jeju (part1): jeju

i hung around at the ferry terminal for a few hours, logging into their free wifi to check to see if anyone had replied to my couch request. no luck. i met a norwegian guy about to take the ferry back to mokpo, and chatted with him for a bit. when that ferry left, it looked like the terminal was closing up, so i also made a move to the town.

i got a km down the road and arrived at the jeju local ferry terminal, and again lounged there, connected to the wifi, updating the blog. i was still hoping someone in jeju city would at least agree to take some of my gear before i went hiking/trekking/hitching around the island. still no luck. it was getting around sunset and i needed to find a place to pitch the tent. i found the 'olle' path by chance opposite the terminal, and walked up the steps. around the corner, there was a small park with some slides and see-saws, and a contraption for lying on and tilting yourself upside-down! there were some people about but i was dog-tired.... i quickly put the tent up and got in as the mozzies were getting real lively!

it was a great night's sleep, and in the morning, i tried out the upside-down machine and got a different perspective on the world. packing up, i went back to the terminal for a last minute check of email - nothing- and so i decided to get to the hitching-point out of town.

it was a long climb uphill and i was sweating buckets again. i loaded up on carrots and digestives from the supermarket and found the junction to hitch from. i stood with my arm out, 'beckoning' the cars to stop... it looked like i was hailing a cab, so i wasn't surprised when most of the taxi drivers came to a halt besides me. i would shake my head no, or else wave them away before they came to a complete stop, and most of them got the message. just the really persistent ones would roll down the window and wonder why i hadn't got in their cab yet!

after about ten minutes of this, i saw one suv turn around and pull over. he was only going to samyang but it was already out of jeju city so i took it. he was trying to convince me to take a bus in his broken english, but i insisted on hitching. he thought that it wasn't such a good idea thinking that koreans weren't so friendly like this, but he found a good hitching spot for me and dropped me off. i was there 5 minutes and another suv stops. this one was really tatty inside with a lot of rubbish and a distinct odour about it, like the driver was more or less living in it, but i took the lift.

we tried to communicate as best we could but it was hard work. he was trying to convince me that haemdeok beach, where he was going, was better than gimnyeong beach where i wanted to go. there was a slight moment of misunderstanding when i tried to get out of the car thinking he was not going my way, and better to get out now, but with gestures and words, i got the message that he would show me haemdeok beach and the camping there before taking me to gimnyeong beach. so he took me out of his way and landed me right at the beach before driving back. nice one.

it was a really hot and sunny day, just perfect beach day. i walked past the camping area - i asked if it a paying site and yes, 5000 won - so i carried on to the road and walking for about 200 metres or so, i took a side turn into a disused plot of wild flowers and long grass and discovered a nice little place to camp out away from everyone. i had the tent up quick and got changed and headed to the beach. beautiful white sand beach contrasting with the jet black volcanic rocks. and crystal clear waters with some wavy light green seaweed here and there.

there were some koreans enjoying the beach and water too, and i was paddling around in the shallow waters when i got talking a couple of them. jee-min was there with his uncle and 3 cousins, and they invited me to hang out with them. we had lunch together, and i used their snorkel gear and inflatables and messed about in the water. shame they had to go. as they had rented out a space to keep their gear and chill out near the main tarp, they got to use the showers for free. and being part of their gang too, so did i. wow, it was well needed too!! if only i could have washed my sweaty t-shirts too!

before sunset, i got back to my tent, and fell sound asleep. it was the sound of rain that woke me. i could 'see' the flashes of lightning through the tent and a long interval before the roar of the thunder.... the centre of the storm was far away so it didn't trouble me too much. it must have rained most of the night though and no wind, and it was still cloudy when i got up and packed everything up, returning to the beach promenade.

