Latest / bit of a Rambler / 031 Why Did I Leave?

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031 Why Did I Leave? · bit of a Rambler

• 1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,600 Hello, my name is Kai and I am a bit of a rambler. I like to travel, learn and tell stories. 2 00:00:08,600 --> 00:00:16,680 So my story of how I started traveling started with China. I did very well on to couple 3 00:00:16,680 --> 00:00:24,560 schools. But when I tell people about living in China and how easy it was, how cheap it 4 00:00:24,560 --> 00:00:32,160 was, of course, how good the food was, how many things there were to see in new experiences 5 00:00:32,160 --> 00:00:38,880 and how much money I saved. I always get the question, well then why did you leave? If 6 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:45,880 you like that life so much better than living in the States, for example, then why would 7 00:00:45,880 --> 00:00:52,640 you leave China if that's such a great deal? And that's a good question, but it definitely 8 00:00:52,640 --> 00:01:02,920 belies a mindset that I no longer had. I'm not trying to attain a certain position. I'm 9 00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:10,080 not trying to get somewhere. I want enough to do what I like to do, which is travel, learn 10 00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:18,960 and tell stories. And I can do that now. So waiting in a country I don't want to be 11 00:01:18,960 --> 00:01:27,120 anymore just so I can get an extra $20,000 or whatever has no bearing on my decision making 12 00:01:27,120 --> 00:01:35,160 process. I can't reach the point where I don't have to work to travel, learn and tell stories 13 00:01:35,160 --> 00:01:42,000 again. I can't, I can't reach that level more. So once I realized that it was time to move 14 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:51,160 on, I accepted that and I moved on. I often hear from friends or people that, well, if I 15 00:01:51,160 --> 00:01:58,200 can just get this job or if I can just get this much money or if I can just get to the 16 00:01:58,200 --> 00:02:07,400 point where I'm my own boss, you know, I'll be happy then. And I knew that I didn't need 17 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:15,840 to, I didn't have to get into the grind set or whatever you call it so much as I had to 18 00:02:15,840 --> 00:02:25,160 perceive opportunities and attempt every opportunity until I found one that worked. And 19 00:02:25,160 --> 00:02:30,320 I know I didn't have to kill myself, slaving away at some job that I didn't like for the 20 00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:36,840 profit of someone else because eventually something good might happen because to get 21 00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:42,680 the job that was way better than the job I had in the United States, I didn't have to do 22 00:02:42,680 --> 00:02:48,560 anything except keep my eyes open for opportunities. And I didn't choose one opportunity. It was 23 00:02:48,560 --> 00:02:54,640 like that's the correct one. I tried tons of things. And then one of the opportunities 24 00:02:54,640 --> 00:03:04,360 turned out to give me what I wanted less hours more money, the ability to travel at will, 25 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:11,680 cost of living and learning new things all around me all the time, a constantly fascinating 26 00:03:11,680 --> 00:03:20,240 culture that I wouldn't get bored of and didn't have all the boring or depressing answers 27 00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:27,600 to already. I didn't have to get into the grind set or whatever you call it so much as 28 00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:37,720 I had to perceive opportunities and attempt every opportunity until I found one that worked. 29 00:03:37,720 --> 00:03:45,280 It wasn't about working so hard until you get this thing. It was about seeing an opportunity 30 00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:55,720 and attempting to partake of that opportunity. That's what worked, not keeping my nose to 31 00:03:55,720 --> 00:04:03,280 the grindstone, but doing what felt right to me. I was looking for a video game controller 32 00:04:03,280 --> 00:04:14,240 an Nintendo 64 controller on Portland Craigslist and someone mistakenly put a job ad for a teaching 33 00:04:14,240 --> 00:04:23,280 job on that for sale section of Craigslist. That's how I got my basically dream job. I had 34 00:04:23,280 --> 00:04:30,400 always been interested in traveling. I felt very comfortable learning a new language. I 35 00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:35,520 