A Journey's End

Walking home from lunch today (7/23), I found myself in quite a jolly mood. I think it was probably in part due to the sugar from the dessert I had. It was some kind of bread with a mix of sesame and white cream. Quite good. Despite the ridiculous amount of rain from Typhoon Vicente, the poor situation I’m in and everything else, I found myself laughing at the absurdity of it all.

Haha. I should be laughing at that ‘jolly mood’ I was in. I haven’t been jolly since then. Stressed, aggravated, annoyed, frustrated, etc. Those are just some of the moods I’ve been experiencing. Great trip to HK, huh? Psh. What a joke. My whole time here has been a joke. What the hell was the point of it all? I know one thing, I lost a lot of money. Oh well, at this point I’m looking to the future. I’ll try to recap some of the things that took place here during my time without making them too lengthy.

The hike to Tai Long Wan was pretty amazing. I think the pictures speak for themselves. They were by far the nicest, most pristine, most beautiful beaches I’ve ever been on. Even the sand was amazing. So fine and comfortable on your feet. I should have just spent my whole time in HK living in a tent on that beach. Looking back, I should have? I didn’t accomplish anything else, so why not? Oh well, guess I missed that opportunity too. Regardless, it was an interesting hike to say the least. I got directions the day before. I found out about the place through a fellow passenger on my arriving flight into HK. I also stumbled across some cliffs that were on the way there so I took down the directions for those too.

Beautiful Bliss

The hike took about two hours in total. Should have been a little shorter, but I was constantly stopping to take pictures. How else to share the experience? The things I do for you people, I swear. Alright, that’s not entirely true. I want to share the experience and take pictures for own memories as well. Plus, I enjoy dabbling in photography anyways. I woke up a little after 8 that morning and took a bus to the starting location. It was pretty straight forward from there, though I did ask one guy to be sure. After getting to the first beach after a little village, I came upon a restaurant. I had to walk through it and asked one of the people working there which way to head from there. They waved me on and told me just to go through. Simple enough, right? Turned out to be not so simple. There were two paths. There was one that hardly looked like a path and wound up through the woods. I thought to myself, ‘No way that’s it.’ Mistake. I looked to the other one that appeared to actually be a path and went out over the beach. There was even some boards laid out in the beginning of it. So, I went with that one. Mistake.

The ‘path’ slowly dissolved and just turned into a rocky beach. I started to question things at that point, but decided to proceed and figured worst case scenario, it was going to take me around and get me there anyways. Well, that was true enough, but it was a little more complicated than what I initially perceived. I found myself scrambling over rocks and soon enough I was clinging to the cliff side trying not to slip. And yet, I pressed on. Eventually though, it got so ridiculous I decided to climb up the hillside and get my bearings. I was also hoping for an easier passage. Wrong again. I struggled through the bush, just praying that I wouldn’t disturb a snake or brush up against a poisonous plant. I emerged through with scratches all over. After all that, due to my current position, I was still surrounded by bush and it didn’t make any sense to continue on that way. I had no choice but to tread back down to the cliffs and rocks.

Shortly after moving on, there was a huge open space to get up top. Go figure. I wandered up, but my way was still the surer path at that point. It worked out anyways. I had to slip down to a break in the rocks where all kinds of garbage ended up. Back in that gap, I found a cave and was able to seek shelter there during the passing rain storm. I sat back, ate a granola bar, drank some water, and waited it out. It only lasted between 10-20 minutes. Once it looked ok, I made my way up over the rocks and saw the fruits of my labor. It sure was beautiful. And it was entirely worth it. I verified where I was with one of the few people on the beach. She assured me I was where I wanted to be. I then asked her where the more common path was after explaining my adventure. She responded with ‘Oh, I don’t know about that. That seems quite dangerous.’ Be sure to use a British accent. She pointed to the way I should have came and I utilized that path for my departure. To wrap up this part, I chilled there for about 2 hours. I would have liked to stay longer, but I wasn’t sure when the last bus was departing.

