02-07-2011 om 00:00 geschreven door Gert_in_China  

27th of June

 In Beijing after a long and exhausting travelling day. Once arrived at the Beijing Capital Airport (Terminal 3), some old memories rose up which caused me to feel bad: it was the same airport & slightly the same road I had to walk through as last year, when I had to let my princess go home again.

At the baggage drop-off, I managed to get to my suitcase as one of the first persons. I hurt myself by doing so however: the nail of the middle finger of my right hand is now split in half… it does not hurt bad though (the doctor sterilized it), but it was a “wonderful” start to the new adventure… After this incident the things became a lot better when I had a taxi driver who liked to talk to me and did his best to get me to the hostel safely. That very same hostel looks very nice when you enter the lobby, but once you enter a room here, you’ll have a hard time not trying to laugh: even though there are curtains, there is no window whatsoever… maybe it is their way to be “special”?

Silk market… that was one of my top destinations for this short stay in Beijing; the cheap stuff they offered is always tempting, but I remained calm and did only what needed to be done: buying gifts (including one for me)!!! At this very moment, I bought a present for Sigurd, bomma, my father and… my sweet Sharon. I hope that everyone will be happy with their presents.

It is now 10 p.m. as I write this blog. This means that I will soon hit the sack given the fact that there is no internet available in this hostel (although they promised). Tomorrow I will somehow try to post this message to the internet for people to read.

Sharon, sweetie, I wish you good luck with preparing the thesis… I am sure the outcome will even be better than you expect. There’s someone in China who is continuously thinking and dreaming about you, keeping his fingers crossed for your dissertation. You’re no ordinary girl and I love you so much, really! Say hi to your family <3 *Gosh, I would have loved it if you could have been here*.

Papa, zorg goed voor Bieke en geef haar heel veel knuffels. Doe de groeten daar aan iedereen en vertel hen maar dat ik nog leef J hopelijk heb ik in Hangzhou meer kansen dan hier om op internet te zitten want hier is het nog erger dan povertjes.

28th of June

Woke up at ten o’clock, with the feeling I was home. Although some negative aspects of this hostel, I kind of liked it. It was a quiet place, a nice basis to stay in Beijing because a lot of cultural things are nearby. I went to Wangfujing again for example to buy the Boya Chinese series. These books will allow me to increase my knowledge of words and give me a higher level of Chinese. I sent it by post, so in three months I’ll be able to start studying them. In the same bookstore, I bought a Taiwanese series and, when I was at the hostel and I didn’t feel like going out to visit things, I could watch this series to eventually fall asleep.

My roommate, Ricardo, Mexican, was a gentle guy who is looking for universities in Beijing. We went to have dinner together at Houhai, where I also introduced him to some Belgian beers like Stella Artois and Hoegaarden. He liked it… he liked it even so much that in the end he was a bit drunk after drinking two beers. Buy hey… what can you expect from the Mexicans? J While having a tour around the lake, a lot of pimps wanted us to go to “Lady bars”, a place where a lusty man can feast. However, since we both got girlfriends (and mine is amazing), we just passed them by, saying stuff in our own language (this was a very good trick to keep them away from us). At midnight we decided to go to the hostel, but since a lot of taxi drivers told me that there will not be any taxi driving at 4 o’clock in the night, I played safe and took a cab right away, resulting in me being at the airport 8 and a half ours before departure to… Hangzhou!

Sharon, darling… I wish you could have been there to relive those moments we’ve had at Houhai… do you remember the dinner there with the “mantou”? Ricardo and me went there and we talked a lot about our girlfriends. He said that I should have seen my own face when I told about you… I seemed so happy, sparkling, full of love. And that’s what I am… I am extremely in love with you.

29^th of June

9.35 a.m. local time… we took off to Hangzhou by airplane. In the airplane, I made a contact with a Chinese diamond expert who is seemingly interested in doing business with diamond cutters from Antwerp, Belgium. It kind of became boring in the end since he just wanted to talk about diamonds.

Hangzhou, 1 p.m., the climate was totally different than in Beijing: more humid, rain, more unbearable. Against my expectations, this city is pretty big… but beautiful: everywhere you look, you will always spot a garden… the biggest attraction here is Xihu 西湖, which is a huge lake with around it some temples, gardens etc. It is situated near to the university I am in.

