2 days – My last British Thursday

These last few days are zipping by now, i’m not doing any more than I have been over the past few weeks (very little) but this last week has felt so short. Spent my last thursday eating a “Westerleigh Pie” with family at ‘The New Inn’ which was surprisingly nice.. I had commented on how bad it looked to my mum (without ever going in before) a couple of days before so I have to take back those comments.. really recommend those pies to anyone. 2 for £12 or £6.50 each.. thinking about it, I may begin doing a mini review of “cultural meals” I experience/endure in China, or not.

Also bought some new earrings which are 1.6mm compared to my existing 1.0mm. I was advised that I could just lube and push them through… DO NOT TRY THIS! Especially when the end you are pushing through is threaded! After all that agonising pain and effort, Chelsea suggested that they make me look like a ‘gypsy’.. lovely stuff.

Don’t have much to post today hence the irrational focus on pie’s and earrings.. so I’ll finish the post with a DVD recommendation for everyone.

Name – The King Of Comedy

Director – Martin Scorsese

Writer – Paul D. Zimmerman

Starring – Robert DeNiro, Jerry Lee Lewis

Jerry Lee Lewis and Robert DeNiro

Please, if you havent already seen it (or even if you have a while back) go and buy this DVD which is currently just £3.99 from Play.com. Perfect story structure, faultless direction, excellent performances all round and a delicious combination of unrelenting desire, unbreakable personal belief and a desperate backup plan that leaves you wondering why writer Paul D. Zimmerman didnt get more of his screenplays produced. He also wrote ‘Consuming Passions’ .. if you have seen it, please let me know what you think of it.

3 days countdown till launch

Just 3 days remaining in the UK for me, and I have to say it was one of the best Wednesdays yet.

Finally received my Supra Vaiders which look and feel great. So glad I finally tracked them down in the UK after Route One sold out within a day. I can see why they are renowned for being so tough, the material is pretty much doubled up all over. The profile shape has to be the selling point for me, absolutely perfect design.. perhaps slightly on the narrow side but this is day 1 for them so I’m expecting them to break in soon enough.

Packed the suitcase early on, which weighed in at 33kgs – not too bad considering that left very little to go in the hand baggage. So I removed my paint pens and baseball glove which brought it back to 31kg. Hope that they can let 1kg go at check-in.

After talking to Jane, I went to Makro to see about buying a leather jacket I’d spotted there a couple of days earlier. When I’d last seen it it was £120 which I thought was reasonable for a real leather jacket with an ounce of quality to it.. to my delight however Makro had a promotion on all leather jackets which meant they were all half price! £60 for the jacket.. excellent deal, very happy with it.

Spent the evening with my good friend Ross and Guy, at the Watershed where we had a few pints and watched Steve McQueens ‘Hunger’ which I highly recommend.

HUNGER (2008) – Steve McQueen

Incredible performances involving delicate and adult subject matter, with gripping a 10 minute plus single shot (pictured above) and a highly emotional story based on the hunger strikes of an Irish jail during the IRA ‘troubles’. Beautiful cinematography that successfully manages to balance the grim scenes inside the prison without removing you from the disgusting conditions – involving many scenes of dirty protests and physical harm from the hunger strikes.

Overall – 8.5/10

4 days until liftoff

Had a minor disaster today when I called DialAFlight with some questions regarding my flight. Having bought a new bag from Rajani’s (excellent bag for only £36) I was banking on 30kgs for my suitcase. DialAFlight however dropped the bombshell when I called them saying that it was 20kgs max!!! Not exactly ideal when you’re emigrating. So I began unpacking and wondering how the hell I was going to move with only 20kgs (about the weight of my t-shirts and jumpers). Later on I explained the situation to Jane on the phone, and after using China Eastern several times she assured me that it was 30kgs to Shanghai.. so I called China Eastern’s offices who confirmed that it is indeed 30kgs, phew! Time to repack.

Also organised the arrangements for my medical check which is on the Tuesday am (I need the medical certificate to apply for the residence permit.. aka.. the holy grail). The assistant manager of the company I will be working for will accompany me and bring the multitude of licences and forms that they need.

What a system!

Anyway on a brighter note, Jane and I will visit Nanjing for a few days in my first week there. We’ll visit a friend of ours who lives there and also stay in a popular spring hotel where as the name suggests they have loads of natural hot springs.. not a bad start to my life in China.

A natural spring in Nanjing

5 days till takeoff

5 days left now, for some reason it feels a lot less than 6. Closed my HSBC account and transferred all those pesky direct debits to my Lloyds account.. turned out to be much easier and quick than i’d expected.

I’m booked in for my £65 medical check in SH now which I need for the residence permit, believe it or not it was the same price in SH as in the UK.

My next addition to the blog will be a page that explains the exact step by step process I went through to get to where I am with my Z visa for China, which will hopefully be of some use to future applicants from the UK, because I sure as hell found it tough and the Chinese embassy doesnt exactly divulge many details on forms and processing times.

I have a load of bizarre pictures from SH I took during my month long trip back in June, explanation below each picture.

Futurama inspired graffiti - (location?)

Family of feral cats chillin' (Near Jane's house)

Roast Pigeon on the menu (Plaza 66)

Homesickness Fish In Bamboo Net (Somewhere I didnt eat at)

I’ll try to make a post of bizarre stuff each month, there are so many funny mis-translations on menus.

6 days till I leave

Just 6 days till I set off on my fresh start in Shanghai. Everything sorted, new bag, new shoes, new jeans for a new life. Tough to keep up with the mandarin learning, simply because of my short attention span but it has to be done if I want the job im moving for.

Quick look at the 2 bedroom apartment that i’ll most probably be staying at.. that TV has got to be replaced pronto.

The price is reasonable at £400 per month, but I worry why it hasn’t already been taken.. the only reason I can imagine is the immediate proximity of the lower school – next door! Jane says that the kids do a military style morning exercise with music that gives her nightmarish flashbacks.. gulp! I might be lining the walls with egg boxes pretty soon.

My Jing An apartment lounge

Never much liked wicker seats, too much noise and arm imprinting, but it will do for short term use. Apparently IKEA is pretty expensive in China, and much more fashionable than here in the UK – all apartment adverts boast having lots of IKEA furniture.

View from my apartment down onto the school basketball court