My personal road to entrepreneurship

In the last post, I talked about the details of how I got my books published, in this one I will talk about the road that took me there.

My first “business venture” was in Berlin in the year 2007. It was really difficult to get a job there without speaking perfect German, so a friend and I set to collect empty bottles from the parks and what not, it was something like 20 cents for every bottle we returned to the shop, so it was enough to get by, then with another friend we set to collect and recycle abandoned bikes, when they were rideable again, we would sell them for about 20 euros a piece, not great, but enough to get by on.

After that, I took some farm jobs and teaching jobs for a few years, so there was not much risk involved, then I moved to Taiwan and started selling bicycles again, fixing them and reselling them on craigslist. Then I somehow got addicted to online poker and ended up losing a lot of money in pokerstars and partypoker. Ok, not a lot of money, but more than I was able to afford at that time. Most days I broke even, but that actually meant I had wasted 10 hours a day playing for nothing. So that was kind of my third failed attempt at entrepreneurship. By that time I still didn’t know how to succeed but I knew why I wanted to succeed and why I wanted to work for myself, it had nothing to do with capitalism, being a wage slave or having more time, money or freedom. I wanted to work independently because I had found that personal relationships were a source of conflict an I wasn’t capable of dealing with conflict in the way other people are. Really, I couldn’t even answer some simple questions like ‘how are you?’, if someone asked me that I just wanted to know in which sense did they mean it, so that I could give them a concrete answer. If someone complimented me I thought they had some ulterior motives and if someone wanted to become closer to me, I rejected them because I couldn’t deal with the burden of having to deal with someone else’s emotions.

Then some years passed and I got hired by a school in China and then got neglected by them, like, once I moved into a new city because they said they had a school there, it ended up being that the school didn’t have enough students or classes, but they had already given me the working visa and I had already found an apartment in that city, so I was supposed to stay there (oh, btw the city was Anning).

Because I was already there, had a place to live and didn’t need to worry about the visa for a while, my only option was private teaching, so I printed some business cards and went all around the city handing them over, it all ended well and I was able to make ends meet working just 3 or 4 hours a week.

A year later, I flew from Kunming to Argentina and started our walking trip with Bong Gu, in the one I sold some pictures of our trip just to make some pocket money. Then we arrived in  EL Calafate and tried to start my own school, and then failed, all the students would cancel at the last minute, I would often get stood up, and many took the classes but in the end didn’t want to pay for them, they just said they would pay tomorrow but tomorrow never came. So then I ended up getting a job at a hotel so that I could have a stable income.

After that, we came from Argentina to Colombia overland, passing through Bolivia and Peru and trying to write every day while we were traveling. That’s how I finished my books and published them, and didn’t make any money out of them but that was ok, because I had never intended to in the first place, it was just something I needed to do for myself. I had the need to tell my story.

While I was writing my books, I got a job as a freelance ghost-writer for a company in Medellin, which name I’ve forgotten, and that was one of the most stressful jobs I had in my life, not because of the job, the writing was ok, but because they used this really horrible time-tracking software called hubstaff that records every activity you do on the computer and takes screenshots of it, records mouse and keyboard activity, so lets say you stopped typing for a minute and were thinking about what to write or about how to phrase something you had on your mind or about what would be the best way to rewrite something, the software didn’t know you were thinking about work, it thought you were lazing around, so you can imagine how that ended for me. Not that I was doing anything wrong in the computer, it was just the feeling of being watched and judged, the pressure to know someone didn’t trust me, like when you leave a shop or a supermarket and you have to walk through the metal detectors, you usually feel threatened and judged even though you didn’t steal anything, or maybe you did, but you know what I mean.

After that, I got a job as an interpreter at a local trade fair for a week, for an Indian company. The money was pretty bad because I got hired by a translation company instead of being hired directly by the client, so the company took 80% and gave the translators 20%. The job was sweet though, so when it ended, I went to the website of the company who organized the fair and checked all the companies that would be coming to Bogota on the next few months and emailed all of them to offer my services. None of them replied, so that was another failure for me.

After that, I started teaching English online to Chinese kids through a company called Waijiaoiyi but it was pretty terrible, the bureaucracy was exhaustive, the pay was bad and the teachers were treated poorly. That’s where I learned online teaching is great, as long as you find your own students and don’t need to depend on any company. So that’s how I started spamming craiglist, Rype and wyzant for a few weeks until I got some regular students, 6 of them which have already been my students for 5 months.

But still, I knew if I ever wanted to achieve financial freedom, teaching was not the way to go, so during the next few months (and up till now) I invested every cent I made teaching online into figuring out ways to generate passive income.

Because I had already used Fiverr as a buyer for the design and editing of my books, I decided to give it a chance as a seller, so I created some gigs and published them, thinking I could make some easy money, in the end, no one bought my gigs so I didn’t make any money, but it was worth a shot. 

My next idea was to try and promote my books on my own, so I first started by creating different ads in canva and running them on FB, IG and google ads, it was all waste of money and I didn’t sell any books but I did learn a lot, so then I tried to combined all the knowledge I had on poker plus the one I had on FB ads and try to resell poker books and I also failed, but I was ready for my next adventure: dropshipping.

I watched every youtube video on the subject for a few weeks and bought many courses (courses which I then also tried to resell , and failed, and got banned on reddit in the process). I learned about dropshipping every day, 10 hours a day and then I opened my own shoppify store selling travel gear, which I can’t link to because I also failed at that and closed it a month later.

So it had been 8 months in Colombia trying and testing ideas but none of them really worked, that’s when I discovered a website called black hat world. 

There I found lots of opportunities for people like me, who don’t really like going outside and socializing but still need to make a living somehow. Lots of opportunities for people who don’t have a permanent place of residency so they need a job that they can do from anywhere. I started reading on and on in forums trying to find something I could be good at and finally decided to settle for Instagram CPA marketing, because I had already been using the platform for a few years and was confortable enough to try and escalate on it. 

While trying to grow my own IG account I had many times tried to contact members to collaborate, make friends or exchange shoutouts, and that’s when I noticed 99% of those messages went unread and I later learned at least half of all IG accounts are automated that’s why no one had read my messages, they were botting and had many accounts on autopilot. I had always been good with computers, so I thought I could do that too.

I didn’t want to spend much money to start because I didn’t know if I could pull it off, so at first I decided to try using a free bot called instapy and I failed, every day I got some different error that I didn’t know how to fix so I then decided to pay for a bot, and after countless hours trying to find the best bot, I found that the best one is called Jarvee, but it’s also the most expensive one, so I couldn’t really afford it and I ended up settling for Instadub which is the second best, it has the best customer service, and it’s also the cheapest one, because they charge a one time fee instead of a monthly one, and as I was planning to be in this for the long term that would make a huge difference. Then I needed some proxies to run my accounts on, I settled for proxymillion because their proxies were 3 times cheaper than the rest while still getting the job done, and then I needed a private server to run my bot and accounts on, after analyzing all the options I chose turnkey because they are 4 times cheaper than all the others and I am very poor, so it was really not much of a choice actually, I just chose all the cheapest companies.

Then I needed some accounts to run my CPA offers on, for that I found a private seller on BHW, he is from Russia, because all account sellers are from Russia. I bought 150 aged accounts from him, aged means at least a few years old, because the new ones get banned quickly. 

The next step was to set my CPA link, so I signed up for Max Bounty cpagrip, instazood ,IMonetizeIt  Peerfly   and ogads , because people in BHW said they are the best, so I started creating my content lockers and referral offers using their sites, I then bought some landing pages from a private seller in the forum and learnt how to make my own ones in blogger and wix. 

I used getsmscode to verify the accounts with phone numbers and mail.ru to verify their emails, and then I realized the accounts got banned quickly when I added the CPA link, so I decided to just grow accounts and try to sell them when they are above 10k followers or try and sell shoutouts, because it wasn’t worth the risk of buying them, setting them up, adding pictures, bio, photo, creating the offer and the LP for the CPA only to get the account banned as soon as I added the link to it.

Growing IG accounts is like growing little plants, every day some will get sick, or some insect or animal will come to eat them, someone will try to steal them or IG will kill them because it didn’t like something about them.

I had many of those ‘what am I doing in my life’ kind of moments while completing Russian captcha, the Chinese phone verifications and trying to keep up to date with all the changes IG makes to prevent people from doing something they don’t like.