liked the idea of teaching in a new country since it was a new profession I hadn't tried 36 00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:45,400 before and I definitely wanted to make more money than I found out my manager made a soul 37 00:04:45,400 --> 00:04:53,040 crushing and shockingly low amount of money for someone running an entire franchise. Especially 38 00:04:53,040 --> 00:05:00,880 relative to the cost of living in the US. Here was a possible opportunity right between 39 00:05:00,880 --> 00:05:08,880 the atomic purple and 64 controller and Donkey Kong 64. I answered and obviously incorrectly 40 00:05:08,880 --> 00:05:14,720 placed ad and it was connected to a real school and I went to China and started teaching 41 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:20,720 a few weeks later like at all happened because I took that opportunity because I looked around 42 00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:27,280 at the life I was living in the States. I knew that life was wrong for me. I knew that. And 43 00:05:27,280 --> 00:05:33,920 so I tried a lot of different things and then trying this in China worked out. So there 44 00:05:33,920 --> 00:05:39,480 we go. I had my dream job and my dream position. You know, I had my own schools. I was making 45 00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:46,120 money and I had all the free time I wanted. My business was doing great. I had good friends 46 00:05:46,120 --> 00:05:54,040 and I was just saving more and more money. So then why did you leave such a good situation? 47 00:05:54,040 --> 00:06:01,880 Because those weren't my only goals. I wasn't accruing business prestige or savings for 48 00:06:01,880 --> 00:06:10,560 the sake of a cruel. I didn't want more just to have more. I knew exactly how much I needed 49 00:06:10,560 --> 00:06:15,280 that I could invest and live off the dividends because I knew how much it cost to live in other 50 00:06:15,280 --> 00:06:21,200 countries well less than a thousand dollars a month. And at points when I was backpacking I was 51 00:06:21,200 --> 00:06:28,080 living on $200 a month. Maybe 220 will say some of the months but some of the months I was living 52 00:06:28,080 --> 00:06:37,360 on 170. So I knew that just with the under a grand that I was getting from my investment 53 00:06:37,360 --> 00:06:44,840 dividends per month that covered indefinitely traveling. And if I needed more money I could 54 00:06:44,840 --> 00:06:51,200 go back and teach English again. I'm certified for life. I now have years of experience. The 55 00:06:51,200 --> 00:06:59,560 most anybody requires is two years of English from a teacher even though like the university 56 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:05,040 programs that are looking for adult English teachers for the most prestigious jobs two years 57 00:07:05,040 --> 00:07:12,120 maximum. So if I ever needed to go back for whatever reason I could go back and get back 58 00:07:12,120 --> 00:07:18,240 into that life again if I needed to save money or take a break from not working and traveling 59 00:07:18,240 --> 00:07:24,360 all the time. So if I needed money I could go back. It wasn't like I was leaving behind 60 00:07:24,360 --> 00:07:29,200 that life permanently and I had to choose one or the other. Also I had saved enough money 61 00:07:29,200 --> 00:07:34,320 to pay for traveling indefinitely. And the argument there that people usually give 62 00:07:34,320 --> 00:07:43,560 me is well but if you waited you could like live in more luxury and I can't really imagine 63 00:07:43,560 --> 00:07:52,120 it worth it trading another year of my life for I don't know having an extra like set of 64 00:07:52,120 --> 00:07:58,120 clothes and extra meal instead of the meal I already had I don't need any extra things 65 00:07:58,120 --> 00:08:03,880 I have everything I needed I could pay for any food I wanted. I could travel to any 66 00:08:03,880 --> 00:08:15,240 country I wanted to travel to I can I can pay for any extravagance I want because my extravagances 67 00:08:15,240 --> 00:08:23,880 are all practical to give me enjoyment like I can't buy a seat on a private jet but I would 68 00:08:23,880 --> 00:08:32,360 not want that I would not want a bus gilded in gold on the outside of the bus like it's 69 00:08:32,360 --> 00:08:36,880 a bus it gets me from one place to the other while those leather seats are so much I don't 70 00:08:36,880 --> 00:08:42,480 care it's two hours and like the point of me traveling is to go to the other place and 71 00:08:42,480 --> 00:08:51,240 start learning new things go to a new environment and world. And again to say that extra twenty 72 00:08:51,240 --> 00:08:58,640 thousand I would have to wait an extra five months or so and then those five months would 73 00:08:58,640 --> 00:09:07,680 be gone and I would be doing a routine for a cruel simply to gain more capital that I did 74 00:09:07,680 --> 00:09:13,760 not need and who's to say I get five months after that I don't know how many more months 75 00:09:13,760 --> 00:09:20,360 I have how many more days I have so once I had what I needed there was no incentive there 76 00:09:20,360 --> 00:09:26,840 was no financial incentive to stay in that position any longer because that financial 77 00:09:26,840 --> 00:09:35,800 incentive was weighed against my actual single life that I have and how I want to spend that 78 00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:42,400 life now my investments it's been I don't know a decade that they've been going on since 79 00:09:42,400 --> 00:09:48,160 I decided to leave and they've only gone up how much I get per month because I never use 80 00:09:48,160 --> 00:09:55,400 up my full grand as it started back then each month so I'm you know I get a little bit 81 00:09:55,400 --> 00:10:02,760 more each month and yeah I can I have enough to buy tickets to wherever I want to go I have 82 00:10:02,760 --> 00:10:09,040 enough experience that everything's as cheap as it could possibly be for a traveler. I like 83 00:10:09,040 --> 00:10:14,080 to cook anyway so I don't even spend that much money but even if I spend money buying food 84 00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:17,720 at restaurants every day it's just not that expensive in other countries and there's no such 85 00:10:17,720 --> 00:10:24,480 thing as tipping the stupidest practice in American culture so I don't need more money 86 00:10:24,480 --> 00:10:29,560 that's it I had saved enough money and I was happy where I was because I couldn't think 87 00:10:29,560 --> 00:10:35,160 of anything I would want that I couldn't pay with with the amount of money I already 88 00:10:35,160 --> 00:10:43,640 am making every month passively I had accumulated a ton of experiences I didn't feel like I was 89 00:10:43,640 --> 00:10:48,800 going to be missing out on something I had sort of claimed China is like this is my second 90 00:10:48,800 --> 00:10:55,920 life I'm starting over I'm doing this for real and then I did it I fell in love with someone 91 00:10:55,920 --> 00:11:02,080 it was a great relationship it ended because it was supposed to and more specifically 92 00:11:02,080 --> 00:11:07,800 we've probably because I was not mature enough for that relationship yet I climbed like 93 00:11:07,800 --> 00:11:14,440 50 mountains literally and some of them were absolutely breathtaking you should listen 94 00:11:14,440 --> 00:11:22,760 to the episode I'm going to do about tishon that mountain climb had a specific memory that 95 00:11:22,760 --> 00:11:28,860 is still unbelievable to me to this day but I went to dance clubs I actually won a dance 96 00:11:28,860 --> 00:11:35,160 competition in prom too while I was drunk and maybe I got the benefit of being a foreigner 97 00:11:35,160 --> 00:11:46,400 but I want with the warm I got drunk and jumped a lot of fences I went to very fancy parties 98 00:11:46,400 --> 00:11:56,040 and I drank $1,000 by Joe which is still disgusting so I just there didn't feel like I was leaving 99 00:11:56,040 --> 00:12:02,960 un-taken opportunities behind when I decided to go I was like yeah no I did pretty much everything 100 00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:10,920 that I had the opportunity to do I really tried to seize the day as well as I could so I wasn't 101 00:12:10,920 --> 00:12:16,800 yearning for much anymore and I knew that if I left and went to a new country where I had 102 00:12:16,800 --> 00:12:22,920 to start all over again and learn a new language and start traveling again like I didn't have 103 00:12:22,920 --> 00:12:29,520 my comfortable apartment and my ridiculous gaming laptop and all this stuff that I just 104 00:12:29,520 --> 00:12:35,640 have to start living again basically instead of existing inside a comfortable routine I had 105 00:12:35,640 --> 00:12:42,920 made for myself and that was very exciting to contemplate and then it was just as exciting 106 00:12:42,920 --> 00:12:50,680 and much more satisfying and gratifying to live once I made the decision to leave but you 107 00:12:50,680 --> 00:12:57,600 know what didn't keep me there another shove in the right direction I would say all the 108 00:12:57,600 --> 00:13:06,160 people who decided not to leave I had been there you know eight years something like that and 109 00:13:06,160 --> 00:13:10,140 every person I knew there I had met in the