when i was with the gang yesterday, i used their i-phone to check my mail... and a couchsurfer had written to say it was ok for me to leave some gear with them. i had written back to say that i had already hitched out but if tomorrow was ok for them. so this morning, i tried to use the netbook to get an internet connection and check the mail but no luck. i saw two guys heading my way and i asked them if they had internet access on their phone. yes! i got a message back, but it was a bit vague... but with the weather as it was, i decided to get back to jeju city. the guys were also going back to jeju city and were waiting for a taxi... the guy i had borrowed the phone from and whose english was the better of the two invited me to come with them. great!

sang min was his name, and though his english wasn't perfect, it was good enough. he was a radiologist at the hospital in gwanju, and they were going back to the mainland today. he invited me to have a noodles 'brunch' with him and his mates at a famous restaurant in jeju-city. i didn't refuse. we took some snaps, had a great brunch, and then said our goodbyes. again, i met the right people at the right time. i was lost, but a couple of korean backpackers put me right. i found the public information centre at city hall by chance and they have free internet terminals here. so just waiting for the couchsurfer to reply and see what happens next.

hitchhiking in south korea

hitching in korea is ridiculously easy. yesterday morning, i thanked matt for sharing his home with me for a week and hit the road for the hitching point. there is a service station 30 minutes’ walk south of yangjae metro station on highway one at the ‘interchange’. i was pretty nervous ‘cos my korean language skills consisted of two words that eunsil had taught me: ‘an-nyong haseyo’ (hello) and ‘kamsa hamnida’ (thank you) – well, at least i knew what to say before and after getting out of the car/truck!

i stood at the end of the services and stuck my arm out and gestured with my hand as if to say “come here”: i had done my research and this was apparently the way to hitch in korea. i got a few people stopping for me and i had my map of korea handy. unfortunately, the first three potential lifts were all going in different directions to mine. after ten minutes, one guy stops – he is going to busan and he speaks english! great! i forget his name – korean names are just as difficult to remember as chinese ones – but he took me out of his way to drop me off at a service station on the way to jeonju and gwanju.

the built-in sat-nav made him divert from highway 1 but we found an alternative route to get back to the highway. we stopped at the original services where he was going to drop me off and i showed him my paper map, suggesting that he could take me to the next services which would be better for me, and it would be almost the same way for him to get to busan. he agreed, and i even got him to turn his sat-nav off. he agreed that people just get too dependent on machines and technology – time to break out of the prison!

after he dropped me off and posed for a pic, i went to the end of the services and stuck out my arm again. not 5 minutes had gone when a pick-up truck stopped. he didn’t speak any english but with my map, we agreed on where to drop me off... a couple of services on the highway down to gwanju. he was a bit of a speed freak, weaving between traffic on the two-lane highway. a car in front tried to slow him down but he cruised from the fast lane and overtook the guy and another car on the hard shoulder. that freaked me a little and i was happy when we finally got to the services. gamsa hamnida!

again, to the end of the services and stuck out my arm... and maybe the third car that passed stopped. this time, a family... mum, dad, and daughter in the back. daughter who speaks a little english takes the map. i keep asking where they are going, and then i hear the magic word: mokpo. that’s my destination too!! my lucky day, i’m thinking, as i stash my pack in the boot and climb into the back seat. full luxury suv. there was a thunderstorm to contend with, and a little diversion to pick up a couple of their friends, but after everyone had been dropped off, ‘dad’ drives me to the ferry terminal.

i was at the wrong one but i find the ‘international terminal’ with a little help. i missed all the 3 ferries going to jeju that day, so i had to rough it outside the terminal overnight. when it re-opened around 5 this morning, the security guard approaches me as i’m rolling up my mat in the terminal. he gestures ‘sleep’. i gesture ‘outside’. he says ‘hotel?’ i say ‘no’. he gestures that i should have told him something last night when he threw me out at 11pm and then i could’ve slept in the terminal itself. (yes, it is possible to get all that from body language!) i gesture ‘sorry – next time’. i bought the cheapest ticket and boarded the boat at 8. and the sun is out and in half-an-hour, we should be at jeju.

