Semester 7 Chapter XVII: Take Me Home, Country Roads

Hey guys. Just to paint the picture for you. I’m sitting at the Sunset Beach Café which is located on Gili Meno – one of the trinity of Gili Islands in Indonesia. I made a decision not go deep into all the shit I’ve experienced on the personal level this past week here - if you’re my friend and if you’ve talked to me recently, you know, if not, just know that it has been a roller coaster. And I mean up and down and up and down and down and down and down and then a bit up and shit. Pretty entertaining way to spend your holidays. I hope yours has been at least as eventful as mine, maybe in a bit more up way, and that you got all the family and friends time, and love from every direction possible... I know I did eventually. I also hope you didn’t go too crazy with the gifts which gonna get thrown away in like 2 months. Anyway, merry Christmas.

This trip of mine started with a fucking nightmare. Get this. So I download this Didi (Chinese Uber) app to catch a night car to the airport. When I try to actually do that, I wait for like 15 minutes with no response. Fuck it, I run out of my buidling chaising cabs down the street like back in good old days. Finnaly got one, heading to the airport. Tired as fuck. I get to the counter, show up my passport, they run it, and the Chinese lady proudly wearing the infamous Chinese poker bitch face tells me that she cannot give me the ticket. She gets the one she already printed out and tears it in front of me. She follows up by explaining that in order to travel to Indonesia, I need a return ticket. Me trying to explain that I can travel there visa free (or get visa on arrival) does not help, neither does the fact I actually can extend my visa on arrival by additional month so I simply do not know my return date. All of a sudden, I’m awake. I park it by the closest socket, plug my laptop in, find a random connection for a mid-January with an airline I flew with before, find the old ticket in my e-mail account, change all the info so it fits the flight I just found, and send that shit to myself. I show up back at the counter. Now with her supervisor present. I realize I made a typo in the Denpasar airport code. Running back to the socket (my laptop does not really work on the battery anymore). I change it once again and present that piece of art to the lady and her supervisor again. And there it goes. I get my ticket. Exhausted, ready to die, cursing the bureaucracy in every way possible in my head. Made it to the gate and eventually on the flight.

Well, I made it to Bangkok, got a cab from the airport, met up with my girlfriend, we wrapped it all up and went for an evening flight to Bali. We arrived, got ourselves visa on arrival (see the deal is, if you enter visa free you get the same 30 days visa on arrival gets you, however, the difference is, visa on arrival grants you the option of extending your stay by another 30 days), and went to Pandangbai. Slept for about 4 hours, took a cab to the dock, bought ferry tickets to Gili, exchanged some money, got ourselves local SIM cards and off we went.

Now, Gili T is a pretty picturesque island. There is literally no motorized transportation so it’s only bikes or horses. On one hand, it makes it all romantic, on the other, watching all the horse-drawn carriages carrying tourists and their shit around does not do much good for a vegan heart. The island is also small – takes about an hour to circle it walking. We took advantage of one of the poor horses and got to our accommodation. The island has sort of a center where the food market, most of dive schools, tourist centers and bars are. Outside of that, there are many resorts, massage parlors, coconut stands, and also a strip where outdoor movie screenings happen every evening. Overall, there are many options and the fact the island felt far from packed even now, between holidays, made the whole vibe all chilled. It’s still a lot different from Jawa, cause Gili is obviously way more expat ready and friendly, but it’s not bad. Oh, and you can get weed and shrooms basically everywhere – surf guy, bars, restaurants, hotels. They got it.

Over the couple of days, we caught some movies in the evening, did some surfing, tried some food (fucking tempeh guys... fucking tempeh). And yesterday, we got a boat to Gili Meno - this island is located just about 20 minutes from Gili T and it's even smaller. We walked around it until we found a place to stay overnight in this Sunset place and spent the day by the beach. Wrapped it all by drinks and Gado Gado in the restaurant. Food-wise, I feel way healthier than the last time I was here. Usually have only one major meal a day so I feel pretty light, plus all the sea air and sun. This is my climate. Not gonna post many pictures this time, cause I really was all over the place, but I’ll make it up to you guys the next time.

So yeah, this is the last day of 2019. Happy new year to everybody out there! All the love to my people! Over the past couple of days, you have been simply amazing and words cannot really express how much I appreciate you. My family as well. My dad, my sis, her partner, my nephew. The best fucking family anyone could every ask for. My day ones back home. You know what time it is. I’m gonna see you 2020 and we gonna do some dirt. And again, my runners, my vegans, my music fanatics... Everyone really. Stay away from bullshit, keep it positive... Always walk around with your chin up and your chest out... And let’s make 2020 count! One!