Up to now, and after everything I’ve tried, I am still barely making it, just making enough to cover my expenses and surviving the day, but, to wrap this all up, what I learned from it all, was to embrace failure, every time I start something new, I start it thinking that I will fail, yes, maybe that’s why I end up failing, but that’s also how I manage not to get disappointed or depressed or feeling as a failure every time one of my projects fails, I was secretly expecting it to fail, because maybe I don’t consider myself worthy of success or maybe I started the projects out of curiosity but didn’t have the patience and dedication to see them through, or maybe the reason I fail is because I was meant to fail, so that I will learn the skills I need to embark on a new project after this one, only to abandon it out of boredom once I have figured out the tricky part and it becomes a darg.

And something else I learned is to not be afraid of investing in myself, I understand life is a game, society is another game and everything related to money and economy is just a game inside a game, inside another game we humans play to avoid facing the scary reality of knowing we are going to die and all of our memories and experiences will disappear. 

 

 

 

UPDATE: July 2018, I opened an Instagram services reselling website, for some reason.

20 Things I wish someone had told me when I just arrived in China

1) When someone says “Hmmm…” that means they don’t agree with you but they can’t tell you because they need to avoid conflict at all cost.

2) People will compliment you on weird stuff you didn’t choose, accomplished or had anything to do with, such as your height, eye color, eyelashes length, etc.

3) There is no such a thing as a social smoker, someone who smokes when he’s with friends or at a party just for fun. Here you are either a chain smoker or you don’t smoke at all, there’s no middle point. Same goes for drinking, they won’t allow you to have just a few drinks, you either get wasted or you don’t drink at all. Your choice.

4) People will talk to you a lot, and very loudly, but they are friendly, that’s how they are used to talk.

5) If you cook something for someone and it has no chili they won’t like it and they will say “Hmmm…”

6) There is no such a thing as house parties and is taboo to invite someone to your house. Not because they are afraid of you, but because if they go to your house they won’t be spending money and here spending money or buying many things is not seen as wasteful or arrogant, it’s an attribute everyone considers positive, so if you  meet someone you can’t meet them at a park either, because it’s free, must meet them at a restaurant, cafe, or place where you will be spending money

7) Can’t share cups or bottles with someone.

8) Can’t say anything good or bad about the government or the bad things that happen in China, if you say something bad they will say “Hmmm…”  and if you say something good it will inspire distrust.

9) Can’t give your clothes to others, even if it’s new and very expensive and you just wore it once, it’s taboo.

10) “I will call the police” is not a valid threat because everyone knows police are useless and they won’t help anyone who is in trouble, they can only give you more trouble.

11) Everyone will stare at you, as if they were watching TV.

12) Saying you’re Muslim is always an effective way to explain why you don’t drink/smoke/eat meat.

13) There’s no such a thing as friendship between boys and girls and many people say they want to be your friends but what they mean to say is that they want to practice their English or take you somewhere as the token white guy.

14) The local’s idea of a fun night out can be either: going to a restaurant and to a bar afterward or going to a restaurant and to KTV after it, there’s no third option.

15) You must live outside the big cities, big cities are a mess.

16) Police can stop you on the streets and ask you for your passport, and they can shout at you and push you if you can’t speak Chinese.

17) Money and paying the bill is a very big deal, even if it’s just 20 cents people must fight for it, and the winner gets to pay, throwing money at the waitress or cashier is an acceptable way to pay first.

18) The military can pull you over if you in a bus, a car or a train, they can question you, ask for papers and they all have shotguns and assault rifles.

19) Only requirements for working in a hotel in China: Not speaking any English.
Only requirements for working as an English teacher in China: Speaking a little bit of English.
Only requirements for working for the government: Knowing someone who works there.
Only requirements for working as a policeman or in the army: Being a terrible person.
Only requirements for working in a restaurant: Using chili and MSG in every dish.

20) It’s very easy to find a job, and it’s just as easy to not get paid for it.

 

dog with red backpack

 

 

Whatever 19

 

What do you think about China?

Well that depends

Depends on what?

On the motive behind the question, if you’re just being polite and making small talk I should follow suit and reply that it’s a really nice place, great food, great people. But if you really want to know what I think about China, I actually have a list of all the things that are wrong and how to fix each and one of them.

I like the second options better, and I would definitely like to give it a read, and then I could maybe translate it to Chinese and post it in some forums, it could catch someones attention before being taken down and we may get the ball rolling for improving things all over the country.

You know, I just me someone who thinks he can help me improve the situation in this country

And ignoring the prime directive?

Can’t be remembering all those rules.

But it’s the only rule you should be remembering.

I thought there were like 30 something.

But it’s the most important one: “As the right of each sentient species to live in accordance with its normal cultural evolution is considered sacred, no cute puppies may interfere with the normal and healthy development of alien life and culture. Such interference includes introducing superior knowledge, strength, or technology to a world whose society is incapable of handling such advantages wisely. Cute puppies may not violate this Prime Directive, even to save their lives and/or their ship, unless they are acting to right an earlier violation or an accidental contamination of said culture. This directive takes precedence over any and all other considerations, and carries with it the highest moral obligation.”

I will do what I have to do.

People who say that are usually the first ones to die.

 

What about this?

General Order 20

Cute puppies may employ whatever means necessary to prevent the possession, transportation, sale, or commercial exchange of sentient beings being held against their wishes within the boundaries of Federation space.

Well, what about this?

General Order 14

Cute puppies may intervene in local planetary affairs to restore general order and to secure the lives and property of Federation citizens only upon receiving a direct order to do so from a civilian official with the title of governor or higher.

But no one asked you to interfere…

But no one asked me not to interfere.

But the rules say you shouldn’t interfere, there’s nothing to think about here, you just mind your own business and let the other humans destroy themselves, destroy all the other life forms in this planet, and then destroy the planet itself.

But this planet has been here for billions of years, how could they destroy it, I mean even if they wanted to, there’s no way they could.

Whatever.

 

On the China situation 2

 

Tell me about those good things?

Best thing is that there are no violent crimes, almost anywhere in China you can go out at 3 in the morning and feel completely safe, now how many countries can you say that about?

11

Which ones?

Well, there is Canada, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, finland, and Iceland.

Ok, well played, but you get my point?

Yes, it takes a load off your shoulders not having to worry about safety, or guns, or being mugged.

Yes, even though they have plenty of ways to scam you and take your money, no one will come at you with a gun or a knife

Why is that, do you know?

The real criminals are the police and the politicians as usual, they have the monopoly on crimes, but i think it comes more to a cultural thing, if you scam or cheat someone that is a somehow socially accepted and expected thing, but if you commit a violent crime you will lose face and embarrass your whole family and get heavily punished by the law.

How is the penal system there by the way?

It’s actually pretty good for asian standards, unique I would say, they don’t punish sex offenders, swindlers or petty crimes, they don’t punish any corruption-related acts because most people are corrupted here and bribing is just how business is conducted here, they don’t punish any kind of fraud, what they do punish is violent crimes, and blasphemy against the government, but they usually don’t forge evidence like in south america, nor do they usually imprison innocent people and force them to confess to something they didn’t do like in japan. All the people here they know what they can and can’t do, can’t say bad things about the government and can’t commit violent crimes and that’s it, everything else is alright. How many countries in south america and asia they just hold on to the thieves or murderer for a few hours and just let them go?

32, but why not africa?

Africa is a lost cause already.

isn’t that racist?

Maybe but I have to be honest, even if I’m wrong, and you know I am always willing to change my stance when new evidence arrives. I think they are too long gone with murder and rape and genocide, i feel like they don’t know the value of human life, or the millions of years of evolution behind their lives, or the miracle of consciousnesses.

What’s next voting for trump? and what is consciousness anyway?

It feels like Trump is an honest person, he is a terrible person as well and he knows it, but he doesn’t pretend to be a nice guy who wants the best for his country.

So it’s better to have an honest terrible person than a good person who often has to lie to protect the interests of big corporations?

I’d say so yes.

What if there is a war?

If there’s a war he will probably admit there is a war because he is a terrible person and a terrible politician, but obama or hillary they would just blame the circumstances or blame other country or say they are not directly responsible for the conflict.

But before you said there are wars because people go to wars now you think it’s the politician’s fault?

Well, it should be the politician’s job to solve conflicts without using force, when there is a war that means the politicians have failed to do their job properly, maybe they think their job of talking to each other is too difficult so they just gave up and send the army.

Ok, then how about foreign relationships in china, are the politicians doing a good job there?

A terrible job, I don’t really understand why china needs so many enemies and why they want to make trouble for all their neighbors. They always find some excuse, like the border, or some tiny forgotten island, but why they do that I can’t really wrap my head around.

Maybe they just enjoy going to that drama place.

