoes, and tomatoes on top of a bed of basmati rice seasoned with saffron. After the meal, they gave me a small 40g tub of Strawberry flavored Haagen Dazs!

They also provided me with a blanket, pillow, slippers, and a small toiletry bag which had the following inside (toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, ear plugs, and an eye mask for sleeping so light doesn’t get in and disturb you). Let’s just say I slept really damn well on this flight! I know in the past I’ve said that traveling like this is stupid and a waste of money, but after having the pleasure to experience it (thankfully without paying for it), I don’t ever want to travel Economy again! Just something I thought I’d mention, China Eastern mounted a CAMERA on top of the plane and streamed the video on one of the channels on the individual monitors on the business and first class seats. That was probably the coolest thing I’d seen!

I left Wuhan at 10:30am on Thursday, and somehow managed to arrive in Los Angeles at 10:30am on Thursday. No, this is NOT a typo! I then had a 12 hour layover in Los Angeles (fun!). I took my time and enjoyed the day by walking. I first walked to the bank and deposited all the money I had converted to USD in China because I hated carrying so much around with me. Afterwards, I got Mexican food and couldn’t finish it all because American portions are HUGE! I walked 5 miles to the beach so I could take pictures of the ocean for my students! This took me an hour and 20 minutes each way. Around 7pm, I finally made it back to the airport, extremely tired and in need of a bathroom.

I waited til almost midnight for the plane to take off because the plane we were originally waiting for to leave at 10:45pm arrived and it was discovered that maintenance was needed, so we waited for the next plane to arrive. I arrived in Fort Lauderdale at 8am, very tired, but happy to be home.

10 Days to Go

sweisbrot — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 23:20:56 +0000

I am officially 10 days away from my 2 year mark in China, and I don’t think there is a better way to celebrate that mark than by getting the hell out for a very long and well deserved vacation in the USA! These two years have been insanely full of ups, downs, and run-arounds. I’ve traveled to 5 countries (including China) for a total of 83 days (almost 3 months). To see the rest of my statistics, go over to the Things I’ve Done page.

I will have a meeting on Tuesday with my school about whether or not they’ll give me a job for the next year. I’ve got about a 50% chance of them saying yes. Even if they don’t say yes, I have back up options which should provide me a better salary once I return!

I haven’t been sleeping well lately because of the excitement that each new day brings as I’m one day closer to going home to a beautiful puppy, clean air, civilized people, cars, beaches, pools, air conditioning, facebook, youtube, picasa, twitter, and fatty foods!

See you in 10 days!

Is this the end of China?

sweisbrot — Mon, 31 May 2010 10:42:20 +0000

As time goes on and we grow older, we begin to realize things that once we were oblivious to. As I get ever so closer to the two year mark in China, I keep going back and thinking about all the things I’ve said, done, and experienced. It’s been a great run, and even though it was much crazier than I would have EVER expected, the things that I saw and did will be etched into my mind for the rest of my life, and I’m glad for it.

What’s funny about life, and especially that life is just so different here, is that time doesn’t run the same. What I mean is, two years seems like a long time to those not here, but two years seems like an instant for those of us who do remain. Something might happen unexpectedly in one day that changes your entire outlook on life, and your future intentions.

In February of this year, I was so depressed and wanted to leave China. In March, I began working really hard to the point where I had no social life but wasn’t bothered by it because I was earning “insane” amounts of money (if $1800 a month could ever be considered insane in the eyes of an American). I worked this way from March until now, averaging $1800 each month. Now I’m at a point where, even though it’s only weeks away until I make my return trip to the US for the summer, I can’t think about anything else but the future past this summer.

I’ve been speaking to my family seriously over the last week and have come to realize that life here is sometimes good, but overall not my first choice for places. In the end, my idea right now is to go home for the summer, come back and earn as much money as I can (quite possibly getting a work visa but no full-time job so I can only do part-time work and private classes), and then doing an all-out Asia trip starting January 27th, 2011 (purchased my tickets to Vietnam already).

