The Wandering Monkey

Today I did my first signficant-potential interview.  It was in Beijing with a well-known American company.  I think it is a good fit in the position.  I interviewed with three people at the same time.  It lasted just short of two hours.  To me, it seemed like 15 minutes. 

 

I hope it was well received.  I am optimistic, but there's a lot running on this working out.  It would be right in many ways.  First, it is in my specialty.  Second, it is with a good company.  And third, it is in China, which gives me a chance to remain her and advance my career at the same time.

 

A telephone interview with staff in the US was scheduled for Saturday morning, but it has since been rescheduled.  I am telling myself that is because my Saturday morning is their Friday afternoon, so it's quite likely a person could be busy.  But when it is important, you can't help but care about it.

 

Wish me luck!

-J

Hello Folks-

I am in my second day in Beijing.  I have a very nice apartment that my friend is letting me stay at. There is a pool and a workout gym in the basement.  Yesterday we went to the Summer Palace, which is an enourmous park and bridge and palace combination.  It took about an hour to walk around the entire circle.  It was quite interesting.  Apparently, this massive lake there was not natural.  It was dug because the emperor wanted a lotus pond.  I cant imagine digging the whole thing by hand, but I guess you can say that is the power of many hands at work, yes?

 

Beijing has proved not to be the friendliest place.  My initial impression is not a winner.  The taxi driver I first dealt with first could not understand the street name I was saying to him.  Possibly an honest miscomunication.  Then, once he figured it out, he looked over at me and said, 50 kuai (a slang term for RMB, like saying 'bucks' for American currency.)  I knew the place was very closeby, and at most if he used the meter it would be 15rmb.  So, I told him to *&^& you and got out and slammed the door.  After that the other drivers didn't want to work with me, so I had to walk around the block to find a new taxi group. 

 

After this, I did find Jouni, my friend, and he's been good so far.  Very nice, and he will let me stay in his place indefinitely.  He said another friend of his stayed there a week and a half, so that's my schedule. 

 

Beijing is filled with foreigners.  I could especially feel it after beijing in Nanjing where there were almost none.  It's a bit dissapointing to see so many foreigners.  It's like bejing in New York or something.  Plus, the people here look younger, somehow, than the foreigners in Shanghai.  I think there are a lot of college kids out here.

 

Last night I met up with a friend of mine from the Beijing swing dance group.  He brought with him his cousin and a friend of his, both 18.  I could not help but feel old.  I'm 19 years older than them, and they are 18 years old!!  We had a nice dinner, though, then went out to see the bar streets in Beijing.  They are OK, but again filled with so many young foreigners.  I did find a nice shop selling canes and walkers, though, so it was not a total loss.  I turned in a bit early, having just arrived that day on the sleeper train, gone swimming, seen the summer palace, then dinner and a night out.  I was a bit tuckered out by midnight, because, as you can see on the list of activites, I did not take my afternoon nap... That will get to the old folks like me...

 

The good news is that everyone in China thinks I am in my 20's.  Apparently, I am outwardly well preserved.  Thats'a'nice.

 

Today I got up and went to the internet cafe, were I am now.  I am not 'feeling' beijing.  If I get the job offer, I will stay here, but otherwise I'm not going to spend too much more time here.  The good news is that I found a good 'next' place to go.  Dailan, which is near the Korean border.  It has a beach, there are not too many foreigners, and the people there speak standard Mandarin (not a local dialext or heavily accented version of the lanaguge.)  I found I liked being in places without a massive amount of foreigners.  If I wanted to be in such a place, I'd go back to Shanghai, where I know people and places and can get along a little easier.

 

On to the long term plans.  I am thinking now, more and more, that if this current job offer does not take place or is not good enough, it is almost definitely a return to America after about 30 days from now.  I am going to think on it, but this return would almost surely be without a plan to return to Shanghai.  There's just not any great opportunities here.  Granted, it is more fun, but lacking the swing group responsibility and any other sort of real job, I think its time to move on.