Maybe or maybe there’s something else, there is a reason why not just china but most countries just can’t all be happy together, and the reason is not a religious one or economical one, and I don’t have it so clear myself yet, but i suspect it has something to do with not being happy with how we are or what we have. I know there is no such a thing as human nature, but there is sometimes a predisposition to wanting something different. Like people who have been in a relationship or doing a job for a long time tend to feel suffocated and lose that spark that brings joy to life, that spark that sometimes you can see in travelers, that spark that makes you feel alive, that makes you being there in the moment and enjoying it.

As you said it is not an easy concept to grasp, but if only as a theory, it does make some sort of sense that the politicians enjoy conflict because it makes them feel alive that’s why they create all these problems to each other and to the people from their countries.

Either that or they are just terrible people

Either that or they are doing the best they can with the knowledge they have, their skills and abilities, the resources at their disposal, and the situation at hand.

Yes, could be either of them.

 

 

On the china situation

On the china situation

Can you tell me some stuff about china? I’ve never been there and it’s hard to imagine what life must be like there.

Sure, so what would you like to know?

Well, I know you want to talk about politics, so I’d like to take you out of your comfort zone and talk about art instead, and agriculture, and technology, and fashion.

Fashion, really? So we are to write about Chinese fashion.

That’s right, can you?

Ok, let me try, they copy stuff from Korea, sometimes japan or America, and… that’s it. The End.

How about the suits?

Oh right, yes, they wear suits for farming, construction work and all kinds of manual labor, I guess you could call that fashion trend.

How about in summer?

Especially on hot summer days, they all suit up to dig a ditch or collect the rubbish.

Could it be a case of dress for the job you want kind of thing?

Could be

What other fashion trends have you noticed over there

In the way some western guys roll up their sleeves, the trend here is to roll up the lower part of your shirt, so instead of your forearms is your belly that’s showing.

Maybe they want to amaze the femeninas with their manhood.

Do you think it works? Should I try it?

Yes please, and take lots of pictures.

Something else that caught my eye was that sometimes they wear their jacket like a cape, and sometimes only in one arm is in while the other sleeve hangs loosely on the side.

Interesting, unique I would say, so how about organizing a Chinese themed fashion show?

I don’t see that ending well.

How about the electronic stuff there?

Throughout the years I had many good and bad experiences with electronics here, for example, I bought a PSP in 2009 and it’s still working alright, I bought a shaving machine and it just exploded the first time I plugged it in, there are lots of awesome stuff but lots of rubbish as well.

There are many rules you need to follow when buying electronics in China, the first one being that if the brand is very well known like Sony or IBM then the product is probably fake and you will be paying a lot for rubbish. Your best bet would be to buy a small Chinese brand that maybe is not so big so they have no reason to make knock-offs of it.

The second rule will be: anything you buy on the street will be half price online. Third rule, your Chinese friend know better what to buy and where. The fourth rule, if it looks too good to be true is not necessarily too good to be true.

For example?

Well, some things may look dirty cheap when seen with foreign eyes but they aren’t actually,

For example, I have bought some new formal shoes or suits for about 2usd at some big supermarkets.

I thought we were talking about electronics, but well that explains the fancy farmers. What else?

I bought a second-hand E-Bike for about 130usd. Can’t take trips out of town but it does take me to work every day. In Taiwan, it would have cost me at least 10 times more.

Western Governments say the batteries are expensive to produce, is that true? Or what is the truth behind solar/electric powered vehicles?

But you said you didn’t want to talk about the government.

Oops.

Ok, western governments can’t do what they want, even when they know it’s the right thing to do, they must do what big corporations want for whatever that reason may be, so oil producing companies put pressure on governments for delaying the development of electric powered vehicles, how they do that? By charging huge taxes to companies who want to develop clean energy or creating patents on the batteries so no company can afford to develop it. The Chinese government in the other hand doesn’t depend on big corporations to manage the economy and take their decisions for them, because they ARE the big corporations, all of them combined, as Marx would put it, they own the means of production. So they can do as they please, and even though they do many many terrible things this isn’t one of them.

Broken clock?

Exactly, even a broken clock will be right twice a day, so a few years ago they banned oil powered motorbikes from all the major cities, now I know what you will say “laws in China are not really laws, they are just suggestions”

I wasn’t gonna say that.

Fortunately, though, this is one of the few laws that are actually heavily enforced.

But most of the electricity we use comes from burning coal anyway so isn’t it the same in the end.

Yes but they have taken steps to greatly reduce noise pollution in all the big cities, in the most populated country in the world, that’s got to count for something and they minimally reduced air pollution, because most air pollution is still caused by cars, buses, planes, the meat industry and factories. I am always the first one to criticize them when they do something wrong so I must be fair and point out the good they do as well, on the rare occasion that may happen.

Well, I am happy to hear you criticize the government because that means you have freedom of speech, oh wait…

Very funny, now I want to know what is the general sentiment of the people outside China if you’ve never been here, how do you imagine it’d be like?

True I’ve never been to China but I’ve been to India so that’d be my point of reference for a densely populated place, I guess I imagine China as total chaos and anarchy, rubbish everywhere, noisy, crowded, or maybe a strange mixture of India and Japan, with the Japanese ant-like fast-paced kind of lifestyle plus the chaos of India. I imagine everyone shouting at me at the same time and everyone trying to cheat me, how far am I off?

It could definitely be like that, but then you travel a few hours outside the city and there’s no one there and people are nice.

If there’s no one there how can they be nice?

First, there’s no one, then someone comes and they are nice.

What if no one comes?

Then no one is nice, but because there’s no one there not because people are not nice in general.

What if a dog comes?

Then we can pet the dog or play with him.

Or her.

Or her.

What if you get bitten?

I thought life was too short for “what ifs”.

What happened to your south American trip?

Next year for sure.

But you say the same every year.

I know, but this time for real.

If you don’t come I’ll go and get you and drag you all the way down here, and drag your dog.

You don’t know where I live, no one knows but me.

So if you die tomorrow no one will find your body or cry for you.

That’s right, it will go unnoticed.

Actually, I know where you live.

Where?

In China.

But which city?

In chun chan chin.

That doesn’t sound like a Chinese city, they always use 2 words, you used 3.

Chan pan wan?

No, that’s also 3

Pin ton tun?

No, and that sounds Vietnamese.

Kung fu chu chu?

That’s 4, getting worse.

How about your impression of living there.

Well, it’s not like living in Thailand, Japan, Korea, where there are foreigners everywhere and people have already had decades to assimilate the idea that there are other countries out there and sometimes people from there make it this way.

China has opened up his doors relatively recently, so people outside the big cities have probably never seen a foreigner in real life so you would be the first one, and guess what, they will be surprised so they will stare at you, a lot.

Isn’t that scary?

It is somehow, most people are friendly though so they smile or say hi,

Others look very scary and they want to check you out, you know like a white guy going into a black neighborhood, they check your clothes from head to toe to see what you’re wearing, then look at you deep in the eyes to see what you will do next. This doesn’t mean they are dangerous, it’s just their way to deal with something they have never seen before, and they will easily crack a smile if you approach and talk to them in a friendly way.

Biggest culture shock so far?

What came as a shock to me at the beginning was the huge difference between individual rights and collective rights, individual rights always come first, as opposed to in the west where you need to “respect other people” and stuff like that.

For example?

How many examples do you want?

Can you do 7?

I can do 12.

7 is enough for now.

Ok. 1) Someone making noise late at night, we can’t complain because his individual right to make noise always comes before his neighbors’ rights to sleep.

2) Someone smoking in the elevator/bus/train, we can’t complain because his individual right to smoke anywhere comes before other people’s rights to breath.

3) Someone cheating your money, we can’t complain because his right to cheat you comes before your right to not get cheated.

4) if you want to cross the street you have to run in between the cars, they can’t stop because their individual right of getting where they go very fast comes before your right to cross the street safely.

5) Someone takes a dump in your doorway, can’t complain because his right of taking a dump in your doorways comes before your right of not having someone taking a dump in your doorway.

6) Someone shouting at you or at others, can’t complain because that’s his right.

7) if you have a job and the boss doesn’t want to pay his employees, that’s his right.

Sound like a pretty terrible place to live.

Well yes, I  mean I live in a 20^th floor so every day when I come in and out my choices are either taking the elevator with the smokers or taking the stairs that stink like urine because people use them as toilets.

Those are not good options.

But there are some good things as well.

Tell me next time?

Ok.

 

 

Mundane thoughts

Some people say that eating is one of the biggest pleasures in life, but not for us.

We don’t eat?

We don’t eat what other people say it tastes good, we eat what is good for us.

