Parallel World

Feel sad that Eric has to leave for Dubai on Saturday. But good for him, no more facing-computer-all-day-and-get-tired. He treated me and Sampers tonight to a wonderful seafood meal, at Nanping Seafood Camp. That was my first seafood meal since I returned HOME. And it was really enjoyable, a little bit scary, but funny!

There were quite a few stands selling seafood, FRESHLY ALIVE SEAFOOD!!!! It’s been too long baby, oh yes!! I started to get excited, so did those pedlars!

One yelled at us, then all yelled at once! Like, friendly yell…

Really?? I felt like being harassed by those ‘if you dont buy mine I will eat you’ eyes… But we were hungry, so anyway.

We picked some stuff, then Eric paid. Then the pedlar grabbed the money, and just didn’t give us the changes! He excused not have enough change for us, asked to buy more stuff. Tricky one. Well his stuff were good after all, so we did buy some other stuff. But hey, we were just three people, with only three stomachs. So we taught him when to stop.

The pedlars didn’t cook the food for us, there were restaurants doing food processing in their kitchens for customers like us everywhere in the camp. Annoyingly, we didn’t get to choose our own. Right after we bought the first seafood, a waitress ‘spontaneously’ helped us carry the bag, with no willingness of giving it back! That’s how we got into that Golden Sand restaurant, ended up not that satisfied.

Oh right, about the bargaining part. How should I put this? Sampers rocks!! He’s not ordinarily good at bargaining, I must say. Details are saved for next time…

Now time for bed. Will not be home for about 10 days from tomorrow.

Today I officially started my career life. So it’s back to day 1.

Having signed up in the company, I met my colleagues and manager. Nice people! Without necessary equipments – computer, internet – I was unable to carry out any job at the moment. I’ve been randomly flipping the product catalogue the whole morning. The catalogue was kind of rubbish editing. I was wondering how they attracted foreign clients by THAT thing!? I mean, huge, clumsy size, tons of spelling mistakes, sample pictures and products pictures located separately, way too simple tech information. That had to re-edit.

Spending the morning doing nothing, I was told by the manager to settle down first. I needed to rent a flat and move in.

There were a couple of flats I already viewed. Since I had a whole afternoon, I decided to look for more vacant flats. By searching on google in an Internet Café, I found a nicely sounding one. Ok, if this one was supposed to be my new home, then it would be! BUT, it turned out that this flat was small, messy, and dark. Abandoned.

Eventually I went for a fancy newly built flat. There’s only a bed frame in it. I asked the landlord for a gas shower machine, a jar of gas, a desk, a wardrobe, and activation of the internet socket.

And this is my new home! Big, bright, good ventilation, well located, and the most important – quiet! Having paid the deposit, I went to my uncle’s to collect my luggage. From 4.30pm to 10.30pm, I was busy doing cleaning, buying stuff, laying bed, unpacking, blahblahblah. The worst thing was I got a cold! Exposing myself too much in the rain for too long and forgot to dry my hair…shit! My entire body was in agony the next day, and that was another story…

今天来报到了！

到了公司大门，被门卫拦着问来干嘛的。我直接回答来人事处登记报到的。结果对方听不明白，说“来面试？面试过了吗？”我接不上话，只能回答“算是吧”。然后就登记了一下，到前台去继续咨询。

前台的小姑娘穿的是正装。全世界的前台接待员都是这个款，真是没有新意！和她说明来由，她让我到旁边的小房间里填表等候。里面还有另外5个小妹妹，据说也是来“登记入职”的。所以我是来登记入职的。

小妹妹们来的比我早，就先“入职”了。我一个人在房间里等，没多久就来了一个戴眼镜的男人。事后通过和同事聊天知道他就是人事部的头。No wonder. 他问了我一些问题，然后就出去了。再过了一会，就来了一个和我年纪差不多的男生，来给我拍照，电脑录入资料等。折腾完那些东西，他扔给我一本《员工手册》，一份《劳工合同》，一张员工ID卡。然后就带着我到我部门去。

“入职”就这样办完了，接着就是我的国内职业生涯的开始！

Now that’s what people call How time flies. Ten days since I came back.

Me and friends went to FeelNet last night. The so called ‘pub’ is even noisier than Dusk, and it sucks like it really does. The music was boring and way too loud, crowded – despite the population, drinks were even more expensive than those in Queen’s Hotel in Bridge of Allan.

We eventually ordered a bottle of Finland Vodka, 750cl, MANGO FLAVOR, price was equivalent to £46!!! I’ve never had Finnish vodka in UK, now I got to try it in Guangzhou. I did my best to explain what ‘lemonade’ was, but the waitress insist on convincing me that sprite was no different. Fine!! I was pretty sure the waiter was daft too!! He mixed a full cocktail cup vodka with only one can of sprite, and tons of ice cubes…

The whole night was…not really fun. I swear I’ll never go to that junk hole ever again. But it’s good to have friends around.

One thing I found sad about: the people’s average income of this city is much less than that in UK, but something is same, or even higher, priced. Frequently going to the pubs are not affordable, but still there are lots of night players seeking such agitated life. Are emptiness and loneliness the theme of every thriving city? I want to escape more.

Yum!!!

Leo cooked a massive portion of lasagne at the last night I worked. He rapped up the rest for me to bring back home. And the lasagne flew with me from Stirling to Guangzhou.

I opened and shared it with my family today after it’s frozen for three days (technically, seven days from when it’s made). It still tasted fresh! My mom wanted to steam cook it :s Of course I stopped her. Imagine what a disaster it would be if a lasagne was steam cooked. Urgh… My grandpa didn’t try it, since he doesn’t have teeth. Both my parents liked it. But they argued with me about whether the mince was beef or lamb.

So, this new life of mine has started unstoppably. I went to have a cup of tea with Samui this afternoon. She looked perfect, happy about her new job. I phoned CO, who just became a mother of a wee girl. While taking the tube, I GOT LOST!! There were so many people that I couldn’t move an inch. Too many exits that I couldn’t find the correct one. The Book Centre is now connected to Teem Mall by a tunnel filled with stores. CMB China has moved 50 meters –_-

Well, here I go.

I’ve sorted out my mood. What is done is done now. I need to move forward.

It’s my birthday yesterday. And I finally got over that stupid GFW and shared my status with friends on Facebook.

Last night was a huge welcome+celebration dinner. There were me, three cousins, mom and dad, and grandpa. I talked like I was the big brother. Well I am the big brother. I started to see the difference in me. My thinking, talking, and feeling are something not the same with other people’s. Though not sure what the differences are, I need more time to let them out bit by bit. I think they are very important. Let’s wait and see.

After a long long trip, I got home. Safe and sound.

My mood is very bad. I feel like return to the starting line. I will be 27 tomorrow. What has my time been spent on? Did I just skip the three years between 24 and 27? What I see now, is everything the same as they were. Or are they? The economy crisis struck the world hard. Everywhere is getting worse. While China is getting better – slower, but still better! That just makes me feel even worse. I love the life in Stirling, I really do. The friends and people there changed me. I accepted the change. Changes make difference, and difference means progress. But now, in this environment (you know what i mean by it), am I going to change back to where I started to change? I feel horrified!!!

No, I am not going to change back. I will remain what I am now, a refreshed returner from the United kingdom. I will change what I don’t like, I will change my own life here. I will make it better!

This is a beginning, at the same place, with an upgraded scratch line.