Mainland to Macau

To those of my readers who do not access BBB via my Facebook account, I am indeed alive and doing well. True, it has been less than a week since my last post, but considering I was headed to China at the time, I suppose it’s possible you thought I fell off the edge of the earth.

My flights went smoothly enough, if only a bit slow. Every agent I met with had to double check that I was allowed to enter China. To be fair, it was my fault for not thinking that I would need a visa to stay one night in Shanghai before transferring to Xiamen.

Landing in China was a shock to my system – it psychologically knocked the wind out of me. Now, all airports are fairly standardized throughout the modern world and it’s pretty hard to design highways any different, so I suppose the problem was all mental. It was the first time that I’ve been more than 24-hours away from a friend or family member (accounting for a delay in transferring money to buy a new ticket). The fact that the sky was nonexistent and I couldn’t access Facebook or even my own site certainly didn’t help matters.

On my flight to Macau from Xiamen, I was the only non-Chinese person. I sat beside a girl my own age and her mother. The mother, who didn’t speak English, spoke through her daughter and gave me a full package of blueberries, an apple, and later, her flight meal. That did wonders for calming me down, especially since I hadn’t had a proper meal all day. To show my gratitude, I put what effort I could into talking with her daughter. Based on how my mum would react to a girl talking me up, I’m sure that made her happy. As for the girl, she spoke well considering English wasn’t her first language and how awkward it must have been talking to me in front of her mother.

The first night in Macau was largely a daze. I had no idea how to get around or what to do, but a buddy assigned by the university picked me up and guided me through what would otherwise have been a dispiriting process.

Break: you now get an exclusive look into the writing style of sobering Blake typing out a blog post on an iPhone that is considerably more damaged than yesterday. It’s largely the same after editing, just not as good. Let’s just say I had a pretty good night and my reputation for getting lost has followed me even to this corner of the earth. Also, I apologize again to French society for butchering their language while intoxicated.

Orientation has been very well organized, with different cultural dinners each night, dashed with information about the new campus and Macau. This special administrative region (SAR), which is known for its casinos, is officially under the control of China, but with certain freedoms not afforded to those in the mainland. Its gambling revenue is seven times larger than that of Las Vegas, though with approximately the same population (<600,000 people). Historically, Macau, under the control of the Portuguese, was the gate to eastern trade until Hong Kong took its place.

My new life is contained within three islands: the Macau peninsula, Taipa/ Coloane, and Hengqin. The last is my home base and is actually part of Mainland China. The central government offered the space to the University of Macau as the only public university in the city. Although the new campus is amazing, it hasn’t been completed and it’s fairly far from the old campus where classes will be held.

So far, I’ve found Macau to be a good-sized city with plenty to keep me occupied. It’s also been nice to settle down again for a bit (and not have to lug around my damnable suitcase anymore). Nonetheless, for someone who has been travelling so regularly, the change of pace has shaken me. I’m all ready to get back out and see the world. Too bad paperwork doesn’t move as quickly as I do.

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Apology number 2: I’d write about something more interesting, like the events of last night, but I can’t actually remember what happened and a search of my phone’s notes shows that I didn’t even attempt to keep track. Maybe next time.