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