seoul 2

the hottest summer in 8 years in seoul with temperatures in the mid-thirties and high humidity. and fortuitously, i finally connected with a couchsurfing host: matt, an english teacher from the states. i lumbered over to his flat in hoegi from base camp hostel that first sweltering sunday and planted myself in his small living room/office. he showed me around his neighbourhood and took me for some korean food: barbequed beef with omlette-ed egg around the grill, and stir-fried pork and vegetables with rice. of course, the obligatory kimchi. he was very knowledgeable over a wide spectrum of topics, especially his major of economics and his faith: he was a seventh-day adventist, those who believe in the keeping of the commandment about the sabbath. thus we were never at a loss for something to talk about. he was also a gamer, and he used to effectively tackle ‘assassins’ whilst ‘watching’ old episodes of doctor who on his computer. he was also very overweight, some might even say obese. he had no qualms in describing himself as fat. we were taking the metro that day we met and a korean guy, upon noticing him, turned and faced him. the guy was kitted out in casual hiker’s gear with dark shades. he was also a little intoxicated. he looked matt up and down and with his arms outstretched, just said to him: “why?” he repeated it a couple of times, but matt, to his credit, took it in his stride and just very coolly just ignored the guy. the latter turned to me and said “american....  american, right?” i didn’t say anything, but said: “wow, it really is bright in here, isn’t it? wish i had some shades too.” unfortunately, the sarcasm was lost on him, or maybe he also coolly ignored it. the guy noticed that the t-shirts we were wearing were the same shade of faded-out red, and looking at us, said “twins”. again he repeated it, and i saw the funny side too. matt was not amused and got defensive: “it’s just a coincidence”. there wasn’t anything menacing about the guy at all, and maybe because he was drunk he was articulating something that everyone else was thinking... but i admired the way matt was just calm and stoic about it all. he’s probably had to deal with a lot of shit in his time.

the next day, i borrowed matt’s mountain bike and went for a spin along the river. it was another ridiculously hot day...  and really too hot for biking. i was gushing sweat and the t-shirt pulled over my head to protect it from the heat saved my eyes being stung with the flood of sweat. i must have drunk 6-7 litres of water in 5 hours.

i biked to seonyudo park and took a walk around there...very peaceful... and then biked it through the centre of town to city hall and cheong ye chong waterway. i had to tackle an uphill stretch on the way which nearly wasted me... had to get off the bike and sit down on the pavement and get my breath back. the passer-bys just stared at me as if i was an alien from a different planet. at the man-made waterway, the jobsworth security guy whistled me off from there even though i was pushing the bike along, not riding it.

by the time i got to hoegi, the muscles were already starting to seriously cramp up, and i still had to carry this heavy bike to the 5th floor. i just managed to get it through the door before the legs seized up. but first i had to stand under the cold shower for a full 15minutes or so just to cool down. then i collapsed on the sofa. must’ve done over 50kms in 35c heat. it’s been an age since i last cycled that sort of distance... not since i was commuting back and forth to central london from hayes in the west every weekday for months when i worked at the post office.

luckily, the muscles weren’t sore the next day, but i was already tired when i finally connected with eunsil, one of two korean girls who had stayed in the same dorm as me in qingdao. we met at konkik university where she was studying, and she took me for lunch: cold noodle soup with egg and grilled pork. then we took the metro to bokshan? and found a tea shop to while away the afternoon out of the torrid heat. after, we wandered around the traditional korean houses (hanok) area and found a place for dinner: rice with mixed vegetables and kimchi. yum yum. she was working part-time at a cinema and offered me a free ticket for a movie.

the next day, i met up with hyejin, the second of the korean pair. she had just got back from a holiday with her parents and sister. we met at gyeongbokgung palace... buying two tickets, we followed the free tour in english around the palace. it was another very hot day, and i was already feeling exhausted. the heat and humidity, coupled with the stomach bug which refused to go away ever since i left china, maybe even before, were draining me of all my strength.

