It is almost the end of my adventure. Almost because i will travel through China with Evi two weeks more, but something ends. It is hard to say it clearly, i think that if you haven`t stayed in a different country for a long time you will never understand it.
I am leaving place which will be kept in my heart. It is not the best place to live in and for sure i want to leave but... when you stay somewhere for a long time, you start getting used to your life in this place and every time you need to move, it is bigger or smaller problem. I know where all necessary shops are, where is the best bar, where i can buy food. Every day i meet the same people who are saying hello or just smiling, friends.
It is another chapter in my life, i am grateful that i could be here and taste another life, it is a great experience and what is the most important - memories. Nobody will take it from me, they will last forever.
I try not to regret anything. Because every little detail of my life is what made me into who i am in the end.
I believe that every moment, every situation, every decision makes sense in the end. It is very important to find our path in life, i haven`t found it yet but i am happy for every moment, experience which occur in my life.
I dear to dream and i realize it. Sometimes it is hard but please, do not other people tell you that something is impossible or your dreams are stupid. Follow your own dreams so in the end you could say "my life was not always easy, it was full of hard moments, moments in which i failed, i gave up but i decided not to quit, to go further" TRY AGAIN and look for new opportunities, risk, because in the end it will makes you feel satisfied and fulfilled. "
Another lesson of life is ending...
Generally i am very happy that i am leaving, it is just not my world. I do not know what will happen next but i am sure about one thing.
If i could go back from where it started... I would do it again.
memories
Living (in) China
Monday, April 28, 2014
Saturday, April 19, 2014
Hospital
Finally i can write it because i feel much better now. Few days ago i returned from beautiful Macau. The weather, people and the environment were just great... but... i returned to Mainland. When i landed in Shanghai it was 5 degrees less and cloudy. Good welcome I thought. Danyang was even better. When i came back to this city it was...raining.
Does not matter... The next day i had to work in the afternoon. I started at 15:00 and i finished at 24:00. Everything would be nice, if i did not feel cold, a real cold. After work i started feeling huge chills on my body which meant to me that it is not ok. I took some medicines, prayed to the God not to be ill so far from home, friends and polish pharmacy and finally i fell asleep.
Next day...
I woke at 10 am. First thing in my mind? I am totally ill. Confused, could have not find my thoughts and the most important is... i did not want to wake up-normally i like to get up. Ok, the last one is just a joke. So after the first meeting with my illness, i went to the restaurant to meet my chinese friends. Everything would be nice but i looked like a zombie. They did not recongnize me! I had to bite them :D. Ok just kidding. So after the meeting i went back home to relax for a while and realised that i am too ill to go to work. I am a honorable man so i went to the hotel to say it to the boss. I did not even need to say it-when she saw me, she had uncertain expression on her face - is he dead or no? Of course i was alive and i still am. So i went home, my chinese friend gave me some medicines. I slept almost all afternoon and night. Again i was hoping that the next day it will be ok. Nope. Not even close. I was still ill and still i had a high fewer. So i called my friend to take me to the hospital.
Hospital...
It was marvelous! I was prepared for waiting few hours in big lines but no, it was alomost emty. The hospital was very small (every district have their own) and it gives the chance to see the doctor faster. The medical examination was not for free. I had to pay 4 RMB!! 2 zł !!! and 80 RMB for medicines. Ok i do not know what kind of medicines she gave me but it was cheap :D. Preventively they prepared glucose injection to put it into mine vein.
After all i went home. It was nice to see the well preserved hospital which is ready for ill people. It means that people do not use hospitals so much and still live a long life.
What happened next? Next day i discover what do i have. I discover because nobody could have explained it to me in english or they did not know. It was acute tonsillitis.
I took all the medicines that i was told to and waited. The next morning everything was great! No pain, no weakness.
I was afraid of hospital and medicines in China but finally it turned out that they know better how to fight illnesses then people in Europe!
Does not matter... The next day i had to work in the afternoon. I started at 15:00 and i finished at 24:00. Everything would be nice, if i did not feel cold, a real cold. After work i started feeling huge chills on my body which meant to me that it is not ok. I took some medicines, prayed to the God not to be ill so far from home, friends and polish pharmacy and finally i fell asleep.
Next day...