My goal would be to travel as long as I could to as many countries as I could before I run out of money. Lily is planning to join me for as long as she can (mainly Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand), and it’s my hope to meet up with Danny Tobias and his wife somewhere in Asia to continue traveling. They have a website about their trip around the world. The end result would hopefully be Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Nepal, Burma, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Bali, Brunei, Philippines, Taiwan, back to China. I think this might take 4 months and about $15,000, so I’m hoping to have that much saved before I leave at the end of January. Call it crazy if you want, but I call it amazing.

After the money has run out, I’ll return to the USA and start a business and STAY for good. Ideas?

May Day

sweisbrot — Sun, 09 May 2010 00:30:18 +0000

Like the US has it’s Labor Day, China has it’s “May Day.” This is a time, like all other Chinese holidays, for people to spend money on the national economy by traveling home by any means necessary. I love these holidays because I get 3-5 days off of work (fully paid), but I hate these holidays because I don’t get to travel; doing so would be at my own risk. Prices for everything from a bottle of water to a plane ticket are raised to insane levels and for what? To take back the money people have worked so hard to earn, which doesn’t amount to much on an individual level, but on a global level amounts to A LOT.

During the last May Day, it was my original intention to spend 5 days traveling around Nanjing, Wuxi, and Suzhou (located near Shanghai). I waited too long to buy tickets and so lost out on that trip. Then I tried to get people to go to a local hot spring with me, which also failed due to people’s indecisiveness. I resigned myself to once again not being able to leave Wuhan and sulked. Then came the free time, and it was extremely nice to just have a break from work. Since the holiday came and went, my part-time job hasn’t increased my hours, so I’m a bit angry with them. Last month I worked 60 hours for them, which is about 1 month’s salary from my other job, thus allowing me to earn 13,000 RMB in April (this is about $1900 USD).

I still have quite a lot of free time since I haven’t been working as hard, and this bothers me because even though I have many things to do, working and earning money is more important to me at this point in time.
My business has finally started and the shipping calculator on the website has been fixed, so feel free to check it out and buy what you like! Check back often, as I’m always adding new items to the Oriental Emporium store.

Having broken up twice, Jessy and I have certainly had our ups and downs, but we’ve finally come to an understanding we can both agree upon. We know that a relationship isn’t possible, but the bond we have and the feelings we share makes staying away from one another quite impossible. I’ve tried dating other girls, but none of them have been right for me. I’ve changed my search from looking for a girl to have fun with, to a girl I can be serious with, but finding someone like that here is difficult for me. Life goes on.

April Fools Day… NOT!

sweisbrot — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 00:40:16 +0000

I’m sure you are all surprised by how I am writing another blog post so soon after my last one. Well it’s for several reasons: I’ve got a lot of things going on, but they’re good things and I’m much happier now! So without making you sweat, let’s get to the update:

Last time I wrote I still hadn’t found a girlfriend; I began dating an amazing girl named Jessy about 2 weeks ago. She’s a few months older than me (which isn’t important because age is just a number), and unlike most Chinese people, actually has some life experience. She lived in Kunming (Yunnan province) for 2 years and worked as a journalist for a Hong Kong based newspaper. They sent her on trips to India, Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand to cover various news, which already makes her rare because most Chinese people have never left the country before. She is going to start studying for a Masters degree in International Relations in September, so she knows a lot about the world, its history, and how countries deal with each other. On top of all these great things, she can speak Spanish, dance Salsa, and has a great sense of fashion. She’s also very mature, caring, and funny.

On the work front, things are great too! For the first six months of work, I was constantly arguing with my co-worker Susan. We just couldn’t get along, and it didn’t help that she and some of the other Chinese teachers thought I was a lazy sack of shit. Well, when I came back from Australia I was determined to show them I was a good teacher, so I began writing my lesson plans in advance and asking for input and taking control of my classroom. One day, Susan had to miss work so I taught with my boss, and she thought I did a great job. As a result, I know my job is safe, and the only thing keeping me from signing a new contract with the school is me failing the “test,” where I have to teach a lesson on my own in front of my co-workers and bosses (with the children as my students, of course). I know this won’t be a problem because I had to do this as my job interview when I was looking to get hired by them.