I know many people will say we are missing out a lot because they have been conditioned to believe this kind of food tastes good and this other one tastes bad. We had to opposed preconceived notions regarding the taste of the food so we can be able to understand the reasoning besides thinking this food tastes good or not. If you have been brought up thinking this food tastes good and everyone around you agrees then guess what, it will taste good for you.
Same as when we were learning about the religions.
And the biggest pleasure doesn’t come from going against the system, nor does it comes from eating what is good for us, it comes from being in control of your emotions and being able to make decisions based on logical  information and being flexible enough to be able to change your choices when new information presents itself.

But it could also be a logical reason to eat something because it makes you happy, it may even have more benefits than eating it because it’s good for us.
By, for example reducing the stress that means opposing other people’s food choices.

I concede a simple minded person would feel some degree of stress by having to oppose the norm. But we actually enjoy it.

I know we do, and I think there lies the problem, we enjoy it to a point that is not about the food anymore, is about sending a message. The message being that we can’t be easily tamed. That we are different and need attention because of that. That we want people to notice us and love us because we are lonely and desperate to be loved and accepted.
So we build the walls of indifference around us, walls that only a selected few will be able to penetrate.

Penetrate 🙂

Truth be told we are probably not special. We are the same as everyone else.

But with somewhat heightened senses that are able to perceive things most people miss, right?

Some people, such as you, are able to express their views better in writing, while some others are better at speaking, more eloquent, other can’t do either, but they feel the same way. And we are all the same deep down, we all feel lonely and want to be loved and accepted. Some are better at hiding it than others.

And some can accept it instead of hiding it, right?

What if, hypothetically speaking, some people aren’t hiding it. It may be that they are surrounded by people that make them feel loved or it may be that after many years of being alone they have come to an understanding of their own nature and they have realized they were never lonely in the first place. Or what if they have understood they were lonely and accepted it and learned to be happy in that solitude. What if what they thought it was loneliness was actually a bliss reached at by being relieved of the stress and anxiety that come along with dealing with other people and social situations.

Some people don’t see social situations as a source of stress, but as a stress reliever, when there are people around that means they are not lonely anymore.
Those people don’t need to worry about social anxiety because they are not afraid of not being accepted.

I always thought it was the other way around, insecure people need to be surrounded by others and be accepted, confident people need not worry about what others would think so they can play by their own rules and do what they want.

As a cold reader would put it “you enjoy being with friends but also need some time for yourself” that could easily define the vast majority of people, the 90% maybe, and the other 10 could be that half of them can’t stand being alone while the other half can’t stand being with people.
People who can’t stand being alone may be that they have never in their life been alone, so being with others is all they know, as it happens in India, there was never the choice to be alone, to begin with.
And the opposite is true for people who can’t be with others, it may be they have been alone for too long to adapt to communal life. Or it may be, as I suspect it to be your case, that people around you are just too different.

Or that may be just another attempt to make myself feel special and different so I can justify being alone, you said we are all the same deep down, we all want to be loved and accepted.

There was a theory about extraterrestrial life that explained why we haven’t yet made contact. It was called the ‘ant’ theory. We are the ants and aliens are us, no matter how hard we try to communicate with them, we are at a completely different evolutionary stage for communication to be possible.
The same applies to us, we can try again and again to communicate with other people but there’s no way they would understand, because they live in their own very different world, like the ants or the Chinese.

The Chinese? Can we say that here? Well, I guess no one reads this anyway…

It’s ok, I’ve been living in China for a few years, so I’m allowed to make fun of them, it says so in my visa.

I don’t think it does. And… I don’t think you should keep telling people about how the government harvests organs from the falung gong people

I do what I have to do. I say what I have to say.

Do you want to get sent to a labor camp? Because that’s how you get sent to a labor camp.

So be it, I’ll do my time and when I get out I’ll tell everyone, so they can feel sorry for me and pay attention to me.

Do you know how wrong that sounds?

And by wrong, you mean blatantly honest?

You mentioned a long time how you admired Carl Sagan, so why not adopt some of his tact and grace when it came to expressing his ideas. He knew he was intellectually superior to his opponents in any debate, and could shot them down at will if he had wanted to, but he always chose not to. He always chose to be the better man.

Plot twist: Carl Sagan was a robot pretending to be a human.

Plot twist: Carl Sagan was an alien pretending to be a robot pretending to be a human.

Plot twist: Carl Sagan was god.

Mindblown…

Ok, how about this? Carl Sagan was god, god is not real, is a product of our imagination, thereby Carl Sagan was not real.

How could he be real if your eyes are not real?

What?

I mean, how could the Chinese have invaded Tibet if they were too busy defending themselves from the Japanese?

What?

I mean, what if light does behave both as a particle and as a wave depending on whether it’s being observed or not.

Light can choose?

Yes, light can choose, and so can you.

I can choose to behave as a particle or as a wave?

No, but you can choose bulbasaur as your starting pokemon.

That’s it?

Yes, that’s it.

I thought you were going to say something philosophical.

And when I was 12 I thought I would be a paleontologist when I grew up but guess what.

What?

Nothing, I just like saying ‘guess what’.

You didn’t become a paleontologist?

The PSP game monster hunter may be the closest I got to it, but it’s ok because you know what?

What?

Nothing I just like saying ‘you know what?’

It’s alright mate.

I’m not your mate buddy.

I’m not your buddy bro.

“I’m not your bro pal” he replied to himself as he snorted the last line of cocaine from his work desk just before calling it a day.

Plot twist: It was flour.

List of countries

Oh, sorry i forgot t tell you, we don’t use fighting anymore

Why not?

I don’t know, people just stop using some words and phrases over time so that new ones can take their place.

Can I still use ftw.

I don’t think so, they wouldn’t know what you mean.

Kind of like quoting Monty Phyton?

Yeah, something like that, wait, how long have you been off the internet?

I don’t know, a few years, I remember when I was using it last time people were making fun of Justin Biever a lot, I didn’t know who he was, but his name kept popping up, so I looked up a song and it was somehow catchy ‘one less lonely girl’ do you know it?

I don’t think I do, and I don’t think they are making fun of him anymore. I think he may be an adult now.

Can I say call me maybe?

I’m not sure.

Oh yeah, I got that list you asked for the other day.

Which one?

List of countries you’ve been to.

Oh yeah.

I realized it wouldn’t be possible to check out the passports because I had to take out too many stamps over the years to make space for new ones, and threw them away. That’s how I managed to run out pages last year for the first time, and also it’d be kind of a show off to list every single country, the exact number it’s something people should keep to themselves, something private, kind of like the number of sexual partners they had.

Well, actually saying you won’t do something because you’d be showing off, sounds like an even worse way of showing off, but anyway you’ve got a point and it’s somehow interesting so keep going.

So I figured the easiest way would it be to list the countries I spent more than 6 months at or in (I’m not sure which one to use, at or in?)

Yeah, that makes sense, no one cares about a place you just spent a few weeks at (or is it in?), many people travel for a few days or weeks.

Exactly, well anyway, I figured I should make one every 10 years, it may probably also help people have some kind of chronological guide into all the previous posts, so here’s the list:

2005-buenos aires
2006-barcelona
2007-berlin
2008-india
2009- thailand-china
2010-china-japan
2011-australia-korea
2012-korea-taiwan
2013-new zealand
2014-china
2015-china-present

Nice, and now what?

Nothing I don’t know, oh wait, yes I know, now, here is the list for the next 10 years, it’s probably not going to go this way at all but if someone were to ask me to make a plan for the next 10 years from now, a plan I should stick up to no matter what, this one would be it.

2015-china
2016- travel in south america
2017-travel in central america
2018-canada
2019-italy
2020-iran
2021 travel in africa
2022-russia
2023-pacific islands
2024-japan
2025-korea

You are 30 now in 2015, so it seems like a good plan to make the list every 10 years that’s every decade of Bruno’s age.

Bruce’s age.

Right, Bruce’s age, so if you go to all those places in the next 10 years what about your dog?

That’s the reason I’m still in China because I love her too much and can’t leave her here by herself, I know if I ever leave China and have to say goodbye to her it will be the hardest thing I’d ever done.

I guess you’ll have to stay in China then.

That’s the only way.

Here’s when you point to the unfairness of Chinese political system and society, how all the countries are terrible because they don’t let you travel with your dog and China also doesn’t let you stay here forever so sooner or later you will have to say goodbye to her, you’re just postponing the inevitable.

My freedoms have been taken away a while ago by governments and their immigration policies, but I’m still better off than most people, I have a job and a salary at the end of the month, I have a nice cozy room with a bed to sleep at night, hot shower, plenty of food, people who understand me and accept me how I am and a dog who loves me unconditionally, what else could I ask for?

