Banned In China - Deactivating My Facebook Account

The Great Firewall Of China. I used to think that was a clever and funny way of describing the internet censorship in China. But since coming to Beijing in August 2012, I have spent a considerable amount of time trying to enjoy the kind of internet freedom which is taken for granted back in the U.K.

This includes time taken to research a trustworthy method of connecting to foreign websites, attempting to purchase software when many of the websites selling it are blocked, and the time spent trying to use the software while the connection often fails.

When I first arrived in China, I found free software for my computer. This allowed me an intermittent connection to blocked and restricted websites such as Facebook. But the connection speed was far too unreliable to stream videos on Youtube.

After talking to colleagues, I decided to purchase a Virtual Private Network which can add security to the internet connection and also re-routes the internet connection through a foreign server, allowing access to banned websites and offering me a faster speed to watch videos. However, even a VPN cannot ensure a good connection. Earlier this year, my paid subscription to a VPN provider stopped working and could not grant me access to restricted webpages. This was highly frustrating as I keep in touch with many friends and family through Facebook and this blog.

As my subscription for the VPN came up for renewal, I decided that I would not pay for a service I could not depend on; instead I would rely solely on free VPN software I had downloaded to my phone. Although this would not always work efficiently, it did usually allow me enough time to communicate with friends and family. This is one of the reasons I have not updated my blog in such a long time. Using my phone to make blog posts can be rather laborious, particularly when the aforementioned free VPN software fails.

Recently, I heard from friends that VPNs are working more consistently again. This of course can change if there is a sudden government crackdown on internet activity. But for now, I have made the decision to renew my VPN subscription, which offers me a less stressful internet experience. With that being said, last Sunday I chose to deactivate my Facebook account, and here is why:

I have read online articles explaining the theory that using mobile phones or digital devices before sleeping, can affect our sleeping patterns and quality of sleep. While feeling stressed with events at work, I thought that I could experiment with cutting down on my phone usage before bedtime. When I thought more carefully about this, I realised I did generally use my phone just before I slept, to check Facebook and other apps.

I also read similar articles which detailed that social media can affect our moods. Viewing Facebook is like seeing the “best bits” of people’s lives and it can result in making unfair comparisons with one's own life. While I did not feel like I was making such negative judgements about myself, I did realise that I could drastically cut down on the time I spent trying to connect to Facebook and browsing on social media. Living abroad can definitely give me the feeling of being “out of the loop” but I definitely thought that I could benefit from cutting out the temptation of using Facebook for a while. Instead of looking for gossip fodder, I could read more books, study Chinese or sleep that little bit earlier.

So how did the week go? On the first day of deactivating my account, my thumbs did automatically click on the Facebook app to check if it was someone’s birthday, or if there was some interesting news or rant that had been posted. But it was surprising how quickly I stopped wanting to check. I usually use Facebook Messenger to speak with my friends and family so I did notice that absence. However I was observing that I slept much earlier in the evening than before. Moreover, whether or not it was my mind playing tricks on me, I’m not quite sure, but it appeared that I was having a deeper sleep each night.

During the week, I did of course use other forms of social media such as the Chinese juggernaut Wechat (see my previous post on the joys of Wechat here), so I hadn’t completely cut out communication with others. But now that I will be reactivating my Facebook account, I will try to be more aware of how I am spending my free time. Internet freedom may not be something I can relish while living in China, but I can choose to accept it (be that reluctantly). What if my VPN doesn’t connect? I don’t have to get annoyed and keep trying until the early hours of the morning. I can rest and see if it works the next day. After all, most things are better after a good night’s sleep, right? 

My Gap Year

On February 12 2006, I nervously got off an aeroplane and was immediately struck by a humidity and hullabaloo which I had previously never encountered. It has now been ten years to the day that I arrived in Ho Chi Minh City for a week of TEFL training, followed by five months of teaching English in Hanoi, Vietnam. It was to be the start of my Gap Year and most definitely one of the biggest life-changing decisions I have made so far, in terms of becoming who I am and where I am today.

During TEFL training in HCMC

Since then, I have read some negative articles about Gap Years. These opinions are generally based around the belief that Gap Years are funded by wealthy parents who send their children away for a year to “discover themselves” while lazing on tropical beaches. But Gap Years should not be synonymous with teenagers who rely on the Bank Of Mum And Dad to fund drunken binges with other backpackers and getting tattoos or dreadlocks.

