Apologies to anyone who was waiting with bated breath for my weekly update last week but I’ve been a little tardy. Mainly because there’s not a lot in my day to day life at the moment that warrants blog space. I’ve been going to class, taking care of visas and passports and watching a lot of Desperate Housewives. By now I seem to know people at the German embassy by name and I ran into a familiar couple at the translation place. In the morning on my way to class I always seem to walk behind the same lady as she takes her dog out for a walk. Following the big balled bulldog as he waddles down the street I realise that maybe this is what normal life might be like. Routine. Knowing what next Wednesday has in store for you. It’s what I wanted this break but I’ve had enough, 2 weeks of settled life seems to have satiated that curiosity and now I’m looking forward to moving out at the end of the lease, heading to Dalian and exploring a bit before taking the train across to Kashgar to meet Brett again.
We’re off to Kyrgyzstan first (and we have the visas to prove it). Next up is Tajikistan but I’m still working on getting those visas. They needed a letter from our embassy saying that, like our passport states, we are American/Australian. So off I toddled to the respective embassies and I have the letters but have to wait until my Chinese visa is extended before I can hand in the Tajik application. This time I jumped through the ridiculous hoops and opened a bank account. To extend a tourist visa for 1 month they needed me to open a bank account at the Bank of China and deposit 25,000 kuai (US$3,675). It’s a useless account, I can’t take money out anywhere but Beijing and it can only be closed in Beijing. Just perfect for someone who’s travelling around the country, as I will be again as soon as these visas are taken care of.
In other news facebook is still blocked and I was told by a teacher at my school that Central Asia is “about the same” as China so why am I bothering to go there? When I asked if Japan and China are “about the same” he said I had misunderstood his point. My Chinese may not be perfect but I know ignorance and arrogance when I see it. My usual teacher is great so hopefully I won’t have to sit through another class with this schmuck.
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