an internal debate

[menschlichen]

so I am, thinking about where to go next after shanghai. it seems like a potentially determinative step- maybe one of the last times i could totally revolutionize my life and perspective on things. here are my most likely options

Comments

[alexisemo]

wait, you're in china? what?

[menschlichen]

in shanghai as of aug 21-for a year

[alexisemo]

oh! wait, so what were you doing in chicago?/what are you doing in shanghai?

[menschlichen]

i was always going to shanghai but the job didnt start until august. so, since ome friends were coming to stay anyway, i decided kind of randmly to live in chicago just for the summer.

[menschlichen]

yeah i figured as much, i have heard it is easy to get a teaching job which is probably what i would do, visas are tough in china and japan too so many people will g with large english teaching companies that have bribed the right people beforehand, etc.

well- in comparison with other cities i me ntioned, some equally poor, etc, moscow seems more dangerous, more street crime, more STDs, more alcoholism, more social problems in general. also, on a level that I was about to preface with 'stupid' but is actuallt central to quality of living, i am much more physically attracted to non-european women, or darker women; i imagine it'd be hard for me to find the kind of women i am really attracted to in moscow (even london would not be a problem that way) also russian cuisine seems profoundly unappetizing to me, espec. in comparison with turkish or japanese.

so basically minor quality of life concerns that i percieve as being, both for personal reasons (my taste in food) and impersonal nes (crime, inflation, etc)

[menschlichen]

that is worth noting, i read an article which suggested that demand was high- i wouldnt expect it to be like korea or china, where demand s s high teachers can walk away with 20 grand for one year with n qualifications, but if it isnt possible to make a decent living and maybe some savings then that casts a serious pallor on the idea.

i mean russian food is not really a problem. like those are as i said minor details; all of these cities are cosmopolitan ones and in some ways, i hope to spend some serious time in each- i definitely feel like i started in reading russian literature from maybe 13 on, an engagement with russian intellectual culture (obviously shaped at least in paart responsively to the revolution) that will continue indefinitely, and seems to demand time spent there.

[sssuperego]

what i don't really understand is why you are focused on choosing a place. isn't there rather a thing you would want to do? no matter where you are could totally suck if you don't have a job that you find fulfilling. from here on out we are going to be spending more time alive working than enjoying our waking hours

[menschlichen]

you have a good point, several actually- i guess the two things i have to say in response are

[sssuperego]

weird things you know turning into jobs--that i'm sure will happen. i'd say you could have a very promising future in writing for journals and magazines.

i'll tell ya, money never adds up the way you expect. you've always gotta be rounding up, and then you still got your numbers off. you get caught up in best-case scenarios and then those fall through. at least that's what its like for me. money's a bitch.

[postkopian]

i'd go for istanbul, mostly because of all the reasons you sort of alluded to-the juxtaposition of the city's current dilapidated state with the history that's being created there right now, the fact that turkey acts as a cultural and economic bridge between the east and west and is thus really cool, etc. etc.-but also because i guess it just seems a lot more vibrant in general than, say, moscow and a lot more honest than tokyo. also, like you said, you'd have easier access to a lot of countries whose cultures converge in or around istanbul.