I Think I'm Turning Chinese (I Really Think So)

Since it's been about a month since my last post, it's probably not very surprising that I have decided to no longer keep updating my blog here. It has been a very useful way of keeping friends and family up to date with my latest stupidity, and a good record of some of the more interesting times. Someone must have appreciated it, it's almost got 1.5K views, but I'm not sure how many of those were me refreshing the page trying to get the damn thing to load. But now I'm settling down for the long haul until the finish line, staying in one place and working for this hotel right up until I leave, so I feel that there's not as much point as updating my blog as before, when my life was changing at a much more rapid click.

I'm really enjoying my internship much more than I thought I would, though. Most interesting is that I am improving my Chinese, I think that's going well. Recently I even decided to move out of the hotel room that I was sharing with a Dutch roommate and into the dormitories for Chinese employees located a 15 minute walk from the hotel in an attempt to get a bit more active in learning, and being, Chinese. I get stared at on the street on the way to and from work, it's been ages since that happened! That's how I know it's real China.

However, good news for the Chinese speakers among you: I will be starting a new blog in Chinese, on my Renren account (the Chinese answer to Facebook). Read it if you can, and if you can't, put it into Google translate and use your imagination. This will be a blog that I intend to keep for the long term and continue to use no matter what country I might find myself in. Even though I've said that about other projects before, I really want to keep my connection to this country and this language for life. I'll still have stuff to write about, plus I'll pretend that it being in Chinese will make the content a lot more exotic and interesting.

I should be home in January or February of next year, I'm not sure about how long my visa will last for yet. Once I get back, I am planning on studying a graduate entry Bachelor of Laws and Legal Practice at Flinders University. Basically because a B.A. majoring in Chinese isn't all that useful, especially if you don't want to live in China, which I don't. I'd love a job where I travel sometimes, even a lot, but not all the time, and being in China has that insecure feeling of being a place for journeying, not a destination. So when I get back, I really want to do something that is going to get me to where I want to be in the long term, and get me on the path to achieving something rather than expecting achievement to fall into my lap. I'm even probably going to sit the GAMSAT exam and attempt to get into postgraduate Medicine in 2014. My logic is that with Law or Medicine I could do something apart from becoming a straight-up Doctor or Lawyer that could be much more interesting. And if I have to study something post-graduate, Medicine or Law beats Accounting or something like that. So hopefully I can start crafting an actual future next year, drifting has been fun but it's pretty tiring. In any case, I'll be keeping myself busy both in China and in Australia. See you all when I see you, much love to all.

I couldn't think of a suitable photo for this final post, so here is the link to my new Chinese blog. http://www.renren.com/456335352#!//blog/blog/0/

Hello Goodbye

I am writing this from my hotel room on the 7th floor with a view of the hills surrounding Beijing. Admittedly, I do have a room mate, a Dutch guy called Wout, but he's pretty chill and he's got a shift right now so I have the room to myself. Moved in, unpacked, borrowed a suit from the hotel because I've been too stingy to buy one so far. Finally having settled in here, with at least a reduced degree of uncertainty of the future, is very nice. I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into this job and learning a lot. I've already had a week of shifts, but I've mostly been getting to know the hotel and the staff. I am a Management Trainee, along with the two other foreign staff here, Wout and Nicole. But I'll be working in the front desk department, mainly doing checking in and out, and handling questions and complains. My mentor, Shaun, says shift managers are nicknamed toilet paper by the hotel staff: because we clean up the shit. For example, when someone is accidentally booked into a smoking instead of a non-smoking room (like last week), and you want to make sure they're not too pissed off at the same time as not automatically giving them a free upgrade. The staff are great, really friendly and mostly speaking to me in Chinese. It's wonderful how not being an English teacher helps with that. Nanni, my supervisor, even offered to take me clubbing some time, and Simon from the concierge desk gave me the card of a nice bar he goes to. My project for the duration of my stay here will be to improve the Guest Experience Index (GEI). People give us feedback according to a survey, and we get a number for satisfaction relating to different areas of the hotel. At the moment, we're 0.5 lower than target, and it will be my job to produce a report recommending changes and hopefully improving that statistic. Sounds like I might get to tell people what to do, and yell at them if they don't. Fun!