On the other side of work, I’ve been working my ass off doing part time work varying between proofreading, editing, voice work, acting, freelance writing, and teaching English. As a result of doing these different types of jobs, I doubled my salary this month. My normal salary is 5000 RMB + 1200 RMB for an apartment allowance, but this month I earned 9900 RMB + 1200 RMB. I have a new part time job that has me working about 15-18 hours a week, which means if I don’t mind working 7 days a week and suffering 6 hours straight with no break, I can earn about 12000 RMB every month, which is AMAZING money. (12,000 RMB = $1751)

Next up is my business: I have finally gone to the market and negotiated with the store owners all thanks to my co-worker Summary who was gracious enough to come with me. I’ve bought some items I hope will sell. I’ve started a Basic eBay Store ($15.95/month) and am in the process of listing my items and hiring someone to create a custom template which will make my eBay Store look pleasing to the eye. I am also going to buy a new domain and have a matching template be created for that so people can check out all my items and buy from me without having to pay eBay fees! I am also talking to Jessy’s friend about getting ethnic minority art to sell. On top of all of this, I’m looking into selling products to BBYO (my old youth group) and Soriorities.

The last thing worthy of noting is my new Excel spreadsheet: I’ve discovered a website called NetWorthIQ which has got me into keeping up with my assets. As a result, my spreadsheet has 3 tabs: one for my total net worth (updated monthly, including a column for “last month” so I can see how last month compared to the current month, and in fact a graph can be constructed from the data to neatly show if my net worth increases or decreases on a monthly basis), one is for my expenditures for month (how much money do I spend, what day am I spending it on, and why am I spending it), and the last is for my income earned (this is important for me because I receive income from different jobs, so it is good for me to see if the jobs I’m doing are worth continuing or not).

On the Chinese language front, I’ve been working so hard doing all these other things that I haven’t been online that often, which means I have no real opportunity to practice Chinese with other people. I also don’t have time to teach myself, so my Chinese has taken a back seat. Once I finish this awesome Jeffrey Archer novel called “The Fourth Estate,” then I’ll focus my attention back to my new Chinese books.

I called this April Fools Day, but it’s being released before April Fools, so this is not a joke.. it’d be really hard for me to make ALL this up (and I’d be pissed if it wasn’t real because of how much work I’ve really put into all of this.. haha)

Looking Up

sweisbrot — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 08:49:20 +0000

As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve changed my attitude around to get back on track. In doing so, I’ve been working harder than ever to really change my situation. I’ve been voice acting, regular acting, freelance writing, teaching English, and any other work I can get my hands on. The biggest goal which still eludes me (besides finding a new girlfriend) is starting my export business.

Sometimes I still find it hard living here, so a long-term business would be considered a bad idea since my own ideas are a bit unstable, however on the other side of the coin it could be argued that a successful business would make someone stable. I used to know what I wanted, yet as the days pass and I grow older, I become ever so more unsure of what I truly want. As great as I imagine it could be to leave China and start fresh somewhere new, I have an unsettling feeling in my gut because I have no clue what I could do to have a good life wherever I went to.

It feels terrible not knowing what to do with the rest of your life, and it feels worse having no direction in which to go to pursue such an unknown path. As I have no real marketable skills outside of writing, teaching, and Psychology, the only thing I can see myself doing is business, yet there as well I have no experience or education (is being Jewish a prerequisite for success?)

It’s with this that I’ve resigned myself to living with the attitude of taking it a day at a time. For now I have no money saved, no real opportunities with which to advance myself in life, and as such have decided to stay in China for another year to check my options and save money for the future. Maybe this time next year I’ll be someone different to who I am now, and my ideas will be different. Hell, maybe I’ll be engaged to a Chinese girl (yet at the current time I’m quite against the idea)!

The hardest part (and I’ve said this time and again) of being here is what I’m missing out on back there. In less than 2 years, it seems like so many things have happened in the lives of all my friends and family, and yet I seem like a fly on a wall 9,000 miles away. They’ve seen happiness in the form of marriages and the birth of children, and sadness in the form of breakups, injuries and too many deaths.

But since this post is meant to be about change, I wish to end it on a note of happiness: the things we do in life shape who we are, and even though some people wish they could take back the things they said, or have a chance to re-do the things they’ve done, we have to realize that those things are what make the people we become, and we can only be happy for the chance to experience them.