You could ask for internet.

I have internet.

Yes, you have a few Chinese websites that you have somehow manage how to operate but how about facebook, google, gmail, youtube, 4chan, cracked, you don’t miss them?

Of course I do, but they also took too much of my time. This holiday I climbed the mountain a few times, I went hiking, I played football with my students, I walked around the lake a few more times, I got to catch up with many people, I wrote here, I got to clean and look after all the turtles, hamsters and rabbits I have, spent time with dog I went out with my CS guests and had many beers with them and I still had some time left to play some games and read. If I had had internet I may not have done many of those things, so if I had to choose between Facebook or checking emails and my dog, I’d choose dog every single time. I know I have given up on all the people I have ever met in my life. Without gmail or facebook there’s no way to get in touch with them, but the dog’s still worth it, I’ll just meet new people in the future.

That’s actually very sweet, a side of you I hadn’t seen before and I didn’t know you had.

I didn’t know I had it either, anyway, looks like that’s it for today.

Yeah, it was fun, let’s do it more often.

Sure thing.

 

 

Writing our thoughts

I have an idea!

Oh, hi!

I have an idea.

You can write here again?

You should ask “what kind of idea?”

I thought you had lost the password for this blog and for your cutepuppybrunogmail account, how come you can write again?

same as before I can’t access it or read what I wrote, can only email it from my Chinese email for it to be auto-posted.

Oh yeah, I remember, well, how have you been?

I have an idea.

Ok ok, what kind of idea?

What if I were to write down every single thought I have, for one week and just leave it here for posterity.

Every single one? you don’t have like… a job, or something?

I have 10 days off for Chinese new year.

What? You are still in China? Why?

Because that’s just how it is, so how about my idea?

And you want to spend your only holidays writing silly things that no one will read?

Yes, what do you think about it?

I’m both thrilled and terrified by the prospects of reading every one of your raw ideas.

Should I go for it?

Absolutely not, look, I know you’ve got plenty of good ideas, but the world is just not ready for them yet, to put it mildly.

Good ideas? No no, it’s not about good or bad, it would be more like some sort of an experiment.

Like pressing random buttons just to see what happens?

Exactly.

I say don’t do it, remember a few years ago you wrote something and some people took it literally and wrote a long response explaining many things.

Vaguely.

What I mean by ‘the world is not ready for it’ is that your lack of tact and sensitivity gets many people offended. I’ve known you for a very long time. I know you hate all the smokers because your mother has wronged you. I know you hate the governments and I understand why. I know you have many crude dark thoughts, and I know other people don’t understand you the way I do, so when they read something negative about something they like, they will take it as a personal attack on them. I know you don’t mean it that way, but people will hate you still. I know deep inside, you want to kill all the smokers, you want to go to the zoo and release all the animals, you want to tell people they are wrong and you want to tell them why, and you want them to know you are smarter than them. I know you don’t understand that each one of them lives in their own world with their own views and opinions, or lack of them, and in their worlds, they also think they are smarter than you, but they are polite enough not to let you know because they know you may feel bad. If you write every obscure thought you have without thinking twice or editing you’re going to make many people feel bad.

What if I were to write happy thoughts only?

How would you pull that off, you find the glitch in everything and you try to fix everything and everyone.

I’ll think only happy thoughts then.

You can’t control that, seeing the flaws in you it’s both your blessing and your curse.

Well, I guess it wasn’t such a good idea after all.

Try to write about life in China. Most people don’t know what that’s like, or about some other place you’ve been to. You’ve been to many places and did some amazing things, you had many jobs, it could be interesting reading about, or about the girlfriends you had.

I wrote about all those things already.

But not in great fantastic detail.

The other day I taught the word fantastic in my class and one student said ‘fantastic baby’.

And….

That’s it, I thought it was funny.

How is that funny?

Because of the song.

Which song?

‘Fantastic baby’, big bang, it’s a silly song, very famous some years ago and she remembered the word from that song.

If you were to write down every thought it would be very hard to read.

Or… it could be a literary masterpiece.

Probably not, you would just get people be very very confused.

Yeah, I guess you’re right. I’ll have to come up with something better than that.

I know you can do it.

Fighting!

Don’t say that.

 

Ok.

Life in China

So, what’s the general sentiment at the heart of life in China?

It would be hard to say, hard to choose just feeling to represent such a vast nation’s real motivations, and it’s hard to criticize it, with the limit perspective of being generally just an outsider. We, as foreigners have heard or read most of the hardships the Chinese population has been put through, but we haven’t experienced them ourselves.

How about just one idea, of your view as an outsider, on the Chinese populace as a whole?

 

Well, it seems a great majority of people here have completely lost their goals and motivation, they just live to consume and then they die.

Is that any different from any other country though?

Probably not, probably people are the same everywhere and it doesn’t seem to be one enlightened nation where everyone’s well and happy, even financially prosperous countries seem to face lots of social problems like alcoholism and depression.

So everyone everywhere just lives to make money, then spend that money and then die? How about the artists, or the homeless, protesters, dreamers, visionaries?

I don’t know, but I have to go now.

Ok, bye.

 

 

 

News from China

Are you usually overworked there?

It depends some weeks are worse than others, this week we have summer camp at our school, so we have lessons from 9 to 1 then we have to go to some outing, and then few more lessons in the evening.

Do you have some assistants to help you?

I have a few and they are the good ones.

What do you mean by “the good ones”?

Well you know after few years of teaching I’ve had many kinds of assistants, so:

The good ones are the ones that don’t make your job more difficult, they help you control the student and prepare some activities or materials for them.

The bad assistants come in different shapes actually, some they get very low pay so they don’t care about the students or the classes. Some they think they are the teachers, so instead of helping you they want to teach the classes for you, some resent the foreign teacher for some reasons, they think they steal their jobs or they get higher salaries than them or are not qualified enough, or they don’t know the students language or culture, so it can be hard working with them.

Sounds a bit like the doctors/nurses relationship, they should be working together but end up inconveniencing each other.

I guess you could say that.

And I want to ask, why aren’t you vegan anymore?

I don’t know actually. Even though it’s been a few years since I abandoned it, I still have ambiguous feelings, or… how to say it? How to explain? Ambivalent ideas? Conflicting opinions.

It’s hard to put an idea into words while knowing that your decision and your actions could either save or condemn billions of animal lives plus human ones because of the ramifications of either decision.

The basic idea behind my decision to abandon veganism was that freeganism would save way more animal lives in the long run.

Veganism is a well-known word nowadays; it refers to people who are against animal cruelty or exploitation so they try not to contribute to it.

Freegans, on the other hand, eat, wear and use things they find for free, mostly because they have been discarded by other people. So living from the scraps of society means a massive reduction of your impact on the environment and the animal suffering of course.

Vegan products are usually more expensive and hard to come by, but ultimately it may have been the extremist zeal vegans usually display, judging you if you only agree with them 99 instead of 100%.

So yeah, I would wear leather boots or jackets that had been thrown away or given to me by someone who doesn’t need them anymore because it’s just the right thing to do and I would eat the road kill or meat I found on the bin because it has been already discarded.

And what do you think about superfoods?

­

I actually discovered them this year, well I knew they existed, but never had the chance to try them out. Because I had no money or didn’t know how to find them, but at Chinese local markets and Taobao I was able to find goji berries, maca, azai berries, bee pollen, royal jelly, spirulina, basil seeds, and many others. So this year I’ve been trying them and have been working alright for me.

Are you still counting calories and such?

I do actually, just don’t know exactly why, either because of OCD or because of trying to apply the results of every scientific study I read about. I have to consume an exact amount of fats, proteins, and carbs according to the necessities of that day. An exact amount of BCAA before and after exercise, and to the mg accurate quantities of vitamins and minerals, no less than what I need and no more than what my body can absorb to avoid wasting some.

Isn’t that too much? What happens if you miss some or you consume more or less of something?

Probably nothing, just me getting paranoid.

But what’s the point? Most people just eat whatever they want and stay healthy anyway.

But you know I’m not most people, I do what I want and I try to want what is good for me. If I can choose, then why not choosing something that’s good?

How about alcohol?

A few glasses of wine or beer once or twice a week has been proven to be much better than no alcohol at all.

Have you played any good games lately?

Toradora portable for the last few months, can’t seem to get over it somehow.

Watched any good movies or shows?

Oh! Computer broke early this year, and somehow it felt like I would be wasting a lot of time on it if I decided to get another one, so I just left it at that.

Read any good books?

Just 2 on the last few months, les misserables and the 3 musketeers, both amazing, last week I started reading david copperfield but didn’t quite get into it yet.

