My Life Has Changed In 3 Weeks.

Crystaline, China feels very safe. Pick-pocketing is a massive crime here, but I've never heard of much violence. I feel much safer walking down the street at night here, then I ever did back home.

Chinese guys love western women, though, and I've read quite a few cases of Chinese guys groping their breasts in a 'curious' manner. It's not dangerous, they just think they have the 'right' to do so.

Of course as with anywhere, violence is possible, but I feel really safe and I speak to many western women in China who are by themselves. Some with other foreigners, some as the only foreigner in school. The Chinese staff will take care of you, they're very helpful. At least at my school. :)

How Long, Long Time?

No, nein, non, bu!

This is just for one year, I know that much already. Unless I can acheive plans here that I've made back home. That's a possibility, but doubtful.
 
wow chinese podcast is amazing, been learning the four tones for last 20 minutes.

now going onto basic phrases :)
 
Holy Thread Revival!!!

Are you back from China? How are you adapting to your new 'old' life? :)

It actually scares me that you gave this thread some life again. :p

Reading my original post, wow. It's really freaky.

But anyway, yes, I'm back. Not really sure what you want to know, but everything eventually went back to normal. Lots of crazy, bad and stupid things happened while I was out there. Including nearly losing absolutely everything, becoming homeless, having no money and so much more. But it all becomes equal when I consider everything that happened. Good and bad. :)

Would I do it again? Well, in fact, I'm planning on going back out there for even longer, right before the winter of this year. But I will be travelling more and not 'living' in one place for any longer than 6 months at a time.

If anyone is thinking of doing it, then you should. It's a great thing, but it can be the most tedious and mind-numbing thing at the same time. When you stay in one 'new' place for long enough, it eventually starts becoming normal.

That's why, next time, I will be doing a lot more 'hopping' across the whole of Asia. With what I learnt from my first trip, I will hopefully avoid any horrible situations which I experienced in China and Thailand, briefly. :o
 
That's why, next time, I will be doing a lot more 'hopping' across the whole of Asia. With what I learnt from my first trip, I will hopefully avoid any horrible situations which I experienced in China and Thailand, briefly. :o
Reading this when you first went really inspired to get off my butt and do something. I've always wanted to travel and move away from this dump, and do it myself. Not so much the teaching side of things. But what kind of things did you encounter that you learned from? As i will be in Asia next year in the latter part of my trip.
 
Reading this when you first went really inspired to get off my butt and do something. I've always wanted to travel and move away from this dump, and do it myself. Not so much the teaching side of things. But what kind of things did you encounter that you learned from? As i will be in Asia next year in the latter part of my trip.

Well, a lot of the problems I encountered where somewhat self-inflicted in that, at one point, I lost all hope. :p

I had lost my job, then my apartment (part of the job), without any real reason. The same then happened to 3-4 other foreign teachers. I had about £200 to my name and no future income, so I crashed at a friends place.

Then my residency permit was cancelled, and I had one month to leave. £200 wasn't even enough for a flight, so I spent half of that money and rented a place of my own in the city of Shenzhen (Nanshan), which is quite near the port for a quick escape to Hong Kong. If needed.

To cut a long story short. I lost hope, got a new job, lost THAT (genuine illness), started doing freelance web development, made enough for rent only, got into £2k of debt and borrowed £500 for a flight home.

I then returned, sold all my stuff to pay off debt but it wasn't enough. So now I have a £4k debt problem. It's not the end of the world, though, as now I have a steady income that is rising and will continue to.

Plan is to pay off all the debt, go back out there with knowledge and savings.

It all sounds very bad, and it was for a few months, but it was great also at times. :)

I had never even lived by myself in England before this, so it was quite a learning curve. Not to mention the fact that it was all in Chinese. :p
 
Overtone bliss, I have enjoyed reading your posts. I feel like you did in your first post. I have some qualifications but I need to start getting out there and making it happen. That sounds very wishy washy but I don't want to get into any detail about myself in your thread.
 
I've just read all your posts from start to finish and your writing style has changed a lot, quite weird. You told a very interesting story though and seem to have touched a few people. I'd love to do some travelling but of a more mobile fashion, although it seems you gained a lot from staying in one place and really understanding the place. You say you've learnt a lot, what would be some great words of wisdom for people who havn't travelled alone abroad in a similar situation?
 
Overtone bliss, I have enjoyed reading your posts. I feel like you did in your first post. I have some qualifications but I need to start getting out there and making it happen. That sounds very wishy washy but I don't want to get into any detail about myself in your thread.

To be honest, I'm not the greatest person to come to for that kind of advice. Making it happen is something I struggle with myself. :p
 
To be honest, I'm not the greatest person to come to for that kind of advice. Making it happen is something I struggle with myself. :p

Ahh but my scouse friend you did very well and gained a lot of experience in the process

My whole family has done pretty the same as you :)

Respect.

scouse
 
I was actually searching for information about Japan and i found the this thread, and i found the title interesting because i am currently 'reviewing' my life strategy and i need to make some big changes. Lots of difficult decisions and very important ones, however stupid they are.

Glad to hear everything is ok now though! Sounds like you had an awesome time.
 
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