When I was nearing the location of where I would find the cliffs, I referenced my directions. Wasn’t sure which side of the concrete bridge the ‘cow path’ was supposed be on, though. I decided instead to wade down the stream and figured that would lead me there. It would have, but I caught some people on my left walking down a path and asked them. They were headed to the same place so I joined up with them. It wasn’t that far, and I enjoyed my time there. I made everybody there look like pansies, though. Harsh, but true. In their defense, however, I’m pretty familiar with jumping off cliffs and bridges and things like that. I’ve done plenty back in NJ/PA. I just climbed up to the top right off the bat and jumped. No questions, no problems, no hesitation. I helped some people out there, encouraged some girls, and jumped about 10 times before heading back after finding out the time of the last bus.

Had a great time, but I was exhausted. Wish I could have stayed longer and wish I had someone to enjoy it with. Guess there’s always next time, whenever that is. Won’t be any time soon. ‘Of this I am sure’.

I brushed them off the wall, flanked them and cut off their retreat, and destroyed any deserters. It was a clear and solid victory.

I experienced a ‘War of the Ants’ in my apartment. No idea what was going on or why they appeared. One day I wandered up into the room on my roof and saw this long trail of ants moving to a corner near the door. They were all over. I didn’t know what to do, so I grabbed a piece of paper and started squishing them. I brushed them off the wall, flanked them and cut off their retreat, and destroyed any deserters. It was a clear and solid victory. They really did attempt to retreat and desert. The retreat came first and when that was shattered and it was realized that comrades were dying all over, the ants lost hope and began to scramble in every direction. I let a few go to tell the tale. By the next day, all of the dead had been picked up. Crazy. Seems they almost always retrieve their dead. They really work as a unit and utilize familiar military tactics. Quite interesting. I dealt with them in a few smaller battles, but eventually they gave it up and it’s been fairly quiet on the home front since then. Success.

I may never know exactly what happened to my keys. I’ll explain my villa’s setup first. Initially, you have to use a key to open the door on the bottom floor. Now, there’s only 1 other apartment that even has access to that door. I’m not sure they even use it, because it’s more of a side entrance. I think they use their front entrance more often than not. Now, upon entering, you have to walk up a flight of stairs. At the top, you need a key to get into my place.

One evening, I went out for dinner, and I’m really not too certain what happened after that. What I do know is, I came home and realized that I did not have any keys in my pocket…..Oh, man…; well, I called up my landlord to see if he was home so that he could let me in. He lives nearby, so it wouldn’t have been a big deal. Unfortunately, he was out and wouldn’t have been returning for another hour.

I didn’t have my book or anything on me, and had already finished eating, so I wasn’t about to go back down to the town and just do nothing for an hour. I didn’t want to sit around either.

After a few minutes of thought, I decided to climb up to my place. I had everything pretty good and locked up, but I thought maybe. I knew I couldn’t access anything from the roof because all of that was definitely secured. I could have accessed the one room on the top, but could not have gone beyond that point. Instead, I climbed up to the second floor and checked some of the windows. After scaling along the side, I eventually found a window that was partially open. It was a tight squeeze, but I pulled myself up to the top portion of that window because it was separated in several different parts, climbed over the bar, and dropped in. Wah la! Well that was no problem, but I was still worried about my keys. Where did they go? Who found them? If they knew which place they belonged to, I could even get them back and perhaps they had been duplicated for later use. I was super paranoid about it. I asked the woman who was my downstairs neighbor the next day, but she threw up her hands and apparently didn’t understand a word I said. Was she lying? If she instantly plays dumbs, does that mean she’s telling the truth or faking it? These were some of the thoughts running through my head.

