Monday, April 28, 2014

If i could go back from where it started...

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

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!



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
 Temple near Danyang



 Very often chinese children are taking photos of foreign people because it is the first time they see them.

Having fun in KTV with canadian friends


Front desk and 5 receptionists :D

Me and my good friend from the hotel

D&D glasses 

D&D glasses


Chinese hairdresser

chinese birthday party!