I got sick at the end of the week, because I didn't get enough sleep, and I went out on Wednesday night until far later than I should have. I blame Rupert and Annie coming to visit, and forcing me to take them out to all-you-can-eat-and-drink teppanyaki and then stay out until 4am clubbing (pictured). Completely not my fault. On the plus side, it was awesome having a total of 8 Adelaideians together in one place, I don't think I will see that again until I get back. Speaking of which, I have a more-or-less confirmed date: February 6th. I might need to get my visa extended until then, but 14th of January would be the earliest return date. Their normal management trainee program is for one full year, so I had to stay here for as long as possible for it to be worth their while. Unfortunately I'll miss Christmas at home, but this is really going to be a valuable experience, so I may as well make the most of it.

Being here is a big change from Tsinghua, though. One constant over the past month and a half has been goodbyes. I made far more truly good friends there than I realised I did until it came time for people to leave. One of the awesome things about going overseas like this is that you meet great people, and become great friends, until it becomes one of the crap things about going overseas like this: you have to say goodbye so soon. I fully intend to visit North America and Europe in the near future to see all the great friends that I have accumulated after having lived overseas for over a year in total. Miss you guys.

Wrestling with the steering wheel

Lobby of Four Points by Sheraton

It's been a heck of a long time coming, but I finally found an internship. It's been a long road to get here. I noticed that almost no one else was doing the same thing as me, going to China without a plan and hoping something would turn up, and I gradually realised that was for a reason.

There are two things: business visas to China are like hen's teeth, and since most companies aren't used to employing foreigners they don't know the situation with the labour laws, which just makes them totally unwilling to take a gamble. I discovered the first part thanks to HTHY, and the second part thanks to 中旅，the second company to accept me and then reconsider. That's CTS, China Travel Service, the largest travel agency in China. I got an interview thanks to Rena, one of my few local friends. I met her once ages ago, then heard through a mutual friend that she was returning to Beijing from her hometown to look for work. Initially I was supposed to help her, but of course she ended up helping me much more. She got an interview at CTS, and told them she had a foreign friend who spoke Chinese, and they had us both for an interview on a Thursday, and they said start on Monday. I thought it was incredibly lucky, working in a Chinese workplace where almost no one spoke English, it really would have been great for my Chinese. Unfortunately, I knew my Chinese really wasn't up to the level they required, they did a lot of work over the phone to their clients. Sure enough, after working there for one day and two hours, they said I should probably look elsewhere.

Rena was really helpful, and tried to give me some more advice, but I realised I was rapidly running out of time, as I needed a visa. Finally, I caved into using an agency to help me find an internship. The finder's fee was pretty steep, at about $600, but I took an interview anyway to see if it would be worth my while. And so I found myself at the Four Points by Sheraton: http://www.starwoodhotels.com/fourpoints/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=3017&EM=VTY_FP_3017_BEIJINGHAIDIAN_PROP_OVERVIEW. Next, seeing where the dive takes me.

Summer break

It's strange how apathy breeds more apathy, so once you don't have anything to do, you don't feel like starting anything. This has been how I've been feeling since my exams finished, which by the way, went quite well, I've only got 4 out of 5 results back but basically got one 90%, one 80, and two 70's. Solid. Although I probably could have taken all my courses at a higher level, and stuggled through but still passed. At least this way the marks on my degree look more impressive. But I am quite glad that my degree is over, the end of another chapter of my life.

