Day 23 - Shimou's Insight into China

Belgian Bar

May 1st, 2015

Another slow day (“Sir, the page views are dropping every time you say that!”) and I spent most of it lying in bed. Yeah, I hit the gym and I did some work online, organized a few things, but I’m currently hooked on these daredevil comics (Goooo Bendis!) and I don’t have anywhere to be. I still don’t have many friends in the city, just a lot of acquaintances and it seems to be out of sight, out of mind. I’m supposed to meet up with Chinese Shimou [Shi-mo] at 8:30pm. One of my most present housemates, French Alexander, chatted with me for a bit about his experience in Perth. He’s been here for 3 months and seems to do something in the construction trades. something with concrete, doing the baseboards and crownings.. I think. He’s a amicable fellow, always friendly, and has a somewhat stereotypical French accent (“Zee door! Zat place!”). It's so strange, but pleasant, that he picked put he habit of calling people ‘mate.’ Just picture the word "mate" with a strong french accent every time you see him. He tells me that Canada is in high demand for french people, and backpackers in general, because our limit for visa application is 35 years old, and they last 2 years. Aus, in case you’re wondering, is under 30 for 1 year, and an option to renew if you work in the middle of nowhere for 3 months.

Mural in the Bar

Honestly, not very much happened the entire day until then. I think I showered, too. H-hey, where are you going?! I’ve got something you might like! Uh.. UHH.. Oh! FLASH FORWARD! It’s 8:00 and I just finished a climactic part of Daredevil, and I realize that, according to G-maps, it’ll take 30 min to get to the bar. I start hoofing it. We meet at this bar called the Belgian Beer Cafe in the actual city. I walk the semi-sketchy path that Google has laid out for me, assuming the great God Google will watch over me as I follow its path of pilgrimage.

Those panels actually open
move to change from
purple to yellow

The bar is like a tavern/pub in feel, and live music. The thing about Perth (and maybe most cities over 1.5mil) is that there seems to be live music in literally every bar and pub. They even play some top forty, and often stuff that’s quite good for dancing to. It’s actually great and the scene finally makes sense. In Canada, you go to a pub to sit with a drink and talk, right? Then why the hell do they blast music at you in this tiny room so you can blow your vocal chords while talking to someone a foot away?! Here you can dance while they play good stuff like Lenny Kravitz (This one’s for Ruby (she didn’t know it)).

Back to Belgium bah! I grabbed a drink, watching the people in the bar until Shimou arrived. Interesting facts: she speaks Mandarin, Japanese, and English; her passion is meeting new people and making friends; she likes badminton, taking care of people, and considers herself to be lazy. Things about Beijing that she warned me about: The winter has terrible smog, it has very humid/hot summers (35C), and that I will probably die there. Ha, Ha! Fantastic!

It looked kine of like Luigi from behind

I told her that I had made up my mind and already decided that I would be going there, staying the entire duration of my contract - even if (maybe even especially if) I hated it. Well, barring jail, death, or deportation. Strike that: if I die there, I guess I’ll be spending even MORE time there than I planned. Wah-ho! Zing! I’ll stop now...

We left the bar because it was super noisy, and wound up back in Northbridge at a bar that was much quieter. Inside, a barfly named Gerry started talking to me and seemed quite friendly. I wasn’t sure where he was from, but it sounded British and guessed so. He kindly told me to watch it, as he was Irish. I found out he was a business consultant, and he offered to help me find work around town, or at least look at my resume. Sure, why not? I took his card and excused myself, allowing him to chat up other random passerbys. After a few more drinks, we got some Kebab meat box (these should exist in Canada, and I’m considering doing it) and called it a night. It’s a good thing the night didn’t go too late, as the next morning started quite abruptly.