A Fort Wayne native's adventures in China
Ordered some Campbell’s Tomato Soup off Baopals the other day and it came last week. You can’t buy it on store shelves in China. So I’m enjoying a delight can in my nice big cup I bought on Sunday.
I added just a little bit of water because I love a thick soup. To counteract what seems like a shitload of sugar added to this wondrous liquid, I added a generous amount of crackers, salt, and freshly ground pepper. God, this is good.
Usually I post on Sunday without fail.
But I went out because it was a gorgeous day. I found some stuff I could use, and discovered a local street that is part wet market, part fruit and veggie market, and part odds and ends market. I love stuff like that.
I did upload to Medium.com, and that is something I try to do on a monthly basis, either around the first of the month, or within a few days of that.
I wrote a little something about the 4B movement and how I have been living that lifestyle for the past 14 years or so.
Started in South Korea, it was adopted by US women as a response to the recent US elections.
It would be great if this movement really kicked men in the ass and made them behave a little better, but it probably won’t.
Unfortunately, there are enough damaged women out there who will continue to accept men’s shitty treatment of them. The 4B proponents are probably not too attractive to men in the first place–they’re probably educated, feminist, and have jobs–in other words, they would like men to be decent companions.
And while men have been pretty vile for thousands of years, it seems within the last 10 years, things have gotten worse–a LOT worse.
While it’s true feminism has screwed up men’s lives, is it really THAT hard to have manners and be well-groomed and smell good and be nice and have a sense of style? I guess for a lot of men, it is.
Men, if we don’t need you for economic reasons, we still sort of need you for companionship. I say, “sort of” because I haven’t dated seriously in 14 years or so.
I know what I want. And if I can’t get it, then life goes on, because it HAS to.
We all know you want to get laid. But work for it a little, okay?
Read the article here.
Chinese homes don’t have central air or central heating.
So I’m cozying up to a space heater.
It was quite brisk on the way home from work today. We had clear blue skies all day which became clear skies at night. Which means it’s going to be cold. Or it will feel that way.
Tonight at the bus stop, it was 14 C, which for you Americans means it was 57 F. It felt like 34 F to me.
But I got home and cranked up the space heater and ate dinner by it while watching YouTube.
It was nice and cozy.
Hoping you had a cozy Thanksgiving and Black Friday.
Had Thanksgiving dinner tonight instead of tomorrow, because tomorrow I plan to sleep very, very late.
China already has a lower cost of living compared to the United States. Pretty much everything is one-third what it costs in the states, if not cheaper. Buses cost anywhere from 14 to 28 cents. And I had a two-bedroom apartment in Xiamen for $392.
And right now, my apartment is free.
So how did I swing it?
I picked the right job.
Some teaching jobs offer free apartments. This time around I snagged one. True the salary isn’t as much as other jobs, but I figure I can live on around $500 a month, or less.
When was the last time you had a deal like that?
And if you’re really frugal, you might be able to live on even less than $500 a month. If you eat like the natives, you can probably do it.
Even if you don’t snag a free apartment, a lot of jobs offer a housing allowance. The trick to that is to find a place that costs much less than whatever you’re getting for housing. I was able to do that in Guangzhou, and ended up with the cutest apartment I’ve ever had in China.
It also depends on where you’re going, but it would be smart if you are going to a big city like Beijing or Shanghai to snag a free apartment. That’s because the closer you live to the city center, the more you’re going to pay. I sort of lived out on the southeast edge of Beijing, and it took about 40 minutes to get to downtown Beijing. My two-bedroom apartment was gorgeous, but ran around $910 a month. I thought that was an outrageous amount to pay, although some of you paying more might consider that a bargain.
Since I got a refrigerator, I’ve been stocking it with food. So instead of buying a ton of food each week, I usually buy stuff like fresh fruit and vegetables. I stock up on bacon, chicken, ham, and steak, so I don’t have to buy it every week. I do cave into cravings every so often, but I want to say when I do go to the grocery store, I spend about $50-70 a week. But there are some weeks where I just buy fresh fruit and veggies, and that’s it.
So yeah, if the idea of saving half your salary sounds good, check into teaching in China. There are other Asian countries, but China pays the most. It’s possible to save money, but you’ve got to make the decision if you want to travel every other weekend or stash that money away. And if you do decide to save money, put that stash in a high-interest savings account.
The post that started it all: https://nowaylaowai.home.blog/2023/08/13/my-10-a-day-money-diet/
I bluntly tell you how to save money. If you are easily triggered, stay away: https://nowaylaowai.home.blog/2019/09/30/saving-money-in-china-advice-for-broke-ass-motherfuckers/
Feeling super lazy so I will post more details later, but I had the best fried rice I’ve had in a long time, maybe since I moved to China.
Pu Pu Restaurant, why do you have to be so damn far away?