It really makes me want to get on and do something with it. Unfortunately, due to a company that I was originally planning on interning with basically just changing their mind, I haven't been able to! I found this really interesting internship at a marketing/branding firm called HTHY, who work for companies like LiNing, Adidas and Nike. But they usually only provide short-term internships, but I met the manager and he offered me an an internship at the end of my first interview. But then after waiting for about 3 weeks, including some email contact, he finally said they couldn't offer me a visa, and even if I could they wouldn't be ready to take on an intern for another couple of months. This was news to me, I've even already turned down some other potential roles on the expectation that I would work there. I've already wasted a month sitting around and/or getting drunk, which is actually a lot more boring than it sounds. I really hope that I can use the next six months to get some real work experience, which is something that I am sorely lacking. I'm kicking myself that I didn't organise something for the summer, or even properly look into getting a visa independently. This is why it would just be simpler to study law, or medicine, say, and have a career set for you as soon as you walk out of uni with a degree. That is a perspective that my current degree has given me, and I guess I'm very glad for that, because I know that when I come across the right path, and things just unfold, I am going to absolutely love it and get right stuck into it.

I know I'm complaining a lot for a 21-year-old Australian living in Beijing, for example, yes that photo is of me on the Great Wall of China in front of the sunset with a glass of red wine in my hand. I have also met a whole lot of kick-ass people this semester, and I'm going to miss them. In fact, I already do, because a lot of people have already left for their home countries because they were only staying here for the first semester of this year. And even of those staying for two semesters, just about everyone has gone home for the summer or are travelling. So it's been a great time, but it's about time it came to an end, I'm even looking forward to coming home!

Almost there

I know I haven't updated my blog in quite some time, but I've decided that one photo per day was an overambitious goal, should have seen that one coming. Lately, I don't even have that much to talk about. When I first came here, I was so dedicated, but I'm finding that a combination of having a good time and not speaking Chinese outside of class makes it hard to get motivated. This is a bad thing with 5 exams this week, after which I graduate, Harry Crawford B.A.!

At the moment, I reckon that's all right, but my plan is to get away from all these foreigners (lovely as they are) in the second half of the year. Even though it's just about here already, I still haven't figured out what to do about that. But, I don't really care all that much. I am definitely going to study something postgrad next year, most likely in Adelaide. Because, you guessed it, an Arts degree isn't opening many doors. While I'm having a great time here, it's almost time in my life to get some direction. But not just yet. In the meantime, here's some videos I made, which I think capture two different sides of what it's like to be on exchange in Beijing. Enjoy! Apologies for low quality (both of video and performance, yes I screwed up a few lyrics but who cares)

Gotta love my parents, this stuff is all totally awesome. Highlight of this week: watching The Avengers in IMAX 3D whilst eating Twisties. I'm determined to make this stuff last, so actually I'm eating more at the canteens so I'm not hungry when I get back to my room, haha. I had a presentation early in the week that didn't go so well, and considering that preparing for it was one of the reasons that I came back from Chengdu, I was pretty bummed out. Also, I am getting serious about finding an internship now, I've got three interviews coming up next week. But it's been hard chasing those up too, partly because my Chinese isn't good enough to apply for positions in straight-up Chinese (which I'm worried will mean I won't get an internship where I'm in a Chinese-speaking environment), partly because I don't really have a career direction right now. The career direction will hopefully come next year in the form of a post-graduate degree, probably back at Adelaide Uni (I forget if I've mentioned that plan in this blog already). So this week has been pretty stressful. I wish I had longer here, it's only been three months and I'm already leaving so soon, but I feel like I should have accomplished more, joined more societies etc. But my Chinese wasn't good enough for that at the beginning, so I have to think I've done alright. Having a good time, even in English, can always make me feel better. To that end, I think I'll have some chocolate right now

Chengdu trip; glad I'm back in Beijing

This is going to be rather a long post, since it covers a week. So last the Sunday before last, I left for Chengdu, a city in the south west of China that's pretty much as big as Beijing. A friend of mine from Sweden, Erik, has some family there, and we originally had the idea to go there together. In the end, we had a group of 11 people (!!), mainly Japanese and Koreans, and even in a group of big foreigners like us, I was still the only white guy. Haha. So I still got people asking to take photos with me on this trip. In the end, I actually ended up coming back to Beijing earlier than everyone else.