I woke at 10 am. First thing in my mind? I am totally ill. Confused, could have not find my thoughts and the most important is... i did not want to wake up-normally i like to get up. Ok, the last one is just a joke. So after the first meeting with my illness, i went to the restaurant to meet my chinese friends. Everything would be nice but i looked like a zombie. They did not recongnize me! I had to bite them :D. Ok just kidding. So after the meeting i went back home to relax for a while and realised that i am too ill to go to work. I am a honorable man so i went to the hotel to say it to the boss. I did not even need to say it-when she saw me, she had uncertain expression on her face - is he dead or no? Of course i was alive and i still am. So i went home, my chinese friend gave me some medicines. I slept almost all afternoon and night. Again i was hoping that the next day it will be ok. Nope. Not even close. I was still ill and still i had a high fewer. So i called my friend to take me to the hospital.
Hospital...
It was marvelous! I was prepared for waiting few hours in big lines but no, it was alomost emty. The hospital was very small (every district have their own) and it gives the chance to see the doctor faster. The medical examination was not for free. I had to pay 4 RMB!! 2 zł !!! and 80 RMB for medicines. Ok i do not know what kind of medicines she gave me but it was cheap :D. Preventively they prepared glucose injection to put it into mine vein.
After all i went home. It was nice to see the well preserved hospital which is ready for ill people. It means that people do not use hospitals so much and still live a long life.
What happened next? Next day i discover what do i have. I discover because nobody could have explained it to me in english or they did not know. It was acute tonsillitis.
I took all the medicines that i was told to and waited. The next morning everything was great! No pain, no weakness.
I was afraid of hospital and medicines in China but finally it turned out that they know better how to fight illnesses then people in Europe!
Friday, April 11, 2014
Amazing Macau
Makau – THE
CITY OF DREAMS
I did not
expect what I saw. Before coming to Macau I did not read a lot about this city.
I knew that it is is one of the two Special Administrative Regions
of the People's Republic of China, the other being Hong Kong and of course I knew that it is a new Las Vegas- city full
of casinos in which you can win a lot or loose everything. Before visiting
Macau, I thought it is like Mainland China – chaotic, dirty, full of spitting
people and totally neglected. I was wrong, I was so wrong.I wonder why I did
not compare it to Hong Kong in which I was the last year. Hong Kong in
comparison to many cities in China was so clean but it was still a very busy
city. Macau turned out to be different.
The first day.
I came to Macau very early. My plane from Shanghai landed in Macau at 9
am. The weather was much better than in Shanghai, warm and quite sunny.
Everywhere I saw signs in chinese, Portuguese and English but what I found more
interesting, was traffic. First impression? Maybe I am ignorant but I did not
know that in Macau there is left-hand rule of the road. Because it was my first
time and I did not know where to begin, I went to the hotel in which I booked
the room. The name of the hotel is REGENCY. The hotel was located on the coast,
next to the bridge going to center of Macau. It was quite expensive but it was
worth it, from the tenth floor I could see a nice view of the city. Because it
is Island and there is no unlimited territory, buildings in Macau are very
high. I was impressed at the time. After taking a shower and eating, I decided
to go for a walk. Firstly- I wanted to see the coast. I was so impressed
because Macau turned out to be a very green city full of flowers, tree and
outstanding architecture. It does not look like typical Chinese. Macau is a
combination of old style architecture reminding buildings in Portugal with
modernity and an excess of wealth Asia.
The combination is brilliant. I agree that Macau is the city of dreams.
It is one of the wealthiest regions in the world and you can see it there. So I
took a walk, through narrow streets which were surrounded by small buildings in
which you could eat delicious Chinese, Portuguese food and drink cold beer. Above
my head I could see huge hotels and casinos such as GALAXY and VENETIAN. It was
so close but still these narrow streets were so calm. People looks relaxed here
I thought. I am not a type of someone who wants to sit and just enjoy the time
but after the view of all these, it took my breath away and I just sat and drunk ice coffee. I started
thinking that maybe I am in the paradise, it is so different that the world
that I know in which people are worried, streets are full of begging people and
there is no happiness in the air. I really could live there.
After a long walk I decided to rest a little bit and then go to the city
center of Macau. I asked in the street how can I get there and luckily for me
the person that I asked was going the same way and she was getting out at the
same station. LUCKY ME. While driving it turned out that the person who helped
me was Filipino. She told me that there are many Filipinos in Macau and they do
not speak chinese. She told me that living in Macau is like a dream in
comparison to Philippines. I agreed with her – the city of dreams. In the city
center I was expecting that will be busy but It was not so much. After living
in China I am really patient and do not whine easily. I took my walk through the city center and I was surprised
that there are so many beautiful places and I discovered that their favorite
snack is a pork chop in bread. It reminds me of Poland so I bought it and ate greedily.
