Thursday April 1st 1023

Well, I've been hesitant to write this, but I figure everyone should know.

I've decided that, given the lower cost of living, the job opportunities, and the ability to have nice dinners all the time, I've decided to stay in China indefinitely. Although I will miss being in the land of burgers and fries, I think this is the best way forward, and that I can do without English reading material if I can pick up the lovely Chinese language.

I'm courting a girl, and her parents like me enough that I think it will work out great: her father has already given me the nickname of Gweilo! I'm looking forward to having one child some day, and having my wife give me an allowance of my own salary: we will maybe even buy a house with a special room with a lock where we can make our child the brightest and most talented and most wonderful little doctor.

Another good thing is that there are no homeless scum in Shanghai, and I can walk unaccosted by the degenerate subhumans. Also, because I consider the Chinese as white brothers, Shanghai also doesn't have any stinky colored people, and I so can make lots of money without having to care about anyone.

I make this decision knowing full well the effect it might have on my loved ones, but I figure you could always fly over and visit. I simply can't pass up all of this, or else I'd be caught the fool.

Wednesday March 31 1738

Heya!

Today is kind of blecch for weather, and just work really. In news, though, our lovely office assistant Tracey is leaving for a new job, and so today is her last day. It'll suck that she won't be around to help me talk to my chinese coworkers, but at least she gets to go be an art curator. I'll just have to pick up more chinese, haha. =)

Monday March 29 1728

Doing alright here: had a fun weekend walking around on a derive about Shanghai, but feeling too lazy to do a write up :-)

I'll try to put one together later tonight and post tomorrow maybe, but the summary is that I walked 14km in the wrong direction and ended up not seeing the Sea but instead the inland suburbs of Shanghai. It was interesting in its own way, though!

Friday March 26 1013

New coworkers are arriving slowly as we ramp up the project. The first one has arrived, and he's nice (although a bit talkative). It occurs to me, though, that every single American I know over here in China is a Ron Paul libertarian: maybe they just flock together, lol. The Brits and Chinese aren't though =)

Wednesday March 24 1020

Rainy day today, but otherwise it's going alright here. I definitely want to come up with a place to go sightsee this weekend, assuming the weather is alright. Maybe a temple?

Tuesday March 23 1642

Hey!

I'm getting my wage doubled just because of how good my work is, and if they ask me to stay for two months longer, I am very very likely to be able to get a large bonus at the end, so I am quite pleased. =)

Also, I've been put in charge with the game design in general, so that's sweet. Yay for me, haha

Monday March 22 915

One interesting thing about China is that, when a shop goes out of business, it is stripped down to drywall within 24 hours of its last business. What this means is that, having gone there the day before and had a dinner, I'll go "oh nice, I'll go again today" and find it to be cordoned off and the inside bare concrete. It's really startling when it happens, and it seems to happen regularly!

Thursday March 18 1116

I think I will have a four-cheese pizza to myself for lunch today =)

Tuesday Marh 16th 1613

Happily working along, and still many meetings: we're doing a kind of internal restructuring, and I'm talking salaries and bonuses with the bosses, along with interviewing translator applicants. Busy times, so I'm relaxing at home by sampling the many varieties of over-ripe chinese fruit: one literally smells like trash, the Durian. It smells like a sewer rat in heat, and tastes much the same.

Monday March 15 1738

Meetings meetings meetings meetings meetings meetings!

Blargh.

All today, from things ranging from testing interviewee's English skills to the minutiae of server architecture. Tired, I'm going to go get some nice pepperoni pizza and relax!

Thursday March 11 1135

Work is very interesting at the moment, and I think I could be getting a pay raise for when I come back. Also, just noticed I have school loan collectors knocking at my e-mail. Fun! I'll just file a forebearance for while I'm in China, and sort it out for when I am earning USD again, lol.

Monday March 8 1019

Although I of course miss friends and loved ones, it is easy to be strong and enjoy what I am doing at the moment. However, the things that most consistently have me going "uggh, I wish I had some ---" and "argh, this isn't like ---" are the following:

Little Things I Miss:

1- Doritos: Every chip here is meat or fish flavored, nothing else, not even Sour Cream or Salt & Pepper, and absolutely no chance of a cheesy tortilla chip.

2- Tap Water: You can't drink water that has come from the tap, only boiled or bottled water, unless you want to risk a microbial stomach sickness.

3- Sandwiches: There. Are. No. Sandwiches. In. China.

4- My Laptop's Virginity: Before I came to China, my laptop was fine. Now, due to the petri dish that is the workplace network, it is crawling with viruses that I will have to nuke when I get back.

5- Easy Banking: Every mechanism to stop Chinese people from stealing my money online works great. Too bad I'm 'Chinese'.

Thursday March 4 1741

Another day done: gonna squander my evening playing a computer game, buahahaha. This weekend, though, I'm going to go rollerblading in Century Park, because I've bought some blades recently: so hope for good weather!

Wednesday March 3 1119

Back to work today: went home early on Monday and slept through Tuesday: feeling better now though, and payday is in a week! I'm managing to stow away some RMB, so that I can have some nice money when I get back: it'll be a modest amount, but should pay my expenses for several months, and what more could you ask of your cash than that? =)