Long time no write.

Woah, it's been a minute since my last post... I have so many things to say but the internet has been my enemy these months. I will quickly say what I have to say, while I still have access to blogger. So I was in Beijing for three months... first problem: visa. It sucks to have visa problems anywhere but in China, it more than sucks, it is hell. I got the wrong visa from Geneva and as a result, I was stuck with visa problems for quite a while. In fact, I had to travel all the way back to my country after three months just to change the visa to the correct one, I was lucky that my sister's wedding was coming up, at least there was a valid reason to buy a $2000 ticket on short notice.... did I mention I was illegal for one day? It was all thanks to the meanies at the Beijing Public Safety Bureau (yes, the Public Safety Bureau (PSB) is where foreigners (or Aliens as we are called here) have to register or extend their visas)...oh, just noticed that I have brackets in a bracket...hehe... last minute screw over at the PSB... major screw over... hehehe... led to my trip to Soeul, Singapore and Ulaanbator for visa runs...woohoo! Also led to the "Vienam Fiasco" as I call it... I almost got ripped off and screwed over by Vietnamese visa agents, had to cancel a flight and hotel reservations last minute... that's a tale for another day! Life, oh life! I wish I could go into the details of my issues in Beijing but time wont let me. Aside from the visa shit, Beijing was actually fun. In fact, it was the most fun I've had in any country...EVER. I was suddenly a social butterfly, shopping like a maniac, got drunk for the first time (of all places... puked in the bar and got a very old shifu angry after I puked in his taxi)... I will never get drunk ever... EVER... I felt like shit many days! Got photographed and recorded on video by random Chinese people... the starring is endless, quite annoying if I may say so. It is not easy to be black here! I also experience something deeper than a crush for the first time in my life... in Beijing... or maybe it wasn't deeper than a crush... I'm confused...hahahaha... that didn't end too well... I moved to a new city so there's more to tell... so much to tell... Okay. got to go now... can't be in Starbucks forever. Be back soon. Hopefully...cos Starbucks is freaking one hour and a half away from me.

Tomorrow Died Yesterday.

Woah... it's been ages since I've been on Blogger! Life has been coming at me with a full force! So much has happened since my last post... moving to Beijing, difficulties in Beijing, love in Beijing, life in Beijing, traveling to Singapore, visa run to Mongolia, the Vietnam fiasco, trip to Nigeria, a wedding in the family, new awareness of my culture and the constraints of womanhood in Nigeria, new job prospects, job disappointments, loss of self esteem, escapism, loss of something that wasn't mine, moving to Shenyang, trip to South Korea... I could go on forever. I will slowly write about all these things in the coming weeks. It's been hard to blog from China, my VPN is crap and it is always such a hassle to scale the Great Firewall... I am also very lazy...hehehe. The gist of today- I read one of the best books I've ever read in my entire life this summer. It is a book called "Tomorrow Died Yesterday" by Chimeka Garricks. This book is pure genius. If you want to understand the history of the Niger-Delta, the history of militancy and kidnapping, the Nigerian legal system, the politics of oil companies, the mind-set of young Niger-deltans and the role of security operatives in oil bunkering, please, I beg of you, read this book. It is very hard to describe how this book made me feel. I read all in four hours... that is how good it is. I will read it again and again...aaaah... It is about 3:00am here, so I should probably go to bed.

Up and away.

I'm moving to China. It started out as a random thought, I jokingly mentioned it to my boss, then to my family and friends but it is really happening now. I have my ticket and visa so I am definitely going now. I am not sure whether I am excited or scared... but I am definitely nervous, it is all the same no? Fear and excitement... anticipation and restlessness. I don't know what to expect.

So far I've studied about China from the outside, It is definitely a different thing to actually live there, work there, make friends there and experience life there. I am going to have language courses too because I haven't written or read Chinese in almost two years. I don't have many contacts there too... panicking!

Everything is happening so quick. I have two more weeks to be here in Geneva. There is so much paper work to be done before I can go in peace. Geneva has been the good and the bad, definitely drained me of all my money but I made wonderful friends here. Most of them have moved away so I wont be missing too many people when I leave. I'm definitely looking forward to cheaper food and cheaper living in China, a welcome change from this overpriced city.



Since I started actually pursuing this China plan, I've been having this weird feeling at the pit of my stomach, some people are scaring me with their woeful tales of China, while others are enticing me with the rich experiences they had there. Who is lying? heheh...What kind of experience am I going to make there? I hope it is going to be a good one because I do love learning about Chinese language, culture and history.

Adieu Europe... or should I say Au revoir or A bientôt?