After few hours of walk and glass of wine in the small restaurant, I decided to
return to the hotel and sleep in order to be ready for the next day.
The second day.
I woke up at 8.30 and went for the breakfast. To my surprise, there were
many Filipinos working in the restaurant and they did not speak chinese. After
eating nutritious breakfast I decided to go to the beach as it was recommended
to me by concierge at the hotel. I took a bus ( it is so easy to travel by bus-
there is information about stations in 4 LANGUAGES!! – Chinese, Portuguese, English
and Macau language). The price for a bus is not high. I paid for each drive-
3,6 MACAU PATACAS ( $0.45). After approaching the beach I was not so moved. I
saw much more beautiful beaches in my life- especially in Greece. Maybe it was
not the most outstanding beach but It was simple and calm. There were some bars
and houses around and WEST IN hotel. Nothing else. As it was not so impressive,
I decided to leave and visit a place nearby – THE GUILA HILL. It was not far
away, 15 minutes by bus and I was there. At the place, I was told that I can
see panda bears just for 10 MACAU PATACAS.I was delighted bearing in mind the
huge queues in Hong Kong to see one of the pandas and here in Macau there was
no queue.
It was an extraordinary experience to see pandas as I was always a big
fun of them. They seem to be so innocent and the way they eat bamboo- hilarious.
After I spent some time with pandas, I decided to discover the hill a little
bit and I took the walk. Finally I was in nature, alone walking on the path
built of stones. From the hill I could feel the wind and fresh air but most
important is that I could see the panorama of the city, amazing view.
It was a tiring morning and afternoon but I really wanted to see more. I
checked the map and I saw another hill which was quite near the center. I took
the bus and went there. It was one of the most beautiful place of Macau.
Firstly, in order to get to the top of the hill I could choose- walk or take
the cabin car. As it was extremely cheap (2 MACAU PATACAS) I took the cabin
car. This hill is designed for people doing sports. There are many jogging
tracks, outdoor gyms, playgrounds for children and all of these surrounded by
trees. I saw many people enjoying their time there, jogging together, training
or just sitting on the bench. I just sat on the bench and I was looking at them
for a long time. Some of them stop next to me and just said hello, all of them
with smile of their faces. Finally I was relaxed. No problems, no thinking
about the future, just breathing with the fresh air…
After some time, I needed to go back to my hotel to sleep because of
early flight the next morning.
I just came back from Shanghai and I am finishing this post. Macau will
stay in my memory forever. Macau – THE CITY OF DREAMS…
Saturday, March 29, 2014
It has been
a while since i wrote the last post. My life in China is simple and every day
is almost the same. Work-Home-Gym-Home. Sometimes I find time to go out with
foreign guests to the bar and have fun a little. At work It is still the same,
the plus is that now I do not have problem to talk Chinese when some problems
occurs. I can help foreign guests and with some of guests I become a friend.
But… The longer
I am here the more I understand that I do not fit here. It is totally different
culture, way of thinking and behavior. What is impolite for us is ok here,
which sometimes makes me feel irritable. For example I can not stand when boys
or even girl are belching in the office or in the front desk! I can not stand their
way of eating. Spiting food on the table or under, mulching and what is the
worst- spending all the time with the mobile phone on their knees sending
others some messages. For me it is disrespectful but it is normal here. I
really started appreciating eating with talking with someone not on the phone
but face to face. I do miss it.
Rubbish… Chinese
people do not care about what is not their. So… all the streets, river, other
places are full of rubbish and nobody cares. One week ago when I was taking a
walk, I saw an old lady who threw rubbish into river. She did it with smile on
her face, rubbish been was 5 METERS FROM HER!! Another thing is that children
can pee and shit everywhere. Yesterday I saw mother who was helping her child
to use street as a toilet even though the public toilet was 5 meters from her!!
I can not understand it.
Children,
besides peeing everywhere, they do whatever they want. In the hotel while
dinner I see many children without parent`s care. They are running and they are
very noisy. Of course they will not listen to you if you try to stop them. If
you go to their parents and ask them to take care of their children, they will
not listen, they will tell you that they came to eat and children can run
wherever they want.
I started
seeing so many bad things in their behavior which means that it is the right
time to go home. Next month Evi is visiting me, I am quitting the job and we
will have a big trip.
Evi is coming
on 2th of may and we will travel until 17th of may. So… 18th
of may see you in Poland J
I will
write details about my big trip and i will try to show you more beautiful part
of China!!!
Kisses!
Temple near Danyang
Very often chinese children are taking photos of foreign people because it is the first time they see them.
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