View Full Version : I miss my SV and I miss Biking and I miss London! :(
Hi guys,
I'm sorry - this isn't exactly a bike issue, but this part of the forum is OK for bike "talk" so I just want to say the following.
After selling my SV a couple of months ago, and moving to Beijing a couple of weeks after - I'm really missing my old bike, London roads, London food and London people.
I also miss being on this forum and talking about bikes :( :cry:
metalmonkey
19-12-12, 01:38 PM
Hi guys,
I'm sorry - this isn't exactly a bike issue, but this part of the forum is OK for bike "talk" so I just want to say the following.
After selling my SV a couple of months ago, and moving to Beijing a couple of weeks after - I'm really missing my old bike, London roads, London food and London people.
I also miss being on this forum and talking about bikes :( :cry:
What are you doing over there? It will all be here should you choose to come back.
timwilky
19-12-12, 02:10 PM
I bet London didn't prepare you for the pollution or the cold. Don't even think about getting a bike out there.
I'm teaching English to very young children.
After finishing university back in May, jobs were scarce and the future looked bleak (and very expensive) so I decided to move abroad. Which meant I had to sell or giveaway most of my things. Which included selling my bike :(
the contract is one year, so we'll see what happens after the contract ends.
In the mean time, I'll carry on being quite envious of you all !
I bet London didn't prepare you for the pollution or the cold. Don't even think about getting a bike out there.
To be honest, I don't mind the cold so much and the pollution isn't as bad as people make it out to be. The thing I really wasn't prepared for is how severely overcrowded Beijing is :\.
So far, what I hate the most is how un-civilised and ill-mannered people can be.
It's absolutely shocking. Been here for nearly two months and I can't put in words how 'different' people's mannerisms are.
TCochrane
19-12-12, 05:05 PM
Having being brought up with a chinese mother and english father, i understand completely what you're talking about, Musne, i think over time you'll become accustomed to it. You have to understand that that's all they know, they're used to it and don't know any better, its a completely different world out there
missyburd
19-12-12, 05:39 PM
You don't have to leave the forum just cos you're temporarily bikeless! :)
And hats off to you for making the decision to move abroad, can't have been easy but is probably the most sensible thing to do these days once you've earned your degree. Good luck in your work, takes some balls to up sticks and move out to an alien country.
Beijing must be really bad to miss London, I f**king hate the place and avoid it at all costs :mrgreen::mrgreen:
Even if you only stick it out a year, you`ll have some fantastic memories to look back on in years to come when you realise it wasnt that bad, how many of us can say we lived in a foreign country for a year, half way round the globe.
Dave-the-rave
19-12-12, 09:46 PM
Could be worse though.
You could be living in Tooting.
:mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen:
Having being brought up with a chinese mother and english father, i understand completely what you're talking about, Musne, i think over time you'll become accustomed to it. You have to understand that that's all they know, they're used to it and don't know any better, its a completely different world out there
I'm so glad someone actually understands what it's like here. It's just like you say. It's a completely different world here, there is no point wondering if they feel no shame in certain things they do,they really don't know any better.
You don't have to leave the forum just cos you're temporarily bikeless! :smile:
And hats off to you for making the decision to move abroad, can't have been easy but is probably the most sensible thing to do these days once you've earned your degree. Good luck in your work, takes some balls to up sticks and move out to an alien country.
Yes you're right! I still like to browse through and see what people are up to, I only wish that one day I can have a bike again :D
Thanks, although I do not feel too brave. I just feel like it was something that just had to be done. Otherwise I would be in London, jobless, in debt and living on benefits :confused:
Beijing must be really bad to miss London, I f**king hate the place and avoid it at all costs :mrgreen::mrgreen:
Even if you only stick it out a year, you`ll have some fantastic memories to look back on in years to come when you realise it wasnt that bad, how many of us can say we lived in a foreign country for a year, half way round the globe.
Haha, I LOVE London compared to Beijing! Yea, it's a great opportunity and experience, I hope it will open some doors for me once I want to come back home.
Could be worse though.
You could be living in Tooting.
:mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen:
I've been to Tooting a few times, again, it's great compared to Beijing :mad:
metalmonkey
20-12-12, 02:44 PM
I almost did that a few years ago, never did make it to China I got a job in the UK so stayed here.
Do you make enough money to live off? What are the living conditions like out there? Unless I can make a living here, I'm giving some serious though to working or at least travelling. There is very little work wise going on here, people don't even return phone calls or emails which is just rude.
I almost did that a few years ago, never did make it to China I got a job in the UK so stayed here.
Do you make enough money to live off? What are the living conditions like out there? Unless I can make a living here, I'm giving some serious though to working or at least travelling. There is very little work wise going on here, people don't even return phone calls or emails which is just rude.
Yes, after having no luck with jobs at home I started to apply to jobs overseas. The first job I applied to here in China, I got the job offer within a 2 weeks after two interviews (over skype).
Q: Do I make enough money to live off?
A: Yes. In fact, a hell of a lot of money (compared to the Chinese teachers). Here, my salary converts to around £18k p/a, which is higher than the average graduate gets, but still not high enough to live comfortably in London with your wife.
Just to reiterate, £18,000 per year, is a very very good salary here in Beijing where almost everything (for us foreigners) is extremely cheap. Rent is Cheap, groceries are cheap, travelling around is cheap.
