It seems it’s been a good few weeks since my last post
during May which what was for me a rather productive phase, perhaps the result
of hours of idleness in front of the laptop screen and a set of restless fingers. With the
Beijing summer in full swing and lovely clear skies coupled with a short-term
part time job as an editor for an online magazine, my creative efforts were either drawn to the
media industry or finding the nearest bar to grab a beer in the balmy weather.
Now, with the job having come to an end and a return to Beijing’s trademark
dreary skies (yet with added humidity), the urge to get back to blog writing
and reflecting rears its ugly head yet again for any unfortunate eyes that may
befall my facebook/blogger page.
So what of this magazine job? Well, Beijing sure can present
you with a flood of opportunities to find work in almost any field if you know
where to look. Luckily the Beijinger.com is the accessible platform for this,
and a sudden willingness to find a professional platform for my writing as well
as an encouraging girlfriend landed me with a decent opportunity soon enough. I
was employed as the editor for a creative arts magazine, which was aimed at a
niche audience of creative individuals and companies in the “high” arts spectrum
of Beijing. Artsy fartsy enough? Well not really, especially seeing as the
director of the magazine chose to listen to Katy Perry in the office as
motivation music. In my two weeks there I conducted phone interviews, one with
a guy from Kentucky who’d somehow imported gargantuan sized 19th
century printing machines to Beijing to set up a traditional printing business,
and attended a couple of networking events not knowing anything of what was to
be discussed until about thirty minutes before they started. It was pretty
frantic, and besides simply writing for the magazine I found I had to educate
myself on topics prior to interviews and attending events all in order to make
me sound as if I knew what I was talking about. Did you know that the printing
press was active in China way before Gutenberg introduced it to Europe in the
1400s? Despite getting my articles approved by the director of the magazine
(though they are yet to be published as the magazine altered its release date),
my proudest moment was name dropping Game of Thrones whilst asking a question
at a networking event in front of a host of smart phone savvies. King of the North!
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| Raaaaaarrrrr! Death to all blonde haired smart phone users! |
I was unable to stay any longer at the post as the company
couldn’t support me doing the editor’s job at only ten hours a week, though it
was a fun and educational experience. I’m currently back on the prowl for more
freelance jobs as they come, though with my free time rekindled on my days off,
I’m back to the usual pattern of reading, film watching and walks in the park
followed by a good few bevvies in the sun. The school will stop its normal
classes for the summer holidays in a few weeks which will be followed by the
onslaught of teaching every day for 2 weeks as the Chinese parents push their
kids for intense English cramming sessions, poor buggers. Looks like I’ll have
to get my Mr. Bean which I hope will ease their suffering, though a bawling
four year old as a result of me stretching my face into all manner of what I
thought were humorous positions may indicate otherwise.
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| Smile kids - English is fun! |
