Story of the street

So im in China, in Beijing, and ive started my gap year. Everything is going supertastically. On the stop-over in dubai i met two cool english guys doing the same as me - the only difference being they have a relative out here, while all i have is a week-long booking in a youth hostel and 300pounds to my name. So yeah, they are good guys, coming out here to do the same as me (teaching english). They have some qualifications that i dont have, but people tell me that that dosnt really make a differnce. They are gagging for teachers over here, apparently. So yeah, got two god contacts in Dubai, then on the plane i get sat next to some gorgeouse girl (at which i am of course overjoyed just on base merit - i generally get stuck next to some fat dude that sweats when he stands up to fast and eats so many of the free munchables that both him and me are drowning in crumbs by the end - but then i realise that she too is doing the same thing, english teaching and thats great - another contact. She is a bit older - mid-twentys or so - and has a bit of teaching expirience, and a friend in beijing with whom she is stayin.

So yeah, befire i even hit the ground i had three new friends, and am really looking forward to spending a year in comparative heaven.
Then, at the airport, i get hassled by traditional scams, and the exchange rate is shit but i make it to my bus and tube on over to beijing zahn, then walk to the hostel. Nice place. Shit food, but a cheap bar that is open 24 hours a day, and in which, since arrival, i have drank untill 6 on a good few nights with various friends who have been passing through.

I have been here a week now. Well, 9 days. I have, i think, failed to register at the university, but fortunatly this was becasue i was busy teaching a class of 7-year-olds for some random director i met in the university. So i am now a teacher at beijing foresty university (well, not really but thats what he tells me to tell everyone i go to teach. I am also 23 (not 18) and have a degree. I dont mind at all, and am actually quite enjoying taking on this persona fully - it gets boring having people tell you all the time how impressive it is for a 18-year-old to travel the world on his own. I think 23 will suite me nicely), and also part time at the local kindergarten. Tis cool. And at 100Yuan an hour (about $13(im actually british, but they dont have a pound symbol on this keyboard and im considering changin my base currency into dollars anyway since china is a dollar market.)) i am getting more than all my friends back home are getting ofr their shitty jobs, plus the fact that $13 an hour is worth so much more over here. So yeah, tis great. And with a wee bit of expirience i can easily quit my job and get one for double the money when i feel ready, so tis actually great.

So yeah, thats my life. I have 4 other contacts now who are staying in beijing for about 6 months or more, and i have organised a couple of drinking partys on the town as well so far. Life is good.

And that, my friends, was my first beijing post. Of which, i hope, there will be many.