The Continuing Saga

sweisbrot — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 23:19:30 +0000

I know it’s been said in the past, but I have to say it again since it’s relevant.

When Lily and I first broke up in December, I felt really sad but knew I had to move on. I went to Australia and tried my best to have a great experience despite a lot of down time. After coming back, I began my six week holiday from work. The first few days were nice and relaxing, but I hadn’t had a date yet. I told myself it was no matter, I’ll meet someone. Then comes February and the English winter camp.

The camp was one of the worst experiences I ever had in my life, so I’ll only say that there was absolutely no organization or coordination, in conjunction with a terribly planned schedule and no follow through. In the end, I only got paid 5 days late because I made a huge scene and bitched some people out (they wanted to pay me a month after the camp was over).

After that, things only went downhill. Day in and day out for 4 weeks, I sat at home and watched TV and played video games. After only a few days my mind went numb and I tried to create a workout routine and morning routine to waste the first few hours of the day, so by 4 weeks (and the routine already destroyed), I was like a zombie just trying to survive.

For about a week or two I was really depressed on a scale I’d never experienced before. It scared me for a few days, until I convinced myself I was wasting my time and needed to get my life back on track. Thankfully school was starting back up soon and I was managing to find a few dates.

——

School started a week ago and things are much better. I’m making some important business contacts and working on my export ideas, which will actually begin being put into action this Monday! I’ll first begin small by buying a few items and putting them on eBay to see how they fare. From there (if I’m right), I can earn some money that will soon serve as capital for purchasing a larger shipment from a factory which I hope will be sold to some lovely person in the USA.

——

It took me 3 weeks to write this article from start to finish because of how depressed I was, and I felt that by writing about it it would only make me confront my thoughts and feelings, and thus maybe make it worse. As a result, I powered through the first half, and left it until now, when I’m feeling much happier and can report good news!

The hardest thing for me about China right now besides the cold is the homesickness. As you all know, I haven’t been home since I moved here, so I’ll be going home for a 2 month visit this summer. Sometimes all I can think about is going home, but I’m stuck here for another 4 months. That can make you feel so hopeless sometimes, knowing that all you want to do is leave but can’t. It’s almost like prison.

I’m Ready

sweisbrot — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 06:23:41 +0000

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!

After It All

sweisbrot — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 03:00:55 +0000

The last time I bothered to write on the blog, I mentioned the cold weather and the problems I was having with various things, so here’s that update. It’s still cold every day, but thankfully it’s been about 10F warmer on average, so at least my fingers and toes don’t become icicles while I’m riding the bike. Speaking of bikes, the company that manages the system decided to cut down our allotted time from 4 hours to 2 hours, but if you need the bike for longer you’re still able to ask them to add time as long as you go to a station before the 2 hours are up.

Being on a 6 week holiday might seem really nice to some people who have to work all year round and only get a few days off per year, but trust me it’s not as fun as one would think. For a good part of the day I find myself as I am right now: wrapped in a blanket sitting on my leather arm chair in my room playing on the computer. Since everyone I know is still working, I usually wait until mid-afternoon or early evening to go out and do things with them.

You may have this image in your mind that my hair is down to my back and my face hasn’t been shaved in months, but I can assure you I’m at least taking care of my myself in that sense! I’m also quite busy working on different ideas I have that would take me down different paths, because I’m quite bored/sick of being a teacher, and although I do want to stay here for a while longer, I refuse to do it as a teacher.

Some of the things I’m working on are the following:

Appearing on a Chinese language TV station show about foreigners (I’d have to speak Chinese)

Starting a business with my friend’s dad who has a lot of power (fine diner most likely)

Working for an American company with offices in China (already applied and am waiting to hear)

Import Levis Jeans and cosmetics

Export electronics like a USB thumb drive

Meanwhile, in my spare time I’m watching a lot of movies and practicing my Chinese, because since I didn’t mention it above, the American job would require me to be fluent in Chinese, which I’m currently not but on my way there.

