迷失的老美

Well, it’s been another year. Still have an hour and a half until I am 24.
It’s really been a life-changing year for me. Got a job, got an apartment, started to really get settled like I wanted to.
This is the 4th birthday in a row for me abroad in Asia, 3rd in China. Each time all I do is look back, this time I am going to look forward and try to answer that famous question that every foreigner over here asks himself from time to time.
What’s after China?

For me, I know I bitch about this place a lot, most around me know it too. But to be completely honest, I love it here. Sure, the traffic is crap, the pollution is worse and common decency doesn’t seem to exist as a concept at all. The bottled water in Beijing is 50% fake, the baozi is made of cardboard, there is shit in the choudoufu and Shaanxi officials apparently have no problem with slavery.

But, putting all that aside, it’s rather addictive. It’s exciting. It actually feels alive and real. Even the most boring and mundane things are never boring or mundane. You try to develop a routine only to realize that “routine” doesn’t seem to exist as a concept in China either. I’ve gone back to the US a few times and each time, while it feels good to be home where I can relax and catch my breath, in a word… it’s dull. The things I have seen here endure and last in my memory, the number of stories is unimaginable and all of it is fairly routine if one can call it that.

Sure, I deal with the insane stupidity from time to time, the “I can’t understand you 听不懂” which really means “I don’t want to work”; the “It’s impossible 没办法” which means “I don’t want to work”; and of course the amazing ability people have to do things “right” even though they are completely wrong. But, like all things in life you learn to deal with it and find ways to cope.

China makes me appreciate the little things that I used to take for granted. Pudding? It’s no longer a quick stop over at the store, it’s something I get if I am extremely lucky or remember to get some in the US. Tacos? If I want good ones I have to bring in the spice. Blueberry waffles? Without the waffle iron, impossible and there is only a handful of stores that even have blueberries. Whatever, that’s just food, but it’s one of the few things I can have that, for a moment in time, takes me back home. It’s hard to get much anything else that can do that here as quick and effective. The simple fact of the matter is that it’s doable, compared to a lot of other things that are more or less impossible.

In the US, it doesn’t work in reverse. The food is all wrong and the ingredients just don’t exist because they need to be fresh. To get anything even close to take you back to the other side of the world I would have to go into the city, get to Chinatown over on Cermak and pretend that it’s not a giant joke. Sure, it’s fun once or twice, but it’s not real. Everytime I go back I find myself desperate for communication from back home.

That all being said, I have a life here, I have someone who I treasure (yes you) and I have a prospect for the future. I made my transition to “real life” over here and back in the States I would die from the blandness if I had to transition. Even the absolute bullshit I have to deal with on a daily basis has it’s fun points, everyday is an adventure, a mental overload to such a degree that in order to cope you have to shut it out and pretend you didn’t see what you just saw or you would explode. In the US, people call the police over a barking dog or “someone suspicious” in the neighborhood and talk about something that they saw on TV the night before. So, to answer the question. Nothing, there is no after China for me, I am pretty happy where I am and don’t see that changing.

So, so long 23, hello 24. Let the adventure continue.

胡乱的照片～

Never thought I would get this action shot

Well, work has been good lately, and by good I mean busy as hell. I have no real free time it seems, but it feels good to finally be starting my life and I am starting to get a hang of things now. Can’t talk too much about what I am doing, but it’s cool none-the-less.

Anyways, still alive

Things I have learned:

How to pay for ADSL

How to survive the morning trek to work by bike and not get killed

Mysteries still waiting to be solved:

How to pay my water bill

When and how do I pay for electricity

Gas? That would be a useful thing to continue getting

How to get to the other side of town on a weekday to pickup money from the school that they still owe me

So, I have been hunting for a place close to work.  The dorms here are 900 a month, and on transportation alone I am going through 800 a month, so, might as well.  I found a place for 2000 a month that is pretty damned nice.  I will have my own kitchen, bedroom, shower, washing machine, fridge, and other goodies that come with having my own place.

This could not have come at a better time too, as the staff here informed me that I have to move out ASAP.  I paid till the 31st, but they want me out sooner… oh  China, how I love you.  My work with the olympic stuff has just started, which is pretty sweet, especially as I do not have to work every day.  This gives me much needed time to move and get settled in.  The move is this weekend, some of it today actually.

Of course, there is irony in this.  I am moving to be closer to work, but the temp job is close to Beiwai, figures.

Anywho, upcoming battles for me:

ADSL: The apartment has 512K ADSL, it’s 120 a month, I want faster.  The fastest public service that CNC has is 1M for 150 a month.  The next highest is 2M service, but it is for business and they want over 1000 a month for it.  No, that is not worth it, I can survive off of 100k/s downloads.
The Reverse Commute: I have to be at the Shangri-la at 8:30 for a few days in the next two weeks, it’s a 1 hour commute, this is going to suck.  The taxi fare would be about 50 each way, and they are paying me 9000 total.  I am going to have to make that commute a maximum of 3 times.  I’ll probably just take the taxi, it’s a waste of money, but I might actually get there in time.

发票:  I need to hunt for 9000kuai worth of these, the Olympic job is so Chinese it is not even funny, they want to be able to write off my wages as expenses and avoid tax.  Cute.  So very Chinese of them

So, there it is, a new life begins, away from dorms and schools for the first time in a long time (ever?)  My first real place that is all mine, not shared with a roommate, not a homestay, not a dorm, just all mine.  At last I have a real kitchen and bathroom, a place to call my own and accumulate crap in, without worrying about a roommate stealing it, or staff bursting in for whatever reason.  Etienne will finally have some room to run and be evil as well.  I’m on the 20th floor out of 22 in the building, so, with luck, I will be above the street noise and get some nice breezes… and if I don’t, I have 2 ACs to compensate, hah.