The End of One Chapter, The Start of Another

A few pictures from the last 12 months

While looking back at old photographs on my computer I stumbled onto my blog, and with a heavy heart I realise that I should write one last post.  I am surprised the blog is still here in all honesty, I thought by now it would have packed its bags and left to reside in a more blog-friendly home.  But I feel one last post will at least bookend what was probably the most important part of my life.  The reason for doing this?  Well, I unfortunately understand now that I am far too incompetent (or too busy, or too lazy....one of them)  to continue writing about my life, and I would be kidding myself into thinking I could continue this blog as it once was.  You see, I blame China!  When the government in all its wisdom decided to block Blogger (and it's still blocked today, I checked), it really was a wrench to the system.  I loved, genuinely loved, blogging about my time there, and with a friendly following of readers it was a joy to share the ups and downs of China-life.  Sometimes I felt blogging was more of a therapy to me than anything else.  Living in China is like living in a bubble, a ridiculous, marvellous, occasionally frightening, but joyous bubble.  So once that link to Blogger was gone I lost an important connection to the outside world.  Yes, I could have moved over to another blogging platform but I was too worried China would begin blocking all blogging websites (or perhaps I was just too lazy, one of them!).    Before you ask, I did try proxies (used to bypass the Great Firewall of China), but at the time my limited knowledge and drastically slow Internet connection rendered the Blogger site completely useless --  I only managed to sneak one or two posts while stuck behind the wall.

So it wasn't until I left China to live back in the UK that I could access Blogger again.  It was a joy to read the blogs I used to follow and I hoped I could continue where I left off writing about all the things that occurred while I was behind the wall.  But writing things in retrospect compared to writing about them presently is quite a challenge.  It certainly changed what I think about reading autobiographies -- I simply felt I couldn't remember enough to make it seem genuine.  The beauty of a blog is that you can record events that occur in practically real-time, especially with microblogs like Twitter and Weibo.  My original intention of the blog was to be a diary of my time in China, something to look back on and re-read in the future.  It doesn't take much to jog the memory, but having the highlights ready to access on the blog is a brilliant thing to me.  This resulted in me putting a halt to the thought of blogging about past-times in China, so instead I thought I could continue writing about my life in the UK, adjusting back to life, starting my course in Hypnotherapy, Kimi coming over to live here etc.  It sounded like a plan, but it never worked out.  I think the main reason is this:  living in the UK is 'normal' for me, there is not much that I think is of interest to report because practically everything that happens on a day-to-day basis is 'normal' (apart from the odd life-changing event that is).  In China it was easy to blog about my day-to-day life all the time because I felt like almost nothing was 'normal'!  Sometimes I would walk outside of my apartment and see something that I would want to take a picture of and write about the second I returned home.  I can't deny that the greatest things in life have happened to me since I returned to the UK, and I wish I could have recorded some of those moments at the time, but these things were never meant for Diary of a Laowai in China.  I am no longer a Laowai or in China anymore, so the blog never really got on well with the concept of living in England.  Or I was just too busy, or lazy....one of them.

For one last time here is a brief update on the happenings in my life.  It has been a busy and hectic year, but things are happening which I have never been more excited about in my life: Kimi is a permanent resident of the UK (and deciding whether she wants to become British next year or not.  Only one problem: China doesn't allow dual citizenship); we also purchased our first house which we absolutely love; and last month we visited Wenzhou and stayed with Kimi's mum which was a perfect holiday.  Kimi's visa and buying a house were two quite life-changing things that certainly didn't come without their fair share of extreme stress, but something amazing is happening which tops everything else....We are having a baby!  We haven't really told too many people about it yet and even now seems strange writing about it, but Kimi is well within the throws of pregnancy, and we are hoping that early next year we will say hello to our new baby for the first time.

I feel as a new chapter of my life is about to start it is almost perfect timing to end the post on this note, and also to end the blog.  I hope I can continue to write something somewhere in the future, but for now I say thank you for reading and goodbye, or "zai jian" (my Chinese has NOT improved in the slightest).

Xin Nian Kuai Le/Happy New Year!

It's a new year, so time for a fresh look at all aspects of life.  One thing I have been quite frankly absolutely rubbish at is maintaining and updating this blog.  It is something that breaks my heart really as I loved writing this blog and used to greatly enjoy writing about my time in China.  I still blame the Blogger ban in China for halting the momentum with the blog, but really it is down to sheer laziness.  Alas, the routine of what is now married life with 2 jobs on the go leaves me with little time left to pursue on writing.