 

I am outlining a book right now on my Shanghai Swing adventures.  Yesterday I met a woman who works at a publishing house.  They only publish in China, but it could prove useful.  Who knows?  The tricky part now is actually writing it, completing it.  I'm going to make is short in length so that I have some hope of getting it to the end.

 

All for now,

-J

Hello Folks-

On Wednesday I had a feeling I should leave Nanjing.  That's what I like about impulse traveling; as soon as you feel like going, you get on a train and go. It's the best freedom.  BUT, for some reason I hesitated.  I thought it would be a good idea to stay one more day in Nanjing.  It wasn't really.  I did not do much during the day.  But in the night, I took a train to Beijing.  This was pretty cool.

 

From Nanjing to Beijing is over 8 hours by train.  I took the 'sleeper' car, which is four bunks to a room.  Two bunks on the floor, two above (bunkbead style).  They've got a pretty nice setup on the train.  I had dinner in the dinner car.  Actually, it was quite good.  I just had nui rou mien (beef noodles), but it was very tasty.  Then I went back to the bunk.  It turns out that at the foot of each bunk is your own TV set, plus earphones you can use to listen to it.  Nice.  I didn't want to watch TV, but in case I go again I'll try it.

 

The train hummed along at a pretty good speed.  It had a hypnotic affect, and I was soon asleep.  I woke up the next morning, and I was in Beijing, and the sun was up.  The beds were not too hard or too soft, and I actually slept better there than I have in the hotels I've stayed in.  The only downside of the sleeper train is that is is relatively expensive by China standards.  400rmb Nanjing to Beijing, which is about $50.  That does not sound like much for such a deal in the US, but you can stay at a near-luxury hotel for 400rmb per night (if you know where to look).

 

Today I walked out of the train station and had breakfast.  I've been to Beijing before.  Took the train in once before as well.  I knew the area and felt comfortable enough.  Last time I came here was with the swing dance crew, over 2 years ago for the Shanghai-Beijing swing dance exchange.

 

So, now its time to talk about work.  I am taking this trip for a few reasons, but one of them is that there is a potential interview here.  That does not make much sense, really -- to take a train to Beijing for a *potential* interview, but I did want to travel anyhow.  I also thought it might "push" the process along to say, "I'm in Beijing just this one week.  Can we meet now for a quick interview?"  It's a large corporation and they tend to move like molasses.  Gotta poke 'em with a stick from time to time.

 

Erstwhile, I am getting almost daily offers for work back in the US.  Short-term EDI contracts in different cities.  Boca Rotan (sp?) Florida.  Los Angeles.  Some in Chicago.  I don't think I'd go back to Chicago this time, not specifically.  If I can arrange a job offer, I think I'd go back to California, or to the East Coast.  Some place interesting.  Chicago was OK, and it was great to see my family again, but blah blah blah.  It was boring.  I could not help but get the "Here we are again" feeling coming back to where I started from.

 

I don't know what Beijing will be like.  I am sampling the life here.  There is an existing swing dance group, which I could participate in if I decide to get back into that.  I don't think I'd teach or organize, just go and have fun.  It's about time for that, no?  Maybe hold a party once a year or something.

 

But I want to see what day to day life is like.  Are the people friendly?  Is the nightlife good?  How to the taxi drivers treat you?  Do people try to cheat you, and in what ways?  How much is housing, and can a person enjoy themselves here?

 

I noticed in Nanjing that because of the very few foreigners in the city, I was treated especially different.  Just to talk to a foreigner (me) who speaks English is an event.  Plus, very few people spoke English, and those who did spoke it poorly.  My Chinese was better than their English, and that is the crucial ingredient for learning.  I could stay there, and every day everyone I met would speak Chinese with me.  There are some major merits in that as opposed to staying in Shanghai.  I also understand the rents are very low.  If I were spending unemployed time, it would be much cheaper to do so in Najing than in Shanghai, and I would be improving my language.  Let's see what happens on that one.  Not saying anything now.

