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So, it's been like a week since the VPNs got fucked, it's common enough, happens during holidays. It's China's ol birthday today and the VPNs have been down for over a week. I basically have no internet since I'm not fluent in Chinese. I tried opening Chinese YouTube (Youku) and one of the first things I saw looked like two dogs fighting in a chain link ring and... I mean fuck that so hard.
Anyways ever since the VPNs went down I haven't been able to sleep, I get like 5 hours and I wake up every hour or so. Normally I keep old episodes of the Northernlion Live Super Show on while I sleep since their inane banter makes it easy to just fall asleep, but I've basically been just sleeping in blackness and silence.
For the first few days I thought maybe it was still good sleep but a week later I'm feeling pretty bad, maybe it's the alcohol consumption, going out with people every night, every day, but shit I'm starting to feel the energy give way to like... Imagine doing a mountain of cocaine and the come down on that, I feel kinda jittery, high heart rate, tired but energetic?
Anyways I moved to Shanghai like six, almost seven months, ago because living in the US sucks cock and I wanted a better quality of life. You know behind working constantly and wishing I was dead or the building I work in would get incinerated.
So I've always wanted to leave the US just because the world is big and I'd like to see at least some of it. So here I am teaching English in Shanghai and making less than I was in the US but with a lot more time and money on my hands. I'd generally say I'm happier, but I still struggle to hit a good work life balance. I'm off in Podunk Pudong and most of the people I know are an hour away over Metro over in like, the Jing'an area and shit. There's a weekly quiz night at a Sports bar that I sometimes go to hosted by the Shanghai Reddit Meetup group and they're mostly really nice people in real life. They can be a little too much for me in the Reddit Wechat group but I guess I should kind of expect that from Reddit pwople. Uh, anyways, I sometimes go to that maybe once every two months, and if the monthly meetup is something worth doing I'll go to that, but my schedule is pretty awkward. I have Monday and Tuesday off but my weekdays end at 8PM on weekdays and 7PM on weekends. My school is also adjusting hours and shaving weekday hours off and adding them to my weekend hours so I'll be working on the weekends from fucking 9AM to 8PM from now on on the weekends.
That normally wouldn't mean much but now I'm definitely not going to want to go out and do shit on the days where everyone else is doing shit. I admit I'm pretty lonely here, not for a lack of people, but a lack of opportunity to spend with people. It's kind of getting to me extra hard since the VPNs are gone and that cuts off Twitch and discord which is where I'd normally talk to more positive and wholesome community people I like, and I'm really missing that as I sit alone in my dark room wondering if I go back to sleep if I'll stay asleep or whatever horrible nightmares I suspect and are fucking me up will continue.
Maybe I should have a drink? But I've been drinking a lot since Sunday, I had free flow brunch mimosas and drank almost half a bottle of champagne and in the evening knocked off about 25% of my bottle of Bombay Sapphire Gin. That was two days ago though, I just had a little gin yesterday. But I'm prone to alcoholism less in quantity, Ive never been blackout drunk or so drunk that I couldbt walk a straight line. But I do tend to drink either socially or when sad and I feel like Id be more in the sad camp than social camp right now.
I've also been getting a fair amount of exercise with my 14kg weight since Ive been so fucking stir crazy.
I'll do a more detailed Shanghai blog when I stop feeling like someone injected me with adrenaline and horse tranquilizer and they're both competing to see whos stronger.
End Rambling!
 
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United Kingdom10443 Posts
Sounds like you have a great opportunity living/working in Shanghai and good for you making that decision and getting out there.
I don't claim to be an expert on how to live but I've been in similar situations and my advice is don't drink alone.
Try to view the internet being down as a blessing.
you can train your body to sleep without needing a background show, force yourself to do more social shit and find an offline hobby
Look forward to the detailed blog
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You are living in a foreign country yet you got nothing to do but drink alone? Then again when I visited Shanghai a few years ago, there was a nasty yellow smog, (which all the locals assured me was not typical), so perhaps going out for a walk, and the lack of pedestrian crossings is not the best idea.
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Ive been out drinking with people for like four days straight, and since its China's 70th Anniversary everyone is mostly staying in and watching the big fancy parade. Also its raining because theres a typhoon which doesnt help.
But yeah, smog doesnt seem nearly as bad as I had heard, I dont ever actually notice anything visually.
The drivers are nigh homicidal though, Ive never seen a place where drivers give quite as few fucks and yet somehow dont get into car crashes.
I think Im just really burned out on being social, 4 days in a row of shitty sleep right into day drinking into night drinking with friends and shit. The only real alternative is to sit inside my apartment and... do very little, I play with a 30lb weight to kill time, I post to TeamLiquid, but my internet sans VPN seriously doesnt go much beyond that, sadly.
I pay for the second most expensive China Telecom internet package, its like 2,000RMB a year (still megacheap compared to the US, 2,000RMB is like 300USD) and its supposed to be 500GB internet or something, and it takes like 45 minutes to load an episode of House online from a website not blocked by the Great Firewall.
I need my NLSS though, nothing keeps me marginally sane like a bald canadian arguing with nerds about stupid bullshit like bread integrity and cum.
EDIT: I'll go over what I've done so far in Shanghai in a more comprehensive blog, but it includes ChinaJoy 2019's after party which had a great view of the Bund.
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How often does VPN go down? I went to China a few years ago, and was surprised at just how much of the internet was blocked. It was a very boring 2 weeks visiting family during the day, and then sitting at home doing nothing in the evening. Ain't going back again if I can't use a VPN.
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Goes down mostly for holidays and political events, it's tolerable elsewise.
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China6330 Posts
Generally there are ways to get around it other than VPNs (outdated tech tbh), but yeah I understand the pain. Usually I can settle for a solution during those times but it's always a hassle.
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You have my interest, but also I won't ask about it lest I ruin it.
I'm going to a Quiz Night for dinner at a sports bar called Cages so hopefully I can relax with that and take my mind off of this internet-less purgatory in which I find myself, lol.
Post Quiz EDIT: I had to leave after three questions into round 4/6. But I got three points! Out of 33 available with the shown questions. I can't identify rugby players, and without a VPN I was hopeless about the World Events category, but at least got Gandhi's birthday. In the song round I got... Weezer's Beverly Hills and... That's it. The fourth round was about China and stuff and I only got the question about Journey to the West because I am a poor quality foreigner.
Had to leave early to make the metro home, so I couldn't fully realize my abject failure, lol.
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If I was you, and I've been in similar situations, I'd be sure to have a few episodes downloaded in case I needed it. As for doing stuff in Shanghai, I'm not a big fan of Shanghai, but have you made an effort to befriend some of the local people? I think a mix of foreign & local friends is ideal, personally.
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The smog gets worse in the winter.
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All I can say is get a good VPN and you won't be having any of the VPN issues. I know I've never had them (incl. this holiday) and I live in Shanghai (and have been living there for years) as well.
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Are they still running the Wednesday night quiz at Cages?
Whenever I felt lonely when I lived in Shanghai, I'd take the train into the Huangpu area, or Lujiazui, and just get lost in the unending crowds of people and the lights of the city there. It inevitably made my own worries seem small and forgettable, especially when standing at The Bund looking over at Pudong. I never stopped doing that even though some say it's touristy.
I'm gonna suppose you're already familiar with Mamahuhu? You can even find them on WeChat, so no need to wait for YouTube to be accessible again! Those guys really get someone like you, I think.
I made two friends through dating sites also. That's no rules against that :-)
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EPT