we found a place to eat lunch, but i insisted on just eating rice. then at a coffee place, i was falling asleep. we met up with eunsil and decided to use my free cinema pass. the girls got tickets too and we went to see the new batman flick, the dark knight rises. it was a while also since i saw a film in a cinema, and so i was grateful.... but the storyline was typically hollywood. straight home but not straight to bed as matt was up till 2am playing assassins. no worries: that day, yesterday, i took real easy, cooked some food for myself and matt and his mongolian friends, watched another film on his super-big screen, and prepared for the trip out of seoul. i decided to give hitching a try in korea. and even thought the girls showed me some places to go on mainland korea, i decided to opt for jeju, the island off the south-west corner of the peninsula. 

seoul

i’m back on the road and finally out of china!! the day before yesterday was a tough one... i’d been watching the typhoon develop over the last few days and it finally made landfall south of qingdao. the rain started a couple of days ago and the next morning, it was really lashing down. i was up early to phone the ferry company and see if the ferry had even sailed from incheon to china. i was nervous... my visa for china was only valid up to the day after, so i really had to get out of the country. nobody had a clue as to where the ferry was.

dorothy came to the hostel and we ran over the options: i) take a flight – however, maybe the flights could be cancelled too, even though qingdao airport website was reporting flights were taking off after being delayed for a time; ii) wait for the ferry – however, not sure where the ferry was or even if it did get into qingdao, it wasn’t sure if it would leave again; iii) go to the police and extend the visa – dorothy had phoned them up and asked about the procedure - problem was they needed to see a lot of money in the bank account which i didn’t have. and probably no special dispensation just ‘cos a typhoon may have made me overstay my visa. and the whole idea of dealing with chinese bureaucrats just made me sick. still, it would be worse if i overstayed.

so i was getting more and more nervous and with no hard information from the ferry company, it was getting difficult to make a decision. it was spoiling to say goodbyes to everyone at the hostel, so i just tried to relax, reminding myself not to worry about things which i cannot directly control.

dorothy phoned the ferry company again and found out that the ferry was outside qingdao but couldn’t dock because the swell was too high. wow, at least it had left korea. i phoned max with a view to get some information about getting a visa extension from his contacts in laizhou. he said he could talk to his boss, but said that i should plead my case with the police office in qingdao. dorothy also said the same before she left to go home.

after waiting a hour or so, i said goodbye to wendy and luke and grabbing my pack, headed off to the ferry port. it was around 1 in the afternoon. i met a chinese guy there waiting outside and got talking with him. his english wasn’t good but i found out that they would start letting us through at around 5pm. so good news, at least there was a good chance that the ferry would sail tonight.

‘dragon’ was a guide, he was part of a group touring with a large group of kids. he took me to get my ticket changed for a boarding pass, and it was there that i met nathan, an english lad travelling from the uk to japan by bicycle. i had seen him before at the hostel a couple of weeks ago, and he had been couchsurfing since. we waited together and were amongst the last to get through chinese immigration as he let the crowds get pass before pushing his bike and gear through. a shuttle bus took us to the ferry and we were both overjoyed to get on that boat and out of china.

he also had stories to tell about visa extensions and chinese bureaucrats and it was not a happy tale, and i was extremely lucky not to have fallen foul of them too. the ferry finally left around 8pm, a few hours later than planned. better late than never! we went on deck and the winds and the sea were not as bad as i had expected;  there was a little rolling but the crossing was going to be a pleasant one.

after a nice korean buffet dinner, and watching the olympics on the widescreen tv in the lobby, i went to my bunk bed in the 70-person dormitory. i slept long and deep, and the sounds of kids aroused me from my slumber in the morning and made me remember the dream i was having.... of meeting old friends in europe. there was a sauna on board the ship and i was lucky to have it all to myself.... although as far as saunas on board a moving ship, nothing can beat the one on the hurtigruten ship from tromso to bodo in norway which even had a porthole to see the stars in the night. ( i remember also the sauna i took on the ‘estelle’, a boat moored at turku in finland, which was also a great experience... it also had a skylight to watch the stars!)

