Anyway, I arrived at the testing centre at about 8.40am, to be faced with a long queue. Great. It went pretty fast though, and then I zoomed through the tests and jumped through the appropriate hoops, all the while waving and smiling at the doctors and staff, just in case it would make a difference. It was mostly eyesight stuff, bit of blood pressure, height, weight, etc, nothing too strenuous. I was afraid it would be like the medical you’re given when you first arrive in China.

Thank goodness for Pauline, my colleague who came along and helped me out…

So, here’s the proof! With any luck I’ll be able to find a school now, and sign up in the next week or so!

Most of the schools are pretty strict with their procedures, which sucks. An example: You have to go for a complete day’s training, on an off road track on the edge of the city. Problem is, you’ll be sharing the car with three other learners, so you spend three-quarters of the day sitting around doing naff all.

If you want to hire a private instructor, you can, but you still have to pay the full fee to the school (approx 300 GBP) anyway, so they’ll let you take the test with them!

Madness.

I’m looking for a way around that at the moment. Updates soon…

Expat: “a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person’s upbringing or legal residence.”

No matter what the definition, the word ‘expat’ conjures up such seedy connotations (in my mind at least) that it’s hard to repress a shudder; 50+, middle class, white, male, British / American, xenophobic, inebriated, sunburnt and fat. Not the kind of person you want to get stuck in a lift with, certainly.

So it was with alarm that I realised that I fit the definition, if not the stereotype. Since 2003, I’ve spent around four years in China, usually teaching English on a one year contract followed by an extended (usually working) period back in the UK. The lion share of my time has been spent in the same city, Xi’an, and working for the same company, English First. I’ve really come to see the city as a second home, and teaching as more of a career than an escapist endeavour.

Xi’an doesn’t have nearly as many ex-pats as the major three major cities in China – Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, but we still have a few. Broadly speaking, there are two groups that don’t tend to mix very much; the 30+ professional who came over with a western firm and decided to stay, and the 20 – 25 year old who left their job, wanted to spend a year abroad, and decided to stay.

A cynic would say that most ex-pats tend to be lured into staying by one of three things; the (comparatively) high standard of living, the chance to not have to face overly-structured reality back home, or women. All of which are society sees as options of someone lacking in moral fibre.

I’d like to argue that there are reasons why people become ex-pats that aren’t motivated solely by greed, selfishness and a desire to get laid. Possibly the biggest is the desire to learn new things; languages, art, music, traditions, history and participation in customs to name a few. Dissatisfaction with one’s own culture and society can be a legitimate and driving force for some, that’s true. However, because they don’t want to conform, doesn’t mean they should be vilified.

On the other hand, the stereotype has clearly come about because quite a number of people conform to it…

Something else interesting that I dug up on the topic of ex-pats; the term ‘rex-pats’;

“…rex-pats are nothing more than expats who went home and simply couldn’t make it. The failures in question return to Prague because the city allows them to live in a sort of perpetual adolescence…”

Quite a sobering thought. Naturally, that’s not me…

The second isn’t even up and running properly yet, RallyEscapades, for the same reasons.

I think the reason I want to begin this blog is that both the others are project specific; ThinkCombat is to help me sharpen my martial thinking whereas RallyEscapades is solely focused on my upcoming attempt at completing the Mongol Rally this summer.

As this year is easily my busiest year to date, I’d like to document the thoughts that would otherwise fall through the cracks; learning Chinese, ranting about current world affairs, esl teaching theory, language learning theory and tools, kung fu, the minutiae of daily life in China and anything else that comes to mind.

First post over.