Since my last post (way back in March last year) Kimi and I got married in the UK, Kimi successfully got her residence permit, we moved into our first house together, visited Wenzhou to have a kind of unofficial 2nd wedding (very tempting to stay), and Kimi's mother even visited us for a month in the UK.   All in all 2011 was a very fortunate year for both of us, somehow everything worked out perfectly in the end.  Now 2012 has begun I am looking at pushing on with my Hypnotherapy business and possibly starting the degree in Counselling.  Kimi is looking for work in Manchester hoping to utilise her skills as a bilingual speaker.

A 2011 Collage

Another resolution I have is to write more, so hopefully another blog will be coming soon -- and by that I don't mean another year!

This Blog is a Study Abroad Ambassador Award Winner!

Somehow my blog has been selected by the lovely people at eCollegeFiner as a travel website that provides "priceless information to students as they prepare to leave" to study in another country.  I suppose although this blog documented my life as a teacher in China rather than a student, the same principles of travelling and living in a foreign country apply.  I am extremely flattered to have been chosen out of the many hundreds of blogs about living in China to appear on their site.  I genuinely hope some of the ramblings on these pages give a hint of the ups and downs of modern life in China (and what to do if you fall in love and decide to move back home after 3 years!).


You can see the list of all 75 sites chosen here, including short passages of travel advice written by the winners -- including one from yours truly.    


Although my life in China is officially history, it will always be a part of me (thanks to Kimi).    

Kimi Got Her Visa

I have been hugely delayed writing this post, but a few weeks ago Kimi and I received the good news that the British embassy had decided to grant her a visa to come to the UK to marry me.  We had waited months for an answer to our weighty application, going through Halloween, Christmas, New Year and Chinese New Year with no hint of an answer.  Finally in mid February, Kimi received a package containing just her sole passport, but with the new visa stuck inside.  That was that!

The application for the marriage visa was no small feat, the amount of paperwork needed for such a visa is quite astonishing.  It was something we had to study to get right (the first problem was which one to go for!), and we even paid an agency to help us on the way too.  Over the coming weeks I will be posting a step by step guide to applying for the marriage visa with the aim of helping others who may be planning on taking the same steps as we have.

What's next for us?  In one month Kimi will be arriving in the UK, and then within 6 months we will be getting married.  Once we have tied the knot, the time will have come to apply for the next visa....

MINDSCAPE Hypnotherapy

As I mentioned previously, I have trained and am now qualified as a hypnotherapist.  For the past 5 months I have been slaving away on a website for my company, which has finally been completed (apart from the odd mistake I keep stumbling across, if you find one please let me know.  Web designing is not easy when you have to compete with so many different browsers, operating systems and screen sizes).  It is funny how things work out really, today was the day that not only did I finally get my website uploaded without any major disasters occurring, but I also moved into my new office.  I am renting a room in The Holistic Therapy Clinic in Manchester where I actually studied and learnt about hypnotherapy.  At the moment I will be balancing hypnotherapy work one day a week while I still work at my other job full-time -- for now anyway.

My new office, the chair is very comfortable

I am very excited, and really can't wait to get started.  If you have a second, take a look at my website here:  http://www.mindscapehypnotherapy.com 

On another note, I have also started another blog here which will be linked to the website.  I will be concentrating my efforts on that blog for the foreseeable future, but I will of course occasionally still post here.  Once I am an expert, I will certainly be posting tips and advice for visa applications and the progress of Kimi's move to the UK.

Kimi's visa status:  Still processing (almost 2 months of waiting now).

Neglect, Visas and Hypnotherapy

A few of the things Kimi and I have got up to during her recent trips to the UK

 I certainly feel very guilty for neglecting my poor blog of late.  The reason is not due to having a lack of things to write about with regards to China and life in the UK, but rather that I have been concentrating all of my energies into other things.

Since my last blog post a lot has certainly happened.  Kimi visited me in the UK on two occasions, the last time being in October.  We have also very recently submitted a rain forest's worth of paper-work to the British Embassy for Kimi's fiancée visa.  Once the application is successful she will once again be returning to the UK where we will get married (we're hoping for early next year).  We are planning on holding a ceremony in Wenzhou towards the end of next year too -- it saves spending a few thousand pounds transporting Kimi's huge family over to the UK, and it means I have a great excuse to take a holiday to my second home!  The visa process is an extremely difficult process, one which we could not have done alone.  Information on the internet is very sparse, with so many different versions of events that we had no choice but to hire an agency to do some of the leg work for us.  I think a possible new direction for the blog may lie within this visa process and how to be successful in applying for one.