I then decided to go down to the town and play detective. After several enquiries, l located a shop that duplicates keys and put the employees to the question in regards to my keys. I described the key chain, how many keys there were, etc. They claimed that too many people came in with keys and they didn’t know. I found myself wondering how many people could have possibly came in that day. I started using the chain lock on my door when I was home. I still wanted to ask the guy who lived with that woman downstairs. After a few days went by, I still couldn’t determine what exactly I did with my keys. Which door did I leave them in? The door at the top of the stairs? If that was the case, only those neighbors would have access to them. If I left them in the downstairs door, anybody could have come upon them, but chances were that my neighbors would see them first. I finally saw the guy pacing back and forth after coming back from lunch almost a week later. He didn’t speak English, but took my meaning. He walked me back over to the path that I had come up, and pointed to my keys. They were lying there on the side of that path. What the hell? Did he find them and put them there? Was he hoping I saw them? What if someone else came upon them? Funny thing is, I was even checking the path as I was walking up, but didn’t see them because they were off to the side. I thanked him several times in English and Chinese because most people speak mandarin as well in HK, patted him on the back, and went in to my home. I should mention that I did have a second set of keys, but I was worried if someone had them or if I was going to have to pay to replace them. I did keep using the chain on my door after that because it still seemed fishy, but I was grateful to have them back.

I started to have more and more sweet cravings. It’s a problem. This is why I don’t buy or regularly eat sweets. Once you start, it’s hard to stop. Sometimes, it just takes a little taste to satisfy my craving, but you can’t just buy a little taste now can you? So they got you there. And then, the bag is just sitting there. I have to finish it. I mean, come on. The sooner I finish it, the sooner it will be gone, and it’ll be a while before I buy it again. I try to eat it little by little, but that never quite works out.

My office space, nice right?

I’m going to try to wrap this up as quickly as possible. You know, originally I had that ‘screw them’ mentality working for me. I was motivated and I wasn’t going to let that company win. After two or three weeks of applications and interviews, I started to lose some of that motivation. I was up and down with it. Sometimes I felt confident and ready to take on the challenge, other times I was down and not feeling so hot about things. Nothing seemed to be working out. I had both job offers and interviews I had to walk out on. During one particular interview, I was reading over their little catalogue and filling out all the necessary documents. I was in there with another girl applying as well, but once I saw the salary I had to leave. No choice. So, I walked out of the room up to the guy who was going to interview and stated that I would be leaving. We talked briefly and he understood. I just wasn’t about to waste my time or his. No point.

After dealing with this for a while, I gave up on HK entirely and decided I would move back to mainland China. I started applying for jobs there. All over the country. With my experience, I knew I would have more options and could afford to be more selective. Well, just like HK, nothing was working out. None of the job offers really stuck out. I know the value of teaching in China and I know what my services are worth. At the same time, I’m also aware that I would obviously get the higher paying jobs in major cities like Beijing and Shanghai. Only problem with that was, I was over Beijing and during my visit to Shanghai, I didn’t find it all too appealing. It felt like just another city. Just another Beijing experience in a different city. That’s not what I was going for.

One expensive plane ticket later, and here I am safe and sound in the U.S. I survived the city of Beijing. I survived dysentery, tonsillitis, several instances of receiving IV’s, and countless other throat issues and sicknesses.

Did HK defeat me? I wouldn’t put it that way. Was my apartment/villa too good to be true? Yes. Without a doubt.

I finally accepted a position in Beihai, located in Guangxi province. It boasts the best air in China and has some of the most beautiful beaches. It’s a small city and the pay wasn’t great, but being a small city, the living expenses are usually cheaper. Well long story short, we were on the final stretch of working out the details, but I was told 6k/mo on the phone and it was 5500/mo in the contract. Neither myself nor the school was willing to negotiate any further. It was a very small difference but it was the last straw for me. I had verbalized the idea of coming home and the more I said it out loud and with others, the more appealing it was. It was a good weekend too. Both of my brothers were going to be home so eventually it turned into, why the hell not?

One expensive plane ticket later, and here I am safe and sound in the U.S. I survived the city of Beijing. I survived dysentery, tonsillitis, several instances of receiving IV’s, and countless other throat issues and sicknesses. Did HK defeat me? I wouldn’t put it that way. Was my apartment/villa too good to be true? Yes. Without a doubt. Yeah, I could have stayed in HK. I could have worked a job I didn’t believe in or didn’t like, but I just wasn’t motivated to do so. I could have gone back to mainland China, but despite numerous offers and offers I’m still receiving now, nothing really stuck out to me. All the jobs were just kind of ‘eh’ if you catch my meaning. Most of them I could have gone either way on, and that’s not what I was looking for. That’s why I ultimately declined all of those positions and returned to the states for the time being.

