blog.marcwiesner.com

Here’s a nice little reflection on my adventures in Shanghai, written a few months ago around the time I was getting my Russian visa and rubbing elbows with the underworld on a nightly basis.

Shanghai, as it always has been, is an experience.

To summarize: my first time in Shanghai I was sick and coughing up blood before I passed out in the Hostel lounge. Second time I spent most of my late evenings on the street, occasionally striking up conversation with pimps and whores. This, my third time, I’m getting a deeper view of the SH underworld after undertaking a quest to recover a stolen camera.

The pimps are very helpful (so much that the Chinese saying ‘behind every smile is a knife’ stays close to the front of my mind) and it’s humorous that after three nights talking with groups of them for hours I recognize most of the working guys on the street (and they, me). One of them even introduced us to a man of influence (to put it subtly) who was willing to make some commission-based inquiries on our behalf.

Chances of recovering the camera seem bleak, but I have the strong impression that it depends more on how rogue the thief was than anything. If nothing else, I think I know some people who would know a good place to get "second hand" cameras.

To bring things back to the present day, the camera was never recovered, though I DID learn a new scam. Always nice to have some ways to make extra money while traveling ^_-. 

Hello my friends,

It’s been a while since I’ve bothered everyone with a mass mailing and the time seemed right for another.

I left my Hostel job early and started moving. I picked up a Russian visa in Shanghai and crossed the border to Russia’s eastern port city of Vladivostok. Three days on train took me to Lake Baikal and from there another four days to Moscow. Russia was fantastic; great food, friendly happy people, and a gorgeous landscape. I was in Russia for a total of two weeks before my visa ran out and I left for Latvia.

Riga was a complete surprise. Seemed to have a more casual, western European feel compared to Moscow. The old city was filled with beautiful architecture and an amazing array of food options. I only wish I was there fore more than two days but I had a cheap flight to catch down to Italy.

I spent a few weeks on Ischia sampling various pizzas before training it up to Frankfurt, Germany, for a four day wait before flying back home.

Tons of fun. And now I’m back home, dirt poor, and scouring job postings, hopefully for a job in a legal office.

Hope everyone’s well and has had a relaxing summer.

It’s New Year’s day on the Jewish calendar. We usually have some sweet food so the year gets a sweet start. Hope you all have sweet years ^__^

Cheers,
m

Well that Russian visa came through. That was a while go though. From Shanghai I ventured up to China’s far north and spent a few days in Harbin. Nice place, wonder museum exhibit setup in an old Jewish Synagogue left from the Jewish community that was warmly received there and contributed so much to the infrastructure of the city.

After Harbin, it was a mere 12 hour bus across the border to Vladivostok. It was a long ride and time difference, finally arriving in Vladivostok was two things: midnight and cold. A friend from the bus (a Russian studying Chinese in Harbin) and her friend helped hail a taxi to a hotel. Though it was dark and alien in the cold darkness of that first night, the morning brought an AMAZING view of the harbor that brought a new energy and excitement to the city.

Food in Russia’s been fantastic and there’s no shortage of good dark beers.

At some point I hope to have time and recollection to elaborate on the cities visited. To keep things brief; after Vladivostok I went to Irkust and Lake Bikal where I got to take a swim in the deepest lake in the world. And then to Moscow. Since entering Russia it’s been a week on trains, most nights spent drinking with locals and making friends despite my lack of Russian.

Moscow’s an amazing city. Great architecture and fashionable people. Such a difference from the fashion I was used to seeing on the streets in China. The wide spread use of the mullet hair-style interesting for me though. And expensive as hell except for the metro.

I’m planning on making a cheap sojourn through Europe overland by bus starting in Latvia. From there I’m hoping to reaching London for a cheap flight out of Europe. 

I’ve been in SH for the last few days working on getting a Russian visa and gorging myself on foreign foods. I woke up this afternoon to a fantastic downpour that made an orchestra out of the plexiglass roof of the hostel patio two floors below my room. In the patio now, the heavy rain drowns out nearly every sound around me. The kinda rain I like. With the lines at the Russian embassy here I’ll be waiting in line starting at 5 am tomorrow to file for my tourist visa. I don’t know why they think they’ll have to worry about Americans illegally immigrating but it’s part of the game so I’ve gotta play.

Last night after dinner at a Thai place and dessert at a branch of the world famous Taiwanese Din Tai Fung it was off to a live jazz bar down the street. The cold Jim Beam and hot jazz made a nice cap to a night that actually ended much later. Next stop, pending Russian visa, is Beijing.

That’s next week though….there’s a lot to eat before then =P

I’ve thrown photos from my trip through Guizhou province and Wuhan up on my Facebook. I’m going to be adding them into my photoblog an a daily or as available basis.

 teasers:

March 5th I took a late bus to Wuhan. It’s nice to have a home away from home. I’ve been working 免费 at the Wuhan Pathfinder International Youth Hostel I stayed at before; helping out whenever possible in whatever way I can. It’s nice to be able to help. A visa is in the works so I can stay longer and not have to worry about visa runs to Hongkong. I’ve been able to get a lot of practice with my hotel mandarin and learn more about the city as I give tours and advice to foreign travelers. One of the most useful things I’ve learned is that the taxi drivers know where to find everything.