Of course, I did drink alcohol during my Gap Year and I did enjoy relaxing on beautiful beaches with powdery soft sand and crystal clear seawater. However, these experiences were paid for by myself and are additional memories to what I would consider a significant life event. I wouldn’t say that I “found myself” on my Gap Year, but it certainly equipped me with some of the life skills required to become more adventurous, self-aware and self-confident. This in turn, resulted in me liking myself a whole lot more.

Some people say that school years are the best of your life, but as a painfully shy teenager who struggled to choose a career path, I found it very difficult to be either outgoing or studious. Disillusioned with my own education and future profession, I decided that I would spend some time travelling. But I didn’t want to just travel to some far-flung location for a few weeks and then move on to a new place. I wanted to get to really know a new country, language and culture.

Luckily, I had heard of an organisation that offered young people the opportunity to do volunteer work in a number of different countries. Latitude Global Volunteering (formerly Gap Activity Projects) offers people the chance to give something back to the community they are visiting, meanwhile meeting new people and beginning to understand the culture and traditions of their Gap Year home. Furthermore, it was a relief to know that I had the support of an organisation, who would help me in the event of any troubles that may arise when living in a new (and initially daunting) country. I was in Vietnam from February to August, so technically it was more of a Gap-Half-Year, but in those six months I had so many enriching experiences.

Having a Gap Year to fund, not only taught me the basics of budgeting, it also gave me something to plan for. As a nineteen year old who was unsure of what I wanted to be in the future, becoming a volunteer English teacher gave me aspirations and a purpose that had long eluded me during my Secondary School education.

It also made me step outside of my comfort zone. For too long I had suffered from social anxiety and worried about meeting new people. I would become stressed about whether or not others would care about the things I wanted to say and therefore became awkwardly silent. Living and working abroad required me to communicate and put me in situations where I had to socialise and make myself heard. I began to see that some people did like listening to me. Moreover, I became unperturbed by people who were indifferent towards me.

My time in Hanoi was special for a number of reasons. I formed a good circle of friends – both fellow volunteers and locals from the capital city of Vietnam. The diversity of the food, landscape and people resulted in me falling in love with Vietnam; which I have written about in a previous blog post here. At the time of writing this blog post, I have been to Vietnam a total of five times. I have learned a few Vietnamese karaoke songs, attended a traditional Vietnamese wedding and gained a beautiful Vietnamese Goddaughter. I will of course return again in the future.

Nhung, Hung and I in 2007

Hung and Chung's wedding, 2009

Tam Dao, 2014

My Goddaughter, Quynh in July 2014

With former student and now friend Quy, July 2014

My time spent teaching high school students in Hanoi confirmed my love of teaching and set me on the path of university in order to become a Primary School teacher. I do cringe when I think back to my pre-teacher training English language lessons in a crowded Hanoi classroom, but it really did cement my enjoyment of helping others. Additionally, the frequent language barrier involved in teaching English to Vietnamese speakers forced me to become more patient.

Finally, my enjoyment of learning so much about a new country and being welcomed into a new community, has undoubtedly contributed to my decision to be a primary school teacher in Beijing, China. My Gap Year gave me the confidence to know that I can communicate, make decisions and be happy in a completely different place to what I am accustomed to. The challenges of being in a foreign place make me a stronger person and for now, the benefits of living abroad far outweigh the negatives. 

My Gap Year affected me in such a positive way that I regularly think about all of the fun activities and events that unfurled in 2006. There are too many friends and fond thoughts to include in this one post. People who regard all Gap Years as unproductive and solely for “lazy rich kids” really irritate me. I would highly recommend a similar “Constructive Gap Year” to anybody who is fortunate and able to spend the time and money on doing so. Whether or not you have hopes for your own prospects, a Gap Year will certainly give you the most wonderful memories of the past and a set of skills that will help you in the future.

Mike's Chomping Cheesy Chinese Chow Challenge #10 - Xihongshi Chao Jidan

A food experimentalist’s work is never done. It may be a new year, but my role as a cheesy Chinese food visionary cannot be quelled. I decided to shake things up a bit; by taking a dish that any self-respecting foreigner or Chinese citizen would enjoy and then adding almond and apricot cream cheese.