A lot of you are wondering, what’s next? Well, I’ve talked to many people by now, but I don’t mind reiterating. I’m still studying Mandarin. Right now, I’m studying twice daily, morning and an evening recap. With that being said, I’m sure that China is in my future. I just don’t know when, but I just feel like I need to keep pursuing the language. I’m not about to let all that time go to waste. There are a lot of open doors for someone that can speak Mandarin fluently. I’m hoping to one day peer into those doors and see where they lead.

One hell of a ride. Thanks for staying with me and following. I thoroughly enjoyed writing about my experiences and sharing my adventures with friends, family, and anyone else who cared to read.

Farewell

-Jeff

Guy Meets Hong Kong

Hong Kong. So far, not so great. It's been a roller coaster ride since my arrival. I left Beijing not knowing how to feel. My first destination was Shanghai, where I stayed for a few days. I had an alright time, though ultimately I don't think I would want to live there. I just didn't really enjoy the overall feel of the city. I won't go into details because it just seems unnecessary at this point. Occasionally, I would acknowledge my departure from Beijing, but I just could not fully comprehend it. Even now, it seems so weird to think that I've left Beijing. I'm not trying to live there again, so I may visit at some point, but who knows? I feel like my time there was so brief. It's already sort of a distant memory to me. I know that a year and a half is not that long in the scheme of things, but it's a decent amount of time. I mean, that was my home for that time period. I don't know, but anyways. I'll discuss Hong Kong and what's going on here.

Goodbye filthy Beijing, Hello Paradise!

So as promised, someone from the company that I was going to be working for picked me from the airport. Everything was on track. He hooked me up with a new sim card for my phone, provided me with all kinds of information about the company and living here in Hong Kong, etc. And man, the bus ride from the airport to the hotel the company arranged for me was awesome. I felt like I was travelling through some kind of jungle. It was a pleasant change from Beijing. It was a gorgeous day and lush greenery surrounded me.

So I'm going to sum this up as best I can. After getting dropped off at the hotel, I got a call from the Vice Principal from the company. He told me was he going to swing by, and we would have dinner and then meet up with some other people from the company for some drinks at one of the guys' apartments. I wasn't feeling that a whole lot, but come on. You can't turn down an invite on your first night with a new company. So I hung out there for a while, had a good time, met some people, and then made my way to meet up with some friends I met in HK during my last visit. Had a good time with them, though I wasn't thrilled about getting back to my hotel at 6 in the morning. Oh well, guess I'll sleep when I'm dead. Haha.

Worth my life…right? Right.

The next day I set out with two people from the company to go searching for an apartment for me. I gave them a range between 5-10k (HKD). Problem with that was, everything we looked at was 10K and more. I figured before my arrival that I would be paying close to 10, but even so. Some of those prices were throwing me off and not worth it in my opinion. Besides that, every apartment was virtually the same apartment. Literally. The only difference seemed to be the view. After checking out a few, I asked to check out this other area I had heard of a little on the outskirts of the real city parts. We made our way over there and checked out one place for 9k. It was a nice place, but the location and view wasn't really doing it for me. The agent told us she had another place that had an ocean view. The only problem was that it was listed for 12k. Despite that, I asked to take a look. She had me at ocean view. So we headed up there with the agents and from the start, the place was really nice. It was much bigger than the apartments I was looking at before with 3 bedrooms. Everything is tiled as well. I was already liking the place from that point, and then……my jaw hit the floor. We headed up to take a look at the roof and see the view. It was incredible. You look straight out and can't even take it all in. You have to turn left and right in order to see the immense beauty that the view offers. I was blown away. I wanted it. Now, bear in mind, all of the places I looked at were 10k and more aside from the other one here in Sai Kung. I could have bargained and played games, but I didn't even want to bother. Instead, I spoke to the agent and asked her what the best price was that I could get the place for. I told her that if the landlord said 11k, I would take it off her hands today. They called him up and sure enough, he said 11k. Done. The deal was all but sealed. The next day, I signed my life away on the lease and dropped a lot of money.

