And so it goes the story of the journey that takes me 10000miles across the other side of the globe, to where very people from the country of Great Britain have ever stepped. But as this country grows and grows in terms of its economical status, it may be that more of us un-cultured english may venture further afield. Of course I have been before, but this time its for 9 weeks, to live, work, eat and travel a country that will be basking in 30 degree celsius heat during the day and way late into the night!

This is the place which is awake and buzzing when the english soles are still asleep, and laid to rest when the english soles are busy beavering away. This is also the place where english tongue is pretty much useless and language as we know it is turned on its heels. There are no A's B's and C's any more!

So this country that I talk about… of course its the P.R of China!!

This long journey started way back in December when I decided to sign up to some mailing list for placements for engineers and interns in foreign countries, and little did I know I would be applying for a placement in such a far off country. But thanks to previous experiences I knew what to expect on a trip to China and I knew that I wanted to experience this again, prolonged and from another angle..
So yesterday…. THE DAY OF RECKONING was the day that I had confirmation of the placement, the feelings of awesomeness and relivement after the long and painful process of applying waiting and then being duelly accepted were felt.

THE CATCH- the isolation and confinment of those travelling to CHINA to work at placements found by the IAESTE (British Council) for a periodandthatswhenmyspacebarkeybroke!!
Yep every intern on this placement programme has to be isolated in a hotel in China for 7 days and be medically examined for this period. We are not allowed out without face masks on….. and we must take adequate protection to ensure we dont get swine flu before hand!! I feel that this is a very extreme action to take, but if it is necessary to contain the spread of swine flu in one of the biggest nations on the planet… then so be it.

Apart from that little snag, all that is necessary is the arrival of the papers so I can get a visa, and book that long 12 hour flight out there. They say that multiple entry visas are the best, as this allows you to transit in and out of the country multiple times in a period…. although they are at the low low price of £100 each.

The coming of this placement has also lead me to take up Mandarin, there is this audio cd that I bought from Amazon which is apparently teaches you mandarin without the effortt….. so no more practicing and practising anymore!! The only thing I have learnt so far is Wo shiang Yao Kafe…… which means I would like a Coffee (but I hate coffee anyway so I would never even use it!!)

There is also the chance that Niko may come over towards the end of the placement, and we may do a bit of travelling, that plan will obviously effect when I decide to come back, but none the less if I am travelling 10000 miles I may as well see a bit of the world as well… no matter how hot and humid it may be. Bring on the raincoat to combat the typhoon season and the 10 bottles of water per hour and Im sorted.

All that is to be done now, is wait………………….. and wait……………………..and wait for the time to come when I will have an official piece of paper saying I am going, and then plans will unfold!