Reactions from the Chinese guests to seing me behind the front desk are strange. Usually, they fall within the amused, endeared, and skeptical. I’ve actually had someone tell me it was imposable for me to be working here and ask in English what happens if a guest who doesn’t speak English comes in. She was fairly shocked when I replied in Mandarin, “not a problem, talk to them in Chinese.”

I’m hoping to stay here until the summer and spend the next few months improving my Mandarin while I help as much as I can. It’s nice to be able to hunker down in a place with so many good people and good food. I’m hoping to have photos up soon, but these days are very busy. People are flocking up from the south of China to see the Japanese Cherry blossoms (樱花) next to Wuhan’s famous East Lake (武汉东湖). Haven’t had time to see them myself yet, but the small garden next to the hostel is already impressive.

Well…I didn’t get a revised contract tomorrow. Didn’t sign anything. Got me worried. Then the teacher who’s managing my schedule told me that I’d be teaching four classes instead of three and working 24 hours, something the headmaster said was unreasonable and never practiced. Even more worried. The headmaster, who’s going to Canada in two days, is in the city and largely unavailable. Very worried. So I’m doing what I know I should do, taking my stuff to Nanchang city to meet him and if we don’t come to an agreement I’ll hit the road. I doubt he’ll have a contract or even a draft when we meet and I largly expect to piss off after about ten minutes. The situation isn’t helped by not having a kitchen to cook my own food and not being able to use the internet as I wish to manage my other business concerns. It gets frustrating when the computer they put in for me is the only one that cannot access foreign sites and google.com redirects to the Chinese baidu.com search engine.

The staff and students here are great, but if I can’t work with the boss I can’t work at the school. The boss apologized saying that he forgot foreigners put such an emphasis on time and punctuality. I wonder if he knows that packing up and leaving a place quickly when things don’t seem right is a backpacker’s habit?

On another note, I’m planning on putting pictures from my Guizhou adventure online in the next week or so, internet connection permitting.

Tomorrow I’m going to the campus I’ll be teaching at for the second time. A few days ago I got the grand tour and made some comments about the contract they offered me. Tomorrow I’m going to review and hopefully sign the revised contract I expect to be presented with. The apartment they’ve got me and another foreigner sharing is plenty big (astonishing would be a more accurate word to describe my first impression of it’s size compared to the size of most rooms and restaurants I’ve been in thus far) and the hours, pay, and class size seem very reasonable. Probably the biggest plus is that the staff I talked to were all very friendly. The largest draw back is that the campus manages to be quite removed from a major city center while not rural enough to be enjoyable for quaintness. I like to think of it as "save and secluded" though =P .

The timing of this post is really inspired by two things. First, I was searching through Google for other blogs from foreigners teaching in China. Networking and comparing situations and what not. Second and more impacting though is an article I came across tonight by Carola Von Hoffmannstahl-Solomonoff titled An American Teacher in China: The Unquiet Death of Darren Russell. Now I know this is going to drive my mother nuts to read, but I is something that I want to put out there. There are many horror storied about foreign teachers getting treated like dirt but this is the the most seedy I’ve come across. My heart truly goes out to Mrs. Russel (who runs http://whiterabbitsmom.org/). Any one who’s considering coming to China to teach should read this story as it so vividly underscores the importance of coming repaired and keeping escape plans ready in case the dream of teaching in a mysterious foreign land turns into such a nightmare. Know the city you’ll be in. Make friends outside the school who can help if you need it. When we can’t count on governments to keep us safe, we have to count on ourselves and each other.

Travel safe.

Written Jan 29:

I checked out of the place I was staying since arriving in Nanchang and checked myself into a nice, warmer place closer to downtown. Good to be able to shower without worrying about when the hot water will run out but I’ll miss the good food that I found so closely available.

Lunch was fun though. There are a few restaurants on the same block as this hotel. I picked one at random and two seconds after I was done ordering a couple children who saw me walk in were asking me if America had this or that animal, car, fruit, sport and so on while marveling at my sinister use of chopsticks.

Feb 1st I’ll leave for Guiyang and spend the Lunar New Year exploring waterfalls with friends. Looking forward to getting into a totally new place and trying some of the local specialties ^_^.

Written Mid-January:

Well…I needed a new jacket anyway. I don’t know how I got the idea in my head to collect locks from the cities I visit; I seem to be doing pretty well in under-dressing for the weather. Turns out Nanchang is colder than it seemed in the weather reports. I’ve bought a thick beanie and heavy jacket to protect myself from the cold. I should have worn my boots onto the plane; the cold bites through my canvas shoes. Vegan they may be but warm they aren’t.

After realizing a semester spent teaching here would pay about as much as a month painting in California I’m considering giving up the teaching stint to take up more lucrative; international business. Who ever needed a degree anyway?

For now, my kingdom for a hot bath.