Let's backtrack a little bit. Now, prior to arrival, I had spoken via email with my company many times. There was a lot of email correspondence because I asked a lot of questions and wanted to make sure we were all on the same page. Having done this before, I knew what questions to ask and I knew what I wanted. Everything was set, aside from one little thing. That little thing turned out to be a huge thing. I didn't sign the contract beforehand. Stupid mistake. Big mistake. But you know, I did not foresee any problems, and the boss just stated that we would sign it upon my arrival. I figured that was fine because it would be more official than using an electronic signature. I saw no problem with it. Stupid mistake. Big mistake. I had spoken with two of the head guys from the company about starting work. They both kept mentioning how I was going to be starting right away and working as the head teacher in most of the classes. The schedule was already made and what not. My problem with that was that the contract stated such: 7. Mentoring Relationship: The employee is required to observe classes that are presently being taught by A+ Education teachers. The mentoring relationship with a designated instructor will allow for the employee to become familiar with the teaching methodology implemented at A+ Education. At a mutually agreed upon date, the employee will commence instructing classes as the sole teacher. Also, this was taken directly from an email: 4) Training: You would sit in classes for a couple weeks with another teacher to observe and get some training in the class teaching methodology we use. Having known that such was stated prior to, I was a little concerned and quite frankly uncomfortable with the idea of jumping right into teaching classes by myself. Can I do it? Yes, of course. That wasn't the point. The point was that the contract stated such and the head principal himself confirmed that in email. So when this was brought to my attention, I stated my concern to both of those guys and stated what was written in contract as well. They were both kind of iffy on the whole thing, not really sure what to say. Both said in one way or another that may not be the case. I continued to press with my concern and what was written, yet it seemed my point was just being ignored. Finally one of the guys said something along the lines of, 'Well, if that's the case, we'll just have to cancel the classes.' That gave me some relief.

After signing the lease, and being on this awesome high after obtaining such an amazing little villa, I walked down to the pier after purchasing some Subway for a late lunch. I was sitting there when I received a call from the head boss at this company. He just questioned how things were going, I told him all was well, blah blah blah, and then brought up the same point I had with the other two guys. Right after I stated my concern, he said to me, 'I don't like this conversation. So, you come in tomorrow at 12:00, and we'll see if we still have a relationship.' I questioned his meaning and reluctantly said alright and we hung up. I'll tell you, I felt sick to my stomach. I didn't know what to think. I knew it wasn't looking good, though. And right after signing the lease. Great. Two of the guys from the company swung by later because one had a friend getting rid of some beds. Considering I was prepared to sleep on the floor, I was very appreciative. The timing couldn't have been better. I told the VP (one of the guys dropping off the beds) what had occurred on the phone, and he told me not to think too much and just not to take it to heart or worry about it. That made me feel a little better, but I still wasn't feeling too grand.

I went into the office the next day, and after waiting for a few minutes, I went in and talked with the boss. He opened with something like, 'I really don't feel too good about this.' Maybe I shouldn't have, but I needed to state my feelings so I replied with, 'Well why are you not feeling good about this? I'm the one who shouldn't be feeling too good about things.' Immediately following that reply, he told me I blew it. It didn't matter what I said, everything was turned around on me to make it look like I was the most confrontational person ever. He told me I was. I stated that I was trying to be as non-confrontational, polite, and respectful as possible. To that, he laughed at me. He mocked me, put me down, and told me I wasn't a teacher. He told me that everybody found me confrontational and that nobody wanted to work with me. When I told him that I didn't get that impression from anyone, he told me he didn't care and that those were the facts. It was so belittling and overwhelming that to be honest with you, I was just trying not to break down. It was all so overwhelming. I just arrived. Just signed a lease. Just left everything in Beijing. I remained weak and humble and eventually just bit my tongue and let him speak. When I tried to express why I wanted to observe classes and related the subject to my past job, he told me he didn't care about my previous employment. I told him it pertained to this job, and add to ask him to allow me to speak several times. I had written in my phone what was written on the contract, which he apparently had memorized anyways, and it made no difference. I told him that observing classes was something that attracted me to this job so that I could see other teachers and learn some of their methods, and see some different ways of teaching so that ultimately I could perform my own job better. To that, the boss responded, 'That's it? So what?' I had no response for that. That whole topic was completely ignored. When I had a chance to speak with the other guys, I said to their faces 'Hey, if you had a problem with me, why didn't you just let me know?' Not in a rude way. They both told me that wasn't the case and they both felt very bad and were very apologetic. I called up another one afterwards and got the same story. He disliked me so much that he took time out of his day to deliver me some beds? I may be wrong, but you don't tend to help the people you dislike. The whole situation was mind-boggling and extremely unpleasant. When we he finally finished speaking and I was out of words, he asked me how to end things between us. I had no idea. He finally banished all other costs and fees I might have owed, paid me the promised airfare bonus, and we parted ways. That may not be the end of it, though. We'll see.

