October 31 - Arrival in Zhengzhou

I'm here. I'm safe. I'm overwhelmed and exhausted by all the things I have to deal with immediately. I don't have the energy to post more at the moment, as I am going out in search of food. I haven't eaten in 24 hours and was reduced to eating a clean kleenex just to keep the hunger at bay. This place is insane. I hope I am up to the challenges I am facing. I'll post more about my first couple of days here at a later time, once I settle slightly (hopefully).

October 30 - In Seoul

I'm currently at the Incheon airport. This is my first time ever being outside north America. It's 3 in the morning and I have the whole place to myself.

October 28 - In transit

I'm currently sitting in Pearson Airport in Toronto. I'll be here for the next 2 hours then I'll be on a flight to Seoul.

I'm using free wifi in the airport, which begs the important question: why is wifi free in Toronto and Vancouver airports, but $10 in Montreal, especially given that the company "Boingo" (what a weird name haha) runs the wifi service in both Montreal and Toronto?

Anyway, I'm the only white guy on the flight apparently. Most people might be weirded out by that feeling of being such a tiny minority, but for some reason I find it interesting. Maybe unconsciously I'm an exhibitionist and like being the only unique person around (in some way).

My flight to Seoul will be a long one, so I hope to sleep and wake up in Korea! My first time in a country outside Canada or the USA.

So far I've had no problems. I'll try to make another short post once I make it to Korea, but if not, I'll get something out from my new place in Zhengzhou. In the meantime, by special request, I'd like to give a little shoutout to my brother, who gave me the best hug before I left!

October 26 - This is starting to feel real

On Sunday night, my father surprised me late at night by coming in and dumping a bunch of things on my bed. There were bandages, there were band-aids, a first-aid kit, water purification tablets, and a water bottle with a purification cartridge inside it that is good for purifying 100 litres of water, among other things. It made me feel like I was going to the wilderness instead of a city in China. Not that his fears are unfounded - it was recommended to me that I boil any water for 20 minutes before drinking it or cooking with it - but I found it really funny that he just came to me as if to say: "Here. Don't die." My mom, on the other hand, contributed nail scissors and clippers. Very practical.

October 22 - Flight Plan

I've just received the flight itinerary from my employer. I'm now confirmed to be leaving on the 28th. Hopefully there are no more problems with my documents and visa acquisition before then.

I'll be flying from Montreal to Toronto, from there to Seoul, Korea by Korean Airlines and then from Seoul to Zhengzhou. If we don't count my waiting times between flights, the total flight time is: 17 hours and 25 minutes.

I'll also be waiting in Toronto for 3 hours and in the Incheon airport for another 4 hours.

Total time in transit: 24 hours and 25 minutes

I guess I can technically say I will have been to Korea too!

October 20 - Insurance

First, I'd like to say that today I was supposed to be in China. To any of my friends who have been expecting me to have left already, you'll just have to be stuck with me for a while longer. On the other hand, if you haven't had a chance to see me before I leave, now is the time!

So, my latest adventure has to do with the acquisition of expat medical insurance (yes, "expat" is apparently a technical insurance term). I knew I had to get insurance, but it was written on the website of the recruiting company I was hired by (Footprints Recruiting) that my employer would be purchasing expat medical insurance for me, so I didn't worry about it very much.

That was a mistake.

October 19 - Flight Delays

Yesterday, more friends took me out to lunch to see me before I leave, so naturally the discussion turned to how I could possibly get my visa in time to get to China for the 20th if it takes a day to get a visa and I had not yet received my letter of invitation. Well, after finishing our smoked meat sandwiches, the answer still wasn't readily apparent, but today I got a definitive answer.

I received a courier today saying that I, Mr. Yu Hong Chen, was to be congratulated on my acceptance to the pre-MBA program of my Canada-based employer (I'm being paid by a school in Canada which is running a program at the university in China). If my TOEFLs are good enough I can even be admitted, following the pre-MBA, to a full-fledged Canadian university's MBA program!

Since I received the wrong documents, I immediately sent an email to my employer. They replied that they knew about the mistake and that the correct documents will be arriving tomorrow. Furthermore, they have booked a flight for me!

I will be leaving for China on Sunday, October 24.

Now I just need to get the visa and do my last minute preparations and packing. So excited!

EDIT: So, apparently my documents may not be arriving tomorrow. My employer accidentally sent them to Hong Kong instead of my house. They've put my flight on hold until the documents can be sent to me and I can obtain my visa.

October 17 - Luggage Adventures

Yesterday, I had a fairly productive day. After roughly three hours sleep following my last blog post, I got up in the morning in a bleary-eyed stumble-fest trying to figure out what I could buy last-minute before lunch time, when I was scheduled to meet some friends at Le Petit Coin du Mexique, near Iberville metro.

Skipping breakfast and not sleeping left my mind spinning furiously on all cylinders but with very little productivity. Finally, my mom said: "Go get your hair cut and buy the razors you'll need for shaving. And stop stressing out so much," at which point I realized I was doing this nervous tic I have of thumping my foot on the floor faster than a bunny in danger or a heavy metal drummer on speed. I stopped thumping my foot and obediently went out the door.

October 15 - Visa News

I've just received word that my letter of invitation is in the mail, which means that sometime early next week I will be making a trip to the Chinese embassy in Ottawa, Ontario. It's about a two-hour drive from here, so not too bad. I have to be there at 9am (preferably earlier, as I hear there is a huge lineup) to apply for same-day service.

This all means one thing: it's time to go shopping and then pack. Does anyone have a preferred type of baggage they bring on all trips? If so, please let me know!

October 15 - About my Trip

I'll be spending the next nine months working at a university in Zhengzhou and exploring the city and most likely other parts of China as well. I've already got several ideas of places I'd like to visit while I am there. I'll talk about these places more in detail when I actually get to see them, so I can share my impressions of them with you.

This preposterous plan to go to China was conceived, rather casually, about 6 months ago when I was feeling discouraged with my job search in North America. You see, I graduated right around the time everything collapsed in 2008-2009. Not only that, but my previous experience in the working world left me with a strong determination to find work that would be both stimulating and interesting.

With this strong, but still vague determination in my head, I found myself going through my Chinese lessons when it hit me: learning Chinese + need job = go to China!

October 14 - Before Leaving

It's currently 5:19am as I write this. I point out the time because I've been practicing staying up all night right up until noon in order to get used to the twelve hour time difference between here and Zhengzhou. An entire month of sleeping completely crazy hours just so I can avoid jet lag. Yep.


Of course, this might be more impressive if I actually slept at normal hours on a regular basis. But I don't. I'm a night owl, sadly, and, with my twisted sense of logic, staying up all night until noon is actually an attempt to fix my poor sleeping habits. I'm a lost cause.


Tonight though, I'm having problems staying awake. For some reason I was having a lot of trouble keeping my eyes open, so I decided to write this here blog post as a way to stave off lapsing into unconsciousness. So far it's working.