In other news, I am now qualified as a Hypnotherapist.  I am just waiting for approval from the Hypnotherapy Association and my malpractice and indemnity insurance certificates to come through.   I have also managed to secure a room to do it from with my teacher and mentor.  It has been this that most of my time has been spent on over the past few months.  I have finally finished writing and designing a website for myself.  I had no idea it would end up being the most time consuming thing I have ever done!  As soon as everything is legal I will be uploading the complete website.  With this I will also be writing a new blogger blog which is linked to hypnotherapy and life as a hypnotherapist.  For now there is not much to look at, but here is my site:  MINDSCAPE Hypnotherapy.  I really fell in love with hypnotherapy throughout the course I took, and have never felt so attached to a subject before.  It really is amazing, and the changes that can happen are remarkable.  Stress, anxiety, lack of confidence, self-esteem issues, and addictions can all be resolved so quickly.  I know this because it has not only worked with others who I have helped, but it has also worked on myself.  I genuinely hope I can share this incredibly simple method of therapy with others. 

I am still continuing studies part-time in Counselling and hope to be taking the next module early next year.  It will take approximately 3-4 years to finish the degree at the moment.  The impatient side of me would rather get things over and done with much quicker, but due to financial restraints (e.g. all of the money I saved up in China ran out) I have had to find a full-time job.  Not only will this pay for starting my hypnotherapy business and ongoing studies, but it also means I will be able to support Kimi when she comes here.  The job I have isn't my idea of a dream career, but the money is coming into my bank account rather than going out, so it is ideal for now.

And that's me all up to date!  I'll be back when my new site and blog are online, and as soon as we hear any visa news.

Kimi Coming to England

 As I am writing this Kimi (my girlfriend) is on her way to the UK having just departed from Dubai Airport.  This is the second time she has come to England -- the first being last September when we came together for a short holiday.  Although too short, we had a fantastic time introducing her to my family and doing a bit of travelling around Edinburgh, London, The Lake District and of course my home-town Manchester.

This time is only for a short holiday too, but until we are married Kimi cannot leave her job and come and live with me.  The main reason for this is the one and only gripe for her and fellow Chinese citizens travelling outside of China: the visa.  For Kimi to come on holiday to the UK she has to apply for a visitor's visa (sometimes known as a tourist or travel visa).  Now when I, as a British citizen, go to China on holiday I also need a visa.  This consists of travelling to the nearest Chinese Embassy or consulate, paying about £30, answering a double-sided A4 form with questions such as "Do you have a criminal record?" and "Do you have any fatal diseases?" (I've never really seen the point of questions like this, I'm pretty sure they check out all such information regardless of whether you say "Yes" or "No"), oh, and a couple of passport photos.  But for poor Kimi, as a Chinese citizen, she has to compile a portfolio of information just to get a visitor's visa for a short holiday.  Take a deep breath as I list the requirements of her visa application (just remember this is for a holiday, not for emigration):

• One completed and signed 10 page visa application form
• A current and previous passport and photocopy of recent passport
• One recent passport photo
• Household register
• An invitation letter from my father allowing her to stay in his house and be responsible for her
• My father's utility bill, birth certificate, photocopy of driving licence, bank statements, home insurance, and council tax bill.
• Evidence of current employment status including the organization code of the company and business license.
• Permission of leave from her boss
• Certificate of employment and income
• Evidence of her financial status which meant freezing 50,000RMB (approximately £5,000) in her bank account
• Bank statements for the last 6 months
• Evidence of her relationship with me including boarding passes of recent holidays, emails sent between us dating back to 2007, and photographs of us together at various locations and times
• A photocopy of my passport and Chinese working visa
• Payment of 715RMB (approximately £70)

Shocking isn't it?  And all of this does not even guarantee a successful application.  Luckily Kimi has received hers on both occasions which should stand us in good stead for the future.  It could be a myth, but I have heard that applications can be rejected on a random basis, they just have to reject some for no apparent reason.  For the lucky ones who are successful in their visa applications, they receive a lovely sticker in their passport saying they can stay in the UK for 6 months -- Kimi only needs three weeks.

After all of this hard work, I hope Kimi is enjoying her 20+ hours of sleepless aeroplane travel from Wenzhou to Manchester....

The joys of travel

When the Bombs Fell

This year February 14th to many people was Valentine's Day, but to even more people it was also Chinese New Year.  Unlike the previous year, I was prepared for what was to come this time, the noise!  I certainly wasn't disappointed, if anything it was even louder, and more unrepentant than the year before.  A couple of sleepless nights came to me and Kimi, but it didn't really matter as the daytime was mainly spent eating and drinking, and eating more, and drinking more, and eating a little bit more (and then being sick).

If I had to describe Chinese New Year in as few words as possible before I came to live in China, I would have said something like:  "Dancing dragons, celebrations in the street, fireworks".  But after living in China, I would now say:  "Fireworks, money, fireworks, family, fireworks, food, fireworks, more food, fireworks drink, fireworks, TV".

