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Weew so ok… It has been a m-f-ing year. I’ve been through two lockdowns in Vietnam, got fired for not returning to China during a pandemic, I made a bunch of friends and found a bunch of new weird videos to show my friends back home.
My year started out pretty good. I had a good job, went to Thailand with my work wife for New Years. In the first week of January, I moved into a new apartment and was starting to get settled. Spring Festival break was coming up and I was looking forward to island hopping and playing rugby.
I did see some islands.
I did play some rugby. I was lucky enough to play with some of the most amazing women. We came together in Laos, half of us have never met, played a two day tournament, and actually won something. Like fourth place or whatever but look how happy we are!
Rugby has been an amazing part of my life. Wherever I have gone in the world I have found love and acceptance with Rugby, on and off the pitch. One of the best ideas I’ve ever had was to go and play this tournament. It really changed my life.
Though I am more or less still the same person.
Rugby knows how to party. I had no idea that the tournament would just be the beginning of an amazing adventure. A bunch of us decided to explore Laos and Cambodia(There was a lot more chaos in the planning but its only funny to me). We piled into a van we rented, and headed to Vang Vieng, where we learned the benefits and drawbacks of panic buying alcohol. We also learned that maybe it’s not the best idea to chose your tour guide from the crowd leaving a bar after a fight at 2am. We then made are way to Luang Prabang, where we played some incredibly drunkin mini golf in what I think was a preschool. But there was a bar there, we didn’t just break in during recess. There are no pictures of that. Well, just this one of not my proudest moment.
I saw a lot of natural beauty in Laos. I was speaking to out kayaking tour guide in Luang Prabang, that the water levels in the river have been affected by a dam built by China to aid in construction projects. While I was there it countryside seemed so untouched but the truth is humans will always find a way to exploit nature.
We flew from Luang Prabang to Siem Reap, well I almost didn’t make it. I thought I misinterpreted an email sent by the airline and showed up to the airport to find out I hadn’t actually booked a ticket. I figured my card had been flagged for international travel. I started thinking about how, hey, I’m gonna have to stay in Laos for a few more days. But, I told you I was traveling with amazing people right? With less than an hour before take off everyone rallied around me and came up with the cash for a last minute ticket. As I stood in the airport crying out of gradiditude I was reminded by Annemien that I could cry once we caught the flight.
Cambodia is amazing. It’s a beautiful, wild place full of history both dark and beautiful. I was lucky to turn 30 in that breathtaking country.
Unfortunately or thankfully, my phone died somewhere in Cambodia and I didn’t get a replacement until after my birthday. So just the juiciest moments will just have to remain in my memories.
I finally made it to 30 with my Made in China family there to celebrate with me. After my birthday most of MIC split up. I made my way though more of Cambodia and into Thailand. I was lucky enough to get to play with a lot of them again in Bangkok. Which was a gorgeous shit show as well.
The connections I made on this adventure remind me of how lucky I am to be here.
After Bangkok, I went to Chiang Mai, but it was coming time to make a decision. I was expected to be teaching in a regular, controlled, no noise environment, not the “quiet” room of a hostel. Instead of going into a lockdown in China I decided to try it out in Vietnam. I chose Da Nang, a beach town in central Vietnam, to be stuck in from March to the foreseeable. And, I’m still stuck. Things back home seem to be deteriorating and I feel helpless to do anything about it…. I guess I’ll just have to go to another rooftop pool party.
In all seriousness it has been an adjustment for me. I’ve just recently come to the realization that I live here, in Vietnam, now. The idea of going back to China becomes more and more distant. I, like well basically everyone, have had to put the development of my career on hold, taking steps backwards in many ways. But I do have the experience and the drive to keep going, for now anyway. So don’t worry about me too much.
It has been far from a terrible experience.
I am grateful for all the people I’ve made memories with over the past, fuck, I guess the better part of a year.
Though there are a lot of things pulling me back to China, or back home…
I think that it will be awhile before I make a real decision about the rest of my life. Right now I’m trying to maintain and move slowly towards the goals I have already set. It’s been an interesting hard, depressing, exciting, year full of great opportunities, massive challenges, and a whole new set of possibilities on the the horizon.