CHINA

Country Overview:

“Love the food, hate the government”

I arrived in China in May 2013 and left August 2020. I taught English for awhile, did my master’s of politics & foreign policy at Tsinghua University, worked for a year at China Today, and then two years at Xinhua News Agency. I spent most of my time in Beijing, but also traveled to Shanghai, Wuhan, Inner Mongolia, Shenzhen, Panjin, Guangzhou, Tianjin, Qingdao, Xi’an, Sanya, Macau, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.


Degen Hill Degen Hill

Update

  1. My current visa expires in 5 days, and in that time, I need to apply for a new foreign expert's card and a temporary 3-month visa, which will give me enough time to then later apply for a year visa.
  2. Started my new job at Xinhua News Agency which is a completely different atmosphere than the last place I worked. There are a ton of people constantly moving about, TVs are on, and lots of work to be done, but I like being busy. 
  3. Signed another year contract at my apartment in Andingmen. It's still a 20 minute scooter ride to work, and moving is a pain. 
  4. Listening to a lot of Caloncho lately, a talented Mexican musician
  5. World Cup games in China play at 8pm, 11pm, and 2am. So far, I've caught most of the 8 and 11pm games, and stayed up to watch Germany barely beat Sweden. I've got France this year, but I hope Mexico wins. 
  6. I designed and printed out a giant calendar (2x1 meters) that covers the next 16 months. Every time I look at it, I think about what I want to accomplish in that time.
  7. Trying to plan next trip, but can't start figuring things out until I get my new visa
  8. Feeling a bit isolated lately as I think about how long I've been away from family and friends. I've always been independent, but lately I've been thinking of settling down and what I want to do with my life. Currently, I've gotten as far as coloring in countries around the world that I don't want to live and slowly narrowing the list. Sorry China, but you didn't make the cut. 
  9. Thinking about buying the new iPhone in September, but I think Face ID is fucking stupid and unless it has a fingerprint scanner, will most likely stick with my current phone. A life update about my thoughts on a new phone, riveting stuff I know. 
  10. Started watching "Peaky Blinders". So far, so good. I also recommend "The Rain", a Danish Dystopian tv show. After watching it, I fell into a blackhole on Wikipedia about the linguistics and origins of the Danish language. 
  11. Overall, things are going well. A lot of goals were accomplished recently, such as finding a new job, saving money, publishing my book, and getting a new visa. With so many long-term projects finishing at the same time, I sort of feel a bit empty, almost like I have nothing to do. Besides work and gym, I really don't. With that said, I'm working on flushing out an idea for a new book and aiming to finish a short story soon. Once I get my new visa, tangible evidence of stability, I'll work on setting some more long-term goals that I can work on throughout the year. I'm results-oriented, I thrive on achieving things. 

Thanks to everyone who bought my book, talked about it, or liked my post online about it. I never expected to sell a book, it was always about seeing if I could create a physical manifestation of an idea. Now I know I can, which for me, means a lot more than selling 1,000 copies, which would also be cool but let's be real, not likely to happen. 

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