after a buffet breakfast, i stayed out on the deck and watched the sea and islands approaching the korean peninsula. it was a gloriously sunny day, and the seagulls were going apeshit as the young chinese kids threw them bread and biscuits. a shuttle bus took us to korean immigration and it was an absolutely stress-free process to get through. the girl at the desk took digital fingerprints of the index fingers and a digital photograph, asked why i was coming to korea and how long i would be staying and stamped my passport. customs asked if i had any of the foodstuffs shown as photographs on a poster. no food, i told him, and he waved me through. a final x-ray of my pack and i was through to a hot and muggy korea.

nathan and i parted company there, and after getting the girl at the information desk to get me hooked on the wifi and net, i looked to see if i had any messages from potential couchsurfing hosts. bad luck! ok, plan b: base camp hostel. i walked from incheon ferry port to the metro station. it was only a 20 minute walk but i was absolutely drenched in sweat. i took out my towel at the station and dried myself. it was crazy hot and humid! fortunately, the metro ride was air-con and about an hour to downtown seoul so i could cool off a bit.

base camp hostel is fairly basic and not so cheap. the beds are like ‘capsules’... imagine a 5 by 2 ikea wall unit, one human length deep. the hostel is in hapjeong, close to the hongik university area and the happening night scene there. i took a walk around there last night and chanced by a korean djembe drum circle – 2 minutes later, two cops came and told them to stop! isn’t that just so typical! with the complimentary ear-plugs, i slept long and deep. sunday today, and the couchsurfing site is down. start thinking of another plan b!

qingdao (part 3): qingdao and the tefl scene

i got my first job when wendy, one of the girls working behind the bar at the hostel, found out that i was an english teacher and asked me if i could teach her and michael, the weekend guitar and singer at the bar, to improve their english. they asked me about the costs - as i didn’t know what to charge, i just told them that they could pay me what they could afford, even if that meant just a can of cola, seeing as what wendy was getting for working behind the bar was peanuts. we left it at that, and soon wendy dropped out from the lessons due to her busy social life, but michael is still my regular student.

bonny went with me one time to help find the english department at qingdao university so that i could put up some flyers i had made advertising my proofreading and editing services; however, i never got any response from that. yolanda helped me get my design for a business card printed. 250 cards for 32 yuan. full colour. but really, these were just diversions to my real goal: i was in the market for a full-time job and i had been thinking of committing myself to a one-year contract.

i was trawling the jobs page of that tefl bible on the web: dave’s esl cafe. i found an advert for a science teacher at ocean uni in qingdao to prepare chinese students for university abroad. teaching in english medium, i thought i could do this. my science was rusty, but nothing i couldn’t handle. never mind that my bachelors was in social sciences. i met with the director of studies, dan, who was friendly and helpful, and even agreed for me to give a demo lesson. the chances were always going to be slim, but i am ever the optimist. the lesson wasn’t spectacular, and in the end, dan got someone from the states to fill the post. one of the teachers there, ben (who i also coincidentally found to be a couchsurfer) gave me the contact for a private teaching job. that’s how i got my second job, a couple of hours every sunday afternoon teaching four boys in a small office/room on the 36th floor of a skyscraper!

i found another english teacher on couchsurfing and she was giving me a lot of useful feedback on the tefl scene in qingdao. she painted a gloomy picture: it’s just about money, she lamented. she told of the schools to avoid like the plague, but gave me the name of a few schools where i could try. i first went in person to wall street english as they were offering the most money. the personnel director was unavailable and i was told to leave my resume and contact number, which i did. i even wrote their beijing office an email as they were also advertising on dave’s esl cafe jobs board. i never heard from them again.

i did the same with around asia, and again, nobody got back to me. i went to amio a few times before i got a text from the director of studies, chris. i got an interview with him, as did luke and megan, a couple just arrived a few weeks after me in qingdao also looking for teaching work. he painted an even bleaker picture.... schools exploiting the teachers, threatening them physically to complete their contracts, the public security bureau (aka the police) blatantly telling a meeting of the director of studies of all the schools not to employ ‘black’ teachers! chris didn’t have any full time positions, and part-time jobs were only available as cover for sick/absent teachers... and then only regular cover teachers got first pickings.

