Preparing to leave

I'm in 'goodbye Chenzhou'  mode. My job search is in full swing, I've had two interviews and people are sending me links to new sites. My friend Rebecca has decided that she wants to go with me to one of the bigger cities, so I won't be going somewhere new alone. I spent yesterday with my Italian friend, who'll be leaving for Edinburgh to start a master's degree shortly after my contract is up. I won't see him again for at least a year and am feeling pretty guilty for not making more time for him while we were here. But, of course, time always flies faster than you expect and it always seems like you could have done more in retrospect. On the upside, you always remember the past as being better than it was, which is the magic of nostalgia.

One of the things we did yesterday was to go to a movie in the evening. It's one of the more normal seeming things you can do while in China. For two hours you can sit and watch people speaking English and temporarily forget that you're not in your native country anymore (perhaps less so for Angelo). But the experience isn't entirely like being back in the states. For one thing, people talk all through the movie. At first I just thought that Chinese people were extremely rude moviegoers, but then I realized that none of them can understand what's being said. They're just reading, not listening. But more amazing, we negotiated our ticket price. I think we might could have gotten a lower price, but we paid a little more than half price, so not too bad. They originally wanted 90 Renminbi per person, but we talked them into 130 for both of us, including two cokes and two popcorns. Keep in mind this wasn't an old theater outside town running classic movies. We were going to watch Warcraft, a new release, in a multiplex at a major mall in town.

The original plan for yesterday was to go to Dongjiang Lake, which is supposed to be a beautiful place about an hour outside of town. Everyone I've met in town has asked if I have been and advises that I go, but I haven't been able to make it out there yet. It rains a lot in Chenzhou and other people's time off rarely coincides with mine. And, of course, I had to wait for warm weather anyway. On Sunday, Angelo and I were finally going to get everything together and get out there, but then the rain started and we decided that it wouldn't be worth the trip. So I may have to return to Chenzhou at some later date if I'm going to see the lake, but Angelo and I got to make our way around the city and see some other things, like Wuling Pavillion, a pretty cool looking structure that overlooks Wuling Square, which is one of the ritzier areas of town (and also where the only Wal-Mart is located).

Me in front of Wuling Pavillion

I guess all the traveling around town is because I'm getting ready to say goodbye to Chenzhou. My time here has been nice and, as always, part of me wants to stay, but there's more money to be made in the bigger cities and there's much more of the world to be seen. Chenzhou may very well be a nice place to settle down, but not for me. There's too much more of the world to explore. In my search for jobs, I've seen ads posted all over China where the culture is much different than here, as well as Taiwan and I'm also aware that there are jobs in places all over the world as well. There's too much to see and this is an opportunity to see it that I never thought I'd come by, so off I go.

To discuss the place that I'll be going next would be a bit premature, since I haven't gotten any firm offers, but I've got an interview in just a few minutes with a company based in Beijing. This company has an opening in Qingdao, Shandong Province. Qingdao has an interesting history, being the only place in China that I know of which was occupied by Germans at one point. The Germans brought breweries to the city and now the beer made there is the most famous in China. The city also has a pub culture, which is a rarity in China, combined with city beaches and nearby mountains.

Wish me luck!