I had a good sleep. But it doesn’t mean I had a good dream. My dream was that I had a tattoo on the back of my left hand. I think it was one of the ghosts from Pac Man. But it wasn’t very well done.
In my dream, I was in denial. I didn’t want this tattoo, but somehow I ended up with a tattoo. And I remember telling myself I could get laser removal. But I was sad. I was really said that I’d told myself I would never, EVER get a tattoo, and there it was on my hand.
But thankfully, it was only a dream.
I don’t know why I’m so against tattoos, but I am.
You don’t see too many of them in China. I’ve seen some, but it seems like tattoos are not as popular as they are in the United States. I’ve known at least one teacher from the United States and he has tattoos. But he’s the only one.
I’ve heard that in South Korea, they don’t allow tattoos at all if you are a teacher. Apparently tattoos are associated with gangs.
So many people have tattoos now, so it’s almost like the non-tattooed people are the minority now.
What’s so strange is that YouTube keeps streaming episodes of InkMasters right about the time I’m supposed to wake up.
What a terrible dream though. It was nice to sleep deep enough to dream, but geez.
Been publishing on Medium for a while. I liked SATC as much as anyone, I realized this is the woman I should have been emulating.
Connect with me on Bluesky social: nowaylaowai7777777.bsky.social
I’ve been really tired lately, and I’m not sure why. But today was Saturday and I indulged in a nice long sleep. Like really long. Like, there’s only three hours of daylight left when I woke up long.
Hopefully, I’m not sick. It could be just that the days are getting shorter, and my body’s reacting to that.
But today was good. I did an hour’s worth of yoga, had a nice big meal, and ordered some stuff online. It was mostly food. I got turkey for Thanksgiving, and settled for thin slices of turkey, rather than a roast. There’s just me, after all.
It’s impossible to find turkey in the stores here. You’re more likely to find duck. And yes, I’ve had duck sometimes, on certain Thanksgivings.
I have sage for the dressing and will probably get some fresh butter for the dressing later.
I also did a little bit of grading as well.
But it was so nice to sleep as long as I wanted and to get up when I felt like getting up.
After quite a long time, I’m feeling content for a change, and that’s nice.
I hope you had a good Saturday as well.
Mail in China is… different. Online shopping is huge, and it’s pretty easy to get packages. Most apartment complexes either are located near a Cai Niao, which is a place where packages are dropped, and you can go and pick them up. You’ll usually receive a text with the package number. You go to the Cai Niao, and look for it. Sometimes, you get packages coming directly to your door, but sometimes not.
Usually the number will look like this 4-3-1207. The first number, four, is the bay the package is located. The 3 is the shelf number. And 1207 helps you find the package on the shelf. I’ve had a lot of stuff delivered while in China, and it works pretty well. It also cuts down on package theft.
However, I needed my credit union to send something to me. I should have specified to send it FexEx, like they did the last time. I even told them to deduct the package delivery fee from my checking. But they sent it regular mail.
And it’s not here. I THINK I know where it might be, but I’m a bit nervous.
But I learned something about China Post. Mailboxes aren’t used here. I have one at my apartment complex, but wasn’t given a key. I’ve never been given a key to any of the mailboxes I’ve had here.
The other day though, I learned a little about China Post. When I was at Cai Niao trying to ask if anything came for me from the states, I met a fellow English teacher with good English. She was very kind and helpful as I explained what was going on. She said Cai Niao didn’t handle regular mail, and that was something China Post did. We thought we found where the China Post was that handled the mail for our apartment complex, but they didn’t have it. I said there was a closer China Post that was actually located in the student quarters of our university, which would be more likely to have jurisdiction over our apartment complex, since the name of it actually incorporates the name of the university in it.
So Monday, I’ll go to the China Post nearer my apartment to see if by any chance they received any “normal” mail from the states.
Something else I learned is that I should have requested my Chinese phone number be written on the front of the envelope, and labeled “Chinese phone number.” That’s because if that information had been on the envelope, wherever the envelope is (assuming it’s here in China) they could text me and said they had my mail.
So I’ll see if the other China Post has my envelope. I might wait another week (the credit union said the mail was sent October 30) and if it hasn’t come, ask them to resend it, this time by FedEx, and send it to my apartment complex. Because the Cai Niao in the apartment complex handles UPS/FedEx/SF Express type packages.
What was nice is that the woman who helped me reached out and wants to be friends. Usually when I reach out it doesn’t work well.
But hopefully, this wasn’t fake. Hoping this woman actually wants me to hang out with her and her daughter.
Because it’s been a long time since I had a woman friend. It can be really hard, and you just can’t go shopping with a straight male friend. You also can’t get much sympathy from them either.
So yeah, Monday was a good day.
I think I made a couple of new friends this week, but time will tell.
No Way! Laowai! 
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