Highlights:

• Surfing. Gonna definitely try more of that.
• Local food, local coffee.
• All of my people. Gotta shout you out once more cause you have no idea... Like for real for real.

Semester 7 Chapter XVI: Christmas Coming Early

Yo, I had some doubts whether to keep this blog running for the next two months since I’m leaving Shanghai basically for the whole winter. However, since one of my dear friends reminded me that this blog is part of her Monday ritual, I kinda promised to keep it on in some shape or form. So there you have it. Might keep you guys posted here and there, might do this weekly, might do this irregularly. Guess we’ll see.... Anyways, before we’ll get down to the sum up of this past week... Shout out to all of my people over here. This past semester was absolute BOMB and you guys are THE reason for it. All those drinks, dinners, talks, clubs, bars, movie nights, parks... Gonna stick to my rule of not naming anyone here but you know god damn well who you are. It’s all love, and it’s for life.

So back to this thing. On Monday, my friend called me up and we ended up watching Marriage Story at her spot. I really enjoyed the movie... The acting, the pace, the dialogues. Being at the stage of barely getting a grip on how to even develop a somewhat functioning story, movies like that really amaze me. Some great writing right there.

Wednesday early morning, I hopped on my bike and went to our downtown campus to catch a bus to the campus on the edge of the galaxy. Early afternoon, I kinda passed the dissertation pre-defense, although quite a lot of comments were made and I’m expected to revise a whole lot of it till February. Since I haven’t really received any concrete suggestions, I’ll see what I can do. Not really worried. In the evening, I dropped by at Agora Space for a vegan potluck a friend of mine organized over there. Hadn’t been there since this bread workshop last spring so it brought back some memories. The potluck was super nice, met bunch of new people, had some super cool conversations, and also pretty amazing food.

Thursday night, I joined some of my friends at Trivia night. This time we blew it big time but that didn’t stop us from following up to the Taphouse, where we linked with more of the gang, and ended up having a pretty entertaining evening with a bit more alcohol than needed. It was super nice tho...

On Friday, I got invited to a b-day party of one of my friends from the uni. He organized it at this Cactus joint by Changping Road. Since my weekend schedule was kinda crazy right from the Saturday morning, I didn’t stay too long.

Saturday evening, me and the gang hit the KTV again. I feel we are getting progressively better. I did all of my favorites with all the passion I was capable of, and all of us did tons of classics together, climaxing with My Heart Will Go On. Pure awesomeness.

Sunday around noon, I made to my Indian guy’s spot for a beetroot feast. My veggie friends got this idea of making a whole menu based on red beets. So we got a soup with coconut milk, some salads with carrots and peanuts, some Indian dish and even brownies. There was 4 of us again and yet again, I had a great time. In the evening, I dropped by at the Beer Lady joint around the corner from my building to meet up some of my people. For a minute, I was playing with the idea of catching the last subway to the airport and spend a night over there but fuck it. Doing a cab early morning allowed me to do one final hangout. Dunno, it always feels nice when people tell you they gonna miss you, and when you say it back and mean it. In the perfect universe, nobody wouldn’t miss anybody ever but in this one, I choose to view it as a manifestation of love and closeness. Cause that’s what it’s all about for me over here.

It's about half past midnight, gonna stick around my apartment for a bit more, and later on it’s the airport, layover in Thailand, reunion with my girlfriend, and then off to our adventure to Indonesia we go. Future is right there, unclear and exciting. And I do feel positive about all of it. I also feel tired as fuck but that only means I might actually fall asleep on the plane. I the meantime, be safe out there and keep it positive! One!

Highlights:

• Combination of beets and coconut milk. This would have never occurred to me but it works beautifully.
• KTV. Loved it.
• Indonesia coming.

Semester 7 Chapter XV: Accelerating

What’s up y’all! Monday morning, clock shows 5:49am, new Ms. Banks bumping out my headphones, smell of fresh coffee is filling up my room, and you already know what it is. Shanghai Czech-in back on deck. Let me start by saying I’m sorry to all my UK people. For a minute, it seemed you guys might actually have a shot for a decent leadership... Unfortunately, we live in a world, where people are manipulated into believing that their problems can be solved by the very individuals who cause them and therefore have no real interest in sovling anything. Unless we start talking about basic income, making education free for everyone, making housing a basic human right (not just on paper), equality in the broadest sense, and last but not least implementing some real ass green new deals to at least try to pretend we care about stuff - nothing will ever change. We need more compassion, less hatred, more locally resourced shit, less animal products (way fucking less of those), more environmental awareness, less consumption... And no, Boris Johnson does not represent any of that.... So yeah... Fuck Boris Johnson... I’m real sorry this has happened, for a brief moment it seemed Corbyn might have a chance but well... Guess we don’t live in a world I would like to see for us and the generations coming. Shout out to everybody taking their little everyday steps to make things a bit better... We’re on some Sisyphus shit right here, but let’s not give up just yet... We simply can’t....