And how about that motorbike trip.

Yes, maybe next time we can talk more about it.

I heard you have a dog now.

That’s right.

Cute?

As cute as it gets, it’s been an amazing experience seeing her growing up from a puppy, we go for a run around the lake and she waits for me while I exercise.

Is it a nice lake?

Well, it’s nice for Chinese standards, but that’s not saying much really.

Why do you hate China so much?

Just the smokers, it’s too much.

People smoke a lot?

Well official statistics say 75% of Chinese man smoke, but for people living in china we know it’s closer to 92%, they smoke always and everywhere, every single eatery, or café, supermarket, internet bar, hospitals, busses, taxis, cinemas, elevators, even at the school I work at people smoke all the time, of course it’s not my first time to work or live in a hostile environment and I know it’s part of Chinese culture, and I understand it’s not peoples fault, I know government promotes and often enforces the smoking of processed tobacco in public places particularly when children are around and especially government run institutions, like schools hospitals, and police officers. I know doctors, teachers and policemen’s can’t choose not to smoke because they will get fired, I know 20% of Chinese government income comes from tobacco, so I understand all the social and economic ramifications of smoking in China, but it’s really just too much. For them, it’s normal because they don’t know better, but for us it’s still hard to put up with, no matter how long have you been in China, you never quite get used to it.

It seems like you know a lot about smoking in China.

Yes, I also know there are like 4000 chemicals released into the air every time they light out one of those things they smoke, and few hundred of those are carcinogenic and some are even radioactive and I have to breathe them every day because “it’s Chinese culture”.

Well, it’s their country, they can do as they please, you are an intruder, can’t complain.

But I’m a guest here, I should be treated with the respect I deserve.

What makes you think you deserve any kind of respect from anyone?

I don’t know, maybe you are right, I don’t deserve anything good from them. If the current Chinese government killed 45 million for no apparent reason during the great leap forward I should actually be thankful they haven’t killed me yet.

Are you trying to deviate from the subject to make a point? Straw man argument?

I have failed in my crusade to find allies to join me against the smokers and the Chinese government, so my last hope is going off topic or self-pity.

That’s pathetic, why so much negativity? What’s the point of it? There must be a bright side to it all, I know you can find it, and I know you know how to be happy, you know how to be in control of your emotions, you can turn them all around with your love, with your smile, your passion and your rational and critical mind, but you are just using this media as an escape route to let some steam off and write down things you can’t tell anyone because you can’t use Facebook anymore and you are the only foreigner in your city, so you feel lonely. And even though isolating and alienating yourself is actually one of your specialties, some of your readers don’t want to hear your rants, they just want to see Bruce’s “dere” side.

Did you just call me Bruce?

Yeah, that’s your name while in China right?

Oh, right, but I got so used to it that I may use it in other countries as well.

Haha, alright, Bruce! So when do we get to see it?

See what?

Your “dere”side”?

Dere as in…

Oh, you know, as in that tsundere thing.

Tsundere? but you are not in Japan anymore, how come you remember that otaku word.

Maybe some things just stay with us.

Hmmm, but otakus… :s

It’s just a word man! Don’t read too much into it.

Man??? Now you are trying to sound cool to make it up for your hikikomori ways?

Yeah man! Sup man, hos it goin dude!?

닥쳐!

Haha

Read you again soon?

Yes 🙂

 

Can write again

You can write here again?

 

I’m not sure actually…

What do you mean?

Well, blogger is still blocked in China, same as google, gmail, facebook, youtube, etc, but when I went to HK I set up the posting preferences from this blog so I can post by email now, so came back to China, opened a Chinese email account and now maybe I can post again by sending an email to a specific blogger address.

But you can’t check if they get published or not.

Right, and I cant use my gmail account until I leave this… country…

And how is your Chinese email account.

cutepuppy4u@163.com 

Sup with you and puppies?

They are just cute so I want them in my email.

Or is it that think YOU are cute?

Well, I may be or may not be a narcissist, and we may possibly debate that some other time, what’s important now is that I don’t know if this post will get published or not, so I feel like I’m a castaway on an island and throw this message on a bottle, for someone to find it on the future, it may get lost, it may drift away or it may be picked up by a famous journalist who will publish it for the world to read it.

Thus making your narcissist ass famous at last.

That’s unimportant, once again, as I will never get to hear about that fame because of being stranded.

You must have many stories to tell.

Some.

If I remember right this is not your first year in China, so how come this didn’t affect you before?

The first year I was in China it was 2009, and it was a different world back then, we had a lot of VPNs and proxy websites, secure tunnel, hidemyass, it was slow but still possible to get on facebook and such, now they have blocked them all, even proxy and VPN mobile app.  Also before there was not much control over the foreigners living here, we could get long-term stay visas easily and pretty much do anything we wanted to, during the years I’ve been away there have been several witch hunts that led to foreigners being prosecuted and hunted like mutants.

And how does that affects your daily life?

Well I reckon is not as bad as North Korea or Somalia yet, but soldiers stop us if we take a bus to another city, they will target only foreigners and do routine inspections on them, they usually let us go eventually, and the visas have become a procedure so complicated that makes Russian visa look like an underdog on a troublesome to get visa contest.

Sounds like everything’s back to normal then, you hate the government and the government hates you. Except that now instead of living in a democratic country where you have freedom of speech, of movement and expression like Korea, Taiwan, Australia, etc, you live in a tyrannic totalitarian dictatorship where government is actually doing way worse things than what you accuse them to, thus giving you a fair reason to complain without people accusing you of being a conspiracy theorist.

I’m actually at the heart of the conspiracy now.

Last time you wrote about your adventures was while you were in new Zealand, what happened after that?

Too many things and I wish I could write a book just about the adventures in New Zealand, but then there was Australia once again and motorbike trip from Malaysia to China, and now, once again in China with a stable life and a stable job.

Why China? Why again?

Because despite China being a shithole, oh sorry, despite China being not such a nice place to live due to the current political, environmental and social circumstances. It’s still a place where foreigners can just show up and find a decent paid job from one day to the other, there are hundreds of cities and they all have hundreds of jobs. So one can always come to China to save money for a few months and then using that money to live a relaxed comfortable life in a peaceful nearby country (Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, etc).

So you will start posting here again now? I’ve got like… so many questions for you…

When I’m not overworked yes, and there’s still that Chinese email address you can write me to.

The puppy one?

That’s right.

I shall be hearing from you soon then.

Soon enough

Good luck.

 

About the pimsleur language program

What is pimsleur?

Is the reason why I can speak many languages.

But what is it?

An audio language learning program.

Is it free?

Of course.

How to get it?

First download torrent, go to the pirate bay and type pimsleur + the language you want to learn on the search bar, so if you want to learn Turkish, you want to type: pimsleur turkish, order the results by the number of seeders and open the ones who have more seeders with utorrent.

Is there pimsleur for every language?

Couple dozen

How many languages have you used it for?

So far portuguese, italian, french, german, japanese, korean and chinese.

How many lessons for each language?

There are 90 lessons for each language that would cover all the basics of grammar, sentence structure, vocabulary, some culture notes and if you finish the 90 lessons you can get by on the language you are learning, then you just need to practice and use the vocab you learned.

How good is it compared to other language learning programs?

Pimsleur is a very systematic, very structured method, it gives you tons of very basic vocab and forces you to speak out and make sentences. There’s no slang at all so it’s like learning from a textbook, you will learn to use a very neutral version of the language with a very neutral accent.
After you finish pimsleur I’d strongly recommend you to complement it with the 101series, chinese101, korean101, spanish101, and so on. They are great for learning slang and really useful vocabulary and expression that you wouldn’t find on a textbook, the 101 series are usually ongoing so it never finishes, as there is always new stuff to learn.

And once you’re proficient in the language you are studying I’d recommend you the “in flight” series paired up with some word list, for vocabulary building. to download the 101, in flight, and word list is the same as for pimsleur: torrent, pirate bay, order by seeders, open with torrent.

Are you still using pimsleur these days?

No, because there was a problem with my last mp3 player.

What happened?

