Time goes quickly when you're having fun, some say. I guess for me its kind of true. Thinking back on what has happened I have to say that at times its been pretty much like a roller coaster ride.
I've never been to China before this stint at Exoweb, and have only done some travels outside Malaysia. So I don't really have much expectations, other than the crap people write in magazines, which I take with a pinch of salt.
So I came to Beijing empty, like a blank canvas and now its filled with many beautiful pictures, or I should say memories, some slightly dark and the rest are bright and with more colours that you can imagine.
Colour? What am I talking about? Beijing is more like gray and smoke than anything. But the people I've met so far have really given me a warm and fuzzy feeling, which more than out colours the gray that we have to deal with on a day by day basis. So now I see Beijing in a different light.
I am really happy that I've been given many chances to travel abroad: Tallinn, Estonia and recently San Francisco, America. One regret I have is that I never traveled that much inside China. There are many places that I want to go: Inner Mongolia, Yunnan, Xinjiang, Tibet, Sichuan, Hong Kong and Taiwan (okay don't get political on me!).
There are lots of smaller places as well which I didn't mention. Some much nearer to where I am staying in Beijing. I've been to a few places this year and I've been pleasantly surprised how much fun I had. And for the sake of naming names: Cuandixia, Shencundao, Xiangshan and Miaofengshan.
Some of the highlights of these 2 years are my small adventure at the train station (which is in no way comparable to the train god), taking the bus the chinese way, becoming a true 好汉 (hao han), losing 2 bicycles, enjoying the beautiful views in Huangshan, freezing my ass off in Harbin and last but not least working in Exoweb & meeting extremely fun and interesting people.
Looking back at what I wrote 6 months ago I think I've achieved quite a bit this year in terms of travelling and more learning but still not enough. My mandarin is still, as I would say, "nowhere" in terms of reading and writing. I've bought a book back from Malaysia and I didn't read much since then. Pretty disappointing for myself but on the other hand Ionut seems to be doing pretty well and I am getting lots of inspiration from his mandarin tweets. As for work in Exoweb, I think I am doing pretty okay and I still have lots to learn as a developer and as a team lead. There is a lot more that I can do and I am still looking for the sweet spot where I can contribute the most.
I can't wait for the next 6 months to come. Where will it bring me? I'll keep that thought there and hit the sack now. Its been a tiring day.
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