first year or close friends everybody left one 110 00:13:10,140 --> 00:13:16,360 by one and most people just don't like to travel that long but the longer the people who 111 00:13:16,360 --> 00:13:24,680 did stay lived in China the more ungrateful they got for the fantastic opportunity and immense 112 00:13:24,680 --> 00:13:30,240 privileges they had they were getting paid to speak their native language and everyone 113 00:13:30,240 --> 00:13:36,200 thought they were an interesting novelty because they were foreign but still had conversations 114 00:13:36,200 --> 00:13:40,760 with them and engaged with them regularly some of these people I knew had been there for 115 00:13:40,760 --> 00:13:46,800 three times as long as I have over twenty years and hadn't learned Mandarin Chinese living 116 00:13:46,800 --> 00:13:54,640 in Beijing that's unbelievable because you're not participating in the country at all 117 00:13:54,640 --> 00:13:59,240 if you don't at least try to learn and try to communicate with a few of the people around 118 00:13:59,240 --> 00:14:06,200 you at some point and then that same person would complain that he was lonely or Chinese 119 00:14:06,200 --> 00:14:12,000 people were this or that and it's like you can't even talk to them dude you have no idea 120 00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:17,400 what they're like regardless of how long you've lived here spoiled complainers was the problem 121 00:14:17,400 --> 00:14:23,840 with the people I knew the other foreigners who were living the life in China you know getting 122 00:14:23,840 --> 00:14:31,280 the salaries of white collar businessmen for less than a quarter of the amount of work 123 00:14:31,280 --> 00:14:36,680 I mean just by hours and the actual quality of work is like you speak you speak a language 124 00:14:36,680 --> 00:14:40,600 for forty five minutes and then the class is over and you get paid a couple hundred dollars 125 00:14:40,600 --> 00:14:46,880 like it's crazy and I was so worried that if I kept staying there even though I felt 126 00:14:46,880 --> 00:14:53,440 like I was pretty appreciative I didn't take for granted all the privileges I enjoyed 127 00:14:53,440 --> 00:15:01,840 teaching English in a foreign country I was worried that if I stayed too long that my personality 128 00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:08,960 too would turn brittle or spoil in the sun these people were complaining about how China 129 00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:15,040 was so difficult to live in how it was gross that Chinese people weren't polite or it 130 00:15:15,040 --> 00:15:21,560 was so irritating that they blah blah blah and it's like those are you're so lucky to be 131 00:15:21,560 --> 00:15:31,000 here you were a bum in certain cases in the United States like a literal bum like basically not 132 00:15:31,000 --> 00:15:38,760 quite on the streets but but just about there in barely surviving and now there's great food everywhere 133 00:15:38,760 --> 00:15:43,160 people think you're interesting just because you're from a different country they're paying you 134 00:15:43,160 --> 00:15:49,960 a ridiculous amount of money for speaking your native language more money than any of them could 135 00:15:49,960 --> 00:15:59,640 spend per month and they are complaining repeatedly and consistently about the texture of the water 136 00:15:59,640 --> 00:16:06,600 colors that are painting your privileged life the longer I stayed in China after five years 137 00:16:06,600 --> 00:16:12,440 I was like oh everyone is complaining about Chinese people in Chinese culture and the things they 138 00:16:12,440 --> 00:16:20,520 don't like and the very circumstances and context that provide these English teachers with the very 139 00:16:20,520 --> 00:16:29,480 comfortable life and compensation they are enjoying I could feel that getting to me even though I'm 140 00:16:29,480 --> 00:16:37,400 a fairly optimistic person and I tend to appreciate the situation I'm in when my entire circle of 141 00:16:37,400 --> 00:16:44,200 friends had now devolved into complaining about the situation that had given them their extraordinary 142 00:16:44,200 --> 00:16:51,480 privilege I could feel it infecting my perspective and it still took a few more years because I was still 143 00:16:51,480 --> 00:16:59,400 very appreciative of China and I still liked what I was doing and I started my own school of course 144 00:16:59,400 --> 00:17:05,880 so that was a new experience but while that was going on I still had to listen every time I hung out 145 00:17:05,880 --> 00:17:11,400 with someone you know the three remaining friends now or two remaining friends I don't know it wasn't 