Well, it’s a long story actually, I’ve had 4 mp3 players in my life, first it was a red one I got in spain, that one just stopped working by itself, then there was a pink one I got in spain also in 2006, that one worked until 2009 and then also decided to stop working. Then, in china at school, our boss gave us a white one that was also mp4 player, problem was the storage was quite low so couldn’t put much inside, that one got a virus and then the screen cracked while it was in the bag. and the last one that I had been using since 2009 till now was also the best one. It was blue and had a lot of space, like 6gb and it was very light and stylishly small, it was perfect, and I loved it because it had been a gift from Kishi, so I had kept it in my pocket and used it regularly for almost 4 years.
but while in NZ few weeks ago I was reviewing some korean lessons while on the way back through the park and I stumbled upon a fountain.
I always check the fountains at the park because many times they have coins that have either grown by themselves from the bottom of the fountain or have been dropped by some birds who were transporting them somewhere.
So I forgot I had the mp3 player on my jacket pocket instead of the trouser’s pocket, as the one in the jacket is on the sides, so you can put your hands in while you walk, and that makes things fall also. The one in the trousers won’t let anything fall from it. So, what I did, I leaned in to grab the coins and forgot about the mp3 player, so it slipped off my jacket pocket and fell into the water, ruining my week, lost one of my precious possessions just for a few coins.
So stupid.

Who is Kishi?

Oh, very very cute chinese girl and very very sweet. We used to live together in China. she really loved me and treated my like a king.

What happened to her?

Nothing happened to her, she’s still in china.

Do you miss her?

Maybe a bit sometimes, I have ambivalent feelings about it actually. On one hand I know she was just perfect for me, On the other hand, she didn’t really like my lifestyle of traveling and moving around, she wanted to stay in China for some reason. And I couldn’t stay in china any longer, because well, I don’t know how to say this nicely, but It’s a shithole there.
I really loved her and if it had been any other country I’d had probably stayed with her, but not China.

But if you had really loved her you would have stayed with her anywhere, even China.

Have you even been to China?

No, just saying.

I thought we were talking about the pimsleur program.

This is more interesting.

I do think sometimes that I should have stayed there with her, but China… ufff.. it’s the worst country ever. I had eventually got used to the air pollution, and the spitting, and the noise, and the people.
But the smoking is just too much, in the elevator, in the cinema, on the bus, at school, hospital, office, everywhere on the streets and places to eat, every single place, it’s just too much.
I understand they are Chinese and everything, but it’s just too much.

Did you ask her to move to another country with you?

I begged her to, I wanted to take her anywhere, anywhere but china. And she said no, because she likes China and it’s her home.

That’s understandable, most people can’t even consider your lifestyle, they can’t just detach from everything and move somewhere else just because.

It’s not just because it was to be with me.

I know, but why she has to be the one to make the sacrifice of moving abroad and you can’t make the sacrifice of staying there.

That’s why I said, if it had been any other country I would have probably stayed, just not China, and probably not India either.

Have you been to all the countries in the world?

Of course not.

So you will find that there are many places even worse than China and India, in Africa for example. You should open your mind and be more open to different cultures, you should stay in China and make a life there with cute Kishi.

I know you say that because you have never been to China.

But it’s a big country and everywhere is different.

Slightly different, very slightly.

It’s not the same being in Hainan than in Tianjin, they have desserts, mountains, valleys, they have everything there.

It’s still China though.

I know but you said she got you an mp3 player and treated you like a king.

Still China.

China China China, yes, but the girl is more important.

And actually, if I hadn’t left I wouldn’t be writing this right now because the succession of events that lead to me getting a laptop and starting a blog happened BECAUSE I left china.

You don’t know maybe it would have happened anyway.

Maybe not, and you wouldn’t exist, so, me leaving China is actually the reason you exist, so you should be happy I left, and you should be proud of me for keeping moving forward instead of getting stuck in a place I hate.

I just want you to be happy and thought if the girl can make you happy the place shouldn’t mind so much.

Yes… but China… 😦

I know, I know, don’t worry, you don’t need to go back there ever again, ok?

Do you promise? 🙂

I promise.

And what about Kishi?

Well you know Kishi means river bank in Japanese, and in the river, there are many fishes, you will meet a fish that doesn’t need to be in china.

Well, either that or I just get myself a new mp3 player

Now we’re talking!

 

Living in Asia as a vegetarian 1

How to survive in south and far east asia as a vegan/vegetarian:

Japan:  Pretty tough. Fruits and veggies are crazy expensive, only affordable options are udon, katsu-udon but have to fish out some seafood from it, tempura, and foreign restaurants which cost at least twice as much as local ones. The only cheap supermarket is called “super tamade” where they sell lots of pre-cooked vegetarian options, and of course sushi, tempura, salads, at around 100 or 200 yen a tray. Hyaku-en, 100 yen shops are your best friends to find some salads, fruits, drinks, noodles and many other things. It’s pretty much same as a 7/11 but everything costs 100 yen. And as a last resource you can always throw away the inside thing of the onigiri and eat the rest.

Korea: Moderate. While eating out you have like 2 options, kimbab or bibimbab. While ordering kimbap make sure you say something like “ham bek chusaio” so they dont put ham on it. If you’re not vegan there’s always “Pizza school”, they are everywhere and you can get a huge pizza for 5.000 won. Street food is alright, there’s a fish-shaped pastry that has red beans inside and is pretty cheap, often you can find tempura and fried veggies. They have many chigae, which is like a stew or hot pot, sundobu chigae, or kimchi are good but you may have to take out some seafood from it.
Mr pizza could be the best value for money restaurant, they have salad buffet for 6.000 won, so all you can eat of salads, fruits, some cold noodles and other stuff.

China: Fairly easy. Fruits and veggies are dime a dozen and they are everywhere, options are plenty, rice and noodles with vegetables everywhere, beans, vegetable bbq at night. They use almost no dairy while cooking, so very easy for vegans.

Taiwan: Very easy. By far best vegetarian food in east Asia. Vegetarian restaurants everywhere, and most normal restaurants have at least a few vegetarian options. Great variety, affordable and extremely tasty. Even 7/11 are quite cheap and have fresh fruits and salads, noodles, vegetarian fried rice, vegetarian dumplings, fries, nuts, pastries, tofu and many other things.

Malaysia: Delicious Indian food, samosa, curries, roti, paratha, puri, chapati, many dosas, delicious Chinese vegetarian restaurants, delicious Malay food, some fried noodles, rice with veggies, lost of street food and fruits. From Penang, to Melaka, to Sabah, most dishes are delicious + juice bars + fruits everywhere.

Philippines: Probably worst food in SE Asia, there are some fruit markets and western food places, so it’s possible to kind of get by on a vegetarian diet.

Laos: Rice with veggies + fruits.

Singapore: Same as Malaysia, just more pricey.

Indonesia: Not as bad a Philippines, but local cuisine doesn’t have much to offer for vegetarians, there’s is gado gado and that’s pretty much it. You may find some Indian food in Bali if you’re lucky, but in Sumatra, Java or Borneo you’re going to eat your rice with veggies, every day + fruits 🙂

 

Someone that I’ve never known

The other day, I was talking to a friend while we were waiting to shoot some scenes and the subject of western-Asian relationships popped up.


She’s originally from north america, but has been living in Korea for a number of years now, and had the chance to date a bunch of korean guys, so we started talking about the differences between dating koreans vs dating western guys. 


For me as a guy, always find it amusing to hear the female point of view of the asian dating scene. because you see white guys with asian girls all the time everywhere, but white girl with asian guys, that’s still a pretty rare sight.


After talking about it for a while, she told me how she hated the way korean guys “broke up” with her and the lack of straightforwardness in pretty much all of her relationships.


You know how in the west usually, after someone says “we need to talk” you sit and talk about it, then someone says “it’s not you, it’s me” or “this isn’t working”, then you blame each other, scream, cry, slam the door or whatever and never see each other again.


Well, in korea, you just skip the whole process straight to the never see each other again part. The guys will just stop calling her and wont pick up her calls from one day to the other for no apparent reason.


But in the west we usually need that close up, in order to move on with our life, instead she would be wondering for a few weeks, what’s really going on, are we over, are we still together, did I do something wrong, did he do something wrong.


I had noticed that before, and had some relationships in korea and japan, that after a few years I’m actually still wondering, what the hell happened there? One day we were like big time in love and the next one she wouldn’t take my calls anymore and had vanished from my life completely. 


Instead of somebody that I used to know, she would become somebody I have never known. 




In Japan for example, divorce usually works something like this:




1- Husband comes home and finds that his partner’s belongings have disappeared.


2- He finds the divorce papers on the table or are delivered by someone the same day. 


3- He signs the papers or gives them to his lawyer.


4- He forever wonders what the hell happened.




How’s that for some loose ends? 😉




And as for my experience, it’s not just like that for dating, but for friendships and work relationships as well. One day best friends, next day total strangers, one day best employee, next day fired for no reason.





We know of course, that this comes from a need to avoid awkward situations, which is totally understandable, but as westerners who of course, still highly value honesty and straightforwardness in our daily relationships, it comes as a bit of a pain, to never really know what’s going on with the other person. 