I’ve begun dating again, but there are several factors which plague me. I still love Lily and I’m trying to get over her because I know there’s no chance of a future with her now after all the things we’ve been through. I want to date people and enjoy myself, but I think the best thing for me is to focus on myself and meditate and figure out my issues and why they’re giving me problems. Only after this is done will I find the strength from within to see new people and hopefully forge good relationships with them. The downside to it all is that I feel a bit bored of Chinese girls after being here so long, but that doesn’t mean I’ll move back to America just to date white women, sorry Mom!

January Cold

sweisbrot — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 04:09:14 +0000

A well-used phrase, possibly considered a cliche, is “absence makes the heart grow fonder.” I know from experience how this goes, as per my relationship with China and more specifically Wuhan. Every time I leave Wuhan/China for a long period of time, I begin to miss it and wish to return. The only downside is that when I return, I feel like I want to leave again. The reason for this is that sometimes the weather is terrible and there is no sky or sun for days at a time. I’m told that I’m lucky to see the sun every few days, as some cities see the sun once a month or even once every few months.

While I was on my trip, I managed to lose about half of the numbers in my phone, so after I returned I began picking up the pieces and trying to get those numbers back by any means. These last few days have been extremely hectic, as I’m in the process of calling all my friends, Salsa students, and English students. It has also been extremely cold, apparently the worst winter in 60 years here (I’m aware it’s about the same back in the states).

I found out that my school goes on break starting the 20th of January, so I’ll be off from work for another month or so, but without any real significant of money left over to attempt another trip. If I do, it’ll be a short trip for a few days, especially since it’s so damn cold all over China. Look for my posts about Australia, Malaysia, and Singapore coming soon on here and my travel page.

Food in my Dreams

sweisbrot — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 01:28:23 +0000

I’ve been here in Australia a few days now, and it feels like I never left home (America). I think it’s a mixture of the environment, atmosphere, and attitude people have that makes me happy. I’m really sad to see how many people are overweight here, but one thing that binds everyone is the food.

I had no idea how much his family loves to cook. I’ve had a heavy dish for every meal since I arrived. I’ve had paella (rice, squid, prawns, beef, chicken, pork, crab), BBQ, pasta (squid, scallops), scrambled eggs (eggs, olive oil, green pepper, onion, tomato), cheesecake, and tonight we’re having Indian food.

I’ve eaten so much food I’m constantly full. In fact, last night I had 3 helpings of salad and the paella, and for dessert I had some candy and two large pieces of cheesecake. By about 12:30am, I was so tired and on a sugar high, and I threw up all the food from the day.

In the Land Down Under

sweisbrot — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 00:46:52 +0000

After almost a year of waiting, I’m finally in Brisbane, Australia! It all began with an idea: my mates wanted to go home for Christmas and invited me along, so what am I to say other than “HELL YES!” I knew I’d never get another chance like this to live with an Aussie family and see how they really live. As well, I knew I could save an amazing amount of money by not staying in a hotel for $100 every night. In January 2009, we bought our first flights online with AirAsia because they were having a special in which they gave away 500,000 free seats and you only had to pay for the tax. As a result, my ticket from Malaysia (which is where AirAsia is located) to Australia cost only $100!!!

As the months creeped by, I became ever more happier and excited for the trip. It wasn’t just the idea of seeing a new country, it was also that I hadn’t been outside of China since I got back from Thailand in September 2008. It was my chance to reconnect with the closest semblance of my own culture. I had so much time to think about the trip it made me crazy. I had to plan other trips before this one to help get my mind off how far away it was from the time we purchased the tickets.

When I got my new job in Hankou (on the other side of the river), I decided to take my salary from work and put it straight in the bank so I could afford to go on the trip. I earned 5000rmb (~$900) a month, but I knew I only needed about $1500 for my trip, so I knew I’d have enough money to buy a nice Canon SLR. In all of our previous trips together, I always relied on them to take good pictures because my Fujifilm was a terrible camera. I wanted to take responsibility and take pictures for myself instead of relying on others, and so right before I came to Australia I bought a camera for 4600rmb (almost a month’s salary!).

During autumn I had a fight with Matt, and he threatened to abandon me at the airport. I wasn’t worried about it because there was still so much time before we went and I knew he’d forget about it. Matt is very quick to pick on me and joke, but I’ve realized that’s what Aussies do when they are being friendly. Odd, I know.