146 00:17:11,400 --> 00:17:19,080 many people left by the the last year you know what actually I'm count there was like five regular 147 00:17:19,080 --> 00:17:25,560 people to hang out with but all they did was complain about China and I could feel it infecting my 148 00:17:25,560 --> 00:17:31,160 heart and making me think unchirical thoughts and I was like well I don't want to be around these people 149 00:17:31,160 --> 00:17:39,080 anymore and as long as I'm making a break from all of the people I know in China maybe it's time to 150 00:17:39,080 --> 00:17:46,680 make a clean break all together and start the next part of my life which was the right decision 151 00:17:46,680 --> 00:17:56,360 I had a bunch of other small signals one of them was Xi Jinping decided to abolish term limits for 152 00:17:56,360 --> 00:18:04,760 the president so the year before I left and I left just a few months after he abolished the Chinese 153 00:18:04,760 --> 00:18:13,080 constitutional term limits she declared himself president for life of China and that's why he's 154 00:18:13,080 --> 00:18:18,600 been president for the last 13 years because he was like well I'm president now forever so the 155 00:18:18,600 --> 00:18:24,280 constitution will just change that and they did and that's what China is living with right now 156 00:18:25,160 --> 00:18:29,800 so that when I heard about I heard about that after I had bought my ticket to leave I bought it like a 157 00:18:29,800 --> 00:18:37,160 couple months out and then the next week it like she announced his plan to not his plan his order 158 00:18:37,160 --> 00:18:42,120 taken overnight to change the Chinese constitution so that he became president for life and I was like 159 00:18:42,120 --> 00:18:50,760 oh yeah that's a red flag for this place I guess it's good I'm bouncing out and then my land lady 160 00:18:50,760 --> 00:19:00,600 had decided to raise my rent which is almost insignificant it went from like $150 US per month to $190 161 00:19:00,600 --> 00:19:09,640 per month you know and I'm making whatever I'm making thousands of dollars more per month it just 162 00:19:09,640 --> 00:19:15,880 didn't matter but it was just another flag that she was unwilling to bend on which was a problem 163 00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:23,240 because she rented me a literal empty concrete square I put in tile and electricity and all this stuff 164 00:19:23,240 --> 00:19:28,280 and then she said well it's so much nicer now that I have to charge you more for it and I was like oh I 165 00:19:28,280 --> 00:19:34,040 made it nice can you do that after I leave she's like no no no it's so nice that you should pay more 166 00:19:34,040 --> 00:19:41,560 and I was like well she sucks so I don't need that there were a lot of things like that happening 167 00:19:41,560 --> 00:19:49,160 and I wanted to travel more anyway I traveled frequently I flew to other countries for short trips 168 00:19:49,160 --> 00:19:55,400 but I wanted to live in other places I thought about teaching I was like do you still like teaching yes 169 00:19:55,400 --> 00:20:01,880 I still love teaching I love all my students it's great it's great work and I do feel like I'm helping them 170 00:20:01,880 --> 00:20:07,480 but there might be something else I love and I haven't tried other things yet and I don't 171 00:20:08,600 --> 00:20:13,720 like being told that I have to follow a schedule and all that kind of stuff whatever I had been doing 172 00:20:13,720 --> 00:20:18,440 that schedule even though it was my own school and I mostly said everything I still was just like 173 00:20:18,440 --> 00:20:24,040 well this is a huge obligation that I have to keep running because everybody likes the school 174 00:20:24,040 --> 00:20:29,640 and I was the only employee aside from one other Chinese employee so it wasn't like I was going to 175 00:20:29,640 --> 00:20:36,600 fire 20 people or whatever and a couple of teachers I knew ended up absorbing all of my students 176 00:20:36,600 --> 00:20:40,520 the week after I left so it wasn't like I was leaving anybody in the lurch 177 00:20:40,520 --> 00:20:46,840 and while I did like teaching and I left my students it was tiring I was still teaching 178 00:20:46,840 --> 00:20:54,440 basic English in most of the classes I had a couple grown up classes and prep classes like high school 179 00:20:54,440 --> 00:21:02,120 level math and writing I can't remember high school classes whatever but I was definitely in a 180 00:21:02,120 --> 00:21:09,960 routine and I knew that the last time I broke a cultural routine it turned out great so I should 181 00:21:09,960 --> 00:21:19,000 probably try that again which when I really bore down