Wow, he lives in a 20 yuan buffet!

Well, it's been a minute. So I figured an update is in order. Unfortunately I don't have much to offer except a life update, so maybe skip this one if you're just looking for travel adventures. It's been about 3 months since we came to Qujing. And to be honest, I wasn't expecting to be here quite this long. I mean, it would be a nice change of pace, except I have been completely swamped. And this is fresh off the heels of being completely swamped in Shanghai. So, I think some changes are in order. But the main source of stress, and our delay, is all due to the Portuguese visa process. And I hear you all - I get messages every hour of every day saying "Please, Weg, talk more about visa paperwork! I am dying to know about Form 14-B! Well, ask and you shall receive! The main holdup this time was my background check. I needed to get one in China, and our plan was to just stroll into the police station in Yunnan to get it. After all, that's how Ella did it. For me however? Nope. It's got to come from Shanghai. Now, in theory I get why. I just arrived here, after all. But so did Ella. How come she can get it and I can't? The whole ordeal involved hiring an agency and getting them to notarize/apostille it. That was another 3 weeks wait, so, yay. But finally the day had come! Our agent booked us a slot at the visa office in the capital, Kunming. Wanting a change of pace, we decided to make a weekend out of it. I took some time off work, and we left 2 days early to see the sights. 

 

 

And Kunming is pretty great! I had visited ~8 years ago, but it's really come a long way. Lots of breweries, foreign food, and in general, a mini-Shanghai without the price. I quite like it there, and we discussed that maybe, one day, we could consider moving here. It's somewhat like Dali, but with big city conveniences. And the rent is fairly cheap, about 2000 yuan a month (~$300). That's about 1/3rd of Shanghai's rent, so, not bad. We even found a great bar with some pretty wild stuff I'd never be able to try elsewhere, like a Sichuan Pepper Ale, or an IPA from the Dai minority group. We were having a good time visiting a pet district (?), museums, etc., and then, a half day into our holiday, things came to a screeching halt. We got a call from the visa office. They said that the Portuguese Embassy has changed the processing of visas from Beijing to Guangzhou. So, since they are unsure if our application would make it before the switch, we should consider coming back in 2 weeks. To me, this didn't make sense. Are you recommending or telling? You're kind of in charge of this, after all. So of course, if it was sent too late, Beijing would send it to Guangzhou, right? And they didn't know.

I'm complaining, but I only have a dog this time.

Like, why don't you know? Because I certainly don't. So we spent the entire day calling people from the main visa processing center, the Guangzhou Consulate, and the Beijing Embassy to see if our application would be processed. You know... things that THE VISA PROCESSING CENTER SHOULD DO, because why is it my job to figure how your office works? Later when the Kunming office called us back, we told them what we found out, they checked, and said yes it's fine for us to submit tomorrow. So, thank you so much VFS, for letting us waste an entire day doing your job for you. Fortunately the next day, the actual application process went fairly smoothly. Unlike when Ella applied for the Schengen Tourist visa there a year or two ago, we knew exactly what we needed - through her experience, and our agent helping us out. So while I was a nervous wreck, they were actually very nice, and we apparently had everything. But now, it's up to the embassy. I think we gave it our best shot, and so the wait begins - up to 2 months.

 

You can diagnose your pee. Technology!

But the silliness did not end there. You see, I am now without a passport. Of course I anticipated this, so a few days before I called China Railways - explaining the situation and asking if I could travel back home with just a copy and something official from the agency. They said yes. Just to be extra sure, we stopped at the ticket office when we arrived in Kunming, and asked the clerk the same. They also said yes. So after we left the agency, stamped passport copy in hand, we went to the train station to catch a ride home. We went to buy a ticket, and they said sorry, the stamp from the visa office wouldn't do.

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After some arguing and speaking with the manager, that was that. So now we needed to figure out another way to get home. Fortunately we found a coach station, and even though it was on the outskirts of town, and the ride was 2 1/2 hours as opposed to 1, we did eventually make it back. But what did I make it back to? Well, let me catch you up on life for the past few months.

A tower I hiked to in Qujing

Last time, I said I was getting some of my own students, which is true. I'm up to 4 now. I'll say 3/4 of my students, great people. Two of them I previously taught in Shanghai, and they're both lovely. Another is a 6 year old who is also very polite and kind. The last student... well, let's just say he is a handful. He is constantly bouncing around, refusing to study, and screaming. I've tried to change strategies until I find one that works, but whew, every class is a battle. But then, I get messages from his mom saying how much he likes me, and he talks about the two of us like we're best friends. So... I dunno? Personally I think he is an advertisement for birth control, but hey, glad they're happy.

I'm also working for some other online teaching platforms - one gives me work here and there for standardized test prep, but most of my work is teaching business English. The money isn't exactly fantastic, but living with mom and dad, our expenses are essentially 0. Almost all of my work is in the evenings and weekends, which I'm not thrilled by, but it'll do for now. It was pretty hard to juggle 3 schedules with the stress of preparing the visa, but fortunately with that out of the way, things are a lot better now. Unfortunately as my work picked up, I've dropped doing the Chinese videos, or any Chinese study at all actually. I think as I get older, and/or process my trauma of the DELTA, I am really struggling to cope when my workload gets high. Of course this is something I need to overcome, because there will certainly be times in my life where I get busy. But my strategy for now is to try and keep things under control, even if it involves turning down work - money we could use, since we're obviously saving up for Portugal. But doing the math, we should be okay for a while, even if it'll be a little tight at first.

Actually, Qujing can be very pretty.

Anyway, my business learners are with some pretty large Chinese companies you've probably heard of. While we do talk about exciting things like meetings, agendas, and reports, I get to hear the tea on crazy coworkers, and their opinions on a range of topics. If this was just a few times a day I'd actually like it a lot, but when I meet up to 8 people a day for 45 minutes... oof. That's too much. By the end I feel all talked out. Ella asked me if I like my current work or my previous work more, and honestly it's a mixed bag. Certainly my current work is less physically demanding - I'm not trying to corral a squadron of kids. I also like the conversations with my students, since many are legitimately cool people. On the other hand, there isn't much distinction between my personal and work life. My lessons are spread throughout the day, in the same place I relax, so there is no "switching off". I think it makes me feel busier than I actually am, which isn't ideal. For the time being though, it's what we have, so I don't really have a choice. I think I would prefer getting out of the house, and having a clear boundary between your home life and work life. But it also could be a lot worse - like if all of my students were Mr. ADHD.