 

So if there is a job offer with a somewhat reasonable salary from this company in Beijing, I'm almost positively going to take it.  If the job offer does not come, or the salary is ridiculous, I'm going to cherry-pick the offers from the States and take the one that makes the most sense, based upon salary, potential to learn new skills, and location.  Every now and then, when I think of it, I'm in a great position.  Really.

 

So I'm going to visit with my friend Jouni.  He's letting me stay in his guest room.  Jouni is Finnish.  I met him in my first month in Shanghai during my apartment search.  Back in those days, you ran into anyone who spoke English, they were your best new friend.  But Jouni has lasted the test of time, and I have seen him even though he's moved back and forth to Shanghai, Tokyo, Beijing, and I think India for a while.  Jouni was the archetypical "mobile" foreigner.  I remembered looking upon his life with envy, seeing new cities while I remained here in Shanghai, doing the same swing dancing club promotion every week.  Such as it is, now I am mobile, and I think this suits me.

 

Not too long ago, someone asked me, can you be happy with a life like that?  Would you want to be moving from one city to another every several months, then returning to Shanghai just on occasion to rest?  Damn straight I'd be happy with that.  I've noticed that I like to 'change' people very often.  Even in the short-term.  If I have hung out with one person for 24 hours, at that point I like to say, "Hey, that was fun.  See you next week, ok?"  Even if it was a good time, even if they are the greatest person in the world.  I just like to change often.  It doesn't mean we won't stay long-term friends, but I like a variety of things.  I also very much like the idea of keeping an apartment in Shanghai while I am on my job assignments in America.  I have for a very long time felt like I had no 'home'.  I don't, either.  But I could rent a place in Shanghai, or even buy one.  I could work 50% of the time in America, and still probably afford the mortgage in Shanghai (or Beijing, or wherever).  I like the prospect of that.  That is an acceptable future for me.

 

All for now. I am at a coffee shop.  Drinking coffee.  After I will drop off my bag at my friend Jouni's place then take a trip to the Forbidden City, or Summer Palace, or something.

 

Peace out,

Jimbo

Obviously, I have not been keeping up this blog very often.  When I came to China the first time, the blog was a survival technique. No matter what happened, I could at least write about it and people back home would know about it.  Know that I'm used to China, I guess you could say I dont need it so much.  And I dont think it's all quite as interestng as it was in the beginning, but lately there's some good stuff to tell.

 

I have had a long term girlfriend out here for a long time.  We broke up when I last went to the States.  At that time I had returned to Chicago and I had no idea if and when I'd ever be back in Shanghai.  Add to this the problems a normal relationship would have, and there it is.

 

However, upon returning, I met up with her again, and realized I had many feelings still for her.  We broke up while I was in the US and she out in China.  But to see her again in person was surprisingly difficult.  I didn't think I'd make any problems of it, but I eventually did tell her I still had feelings for her.  At first, she was pretty much past it.  She said, We tried, but it didn't work.  And she had 'sort of' begun to date someone else by this point.  I figured it was something to let go of, so I did what I could to put it past me.  But you know...

 

About two weeks later we ended up getting back together again.  And it's been good in many ways and difficult in others.  The problems we had in our relationship are still there, though a little more defined and acknowledged by both parties.  But it's hard to relax.  That's a big problem.  On the other had, there's so much to be appreciated.  That's the big complication.

 

All of this is pretty much a moot point, since my #1 problem now is finding some sort of a job which would keep me gainfully employed in China, with a good future.  Many people ask, what does that mean, a Good Future?  For me it's simple:  One in which I buy a house.  I want property.  Not too complex or outlandish and idea, but a harder thing to do today than for any generation previously.  Be that as it may...