a few weeks later, luke and megan managed to get part-time work with amio, but i never heard from chris again. by the way, being students, luke and megan have no qualifications and very little teaching experience whereas i have a celta qualification and around 2 ½ years’ experience. oh yeah, luke and megan are white. i’m not. go figure. luke later told me that he told chris that he would work for peanuts.... maybe that’s why he and megan got some work at 100 an hour, when the average is about 150 yuan.

luke asked me one time to cover a lesson for him at around asia. when i got there, the woman who had the teaching material ready for me asked me about my experience. i told her that i had already tried to find a job with around asia and i was never contacted. it was then that she told me that the parents of the children preferred to have their kids taught by white people, even though i was more qualified and more experienced. i covered the class and she agreed that i had experience in teaching. she also told me after the lesson that she had got one complaint from a young student from another class: “i hate you”, the kid had told her, “you have got a black person to teach here”. they get their attitude from the parents, she told me, apologetically. well, it’s going to be their loss, i thought.

around asia never contacted me again. i was getting a pretty good picture of the private language school scene in qingdao. maybe it wasn’t representative of all of china, but i wasn’t surprised at the racist attitudes of some chinese parents, and some schools are too cowardly to do anything about it. still, it will be their narrow-mindedness that’ll eventually come home to roost. i feel sorry for the kids.

dan emailed and recommended me to try web international english. after calling, i got an appointment with tina (her english name), the director of studies. i went in my casual clothes - not that I have any formal clothes to wear, but I reserved my ‘best’ black trousers and ‘best’ grandpa-type shirt for proper interviews. just an informal talk to discuss the job. we met in the lobby and went to one of the study rooms replete with glass walls and doors. her ‘assistant’ was also there to take notes. she asked me a few questions... straightaway, i put her at her ease by explaining my non-english appearance. i told her about my recent english teaching experiences. i plugged my bsc degree and celta qualification. she had never heard of it! she looked at her assistant to help her out, but got a blank stare back. i told them it was the most recognized, globally accepted tefl qualification. she asked me what 'tefl' was. i was a little shocked. i explained tefl to her.

we carried on. she asked if she could ask me a personal question. “sure”, i said, “you can ask me anything you like.” “your hair”, she said, “it looks alright from the front.... but the back...”. she gestures towards the back of her head. i threw her a quizzical look. “it’s strange...” “strange? what does she mean by strange?”, i was asking myself. of course, the stereotypical chinese guy doesn’t sport long hair, tied up into a ponytail, and tied up into a little top-knot. maybe her students would be morally offended? maybe i would set a dangerous precedent? maybe it could instil a culture of rebelliousness amongst the students that could have china-wide repercussions? we laughed together and moved on. i was getting the certain impression that web international english were a cowboy operation. they hadn’t even asked me for my c.v. yet. i asked her about the pay... 8,500. and 6,000 end-of-contract lump sum. visa costs outside of qingdao i would have to fund myself.

i asked tina for a copy of the contract. she went away and left me with her ‘assistant’, who immediately left and pottered around outside, obviously too nervous to take any more questions from me. i beckoned her inside. “i want to ask about accommodation”. she didn’t understand. fortunately, tina came back. “accommodation...? you have to find your own.” “so i don’t get any allowance for this?” “no” came the terse reply. tina wasn’t too happy. neither was i.

i went through the sums with her... quoting a standard rent of 2,500. that’s 6000 for 40 hours a week. 25 contact hours. 15 office hours where i had to be available for the students to ask questions, etc. etc. etc. i would be teaching, more or less. airfare reimbursement, visa fees & end of contract bonus were all lumped into the 6000 lump sum at the end of the year. the package was not looking too promising compared to others i had seen on the net, and i told her so. she said that it was the standard package as defined by shanghai head office. i told her not to take it personally, i was just looking for information before i made an informed judgement on whether to commit myself to the job. i glanced briefly through the 2-page contract... gaps had been left to be filled in for the important salary figures (negotiable?) and the dates of the contract. a totally unprofessional-looking contract. cowboys. time to go. “i have to think about it... and i’ll get in touch”, i said departing. no chance.