and just let the future possibilities 182 00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:27,560 wash over me I had a feeling it was time and that's what I told the parents when they asked me a lot of 183 00:21:27,560 --> 00:21:31,720 people and it was kind of a cop out because I didn't want to tell the parents that they were 184 00:21:31,720 --> 00:21:36,840 irritating and I didn't want to be like oh I have enough money so I'm gonna go now bye 185 00:21:36,840 --> 00:21:42,840 to all of my co-workers who were still substituting and didn't save any money and just 186 00:21:42,840 --> 00:21:49,800 wasted money constantly but I did truly have a feeling like it was time so even though it was 187 00:21:49,800 --> 00:21:54,840 something I said it was very true just like the feeling I had when I left the states the first time 188 00:21:55,320 --> 00:22:04,920 when I got that weird job offer from a drunk principle in China I was like oh you know what this is 189 00:22:04,920 --> 00:22:13,960 the time to make a change this is a pivotal moment in my life and I know I don't want what I have 190 00:22:13,960 --> 00:22:21,960 right now in the states so whatever is going to happen in China it won't be this thing I know I don't 191 00:22:21,960 --> 00:22:28,760 want and I did have the same feeling I was like whatever is going on now it's not going to get me 192 00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:34,680 where I want and I was in a much better situation I own my own business making plenty of money 193 00:22:34,680 --> 00:22:42,280 I had friends I was dating regularly I was still exploring new places and learning new things all 194 00:22:42,280 --> 00:22:50,520 the time but that path didn't feel like it was going to get me where I wanted to be anymore 195 00:22:51,240 --> 00:23:01,720 and so I took the leap and I left this much better situation for something else and it worked because 196 00:23:01,720 --> 00:23:07,560 what I wanted was to do what I wanted I didn't want the obligation of showing up 197 00:23:07,560 --> 00:23:13,160 afternoons one's day and friday like working three days a week or whatever I didn't want that 198 00:23:13,160 --> 00:23:18,920 obligation I want to clear my mind entirely so that I could just do what I wanted which is traveling 199 00:23:19,560 --> 00:23:27,000 meeting new people learning new things writing making a podcast drawing funny pictures like 200 00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:34,680 things I like to do read books watch movies like hang out eat new foods cook new foods build stuff I want 201 00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:43,800 to be able to do all of that at my pace and I don't need a thousand dollars per day to do that I don't 202 00:23:43,800 --> 00:23:51,480 need some cherry awards ceremony at the end of a career to tell me I'm allowed to enjoy my life 203 00:23:51,480 --> 00:24:00,440 by the math and my trips at that point I knew that I could travel indefinitely and I was like well 204 00:24:00,440 --> 00:24:04,360 what if I don't have enough money and all that I did worry about that stuff then I was like oh that's 205 00:24:04,360 --> 00:24:09,880 all bullshit none of that is real none of that's real none of those are real concerns because 206 00:24:09,880 --> 00:24:15,160 you don't have them yet you're imagining false concerns that could come up in the future but by the 207 00:24:15,160 --> 00:24:20,840 math by how by your experience you know this will work so go do it and if it doesn't it's fine you can 208 00:24:20,840 --> 00:24:26,920 go do something else you can come back here and you know if you need to tweak the plan but if you can 209 00:24:26,920 --> 00:24:35,560 just skip this way to living exactly how you want to live in the exact same way I skipped American 210 00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:44,040 I skipped 50 years of a factory job or actually honestly I skipped 50 years as a store manager in the 211 00:24:44,040 --> 00:24:50,920 United States and skipped right to the end of the line where I instantly had more disposable income 212 00:24:50,920 --> 00:24:59,400 than anyone I knew in my life and I was having more fun spending it and making new experiences than anyone 213 00:24:59,400 --> 00:25:05,880 I knew in my life I was working less than anyone I knew in my life who had a whatever job back in the 214 00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:13,880 States like I just skipped all of it and I suddenly had my dream job my own business and so I was like 215 00:25:13,880 --> 00:25:19,640 maybe you can just skip the line again and go straight from having you know your dream job 216 00:25:19,640 --> 00:25:25,720 