Blog about blogging

When I first arrived here, I wrote my blog pretty much every day. I was like "Oooh blogging is soooo easy, I'm gonna be able to do a daily blog if I want to!"

And here we are, with my posts averaging probably twice a month.

The problem with blogging you see is that you can come up with nice ideas for blogs or think of interesting stuff to say... but you're not at your computer (or you don't have time to write). Once you get home, the idea isn't fresh in your mind and you're tired from being out all day. Therefore a lot of 'blogs' I create, aren't actually typed out and published. If only we could control blogs with our brainwaves!

A few of my friends on Facebook enjoy reading my rants that I post once every few months (on average anyway, sometimes I'm in a ranting mood and post a few in a month.. other times I'm not pissed off for a long time!). The thing with rants is that I'm often writing as I'm thinking, I'm pretty passionate about the subject and it's actually enjoyable to write. At university this was possible, because I had unlimited free time and a lot of that was spent in front of a computer. Now I'm supposed to be working, nothing exciting is worth blogging about at work.. and when I get home I want to just chill out and watch TV.

So while I'd love to write some more blogs, I can't give a guarantee that it will happen. Being realistic here!

Instant noodles, instant visas and instant realizations

So on Wednesday at 00:01AM, I became an illegal immigrant in China. Yes my visa had run out but thankfully I was already on a train to Hong Kong to sort out my new one. Since I cannot get the F-visa I need to do my internship in China, I have to leave the country to do it. Here's what really bugs me, and the American dude in the waiting room at the visa agent was also of a similar opinion; I cannot get an F visa in China, even if I supply all the required documentation which confirms that I am legitimate and that a company is taking responsibility for me. But I can go to Hong Kong and they do not even require me to submit an invitation letter, let alone copies of the company business license and registration information. It's ridiculous! I just have to pay someone to do it for me, even if I'm just planning to piss about in the country and do nothing for a year.

They've started restricting F-visas recently, not handing them out like candy. I've heard the reason is because too many people are coming here as tourists and just enjoy the 3 month permission to hang around China. Also, people are using them to work proper jobs.. which is technically illegal. I'm sure that if they cracked down on HK visa agents and let people who can provide all the evidence that their application is bonafide, then they would benefit from less visa abuse. It would also save hundreds, if not thousands, of legitimate F-visa applicants the 20 hour train journey from Shanghai-Hong Kong. It makes no sense... unless the tri-monthly train fare is some form of government tax.

It annoys me so much because I am on an intern's budget. I'm living on peanuts at the moment and I cannot really afford the 1000RMB return trip, the 1700RMB visa charge and then the more expensive food and accommodation that entering a developed country brings. And while I went to watch a movie today, and had a Thai curry for dinner... I will be living on instant noodles for the next 48 hours. I predict that I will spend around 3700RMB on this trip... which is an ENTIRE month's salary for me. I think I might have a word with my boss and see if I can get some of that reimbursed, because I am really going out on a limb to intern for these guys.

So as I eat my instant ramen and wait for my instant visa (I applied at like 3pm and I can collect it tomorrow... insane!), I am thinking about Hong Kong and whether I like it or not. Last year I came here with my friend while we were traveling around China. There was the worst rainfall for 140 years, the humidity was intolerable and the nightlife was bar focused. One day I will write a huge rant about the reason for this, but that will take some time. I'd heard so many great things about HK but I could definitely skip living here for any period longer than a week. One thing you realize the second you arrive here, is that this is possibly the most consumerist city on earth. There are nothing but shops here. It's great if you're rich and can go shopping, but it's hell for an intern. You instantly understand that your entire stay will be gazing dreamily through shop windows and thinking twice before making any purchases.

Coming to HK alone is also really crappy. The problem with these glitzy places with 10 Gucci stores and hotel entrances that appear to compete with each other purely by building huge water fountains, is that you realize what a nobody you are! Hah, that sounds pretty depressing but run with me for a sec. It's not that you're worthless, it's just that you cannot get into the Hong Kong culture and life without having the minimum requirement of a fat wallet. In Shanghai you can go to places like this, where you feel people disapprove of you as soon as you set foot in the door. In fact, Shanghai is often worse for this.. sometimes it does feel incredibly elitist. Hong Kong has a similar feeling. The malls aren't empty here, some people can afford this stuff... or the people who can't are sick of peering in through the glass. It's nice to see that. But still you feel you're missing out on 'The best of HK'. I can imagine coming here when I'm super rich and really enjoying the place. As there is nothing else to do but shop, HK is kinda lost on me. Hong Kong feels like a place where money does buy happiness. It could be just that I'm a bit lonely here by myself, but it does seem like fame and fortune would be a LOT of fun out here.