progressive language school were really keen to sign me up. they were impressed by my celta and british english native speaker qualities. they put a contract in front of me for 40 hours a week... 5000 yuan. that's 25 contact hours. and no flat. no end-of-contract completion bonus. and “possibly” sponsorship for the 'z' visa. i told him frankly that 5000 was nowhere close to what i was looking for considering my qualifications and experience. he said he would talk with the owner of the school and get back to me. they upped the offer to 6000, i think. amio were offering 10,000 for a full-time position. this would be the minimum i would accept, and so i turned them down.

i got in touch with the communicative language school at the top of ‘book city’ bookstore. i got a couple of conversational teaching lessons for 3 adults with them, but then they stopped this, citing the summer vacations. then joy, mum of one of the kids i was teaching on sundays, phoned me and told me of another private teaching opportunity. another group of 4 kids, 1½ hours every day for 25 days, 5000 yuan.

it was at the same time as max was getting me to come with him to the school in laizhou. there was too many unknowns in laizhou, whereas this was a concrete proposal. i was all ready to go with max and sasha one evening to laizhou, but the last bus had already gone. it was the sign i needed to tell me to accept this job in qingdao. and so this is what i’m doing now... it’s hard work cos i have to prepare the lessons from scratch from material i find on the net. ‘book city’ language school got back to me and offered me a week’s work teaching 3 adults conversational english.

and just last weekend, i got another weekend slot at amio’s office in jinan. how ironic! 9 hours and all expenses paid. sweet. so after a slow start in china, i finally got to do some teaching and save some money for the next destination: korea.

qingdao (part 2): kai yue youth hostel

it was only going to be a temporary stay but it ended up being my home for about 3 months seeing as it was the cheapest place to stay in town. the hostel was originally a church in the old centre of qingdao, and it got converted into a youth hostel about 6 years ago. going up the stairs, there were two entrances either side of the small reception office. from here, there were likewise two entrances to the bar/restaurant part of the hostel called the ‘old church lounge’, open to the public as well as the guests staying at the hostel. a big social space, with discrete areas catering to everyone...  big sofas with low coffee tables, high stool and tables, discrete non-smoking nooks with see-through string ‘curtains’ for intimate discussions, a step-up stage/music area complete with guitars and conga & bongo drums and maracas. there was also a kicker/table-football game, but the icing on the cake was the medium-sized pool table. “free for guests for half-an-hour”, said the note. that half-an-hour used to stretch to hours sometimes but nobody minded so much; it was off-season then.

the second floor had rooms either side of the long corridor, and a laundry room with washing machine and dryer. the third floor also had rooms with single, double, and triple beds, as well as 7 and 8 person dorms with bunk beds. there were showers and toilets and the end of the corridor. i was in one of the cheap 7-person dorms. room 315 seemed to be the long-stay dorm as i soon discovered. max, a young english guy also teaching english there, had been there 3 months already, as well as pasha, from russia. they was also han?, from korea, who had been there the longest. there was also a fourth floor, again with rooms of all types, a library area, and a couple of small roof terraces, one for drying the laundry, and the other for eating at the small table, or for the smokers to indulge in their habit.

i soon got to know all the people working there, and likewise, they all got to know me. it was like a small community. most of the chinese had english names so it would be easier to remember: wendy, bonny, michael, emma, yolanda, chichi, lee, et al. i got to know all the good pool players and would challenge them to a game at any opportunity - sign of a misspent youth.