I was sick over the whole thing, and since then I've applied to countless jobs, and gone on a few interviews. I've been eating up servings of humble pie and when I finish, I ask for some more. I really don't want to lose this place, not just because of the insane amount of money I'll lose, but because this is like a dream home for me. I have that amazing ocean in front of me, beaches not too far off, huge mountains behind me, and all kinds of other benefits. I'm outside the city, but not too far away. It's just so close to perfect, or so it seems. Besides, if I lose it, then it means that company wins. Well, if I get completely screwed; I'm going to speak with the Labor Department of Education in HK as recommended by one of the employees. I can also speak with the American Consulate and embassy. I may end up doing one or all of those regardless to take care of that asinine company. I may end up losing it all, but I'm not doing so without a fight. I'm going to go down swinging. Maybe it's all for the better. I mean it is one way or another because I have no desire to work with a company that operates like that. If things start out bad, it's usually a sneak preview of what's to come. That 'relationship' was obviously not meant to be. Perhaps, it was just the initial start of getting me to Hong Kong. I don't know. Right now, I'm not doing anything besides depleting my funds even more every day. I'm eating out every day because I have nothing to cook with, and I'm afraid to purchase anything because I don't know how long I'm going to be here or what will come of everything. It is what it is. Only time will tell.

My mood had been taking a turn for the worse. I was losing motivation, losing drive, and submitting to defeat. Nothing was working. In a way, it begins to take a toll on you. I didn't know what I was going to do. Go back to the U.S.? Go back to the mainland? I turned down a few jobs and interviews purely because of the pay they were offering. It wouldn't have worked. Well the other day, I had been walking back to my place after grabbing lunch. Earlier in the day and various other days, I had spoken with both friends and family concerning my situation. I had been kind of up and down on everything, sometimes feeling positive, sometimes feeling negative. That day turned into acceptance. I had decided to just accept my situation and accept everything that took place. A calmness had washed over me, and I was at peace with everything. I had been telling people two weeks before I would make preparations to leave HK, but I decided that there wasn't much of a difference between a week and a half and two weeks. I got back to my place, and I guess it was around 4:00 in the afternoon. I had followed up with one of the companies I had previously applied for earlier in the day, and I hadn't heard back from them so I decided to call them again. It was another financial company. Well, this time no one picked up. That was essentially my mental resignation. I decided I would go to the interview I secured with the one of the financial companies on the following day, which I knew I would most likely not obtain, and then start making plans to get out of HK. Ultimately, I had decided I would just go back to China, move to a cool area, and continue teaching if need be. That still may happen, but I guess we'll find out soon enough.

God has a sense of humor, though. Shortly after, I decided I would tackle some reading from the 5th book of A Song of Ice and Fire, and take a nap. Literally, right as I was laying down, I got a call from the other financial company. That laying down kind of signified my submission to HK, literally and symbolically. And yet, just before I got fully stretched out and comfortable – bam. Phone call. It was both ironic and comical. I was laughing about it afterwards. Just when I felt like all hope was lost, I got the call I was hoping for, keeping my dwindling flame alive.