It gives me something to aspire to. Although it's pretty low on my list of priorities. I think anyone whose goal is to be able to buy expensive clothes in HK needs to rethink their lives a bit!

Hmmm.. my ultimate goal in life is to get one of these watches though:

Platinum Les Cabinotiers watch by Vacheron Constantin

I think an exception can be made for that.

Wanderlust and post-Shanghai

I've been here nearly 6 weeks now and I'm having a pretty good time. Should be starting work next week which will keep me occupied. There are only so many TV shows you can watch all day while waiting for dinner time. That's kinda what I'm experiencing at the moment in Shanghai. I don't have the money to go out drinking all the time. Furthermore, I'm trying to get a bit more healthy so I've reduced my alcohol intake. All there is to do in Shanghai is drink, so this leaves me with something of a predicament regarding 'fun'. Of course that is bound to change once the football season starts, since I won't have to get up on Saturday mornings without a hangover. Once the season starts my football training is effectively halved. At the moment, due to training, I can only go out on a Saturday night. This is rather limiting and I guess I'll have to get used to drinking the night before work, something which I'm sure every adult has to learn as a rite of passage from studenthood.

Shanghai is a rather shallow city. Unlike the more historical cities of China (Beijing and Xi'an the first to pop into my head) there is little culture at first glance. There aren't many museums, galleries, theatres or anything which most cities have. I'm sure there are some around but unlike London they aren't immediately apparent. And Shanghai lacks any real quality tourist attractions, unless you like tall buildings. Yesterday I watched a movie called 'Genova' with Colin Firth. It was mildly entertaining, one of those new breeds of films without any conclusion and therefore no real point to them. Urgh, I'm sure I'll branch out into movie complaints when I run out of stuff to say about China. It's about a family who move to Genoa, Italy after Colin's wife (and the kids' mother) dies in a car accident. There are some beautiful sets. Compared to the dull metropolis of Shanghai, the scenery and style of everything in that movie really appealed to me. It gave me an idea.



Wanderlust has grabbed me once again. I've always enjoyed traveling around, leaving what I call home and finding something new and exciting. That's what this trip to China is, as well as the language learning and work experience. I feel I've got to do all this globe-trotting before I settle down into a proper career and think about the future.

The proper career project is on a very specific schedule. September 2010 signifies the start of another year of the graduate recruitment cycle. During this month I will be writing probably around 20+ job applications hoping to find a graduate scheme to land me £20k+/year for the next 2 years (2013 is when it would finish). Applications can be done online, I have no need to go home to send in forms through the internet. When it comes to January, the second phase of recruitment begins; interviews and assessment centres. These require me to be in the UK. So my trip to China is from July 2009 until January 2011 for this exact reason. There is a problem with this plan however. While I will apply for lots of positions, it is likely I won't get to phase 2 for a number of them. Lets be prudent and say that I will get to phase 2 for half my applications, lets say 10. So there are 10 positions for which I'll have interviews. If I pass the interview, lets say I do so for 5, then I will have 5 positions which will require second interviews/assessment centres. I am in the UK from January 2011 and I will hopefully have my final graduate scheme job offer by May 2011.

So in 5 months I will have approximately:
- 10 first interviews
- 5 final interviews/assessment centres



That isn't a lot to keep me occupied. I am going to have to do something else during this time to avoid losing my sanity. At first glance this appeared to be a very depressing situation. Due to my need to randomly run off and have interviews, I can only really get a part-time job... or a generally low skilled job. After my 16 months of working as a management trainee in Shanghai, this will be a big 'demotion'. I might get paid more but money isn't my objective right now, lets save that objective for when I have a real job. This means that I am due for a very, VERY dull 5 months before I finish interviews... and then most graduate schemes do not start until September, so add another 3 months to that. 8 months of working in a shop, getting paid minimum wage, and living in Surrey... which is not exactly the most exciting place for a young adult in the UK. I still do not have my driving license, so that was always a plan for something to do. But there's only so much you can learn in a day.

