Posts Tagged ‘Travel’
Is this the end of China?
May 31st, 2010 | 
Author: 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
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.
Posted in Daily Life | 
Tags: China, Oriental Emporium, The Asian Shop, Travel, Work, Wuhan | 
2 Comments »
The Continuing Saga
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.
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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.
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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.
January Cold
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.