 

My first few interviews in China did not go so well.  Everyone told me about the same thing: we have no need for your paricular speciality (B2B E-commerce), and your Chinese -- though decent -- is not 'fluent'.  It was variations on a theme, but in the end everyone said more or less the same phrase: We like your resume but we dont have any positions for which you qualify right now.

 

It did get to me, I must admit.  Not because I'm a quitter (well, maybe...), but mostly because the challenge of finding a job in the US for me is nil.  I am approached several times each week by recruiters.  It's just a matter of picking the city, picking the assignment, and negotiating a price.  And relative to a China payscale, I could work four months in America, then move to China and do absolutely nothing for eight, and I still would be better off than working full time in China.

 

This is the dilema which has been the center of my issues since I moved back to the US about a year ago.  China = fun and no money.  US = money and no fun.  The only practical realistic solution would be to find some sort of *marginally* acceptable salary in China, but in a job position which allows me to develop my skills and make myself more marketable.

 

My specialty of EDI has been a boon overall.  I cannot complain.  It has provided me with financial independence and given me many choices I would not otherwise have.  There is still an enormous market in the US for it, and jobs are a-plenty.  But I did feel the lack of interest in it in the China market.  I also have heard that internationally, there is not much use of or call for EDI.  No matter how you look at it, I have 10 years in to EDI without too much experience in anything else too deeply (unless you count swing dancing).

 

There is but one position which sounded interesting enough to pursue.  I'm not going to say too much about it, but it is with a big name company, and it is located in Beijing.

 

Over the last several weeks in Shanghai, I have been feeling a bit down about the job search.  I've been going through it, but I felt a lack of energy and drive that is necessary to pull off getting a job.  No one's going to hire a bloke who can't get enthusiastic about the interview process. 

 

I looked at my chances overall, and I decided that there is a very real chance I won't be finding any good jobs in China.  I decided it would be better to pursue some sort of work which offers good pay AND lets me expand my skill set.  And the only place to do that, realistically, is in the US. 

 

SO...

 

I am currently taking some time "off" from Shanghai and traveling around China.  It's amazing, since I only left on Tuesday (today being Thursday). Yet it feels like I've been living an entire month of experiences.  I am meeting people every day, and my Chinese is now good enough to do entire introductions, conversations, and essentially make friends with people who can speak no English at all.  It's also a great boon for my Chinese studying skills.

 

I am currently in Nanjing.  I am on my way up to Beijing, and I have not decided exactly when I'm going to arrive there.  I have two friends in Beijing who have offered the use of their homes there.  I figure I'll spend 2-3 days with each of them.

 

About Nanjing.  First of all, you may notice the names Beijing and Nanjing both end with 'Jing".  Yes, that's a deep observation, I can tell you.  But furthermore, "Nan" means "South", and "Bei" means "North".  And, "Jing" means "Capitol".  So, indeed the names Beijing and Nanjing mean "North Capitol" and "South Capitol" respectively.

 

The Chinese don't really "name" their cities like English-speakers do. They very frequently just "describe" them, as in the case above.  Even the name the Chinese use to refer to their own country is like this:  They call it "Zhongguo".  Zhong means "Center", or "Central".  "Guo" means "Country."

 

Once you get past some certain difficulties in the language, it becomes much easier to learn Chinese.  Eventually someone tells you a new two-syllable word, and you know the meanings of both the first and second syllable.  You can sometimes guess the entire meaning, but even if you can't guess its meaning, it is easier to remember.

 

So, I am on my tour of China.  I don't remember how much I talked about the swing dance group in China, but I'm still quite upset about the state of affairs there.  I left the group still under my management in the hands of my old assistant.  Who proceeded to declare herself the leader of the group and told me to go pound sand.  This was just two months after I left Shanghai.