So, yesterday (7/12), I had two interviews scheduled that I managed to get invited to. One was a very formal interview, the other was more of a meet and greet/interview. They were both in financial companies, so obviously my chances weren't great. I knew that. I have some sales and managerial experience which could be applied, but my overall credentials and experience in those fields lack. I figured it wouldn't hurt to try, though. I also thought maybe something else could come from them. Regardless of the outcome, I was determined to give good interviews and leave a good impression on the people I interviewed with. I researched both companies, took notes about them, got my outfit together, managed to gather up some reference letters last minute from previous employers, and took care of all the necessary preparations. I knew they were long shots at best, but I like long shots.

The first one went pretty well, although I think I could have done slightly better. There was one time when I completely lost my train of thought during something I was saying, but I still did a decent job. I think I did much better on my second interview. The guy I spoke with had told me he could meet me at the same place later in the day. He was originally going to be on his way to a tennis lesson, but ended up cancelling. It was a little more informal, which I thought could prove to be better. At the very least, I was more at ease and more comfortable. In my opinion, I handled myself well, spoke articulately, spoke accurately about the company with the notes I had memorized, and just made an overall good impression. I believe that the man I spoke with felt the same way because he had told me I was intelligent and threw in some other compliments as well. I really enjoyed speaking with him on both a business and a casual level. Despite my under qualifications, for some reason, he was still willing to come to where I was and speak with me. I'm not sure why because he even acknowledged all that to me in person, but I guess his curiosity inspired him to get a feel for what kind of a person I was anyways. I'm thankful he took the time to do so. He was straightforward with me, which I also appreciate, and told me there wasn't much he could do for me in terms of giving me a job with his company. No problem, I understand. I expected as much. But. Yes, there's a 'but' in there. He wanted to give me the contact information of a friend of his for the potential to work in a position in that company. Great! It's not about what you know, it's about who you know. Right? Right. When someone wants to recommend me to someone else or give me someone to contact, I'm more than willing to accept. I need all the help I can get. Anyways, I was proud of how professionally I had conducted myself.

I had another interview with a school early in the afternoon today (7/16), but after reading over some of the info, and seeing when I would be starting, I had no choice, but to tell the interviewer I would be leaving. I was honest and just told him my situation. I don't want to waste my time or his, but that's all it seemed like I did this morning. Fortunately or unfortunately, I can't be sitting around till August, be it the beginning or the middle. Both are too late for me. If I don't have a guaranteed job, I won't stay here another month. The guy was understanding and stated that we should keep in touch should there be any changes or for the possible future. Sounds good. I'm done applying for jobs in HK. In total, I've applied for 112 jobs since May. 52 of those went out after my arrival. I have not been idle, and I've done all I can. I'm not mad or upset anymore. I guess it will all come down to this last possible job opportunity, which by the way, would be a dream job for me. The guy I'm meeting with is not the actual recruiter, but he can help me fast track things and get a foot in the door if I'm interested. Fingers crossed. If not, that's that. I may lose a lot of money. If I'm lucky, I'll get some back. Either way, I'm content. It's out of my control. Things happen.

"I shall call him Squishy, and he shall be mine. And he shall be my Squishy."

Other notes of interest – I was wondering when I would see a snake out here in Sai Kung. It didn't take long. I saw one a few days ago slithering across the path as I was making my way back to my villa. It's possible it was a cobra, but more than likely a rat snake. As previously stated, with no refrigerator and the fear of buying anything for long term with my situation so unclear, I eat out every day besides breakfast. That's getting kind of old, but at least I have a large variety of places that I can walk to. I've found a few small geckos from time to time in my place. Pretty cool. As one person said on a forum I searched, 'They're great! They eat the mozzies!' I then had to look up what the hell mozzies were. They're mosquitos if you didn't know. Probably some UK lingo.

Last, but certainly not least – I went on an awesome hike, which led me to the most beautiful, cleanest, most pristine beach I've ever been on. I'll discuss that in my next post. It was incredible. If I leave HK, I'll be sure to do some more exciting things before my exit. I'll know soon enough. Preparations for an exit may be starting after tomorrow.

Thank you to all family and friends for your encouragement. I couldn't do it without you.

Stay tuned.

- JD

I know what your thinking and yes, Hong Kong is that awesome and it really exists.