On Sunday evening, we took a plane from Beijing, it's a 30 hour trip by train so at least one way pretty much had to be on a plane. Unfortunately I decided to stay up late the night before, so I was already tired, a bad idea going into a week of travel. We didn't get to bed until late, then the next day had a very early start to go see the Pandas. As I expected, they were cute, cuddly and lazy. I swear people could have thrown stuff at them and they wouldn't have minded and just kept eating. Of course, the girls thought they was awesome. For me, it was more of a case of being impressed by the fact that I still got to witness these near-extinct creatures. Then on our way back we visited some nice temples, but I realised that I've already seen the best temples of pretty much anywhere in China on my last trip, so perhaps they were less impressive to me than the others. This trip taught me that I think I've just about travelled enough in China for impressive sights, anything else I do will be for relaxation. The fact that I was hot and tired was not helping, unfortunately. Getting anywhere was a pain: one of the three taxis got lost and didn't get to the first temple until nearly half an hour later than everyone else. In the end, it was a decent day, and I managed to get to bed a bit earlier than than the others, but the next two days were very tiring: DaFo, and Emeishan, one of China's top 5 holiest mountains.

Next stop: DaFo (literally: Big Buddha), and that he is: big. 70 metres tall, his toe is nearly taller than me. My big plan was to see the big guy in the morning and head to Emeishan in the afternoon, in time to stay in a monestary, then to climb up very early in the morning to see the sunrise from the peak. There were a couple of problems with this plan that stopped it from working: having a big group, having a big group mostly comprised of girls, and the huge, huge, huge crowds. I clearly underestimated this aspect, which I really should have seen coming, this was during one of China's largest national holidays. Photo ops were still great, if you look closely you can see people (smudges of colour) by DaFo's head on the top left, that might give you some perspective. Finally, we managed to leave, but by the time we got to Emeishan it was pretty much dark, and since the girls had decided to follow us rather than going back to Chengdu like they originally planned, we decided to stay at the foot of the mountain, and get a bus up the next day.

Big mistake: other people had the same idea. There were literally thousands of people trying to get up. First, we had to catch a bus from the hotel to get to the mountain's bus station, that was the biggest crowd crush of my life, including moshing. Then we couldn't get the student price tickets for some stupid reason, then when we got as close to the top as the bus could take us we were running late, so we decided to take a cable car to get to the peak, but everything had taken so long that we missed sunrise! This was after getting up at 3.30am. Not that it mattered, it was too foggy on the peak to see sunrise anyway. But still, I didn't get to see sunrise, actually hike the mountain, and had spent a lot of money for the pleasure, so unfortunately Emeishan didn't live up to my expectations. We went back down and saw some great scenery near the foot of the mountain though, including what the mountain is partly famous for: monkeys! There were some near the top too, but there were lots down the bottom, even though we were still running late so only got to see them for 20 minutes or so. But they would steal people's stuff literally from their pockets; I saw a monkey reach into a man's coat pocket and take a packet of biscuits, and I could have sworn he smiled. We didn't even leave until nearly dark. During the day, I'd gotten the idea that I might go back to Beijing early, that night in fact (Wednesday). The others were going to go to JiuZhaiGou, a national park a 10 hour bus ride from Chengdu, but I decided I'd had enough stress. So when we got back, I had dinner with the others, then went straight to the train station to change my ticket for that night's train. In the end, it was a good call, even though departure was delayed for about an hour in an extremely loud and hot departure hall. I met some nice students on the train, then slept for most of the 30 hour journey.

Finally got back to Beijing, and spent Friday organising some stuff in the morning, and studying in the afternoon. That was part of the reason I came back, originally I'd planned to tell my teachers "I'm sick, can I have until next week?" But that would have been pretty week. Only caught up with one friend on that weekend, but knocked off most of my study, which was great. On the whole, I probably should have stayed in Beijing, but there really isn't long now until semester finishes, so at least now I have even more drive to make the most of it!