The dish in question is none other than the simple yet delicious staple: stir-fried egg and tomato (西红柿炒鸡蛋). It is always a welcome addition to any meal. The scrambled egg is the perfect friend to the soft tomato chunks as they swim around in a tasty sauce.

The addition of soft cream cheese melting amongst the egg and tomato created a blissful moment with each bite. Stir-fried tomato and egg will always be a necessity for me when ordering Chinese food and I think that adding a cheeky portion of cheese will be a treat I repeat in the future.

Nom nom nom!

Phnom Penh Pals

Today was a bitterly cold day in Beijing, with temperatures of -17°C and a cruel wind-chill factor of -27°C. In fact, it was so cold today, the condensation on the inside of my windows turned to thick ice. Brrrr!

These plummeting temperatures are the coldest I have ever experienced in Beijing and it has resulted in me swaddling myself in a blanket and thinking back to warmer times.

Last year, towards the end of September, I travelled to Phnom Penh in Cambodia to see Kate and Becky. It was a great holiday because I had missed them so much since they had left Beijing. Plus I was able to spend the holiday with Omar, Lyra and Warner who had also arranged to visit. It felt wonderful to have the gang back together again.

I first visited Cambodia in 2006, so I was lucky enough to have already seen Angkor Wat, Siem Reap and places around the capital city. Cambodia is a friendly and welcoming country with so much history and culture to experience. I would definitely recommend a visit to the Killing Fields and the Tuol Sleng Museum Of Genocidal Crimes. It is a harrowing and disturbing experience, yet extremely educational and worthwhile in understanding the history of the country. Since I had visited both these locations in 2006, I did not feel the need to see them again this time.

I don’t have access to many photographs from my first visit to Cambodia, as most of them are stored at home in Wales. But I do have a photograph taken at Angkor Wat, one of a tuk-tuk driver and another of a child at an orphanage in which my friend Kendell and I visited. 

Angkor Wat 2006

Tuk-Tuk driver near the backpacker area.

I also have a lasting memory of the phrase “powms oi na?” (Excuse my crude anglicised spelling of the Khmer language) which translates to “who farted?” In 2006, I decided that this would be a crucial phrase to add to my arsenal in as many languages as possible; so I asked my Angkor Wat guide to teach it to me in Khmer.

My visit in 2015 was very different to my my trip in 2006. I was no longer a backpacker (now I travel with a suitcase!) and this time focused more on relaxing and catching up with close friends. Not long after we arrived, I decided to give everyone a small gift from China – a plant sprout hair clip. At the time, these were inexplicably popular with both children and adults in Mainland China. The clips came in many varieties and you could frequently see both men and women walking around with flowers and shoots sprouting from their heads. So once I had given everyone their very own sprout, it was only fitting that we took a selfie.

Sporting sprouts - note that Lyra is absent in this photo due to being asleep.

During our stay in Phnom Penh, Becky and Kate booked us places on a cookery course. Cambodian food boasts some delicious dishes, including my favourite – amok. We made this along with some other dishes on the course. It was a fun yet exhausting day (tiring due to the heat and my general laziness).

Cooking up a storm!

While on the course, I was overjoyed that I had correctly remembered the Khmer phrase that I had learned almost ten years ago. Our teacher happily confirmed that it did indeed mean “who farted?” although I think any bad smells were actually coming from my poor attempt at recreating Cambodian food.

Kate and Becky also took us on an evening river cruise. I was super pleased with myself for capturing the moment of a lightning strike by chance on my old phone. During late September/early October there were frequent thunderstorms but this did not hinder our holiday, as they were generally short downpours. The views of the sunset were spectacular and the silhouettes of the temples and buildings were stunning.

Cruisin' and boozin'

Although we were on holiday, Kate and Becky were working during the day, so Warner and I decided to visit Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre. After a rather long tuk-tuk drive we arrived at the centre. There were so many animals there and we were happy to see that they appeared to be well cared for and lived in good conditions.

Getting snap-happy at the sanctuary

Monkeying around at the sanctuary

The whole experience was wonderful and it’s so nice to think back to that time last year. Kate and Becky were the best hostesses and I cannot wait to see them again soon. I still miss their presence in Beijing, but it's great to have such good friends in Cambodia as it gives me the excuse to visit them again in such beautiful surroundings.

Memories of the hot climate and fun times are definitely keeping me warm on this chilly January evening!