The university… Zhejiang Daxue. What the hell is this place? This place is probably the least fun part of this journey, because of a lot of problems: first of all, I wasn’t even on the list while I sent e-mails on a daily basis to the organizer. This also gave me problems when I wanted to check-in for a room. After some hours of negotiating and running around to arrange everything, I finally managed to get myself the room that they have promised. Yet again, against my expectations the room was a single room (I thought I’d be given a double bedroom), equipped with air-conditioning, shower, toilet, tv… but yet again NO INTERNET. I immediately went to the lobby to tell them that, and I had to pay 8 euros for one month to access internet, starting from the first of July… I am starting to get pissed off not to be able to talk to the people I love so much back home. Moreover, it seems that I came here a bit late: the people here seemed to already have formed groups, so I kind of feel lonely today, but also tired from the sleepless night I had at the airport. That’s why I decided to hit the sack around 5 p.m. local time. After waking up at midnight, I went to look for some water to drink, but Jesus, this place is like the countryside instead of a big city: nearly all stores are closed and they are far from campus. God, what a great time I will have here…

I am feeling homesick: I need my dog, my dad, grandmother, friends,…. But actually I foremost need my sweetheart. The thing is, I am having doubts about going to work in China next year… This journey has shown me already that I emotionally am not able to leave my dad, dog and girlfriend behind. I am surely willing to do business trips, but not for more than a month… One year would kill me. This might sound disappointing to some, and some would try to talk me over to still do it, but if they do that, it means that they don’t mean the best for me. At least I hope my dad and girlfriend can understand the situation and not be angry with how I feel.

Sharon, amore mio, although I cannot access internet to tell you personally (yet), I would like to wish you good luck with the dissertation. Just remember to stay calm and remain focused… don’t let their questions take the best of you… Allow me instead to have the best of you J ‘Cause sweetie, if there’s something this guy wants, than it would be… you know what ;-)

Also remember that I am thinking about you and that I hope that in the future I would be of more use to you! I love you so much!

Dad, thanks for giving me this opportunity. I will get back home with more experience on different levels (both emotionally and intellectually). You’ll see a different ‘me’. I really hope to be able to access internet on the 1^st of July, otherwise I would get very very angry. Say hi to Bieke, and give her a huge hug.

30^th of June

First full day at Hangzhou and the university. I bought a map of the city and marked the campus so that I will not lose direction. Since it was a free day, I decided to go out to have a small tour which eventually went a tour of around five hours. First of all, I went to a small bamboo garden, followed by the “Hangzhou botanical garden”. This garden is what the West can only dream of… soon I will post some pictures on Facebook, but the whole collection will be seen by the interested people as soon as I get home. I can conclude living in Hangzhou is literally like having a walk in the park. Speaking of parks… I went to the West Lake (Xi Hu) as well. It is humongous and its beauty is beyond imagination. From where I had a walk (a road that splits the western part from the eastern part, about 5km of length), one could see the beautiful nature combined with modern city buildings across the lake. As expected, some people wanted to have a picture with a Westerner and, since I was the only Westerner in the whole park, I became victim of a photo shoot. Other Chinese people seemed to be looking at me like I am from a totally different planet or like I am an animal. I will remember this for the rest of my life because since I started to realise this, I decided to look back in an angry way. Why? Because it’s funny when you notice they look like you in a discriminating way, and when you look back at them, they suddenly look back… this is what I do it for: China does not belong to the Chinese, the West have made them into what they are right now! So there’s no need to discriminate me nor other Westerners.

After a shower and a series, I went to look for an Internet bar in the vicinity. Once I found two, they had something racist to say: “You have to be Chinese in order to log on the Internet here.” This gave me even more that feeling of being discriminated. If it will go on like this, I will start an Anti-Asian Ku Klux Klan. I could not do anything else than going back to my room and do… nothing. I was tired of walking around and I really was in to a siesta.

To MY sweet Sharon: I miss you so much. Not being able to talk to you each day is hell for me. By the time you will have read this, you will already have done your thesis dissertation so I already congratulate you with your magnificent grade! Now just enjoy the weekend and don’t think of anything else although you have to work next week. Just relax and enjoy your shortening time as a student! I love you a thousand times more than you think and I am so proud of you. You’re the best <3

To my best father and friend: how are you these days? (you can reply on this blog by clicking “Reageren” (I think) below this text on the right. Did you go to bomma already to let her know I am fine? Give Bieke a hug from me… Gosh I miss that dog so much!

01-07-2011 om 07:36 geschreven door Gert_in_China  

25-06-2011 om 23:53 geschreven door Gert_in_China