to not no job at all and still have money coming in and just do whatever you want it and it worked 217 00:25:25,720 --> 00:25:34,040 yeah I mean it did but I had the same feeling when I left the States it's time I should take this 218 00:25:34,040 --> 00:25:43,240 opportunity I should attempt this and I had the same feeling when I was leaving China because I 219 00:25:43,240 --> 00:25:50,280 perfectly understood all of the benefits and circumstances I was leaving behind I knew the entire 220 00:25:50,280 --> 00:25:57,240 situation and I thought this is another opportunity maybe I'm just going to skip the line and start 221 00:25:57,240 --> 00:26:03,800 traveling forever and whatever just do what I want maybe you are already retired and you don't 222 00:26:03,800 --> 00:26:11,800 have to wait to be retired anymore turned out at 33 or whatever it was I was and am all see you know 223 00:26:11,800 --> 00:26:17,640 it was really irritating I am a runner and the pollution hadn't gotten any better for the decade 224 00:26:17,640 --> 00:26:23,240 I was in China I don't care what the AQI says the air quality index I don't care what the officials 225 00:26:23,240 --> 00:26:29,720 say I don't care what the officials from other countries say the air was still gross when I left China 226 00:26:30,360 --> 00:26:35,560 in 2019 or whatever it was it was as gross as when I got to China in 2012 227 00:26:35,560 --> 00:26:42,760 not everywhere some one of the clearer skies ever I've ever seen was in Yan Qing this place 228 00:26:42,760 --> 00:26:49,560 outside of Beijing but in the cities the pollution was still gross and I was that was kind of irritating 229 00:26:49,560 --> 00:26:57,720 about that time a couple years before I left I had heard about the Uyghurs because I knew Uyghurs 230 00:26:57,720 --> 00:27:02,440 from Xinjiang and they were telling me things that she was doing that was kind of 231 00:27:02,440 --> 00:27:10,760 hurting their culture and I knew friends who went back to Xinjiang and then I didn't hear from them 232 00:27:10,760 --> 00:27:17,320 again yes so I mean as far as Red Flacks go that was a big one as well 233 00:27:17,320 --> 00:27:26,600 and then after I left that's when the Western me like a year maybe after I left 2020 or so 234 00:27:26,600 --> 00:27:31,480 that's when the rest of the world started hearing about the Uyghurs and the concentration camps 235 00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:38,120 and all that kind of stuff so I knew that was happening and then I found out about the concentration 236 00:27:38,120 --> 00:27:44,200 camps through mass media though I had heard rumors from my Uyghur friends my Xinjiang friends 237 00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:54,760 and it was just the right time to leave in the same way that leaving both terms that 238 00:27:55,400 --> 00:28:02,840 Trump was elected to the Uyghurs presidency was a great idea it's 2025 now and 239 00:28:02,840 --> 00:28:12,680 women are dying in parking lots and child rape victims are being forced to give birth you can 240 00:28:12,680 --> 00:28:19,160 choose not to pay into that conservative system that harms children and other vulnerable groups 241 00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:29,560 so you know guys you can vote with your feet and I vote with my feet I live abroad I don't pay taxes to 242 00:28:29,560 --> 00:28:35,960 administrations I don't agree with and I'm learning things every day and having great experiences 243 00:28:35,960 --> 00:28:43,320 all the time and I have the opportunity and free time to pursue activities like this podcast and 244 00:28:43,320 --> 00:28:49,800 other creative pursuits that I'm interested in now to get to this point I did have to take 245 00:28:49,800 --> 00:28:57,400 the opportunity presented to me to go teach English abroad I'm looking at a job board right now 246 00:28:57,400 --> 00:29:06,680 there's a teacher wanted in the Maldives whoa are there's what's that three thousand five hundred 247 00:29:06,680 --> 00:29:13,880 bucks per month in Beijing right now a maximum of 10 students per class just basic kindergarten 248 00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:22,440 English hello so these jobs are paying more than they got me there for for sure go get your feet 249 00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:27,720 under you and then do what you want after you save up what you want or do that through us your I 250 00:29:27,720 --> 00:29:33,960 don't know do what you want enjoy it have fun this is the life you have this is the life you're 251 00:29:33,960 --> 00:29:36,680 living live it how you want to live it 252 00:29:36,680 --> 00:29:59,680 [ Silence ]