The Wandering Monkey

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