On new year's eve, I decided to take a short walk outside as midnight beckoned.  There was an annual television show playing, which is quite a large draw in China.  It is a variety show of sorts, with many singers, comedians, dancers, and a magician (doing tricks from the 80's) all having their own segment where they can wow the largest audience in the world.  It is mostly performed live, but some of the bigger stars usually decide to mime their way through a performance or pre-record their part (e.g. Faye Wong).  Anyway, the show was going through an incredibly tiresome comedy sketch, and for some reason the English subtitles on CCTV9 only stretched so far as to explain the premise of the sketch instead of just translating what was happening -- lazy!  So, as I said, I decided to take a stroll outside, with my camera.  What I experienced was nothing short of terrifying.  It was as close as I could imagine to being in a war zone.  The culmination of all the fireworks simultaneously going off around the centre of the city made it sound and feel like bombs dropping from the sky.  And by the way, these fireworks were not an organised display, this was a free-for-all.  I even saw somebody firing them out of their apartment window.

The following day -- New Year's Day -- Kimi and I went to have a very enjoyable family meal at her uncle and aunt's home.  They very kindly cooked an assortment of vegetarian dishes for me, and at one point I didn't think it was going to end.  New dish after new dish was coming, but as they were all so delicious, I just stuffed myself.  And of course, I had to do my fair share of drinking.  On more than one occasion I have sat down at a dinner table and a bottle of red wine has been presented to me which I am expected to drink all of.  This time was no exception.

The table of devoured food, notice my whisky glass and wine bottle in the bottom right

Alas, the fireworks didn't stop, but we were shown a new year's ceremony where food was given to Buddha, drums were drummed, and a paper boat was paraded around.  For me, it was refreshing to see some real traditional elements playing a part in between the eating and drinking -- even if I didn't understand why some of it was happening.

A slightly different table of food.  Not too sure if Buddha is into Pig's head though, but I'm sure he won't complain....

Other days in the week were spent very much along the same lines.  More eating, more drinking, and more listening to the cracks and bangs of fireworks outside.  We also met Kimi's uncle's new dog, a beautiful Golden Retriever:

  
I didn't intend to write all of this, what I was really getting around to in this blog post was telling you about the short video I edited together in response to the aforementioned fireworks.  It shouldn't come as a surprise that I called it:  "China Bombings":

I'm Alive....

Just to prove I am indeed living

....because you may have thought I was dead considering it's been almost 11 months since my last blog post!

I'm sure you can guess the reason for my absence by just reading said previous blog post.  Just one thing stopped me from writing pages and pages of more drivel:  The Great Firewall of China.  I did try to use a proxy server (a computer network that will connect to websites on your behalf making it look like you are in another country), but found that the terribly slow speed and lack of security was too much of an issue to ignore.  After a few failed attempts at logging onto Blogger I very quickly learnt to live without blogging in my life.  I could have tried an alternate website, but the fear I had of other blog sites being blocked put me off.  You see, Blogger was just the beginning of a new internet crackdown in China.  Twitter and Facebook soon faced the axe, and even IMDB was blocked at one point.  It seemed no site on the planet was safe from the over-sensitive internet police of China.

"How can you be writing this blog post now?"  I hear you ask (oh no, that's just the voice inside my head).  Well, two weeks ago I managed to climb over the wall and escape to the safe island state of the United Kingdom -- which really means I've come back home.  It was not an easy decision to make by any means, but I felt the right time had come.   Almost 3 years in China had flown by so incredibly quickly, I could very easily see myself staying in the same position in another 3 years, and then 6 years, and then 12 ye....you get the idea.  Another factor that was calling me to leave was because I had finally decided on something I genuinely would like to study and do as a career.  I was just torn as to whether to stay in China for longer or not.  The itch to make a change became too much and I took the plunge of leaving the life, love, and friends I had made.  Now, back home with my family in Manchester, England, I am starting on a brand new path by studying two subjects that will lead to the career I really want:  Counselling and Hypnotherapy.

The most difficult part of leaving was having to part from Kimi, my girlfriend.  She had known for a very long time that I hadn't intended to live in China forever, and she was a big deciding factor as to whether I should come home now or not.  Luckily for me she was very supportive and understanding about my decision.  Now we are working on the long arduous visa process so that she can finally come and live with me here.  For the next 12 months we have planned to make sure we see each other via holidays.  She will come on holiday in summer and I will go on holiday back to China at the end of the year.  It is by no means a perfect solution, but it's the best we can do considering the circumstances.

That's pretty much my life updated.  Next blog post will be sometime in 2011 then....

Not really!  In fact I have a host of subjects I would like to write about over the coming months.  As mentioned above, I will certainly be updating progress on Kimi's move to the UK over the next year; I will continue to write about China as I still have almost one year's worth of stories to look back on (which was also the reason I decided not to start a completely new blog); Also, I would like to document my progress with regards to studying, job hunting, and living in the UK -- something which is quite removed from life in China.  But the main reason I have decided to start writing on my blog again is the same reason I started blogging in the first place: to keep a diary.