At one point when I was still with Lily (if you didn’t know, we broke up again, and this time for good), she was invited to come along as long as she took care of her money and visa issues. She failed to do so, and so she didn’t end up coming.

As it came time to leave for Australia, I was so pumped that I stopped caring about my job. I know it’s bad, but I couldn’t get Australia out of my mind. This was my chance to escape the cold, bleak winter in Wuhan and go back to the beautiful summer that reminds me like home.

The day arrived, and I woke up early and it was freezing cold and raining. I took a taxi to the station where the bus would take me to the airport. After getting to the airport I met up with Nick and Fey and we moved to the terminal, where Matt was waiting for us. After an hour and a half, we arrived in Guangzhou, our first connection. Guangzhou was raining and cold like Wuhan, but not as bad. After an 8 hour layover spent inside the city, we happily scampered back to the airport for our next flight to Kuala Lumpur.

Unfortunately with budget airlines, things don’t always go as planned. Thankfully the only problem was that our flight was delayed from 8:45pm to 9:30pm. Four hours later and we were in Malaysia. We checked into the beautiful hotel built by the same man who built the airport and owns AirAsia (he’s brilliant). In the morning we took a bus into town and got some Chinese Malay food. After checking out the clothing market and buying a red shirt (If only I’d known how hot it was in Australia, I would have gotten a white shirt instead), we hopped over to the monorail and checked out the mall. We knew we’d have 2 days in Kuala Lumpur on the way back, so we just walked around enjoying ourselves and eating. Before heading back to the airport, we stopped for Indian food. We had Chicken tandoori, garlic naan bread, and curry.

Time having flown by so quickly, we rushed back to the airport for our final flight: Gold Coast, Australia. I was extremely lucky to have no one sitting in the 2 seats to my right, so as soon as the seat belt sign was turned off, I laid down and went to sleep after having a nice codeine to put me down for the night. At one point in the middle of the night we had some turbulence and so I woke up and sat up, only to fall asleep again within a few minutes. When I woke, there was a Chinese woman sleeping sitting up in the row of seats I had previously conquered, so I was quite upset because I wanted to lay back down. I wanted to shake her and tell her to get up, but I refrained.

When we arrived in Australia, the sky was amazing and it air was clean. To continue reading about my arrival in Australia, go over to my Australia page.

Is This Normal?

sweisbrot — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 11:50:36 +0000

As my time in China quickly approaches a year and a half, I find myself longing to return to the Western world, if even for a brief moment to clear my head and think about the future while enjoying hamburgers, hotdogs, and steaks. The trip to Australia is either going to be a blessing or a curse, but I won’t know until it comes time to board the plane for China.

As I think about it more and more, I become increasingly afraid of this trip for the fact that I believe it will change my life. I try not to be too philosophical or existential as it hurts most people’s brains, but in this case I feel it’s the only way to express my feelings.

I’m afraid of a few things: I won’t fit into Australian society (which would generalize into all Western countries); I will love it and regret coming back; I won’t want to leave.

When you stay in a country like China (or any other country which isn’t the place you grew up in) for such an extended period of time, you begin to change and become more like the people you surround yourself with, and in this case it’s Chinese people. That’s not to say it’s a bad thing because I’ve become much better with my money, and much more generous towards others, but there are other little things I couldn’t begin to explain which might make my return to the West a bit awkward.

On a brighter note, I got $1000 Australian dollars converted over yesterday, bringing me even closer to my trip only 12 days away! All that’s left is getting my school to pay me before I leave so I can pay the landlord, and I have myself an extra $300 to play with when I get back in January. Methinks a trip to Vietnam in February is in order!

Australia is Coming!

sweisbrot — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 00:16:26 +0000

Ever since the “break-up” with Lily, life has been quite interesting. I finally shed what remained of the shell I had hid behind for the last 6 years. I’ve made a good few friends and taken them up on going out. Lily moved out of the house, yet we still have a “date” night every Saturday. We still teach together on Sundays, which is basically how we began dating again.. you know how it is when two people love each other.. it’s hard to stop caring!

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.

I Hate Titles

sweisbrot — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:19:09 +0000

I first want to say that I’m sorry I’m terrible with making creative titles for my posts! Ok so onward..

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!