then the french connection arrived, antoine from france, and guillame and charlotte, and they stayed for a few weeks. peter from sweden was there on an internship for his chinese studies. antoine used to thrash everyone at the kicker. we used to collect random guests and go to eat out or to the beach. those first few weeks were great because i had plenty of free time as the job-search was going very slowly. the cost-of-living in china is low compared to the eurozone, and so i didn’t need to stress to find work quickly.

i soon discovered the food street near to the hostel, and the good places to eat... there were a couple of very popular and famous restaurants not far away, which had their tables on the pavements outside in the warm night air. it would’ve been a good atmosphere if it wasn’t for the fact that the food would sometimes take ages to arrive... two hours i had to wait one time!!... and for the fact that a lot of chinese love to smoke, before, during and after eating.

and yes, it seems like they have this disgusting habit of hocking up all the phlegm in their lungs and gobbing it out anytime, anywhere: standing, sitting, walking down the road, eating a meal. it wasn’t so bad if they were inside a restaurant, but i saw it even there. thus i avoided these two places in the end, and every time i passed the infamous one with the front-of-house ‘afro-woman’, as max had dubbed the woman with the enormous perm, she would look away as if i was a traitorous leper!

with the free wifi in the hostel, i found my little nook in the old church lounge to do my blogging... antoine had kindly given me a copy of the vpn software he had been using. seems like the great firewall of china was blocking out all the blogger websites as well as the usual suspects: facebook, youtube, bbc, etc. i didn’t use any of these in any case, but the blogger one was a necessity. and when internet time was too much, the pool and kicker were useful diversions.

qingdao is famous for its tsingtao brewery and beer, and the hostel were giving away free beer/coffee tokens each night for the guests... shame they didn’t extend that to the soft drinks. in any case, i had discovered the qingdao equivalent of coca-cola: laoshan cola. it tasted like medicine at first... i was told it had a lot of good healthy ingredients in it like ginger, ginseng, etc... but then i got addicted. so filling my aluminium bottle with this and not-so-sneakily drinking it in the ‘lounge’ was the way to go. i really took advantage of my ‘long-term-regular’ status. the young managers didn’t mind so much that i never bought anything from the bar or the restaurant - it was expensive compared to what i could get just down the road – and i was saving every yuan for the not so cheap places coming up: korea and japan.

sleeping in the dorm was ok for a while. then i was using the single pair of foam disposable earplugs i owned every night to block out any snoring, drunken talking, etc., etc. but then i got earache and stopped using them, and since that time, my sleep has really suffered. every night, there has been a snorer. snoring, in particular, just drives me completely up the wall. sign of a traumatic childhood.

i haven’t killed anyone yet, but if there is a group of people who i would have no hesitation in dousing with petrol and setting alight, it would be snorers. i would be jubilant when one left, but then came another one the very next night. it wasn’t too bad when i didn’t have to wake up early in the morning to go to work, but these last few weeks have been tough. grumpy and irritable through lack of sleep is not what i need to be when i have to teach ten-year olds at 8 in the morning. luckily, i manage to get breakfast in before teaching otherwise i would be frothing at the mouth at every little thing. bad teacher! max and sasha left to laizhou where max had scored a teaching job and free accommodation. the french connection left for korea, and antoine left to beijing and france. peter moved to new digs, and only luke is left.

tonight is my last night.... i took my last dinner at my favourite restaurant with dorothy and a new guest, mark, from holland. i sounded thrashed him at pool and kicker after. there is a tropical storm heading this way and everyone is waiting for the deluge to start. i’m a bit worried ‘cos i have the ferry crossing to incheon and korea in the morning. i hope the ferry has left incheon to make its way to qingdao for tomorrow. but looking at the satellite maps on the web, it doesn’t look too promising. the visa expires the day after tomorrow, so i’m gonna be buggered if there is a going to be a significant delay. i’ll phone up the ferry company tomorrow morning... or rather, i’ll get the reception crew on duty tomorrow morning to phone them and see if the ferry is on or not. still, i’ll have a good reason to tell them at the police station when i go to extend my visa. typhoon damrey due to hit landfall anytime in the next few hours.