In all honesty I have sorely missed doing this, just writing about anything seems to rattle the dust from my mind.  I look forward to more blogs to come.  

P.S.  If anybody is reading, then I hope you like the new design -- it took me bloody ages!!

Silence IS Golden

Me, before Chinese New Year and the construction work

When I returned from the UK at the end of January it was Chinese New Year, and the fireworks were exploding every other minute. This was fine -- until I had to start work. The celebrations didn't end after the one week holiday, they continued for more than half a month more. Bed time would come and all I could hear would be people playing Ma Jiang or cards while shouting to each other, and the fireworks of course. The talking (shouting) would sometimes last all night, and because the walls are practically made from paper they might as well have been in my apartment doing it. As for the fireworks, they would be set off at random intervals throughout the night, maybe a dozen at 1am, a few at 3:30am, and then a whole bunch of them at 7am. I would be sleeping in the quiet spots only to be woken up time after time. It got to the point where I just couldn't get to sleep sometimes because of the noise. It was driving me crazy.

After 15 days the noise did start to die down which was a huge relief, the talking stopped and the fireworks were stowed away for another year (or wedding or funeral). However, I still found it difficult to sleep just because of my previous experiences, I was continually waiting for something to wake me up, and it left me feeling restless (after talking about this with others I have found that all but two of the foreign teachers at Web have also experienced very similar things). After a couple of weeks more of so-so sleeps, I started to worry I wouldn't sleep properly again. Then my mum told me of a supplement called Valerian which isn't a sleeping pill, but a natural sedative. It has no side effects unlike the sleeping drugs, and is actually beneficial in many other ways. Surprisingly I found a bottle of the stuff in my local pharmacy. I started taking it and found that it really did work, I was feeling much more relaxed and started to sleep better.

This was a couple of months ago, and now I'm sleeping just like normal again thanks to the lack of noise and the Valerian. I've even recommended it to other teachers at Web and now three of them are all using it and have found beneficial results. The fact is, Wenzhou -- like so many other cities in China -- is developing so quickly that it is permanently noisy. For people like me who have been brought up in relative silence at night time, it can be difficult sometimes.

Another reason Wenzhou can be incredibly noisy at night is something I spoke about before (here): construction work. I had been living in my apartment for almost a year without any interfering work -- until March this year. Two construction sites suddenly began working throughout the day, it was loud but not a problem. Then one night I noticed the work didn't finish, it just kept going, all night. I was really quite angry about this and asked Kimi to complain. She called up the local government office only for them to tell her that they had given the site permission to work all night. Up until now it has happened on nine or ten occasions, two nights ago was the worst. It was so bad I had to sleep on the sofa in my living room with tissue stuck in my ears. It is completely unbelievable how common people have absolutely no rights whatsoever. If the government wants to do something they will, regardless of whether it causes hundreds of people to have a sleepless night. Can we do anything about it? Not a chance. Unfortunately this is cost of living in a country and city which is developing at the speed of light. In the mean time I hope I find an apartment which is sound proofed from head to toe.

Happy Birthday Mum

Happy Birthday, I hope you had a treat like this (and I'm glad you liked my gift):


This is actually something that Kimi bought a few weeks ago from Haagen Dazs. Unlike in the UK the ice cream chain has cafes in China. They don't just serve only scoops of ice cream as you can see, but something rather more posh. It also doesn't come cheap, this item off the menu cost a staggering 230 RMB (£23). Kimi was given a bonus at work and felt like flaunting the money, I had no objections whatsoever.

Labour Day -- A Trip to the Zoo

The first of May -- like so many other countries -- is labour day in China. The national holidays are perfect times to travel and see new parts of China, the only problem is that everybody else has the same idea too. When you have a country with more than a billion people occupying it, this can be a problem.

When I came to China on holiday in 2007 I landed in Shanghai on the 1st of May (when the holiday was still 7 days). It was a shock to the senses seeing so many people in one place. I can remember walking along The Bund with my friend, Richard only to get mobbed by a group of people wanting to take our picture:

We were stuck against a wall at this point

Last year I was in Hong Kong for the May holiday, waiting nervously to apply for my working visa. There had been rumours circulating that Hong Kong wasn't giving the visas due to restrictions for the Olympics. Luckily for me I did receive my visa in the end, but it was slightly nerve-racking waiting in the office for 3 hours to find out if I'd been successful or not. My short trip in Hong Kong was much more civilized than the year before, and I even managed to meet up with two good friends, Mona and Mabel.

This year I stayed in Wenzhou. Kimi and I, with Johann and his girlfriend decided to take a walk up Wenzhou's Snow Mountain (which I'm quite sure never has any snow). We took a pleasant walk around a garden area, a large and very new Buddhist temple, and then the zoo. I was a bit wary about visiting the zoo because I imagined the conditions might not be up to much. I was proven wrong in most cases, it was very well maintained and most of the animals had good environments to live in. I was only disappointed at the amount of rubbish people had thrown into their habitats to try and get the animals to do something.