Aight, back to this Chinese thing of mine. Last week was quite eventful. Monday evening, I took the doggie and met up with my friend at this local joint just across the street from Taphouse on Yongkang Road. They do these amazing dumplings, and the best part is, they cover them in peanut sauce. Small Chinese spot with ridiculously low prices. After that, we stopped by at Taphouse for couple of beers. And when I was walking the doggie back to my friends’ spot, those beers kicked in and it seemed like a brilliant fucking idea to do another round of the dumplings. It was obviously absolutely unnecessary but also absolutely delicious.

Tuesday marked the last day of my housesitting responsibilities. In the evening, I walked the doggo one last time, packed my shit and took it back to my place. By the way, the fucking guy who totally shook my hand confirming he’s gonna take my place for the time I’m gonna be away backed down so I’m back to square one. Got one more week to deal with that, I’m spamming all the wechat groups.... We’ll see. Gonna be fine either way...

Wednesday, my Montenegrin girls invited me for a hangout at their spot. As always, we had a beautiful time. Just chilling, talking for hours. Talk about some family vibe. The day after, we met up at Abeey Road after some time for another Trivia night. My Lithuanians and couple of other friends showed up, and we actually placed second. Which means a 200 RMB voucher and a round of shots. My contribution to our spectacular success was zero. Proud of myself.

On Friday, I met up with the Lithuanians again at the Beer Lady close to my spot. Lately, I’ve been kinda successful at making that place a meeting spot, which is cool for two reasons. One, it’s pretty nice. Two, it’s really fucking close. One of my sisters joined us and it turned out to be a pretty great evening.

I also got contacted by a Korean friend of mine after a some time. I know her from the uni, and we have done Christmas services every year in Shanghai - we hadn’t seen each other in ages tho. We planned a lunch at Jen Dow, and eventually got joined by another friend from the UK. I really like both those people, just don’t have many opportunities to talk to them. We had a lovely morning, some inspirational conversations, and amazing food. I really hope we’ll get to do this soon again.

Since weather in Shanghai is still pretty nice and relatively warm, me and some of my peers met at West Bund Sunday afternoon for some hangout and skating. On the way there, I stopped by at this camera mall at Luban Road, and ended up buying a Fujifilm insta camera. Gonna come handy during my winter vacay. Tested it out right away and got some dope pictures I gave away to everybody. Got little disappointed that the photo paper they sold me has a fucking Disney Cars themed framing but gotta say, it grew on me. Gives the pics amusement park vibes. Next time, I’m gonna pay more attention and get some clean white ones. The afternoon was amazing tho. In the evening, I met with another friend from UK I hadn’t really spoken to forever too. Guess last week was a lot about catching up with people. We went to the Beer Lady again and had some great talks.

Since I’m realizing I’m leaving this city for a bit in couple of days, seeing (and even texting) all the beautiful people I’m privileged to call my friends felt really nice. Shout out to all of you! Apart from all of that, I basically finalized my dissertation (at least the version I’m submitting for pre-defense) and got sort of a greenlight from my supervisor to proceed with that. In two days, this shit is going down. I’ve been also reading Permanent Record – an autobiography of Edward Snowden. I already consider that guy a hero, however, on top of that, he is a really good writer and his story has it all. Personal development, idealism, spying stuff, love, philosophical dimensions, drama... Love the book. I’ve been also working out a lot (nothing new really), being all healthy and shit...  So yeah, this is my last week in Shanghai before hopping on plane to Indonesia to pursue some more love and happiness. Sending all the good vibes your way. I see all of you! One!

Highlights:

• Had a long conversation with my dad on this Game Changers documentary. My sister played that for him and it’s mind-blowing to me how open minded he is to all of this vegan shit. I mean, he has stopped wearing leather forever ago and limited his meat consumption significantly but man... For a guy in his late sixties living in a post-Soviet country... This is real impressive.
• New Kontrafakt album. Nuff said.
• All. My. Fucking. People.