So where am I going with this post, what alternative have I concocted? Here is my initial idea...

The L'italia Life: Version 1.0
I'd been thinking about living in mainland Europe for a while after my return from China. This idea was birthed from my frustration at the Chinese language and my anger (and subconscious envy) of all the "I speak 5 languages" Europeans I met in Sweden. When I was on my Erasmus exchange, there was a small minority of people who just loved to tell you how many languages they knew. It was annoying, mainly because I wish I knew more languages! After studying Chinese alone for the past 2 years (although I took a year off last year), I realised how bloody easy European languages are. These polyglots were so proud of the fact they spoke so many languages, and their stereotypical view of the English as anti-European bigots, which led to it being a common 'insult' to project at anyone who spoke the Queen's tongue as a native. Seriously, one guy wanted to start a fight with me in my own kitchen because he knew 7 languages. What a prick! What's worse is that I've heard many, many stories of people living in France or Spain for 6 months and becoming fluent at the language... at least at a conversational level.



Since I learnt French for 5 years at school (I got an A at GCSE, woo!) I thought that maybe I could spend the January-September 2011 period in France. Due to the wonders of the EU, I wouldn't need any stupid visas or anything. When I had one of my 15 interviews, I would fly back to the UK on a cheap flight and come back to France a week later. Could see the family, my friends and impress some potential employers. Yesterday I checked flights on EasyJet and Ryanair, and they're still cheap despite the recession. So it is a viable idea.

But I don't really like France. And while I'll know French colloquially, I do know people spend years studying it properly. A number of my friends have studied it along with their majors, so there is depth to the language which I will not pick up. I couldn't return from 8 months in France and pass a French degree! France was the option I analysed first because of my previous language training, but I thought about how little I remembered and I'm asked myself "is it really a stepping stone anymore?". I currently know more Chinese than I do French, so I'm thinking the answer to that question is "no".

As I mentioned earlier in this post, I watched that movie 'Genova'. It looked like such an awesome place to live. So much culture, so much history and an absolutely jaw-dropping aesthetic. It's the complete opposite of Shanghai. I've also just finished watching the TV series 'Rome', which was bloody incredible and completely rekindled my interest in Roman history (which I used to have as a child with the 'Horrible History' books). I'd love to experience Italian culture for an extended period. My mother is half Italian (Italian father) and therefore I've got some Italian blood running through my veins. Recently I've had an underlying desire to see Italy, not to exactly "visit my roots" but I would like to maybe check out this country where my grandfather came from. Being a little bit Italian is something I'd like to celebrate, there's such an awesome history and culture to learn about. I always feel like a fraud saying I'm 1/4 Italian though, because I've never really embraced it except on a couple of holidays as a child.

So screw French, why not learn Italian? I've read that it's a very easy language to learn, it sounds wicked and it gives me an excuse to live in Italy for 8 months. I love the EU! Until I got this wanderlust I never really appreciated the Union, but the whole idea that I can just decide "Actually, I don't want to live in France, I want to live in Italy" is incredible. Think about the opportunities. If you ever feel you're stuck in a rut, just go and live in Europe for a while... there are so many cultures and exciting places to choose from. It's like being a fat kid in an all-you-can-eat buffet of culture. I've never been that cosmopolitan regarding Europe (it doesn't help that Europeans traditionally hate English people) but after briefly thinking about this plan I can't help but wonder how much fun it would be to just choose a European country and live there for a while.



This gives me an opportunity to add another skill to my CV, another experience to learn from and to discover a bit about some of my roots. In addition to that, Italy seems like a great place to pick up some more interests. I've left University and I still only have a real interest in football and drinking... it's not exactly the palette of hobbies I want to have when I 'become a man'. I'm not saying I'm going to start going to tons of operas, museums and art galleries, but it's nice to have the option to live in a place so filled with exciting things to do that don't involve drinking copious amounts of alcohol.

I've realised how huge this blogpost has become, so I'll stop here for now. Hopefully I'll blog a bit more about potential plans for the L'italia Life 2011 in the future... I'm sure this isn't a fad but you never know! I'm thinking the next few blogs will be more China orientated, since that's what you read this for I'm sure!