As predicted there were tonnes of people crammed into every crevasse and corner, most of them from Wenzhou, but I guessed that a lot of them had come from the outskirts of the city. I say this because throughout the day at every minute I was hearing the word "foreigner" spoken, many people were stunned to see us. I heard the word in the only three variations I know: "Laowai" (informal Chinese), "Waiguoren" (Chinese), and "Vaiganen" (Wenzhou Dialect, I have no idea how to spell it in Pinyin). I've always found it funny why strangers in the street will just shout out the word "foreigner"if they see one, what compels them to say it out loud rather than in their mind?

The day was long, tiring, but hugely enjoyable. It was also good to see another side of Wenzhou than the usual cars, drilling, and general chaos that is prevalent in the city centre. Surprisingly, a lot of what we saw was actually very beautiful. Here is the day in pictures:



Happy Labour Day!

I've Joined a Gym!

There really aren't any gymnastics involved

I shocked myself at the weekend and became a member of a local gym. The reason for my lack of blog posts is actually due to this. I seem to have replaced my blog-time with sport-time. I will try and modify my schedule for this as I do not want to let my blog slip through my fingers.

For a few weeks I had been considering starting some exercise again. I'd begun to feel quite unhealthy, and certainly not fit by any means. It has been quite a while since I last did regular exercise, about two years in fact. On Friday, with Kimi's help, we found a gym called BySun that is walking distance from my home. We took a short tour of the centre and even met one of my students who jumped out from behind one of the machines and scared me to death. The centre was identical to a western gym, even the machines had been imported from America. Kimi used her powers of bargaining and managed to get the fee down to a very reasonable price: 1,250RMB for 6 months.

The following day I went on my own to do my first work-out. I was even given my own personal trainer who made a plan for me and showed me how to use the machines properly. I understood very little of the Chinese, but mostly body language was used to great effect. I had no idea how wrongly I had previously been using the machines when I last attended a gym at university. The plan means I have to work on my chest, stomach and back. After doing this I am free to use any of the aerobic machines like the treadmills or bicycles. I spent just over an hour of lifting and running, surprisingly it felt great. That was until the following day when I couldn't move at all.

The staff all seem very smiley and friendly, and when I go in the morning there is barely anybody there. Yesterday there was me, two beef-cake men, two receptionists, and the cleaners -- perfect. Now I just need to make a playlist of upbeat songs for my iPod to drown out the constant dance music and ballads that blast out of the speakers (even after three days I've noticed the same handful of songs are just played on rotation).

Kimi's Got a New Car

Welcome to the mean -- and quite frankly terrifying -- streets of Wenzhou

Kimi is now in possession of a brand new car, a Skoda Fabia. Skoda used to be an embarrassing brand to own and I remember many jokes being told about them when I was at school. Since Volkswagen bought the company a few years ago things seemed to have improved immensely. Kimi's car is no exception, some even say VW built a better Polo with the Fabia.

Kimi's mother has recently retired from her job, and with some of the money she was given she decided to buy this car for her daughter. This seemed outrageous to me, but I have been continually told, "this is how things are done in China". I can't comment on all of China, but in Wenzhou it's quite true. The parents buy a home for their child and then their child will buy a home for their child etc. Very few people get mortgages here because they simply don't need to, but they still need to save for 20-30 years so that they can give their child the home they so obviously deserve. In some ways this way of living is great, you don't owe any money to a bank and you don't pay any interest. On the other hand, this tradition is part of a long list of other traditions which completely control the lives of the sons and daughters of Wenzhou (especially daughters). In a very generalised nutshell the trend is this:

• School - as normal as ever. But if your parents want to you to go to a good kindergarten/primary school/middle school/high school, then they will probably have to pay money for it (under the table). That is unless they're best buddies with the headmaster.
  
• University - it's quite possible your parents have told you what course to take. Usually it's business-related. In one year of working at Web I've only met two students who are studying Music. Most creative subjects are red areas. Maths, business, foreign trade = good.
  
• Job - again your parents have probably lined up this career path for you. They might have even paid a substantial amount of money to get you the job, or they may have taken advantage of a family relationship inside the company. With the right kind of relationship (Guanxi) you will get the job regardless of your qualifications and skills.
  
• Marriage - if you haven't already found the love of your life then you'd better get a move on, especially for the girls. Most people leave university at the age of 24 and parents expect their daughter to be married by the age of about 25-27. For the boys it's much more flexible, you can be a bachelor in your 30's without too much stress from mama and baba. If you're single after university then your parents will arrange "suitable" blind dates for you (whether you want it or not). One of Kimi's female cousins went on a some of these blind dates a few months ago. She was engaged to a man within a month and married within four. The other criteria for marriage is that the spouse should be local, no Hangzhounese here please.
  