I'm the kind of person to save a lot of money, so I imagine I'll have quite a bit saved up by the end of the year.
Q: What are living conditions like?
A: One thing I was very worried about before arriving in Beijing, is what apartment the company would put us in and how the toilet would be... You know, didn't want any of that hole in the floor business.
To my surprise, the apartment is great, very clean, very modern, quite spacious and the shower here, is the nicest shower I've had, ever :o. So compared to where I was living in Edgware, London before moving, I rate this place much higher.
Yes, applying to jobs and never hearing back was a pain in the Ar** in the London. I'm not defending the employer, but that's what happens when you have thousands of new and old graduates all applying for the same position.. the employer doesn't have time to reply to everyone :(.
Anyway, if you would seriously consider moving abroad for a job and would consider China an option, let me know. I can forward your details to the foreign teacher manager and speed up the process of your employment. ;)
By the way, the company I work for is called 'RISE. Immersion Subject English'.
Dude, get a year under your belt and then go teach English privately in Japan or South Korea, you'll earn so much goddamn money you'll be able to buy 100's of SV's when you get back! And the culture is the polar opposite in those countries as well :)
Haha yes, I'm looking to get the first year done and we'll see what happens after.
I keep telling myself not to complain too much because as bad as the country is (in my opinion) it's a good first job, with few hours and good pay (as a 1st job for a fresh graduate).
:)
I'm sure you'll grow to love the country, shell shock takes a while to disappear...every place has it's coolness and ****ness, I definitely think you should look into Japan/Korea though, they both require an individual to have a none specific degree (at the moment, that's changing soon though!) and check them out. I had all this in a big plan of mine but I became really ill a few years back which scuppered it all. Go live my dream for me!
Ah, sorry to hear that buddy. But you know, it's never too late for you!
I'm sure I will grow to like this place a bit more, especially in the spring/summer. I will definitely look into Japan and Korea ;). In any case I will leave myself open to any decent opportunity otherwise I'll just remain unemployed :(
I know what you mean about missing London though, it's familiarity that's the biggest thing that is missed when you're away from home. But then weigh it up against super expensive rent combined with not that amazing pay, rude people, over population, terrible public transport systems...crime rates...I could go on, it's ace but definitely not at the same time.
instigator
22-12-12, 07:05 PM
I went to Beijing 7 or 8 times last years, spending about 3 months there in total. I loved the place albeit I was travelling on business thus had hotel comforts. I just found the place to be truly fascinating, sure... we interpret the people to be very rude but that's the way their cities are. Most cities are that way! I just never had a dull moment there, always something different to see and be surprised of. :D
I was supposed to move there permanently but it all fell through :(
If you like Chinese ladies, they tend to latch onto westerners quite easily. ;)
P.S all that being said, I can relate to your 'home sickness'. Its not nice at all when you get it :(
rictus01
22-12-12, 10:26 PM
Never been to China proper myself, the nearest was a spell in Hong kong, but having ridden bike in many other countries and cities, there's nothing quite like the thrill of London, we all moan to one degree or another, but I'd rather be nowhere else.
Cheers Mark.
keith_d
22-12-12, 11:06 PM
I think that saying, "they don't know any better" isn't entirely fair. Each culture has it's own expectations for manners and behaviour. Within that culture they usually work well because everyone expects the same, but they can seem a little odd for outsiders.
I work with some Japanese guys and their rules for 'proper' behaviour are completely different to ours. To them we must seem terribly rude, because they have a more structured society with lots of (for me) strange rules.
It's that old saying, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do".
I think that saying, "they don't know any better" isn't entirely fair. Each culture has it's own expectations for manners and behaviour. Within that culture they usually work well because everyone expects the same, but they can seem a little odd for outsiders.
Very true. I go to China a few times a year for work, mostly Shenzhen and Wuhan, and of all the various different social traits the one that annoys me the most is the slurping. It's not helped by sitting next to a Chinese engineer back in the UK for the last couple of years. As soon as he comes back to his desk with a cup of tea or coffee I have to either leave my desk or put headphones on and listen to loud music
sllluuurrrpppp, SLLLLUUURRRRRRPPPP, SLLLLUUUUUUUURRRRRRPPPP
ARGGGH!!
Slurping as well as all the disgusting spitting of salaiva, mucus and nose blowing out in the public onto public on roads, pavements, parks and even in aeroplanes.
Really can't stand it :S
timwilky
24-12-12, 02:32 PM
Having worked on a few construction sites in China made office time in Beijing luxurious.
One "hotel"/brothel was a converted warehouse where they uniformly built partition walls every 4 metre. which meant some walls were in windows so they had a 4" gap between rooms that allowed free movement of cockroaches and rats as well as the sounds of the local ladies at work.
One accommodation block in Guandong they hadn't fitted the guard over an air conditioning unit. Nice when a rat got into in, minced and spat into the lounge of a colleague.
All in all I love china and am amazed just how much it has changed since I first went 30 years ago and had to take a 30 hour rail from just over the border from Hong Kong upto Yue Yang. My first stay in Beijing at the Jianquo was posh at the time. The only decent hotel in the city I think. Boy even back then the hotel restaurant was beyond my expenses allowance so I was forced out looking for restaurants that had English translations to point at. And the taxis then were a nightmare. Especially the motorcycle ones in some cities.
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