Because they will treat you exactly the same way either they love you or they hate you.


On the positive side though, that’s why people usually decide to move to a different country, to experience all those little differences and nuisances in everyday life.


And hopefully, hopefully, learn something from them as well.

Music

Come to think about it, most memories I have are associated with some music.


My first recollection of music was when I was 12 or 13 years old, some bands that played on some radio somewhere, Nek, El Simbolo, Los Autenticos Decadentes, Aqua, Fey, Toy Box and that was it.


Some years latter, got my hands on an old walkman, and 3 cassettes: Hayashibara Megumi, Ska-P and Blink 182, this was back in Rosario, I was maybe 16 years old. listened to them all day long.


Still back there most memories are still linked to songs or music.


At Wilson’s place there was usually Hamazaki Oyumi, Okui Masami or Too Mix playing In the background, utada if we were lucky.


While hitting the highway on alejo’s car there was always some dance music, eiffel 65, sasha, or music from DDR.


At rodrigo’s place there was cumbia, at sebastian’s there was always either 70’s disco, like earth wind and fire or some ballads, like luis miguel or alex ubago.


At belkis or my friends from missericordia there was always AFI or alejandro sanz.


If I hang out with the guys from normal 2 there was usually nightwish, cradle of filth, rhapsody or stratovarious.



There were some strange people who always listened to bjork and there were this two sisters who played nobou uematsu. and ariel always wanted to make listen to boom boom kid and fun people.


come to think about it, all my friends in argentina had very different music taste, so i got to know lots of new music from them.


After that the mp3 came in, I skipped the cds stage. One day there were some cassettes in my life and then suddenly the computers came along, which brought the mp3, rendering audio files instantly obsolete.


I remember having bought only one CD in my life, but it was probably the most important one: “terra” by larc n ciel.


By the time I was 18 years old, the mp3 brought along many good bands for me, daft punk, smash mouth, the offspring, green day, sum 41, aerosmith, bryan adams, BoA, leo garcia, el otro yo, guns and roses, bon jovi, nirvana, the beatlles, the corrs, savage garden, ricardo arjona, the doors, dire straits, estopa, u2, mozart, tchaikovsky and all the classical delights.


After that, my time in spain is remembered through lots of strange music I dont think i can describe, and while riding the bus on the way to work, there was m2m, marit larsen and hilary duff playing on my mp3 player. What was I thinking, i dont know.


When I think of my time in germany the first band that comes to mind is kings of covenience. Always playing in my room, specially on those cold winter afternoons, snow outside, opening the windows to let some fresh air come in, stretching in bed. 


I’m actually still very much in loved with Berlin, with my apartment in friedrischain, with all those worn out buildings, falling apart windows, midnight bicycle rides, flash mobs, volkskuche, the umsonsladden, kopi, kreuzberg, neukoln, patryk, jurgen, julie, mia, morris, caspar and the others, treptower park, those reggae bars with fake sand by the river, the lakes, grunau, the camps, sleeping by the shore of the lakes, snow, couchsurfing guests, hitchhiking trips, the abandoned houses, the art galleries, maoz, the 1 euro falafel, the nights playing werewolf, the morning playing firsbee, football, turkish sweets, sunday brunches, the 1 euro glass wines, graffiti walls, the boat parties, the berlin wall, alexander platz, the trams, long walks, never knowing what’s going on, and always kings of convenience playing, sometimes cafe del mar, norah jones, maybe regina spektor. 


In india I stopped listening to music, maybe it interrupted my thoughts, but I could connect with the soudns of the ocean, of the birds, of the trees, the wind, the animals.


In china I got really into korean music for some reason, I think it was just because I didnt like chinese music so much, so was looking for an alternative.


In japan, mostly thanks to the music i got to understand why i love japan, and why i hate it also. funkey monkey babies, mr children, sakamoto maya, perfume, ringo shiina, x japan,yoko kano,  ketsumeishi, those isakaya nights, those sunday afternoon concerts at osaka jo, those walks by the river, those camping nights, tempura, those small rooms, the smell of tatami beds, hot summer nights,
I always thought no one understood me like the girls from bennie k and no music would reach me as “the brillant green” did.


The most important memories i have are all linked to some emotion, which are in turn brought back to me, by listening to this bands, once again.

Traveling: part 2

So my students ask how much does it costs to travel abroad and visit many countries, but there’s not really an objective answer to that question.
Any country you go to you can spend a million dollars or spend no money at all, it’s up to you.

And it was interesting to learn how each new generation has different goals than the previous ones. and this generation’s dream seems to be to travel around.

Why is that?  Maybe it’s because traveling raises your awareness level somehow, and that makes you happier, to put it very vaguely.

An aesthetic experience, that forces you to be aware of every minute that passes, of every sensation, and gives you the chance of meeting people and seeing different places every day.

Instead of the usual anesthetic experience of our daily routines, where we turn on the autopilot in order to not being aware of what’s going on around us or inside us, not having any new sensation, not having the chance of meeting new people nor seeing different places every day.

I’ve met people who have only 7 to 14 days holidays a year and they spend the other 351 to 359 days thinking or preparing for those holidays.

So, it seems evident that in the society we live on, our freedoms have been taken away, including the freedom to travel, they’ve done that by limiting the resources we have access to, based on the amount of money we have. We are limited to where we can travel throughout the world based on a number of restrictions, borders, immigration laws and the policy of passports. And last but not least, we are limited on the time we have as we’ve been forced to compete for good and services. And trying to make enough money to cover our costs of living + traveling. Which kind of eats up all our time.

And yet, most people think that’s ok and that’s just the way it is, and we shouldn’t do anything about it, because yeah, that’s how it is, you know.

And yet, most people think they are free while struggling to get as much travel time as possible.

So what to do?

Option 1: stay in the system while making the most of it and try to be happy in it. Learn to love what you do instead of doing what you love, train yourself to enjoy every moment a bit more, maybe do something new every day and try to enjoy it and live it as if you were on a lifetime holiday.

Option 2: Find a way out of the system and play by your own rules, you can use phrases like “I’m between jobs” or “I’m taking a gap year.”

Option 3: create a new system that renders the previous one obsolete, for that you gotta make sure you understand what was flawed in the old one to make sure of not making the same mistakes again!

Traveling: part 1

When I thought about writing a blog, I had no idea what to write about, but knew what I didn’t want to write about. It shouldn’t be me complaining about something I don’t like and it shouldn’t be about trying to convince people to think like me.

It should be fun and make people think at the same time. Easy to read, and to understand. Not so long and not so smartassly-written

Sex, religion, politics? Still, a bit taboo and chances are, if you’re reading this, you know me and you know my views already.

My daily life? Ok, here we go: I woke up at noon, ate some rice, went for a walk. done.

Love? not sure what it is or how it works, I know how oxytocin works, but that doesn’t sound very romantic.

Peace and happiness? Yeah, that sounds good. That’s what people need at the end of the day, no matter where you’re from, where you are or what you think; we all just want to be happy. So that’s something that brings us all together. We all want to love and be loved, we want affection and kindness.

That could work.

Some years ago, while in China, I found myself in front of a class, lecturing on business for some reason. Sometimes more than 50 university students per class. My lectures were usually about business related topics, such as marketing, negotiations, customer service, product development, etc.

I always prepared thoroughly and tried to make it fun, but I found out that it didn’t really matter what I said in the lecture, when I ask them if they had any questions, either during or after the lecture; the questions will NEVER be about business.

Questions would be something like: *Can you tell us something about your travels?* *Have you ever been to Africa?* *Have you been to other countries in Asia?* *How many countries have you been to?* *What’s your favorite country? *Where are you going after China?* *How can I make money to travel?* *How much do you spend while you travel?*

Of course there was always some odd ones too, like: *Do you have a girlfriend?* *How many girlfriends have you had?* *Do you like Chinese girls? *Can you sing a song for us?*  *Why are you not wearing trousers?*

But usually, most of the questions were about traveling. My students were not interested in business at all. They just took business English because they thought would help them get a “good job” and that way they could save up some money to travel.

That made me realize I had much more in common with my students that I thought. We all just wanted to be free, travel, and be happy. And the reason why they were taking that class, was the same reason why I was teaching it in the first place!
I also couldn’t care less about bussiness, but if I got into the rat race for a few months I would be rewarded with some freedom tokens that could be later exchanged for leisure time.

I was lucky that I seldom got a curriculum and was usually told to do whatever I wanted as long as the students were happy, THEY didn’t care about business, and I didn’t care about business, so we usually ended up talking about travels or silly stuff for the rest of the week.

to be continued