• Home - once you're married your parents will have bought the house you will start a family in and a car that you will drive to the job they gave you.
  
• Baby - as soon as your married you must have a baby, and it must be before you're 30 if you're a woman (I won't even go into the "tradition" that takes place once you've had the baby, I'll leave that for another blog).
  
• Now it's your turn - yes, now you can control every millisecond of your babies life.

As I said earlier, this is a very generalised description, but it is what I have heard from countless numbers of people. Tradition plays an incredibly important role to so many people's lives, and it's a continual cycle that never stops. In this respect freedom of choice is severely limited, and that's why I know so much about this, because so many young people have complained to me about how their parents pressurise them into following the cycle.

It's strange how Kimi's mother has not followed the norm. I was trying to think why, maybe it is because if Kimi was with a Wenzhounese boyfriend she would probably be married by now. Or maybe she has just given up all hope because of me (I'm not Wenzhounese).

I'm Published!

Well, not quite, but my picture is in this entertainment newspaper:


When Kimi and I were in Hangzhou we spent one morning apart, she went shopping for clothes and I went to meet Reuben (as I mentioned in this post). Beforehand I decided to go for a walk around the city centre. I was making my way past one of the biggest department stores in Hangzhou (In Time), when a man and a woman approached me. I took the headphones out of my ears and heard the woman ask if I could speak Chinese (in Chinese). I said, "a little", and she spurted out a sentence that I couldn't grasp at all. I told her I didn't understand, so she started speaking English, and pretty good English too. By this point I was very wary, I only stayed around because they seemed amiable enough, but I was waiting to see how they wanted to get to my money. Usually this kind of thing is a con, they want to take you for tea, or to see some "art". It's all completely bogus and you end up paying for it. She told me that she and her friend worked for a local Hangzhou newspaper. "Okaaay", I thought. She asked if it would be OK for them to take my picture and for it to be printed in the next edition.

A few snaps were taken, and then a lot of questions asked. Firstly introductory questions like "What is your name?", "Where do you come from?", etc. Then the questions centred entirely on my clothes. They wanted to know where I got everything from and how much it all cost. I was a little disappointed as I was wearing really old clothes. I wondered if the section in the newspaper/magazine would be, "How Not To Dress". The questions were over, a few more pictures were taken, and that was that. We shook hands, exchanged business cards and said goodbye. They were both very friendly,I felt it was all genuine....

Alas, it was. On Friday Kimi's friend in Hangzhou very kindly bought a couple of the papers and posted them to us in Wenzhou. They arrived yesterday. Here's my claim to fame:


The written Chinese is mostly what I said, but some of it is completely made up. One part of it says something like, "I don't show the skull t-shirt when I am at school so I wear something to hide it." I never said anything of the sort.

I'm now available for after-dinner speeches, charity events, and supermarket openings. Contact my agent for more.

Plans Plans Plans

A month or two ago I was extremely concerned with my long-term future. For no apparent reason, when I returned from England at the end of January I started to feel like I should be doing something different, that I am possibly wasting my time continuing at Web, and that my time in China could be coming to an end. On the other hand, I wanted to stay in China. I was completely torn, and with no idea what to do I began to worry about things.

Instead of thinking too far ahead into the vast unknown, I started to plan for the -- much more realistic -- foreseeable future. This is what the next few months should hold for me:

1. My one year contract at Web is almost over, I do not want to stay there for another year working full-time (I'll save the reasons why for another blog post). I still enjoy the job sometimes, but it has lost its charm in recent months. Although I was wary to do such a thing, I have signed a new contract with them which was on the basis that I can take one month off at the end of May (see number 2), and that in September I will work on a part-time basis (or not at all if they go against their word).
   
2. My sister, Sally is coming to China at the end of May for a few weeks. Now that I have a month off we can easily go travelling together. So far I have planned to take her to Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Wenzhou, and somewhere else (I haven't decided on that one yet any suggestions would be welcome).
3. This one isn't guaranteed yet, but in September this year Kimi and I will hopefully be travelling to England together. We have been together for a year and a half and she still hasn't met my parents. Now we are starting the process of applying for the visa, and Kimi is trying to book time off work (which is ludicrously difficult as they only give her one day of paid holiday a year to start with).
   
4. When we return to China in mid-October I will either be working part-time at Web and teaching privately; or I will be looking for new employment.