 

Were there any good reason to try to re-establish control over the group, I would do so.  But in the end, the only reason to try to do this would be because of my emotions.  I feel robbed, cheated, and lied to, etc.  But the group does not make significant money, and it requires a great deal of time (often) to run.  And, futhermore, if I did re-establish control over it, I may need to again leave Shanghai again, at which point the future would be quite uncertain.  In the better interest of Swing in general, I decided to let the coup go on unopposed, but I can't say I feel good about it.  I stopped going to the events entirely, after soem time.  I kept feeling very bad after every dance.  I could not see the reason to go to a social function and feel bad afterwards, so I just stopped going.

 

So, without a definite job, and poor prospects for getting a good-paying job, and no responsibility or even association with the swing group anymore, I was idling in Shanghai.  Nothing to do but visit some friends, see the nightlife.  But Shanghai nightlife is not new to me.  It's fun, for sure, but nightlife alone does not a life make.  I was wasting too much time, no studying effectively, and not feeling too well.  So I decided I would do one of the things I always wish I had time for before:  travel around China. 

 

During my 2.5 years running swing, I never took a vacation.  This does not mean I worked every day of every week.  But I never left Shanghai.  Not even for a weekend, because weekends were the time we taught and did dance parties.  As a result, I didn't see anything else of China but Shanghai. 

 

Now, I'm making the most of my situation and traveling around.  I got some blogs of other travelers and got ideas and suggestions of where to go and where to stay.  But pretty much I just pick up, decide on a city, go to the train station, and I'm off.  I'm not exactly 'backpacking".  I always laugh at people walking down the street in Shanghai wearing a backpack.  That would be like backpacking to New York City.  I mean, really, take the subway already.

 

But I have a small bag with two changes of clothes.  I'm mini-packing.

 

The thing which has been most remarkable is that I have been able to meet people and make friends right off the bat.  Granted, these are usually girls, but I suppose that's the way it's going to be.  Very few Chinese guys would approach a foreigner who is sitting around looking bored and say, hey how are you?

 

Nanjing is different from Shanghai.  I have not seen but a handfull of foreigners here.  I'm not counting the day I went to the tourist site, where there we several dozen.  But on the street, walking around in the daytime, and the one time I went to the 'bar' street, there were no foreigners at all.

 

I get more surprised, and different looks from people here.  They are not expecting to see me, and they are a little taken aback.  I have heard you can get a strange reaction if you go to a small town.  But I have definitely felt the difference here.  I can imagine what a small town will feel like.  More on that later.

 

The first night, I took a boat to visit a small island.  A girl was on the boat, and I said something to her in Chinese.  At which point she was impressed that I could speak Chinese and we ended up talking the entire afternoon, looking at the island and such.  It was a bit hard, though, because she spoke at a frenzied pace.  I could only get a few words out each sentence, and despite my repeated requests to slow down, she just would go back to full speed a few minutes later.

 

The next day I met another girl, with whom I visitited some of the tourist sites and walked around town.  I must admit I do like the attention.  And I do like the opportunity to speak Chinese and practice.

 

Next stop is probably going to be Beijing, even though I'm going to have to take an 8-hour train to get there.  They have 'soft sleeper' trains here, which means I'd take the 930pm train and arrive the next day, being able to sleep on the train all night.  As a swing dance group, we once took a train from Shanghai to Beijing with regular seats.  This, I must tell you, was a very unplesant experience.  The seats do not recline in the least, and they have you up at an almost 90 degree angle.  Not a single one of us could sleep.  Plus, to add insult to injury, the train had a big LED clock in the front of the cabin.  It displayed, constantly, minute-by-minute, the time.  Wow.  So this I'm I'm getting the sleeper.  I hear its fun to take the sleeper with a group of folks.  Bring along a bottle of wine, some cards, tell ghost stories. Then wake up in Beijing.  Nice.

 

All for now. I'm off to dinner.  Tomorrow evening I take the train to Beijing.  WIll update then.

Peace,

Jimbo