That's it, that's my plan for the next 6 months. I've got a few things to be happy about -- although it seems this poor dog I saw today isn't with me on that:

Turn that frown upside down

Holiday in Hangzhou: Part 2

The West Lake

The West Lake is a much-hyped location in Hangzhou, and in China itself. True, it is very pleasant and well worth a visit, but it is by no means "heaven on Earth" as the television adverts will have you believe (on CCTV 9). Still, if you happen to be in the neighbourhood then there is no excuse to take a walk and see one of China's top tourist attractions. The lake itself is very large and a walk around the perimeter can take hours -- I tried it once. The local government have also done a good job at preserving the area in a very tasteful way. You will not see any huge buildings crowding the sky-line; you will not hear the sounds of continual development that plagues so much of this country; and you will not see any cheap touristy cash-ins. Occasionally there is a (free) water show where lake water is pumped in all sorts of directions to simulate a kind of dance with music, at night it is especially spectacular (see below).

The rather indistinguishable water show on the West Lake at night

The same show taking place in the day time (in the distance)

Kimi and I also met up with Reuben (an ex-Web teacher) and his girlfriend, Maggie. It was great to catch up and see how well Hangzhou life has been treating them. They took us to a couple of brilliant restaurants, one served Sichuan food and was certainly one of the best I have been to; the other was Korean, which was also the tastiest Korean food I have ever tried -- although I am by no means an expert on Korean cuisine (I think I've eaten it 5 times in my life).

I haven't been to Hangzhou for a while, but being there this time made me realise how much I have missed the place. I spent over half a year living and working in the city, then -- as I mentioned in my very first post -- I moved to Wenzhou, which has now taken up one year of my life. Hangzhou is certainly a more welcoming choice for anybody visiting China, and it manages to balance business and commerce with sightseeing and relaxation. The latter part is missing in Wenzhou, it is all business business business here.

We stayed with Reuben and Maggie for almost a whole day. We ate, drank, went to an arcade (which was an all-new experience for me in China), and finally ended up at a hotel. Reuben had been doing freelance work teaching some of the hotel staff English. All of us were introduced to the managers and finally the boss of the establishment. Lo and behold, the owner of this rather huge hotel block was Wenzhounese -- typical.

The following day Kimi and I didn't have much time to go sightseeing. Kimi had already done her fair share of shopping having bought a load of clothes from a factory outlet store the previous day. We took a short walk, struggled to find a taxi (which is common practice in Hangzhou), and eventually made our way to Subway for a sandwich -- a rare treat indeed. Finally we arrived back at the bus station, the taxi fare being much more expensive than any Wenzhou taxi I've ever taken. As always we were on the very last minute but just managed to hop on our 1 o'clock bus back to Wenzhou.

The holiday was criminally short, I didn't want to leave really, but as usual reality called and I once again realised that I need to make money to do things like have holidays in the first place. I should mention the national holiday itself was Qing Ming festival, or Tomb Sweeping day. A time to clean, restore, and put flowers on the graves of loved ones -- or go to Hangzhou for 3 days.

Holiday to Hangzhou: Part 1

I apologise for the quietness on my blog recently. The main reason is that Kimi and I have just been away for a few days. Originally we were going to Shanghai to see a concert, but after the government put a stop to that -- as I talked about here -- we decided to pay a visit to Hangzhou with the possibility of visiting Shanghai afterwards (we didn't make it to Shanghai).

After a four and a half hour bus ride, we arrived at Hangzhou. Everything seemed very familiar, nothing had changed since I lived there just over a year ago. We walked to the nearest bus stop and caught a bus to our hotel located in the city centre. The hotel itself was very modern, basic, and most importantly, clean. By this time it was already approaching 4 o'clock, and because we didn't have any lunch on the bus, we were hungry. Our plan was to go to one of Hangzhou's most popular restaurants, Grandma's Kitchen. We thought if we went early we would certainly get a table. This is what happened:

You can't even book a table here, the only option is to queue

So we waited -- for an hour and a half. It is quite astonishing how one restaurant can be so popular. Every time it is the same story, huge queues and slow service. There isn't only one Grandma's Kitchen, there are many of them scattered across the city, each of them probably as equally crowded. Once our number was called we entered the restaurant and took our table -- which we had to share with another couple. When reading the menu one thing is quite apparent: everything is cheap. I got the feeling that one of the reasons the restaurant is so popular could be due to a con of sorts. The restaurant looks expensive, the food looks fancy, but it's all a bargain. Also, the menu is extremely diverse, there's a lot crammed into the pages. You can get anything from Chinese basics like Mapo Tofu, to other slightly less desireable offerings such as Pig's brain (they didn't really need to have a picture of that one, I could have guessed what it might look like).

Our food was delivered extremely quickly even though it was almost impossible to find a waiter who would take our order in the first place. The food was delicious, not the standard Chinese food I am used to. Each dish had something different to offer, it was almost worth the wait.

Somehow we managed to eat almost all of this

There'll be more Hangzhou tomorrow, time to get ready for work now.