Seniority

There's a certain moment in every employment where you become senior to someone else. Suddenly, you're no longer the new guy - someone else is! Your own tattered and fragmented view of the work environment becomes useful insight to someone else. That happened today. For the past 45 days Dru and I have been the newbies trying to figure things out, today we had 45 days worth of wisdom to unload on two teachers new to Tianjin.

One was new to China, one had been in Shenzhen for a month. Both had spent time in the Philippines. Both highly recommended that we visit said islands. Daniel worked at an orphanage for a few years and fled when his girlfriend proposed marriage. Reagan was seeing the world before he put his Army-sponsored MBA to use.

Lisa said she wanted to go out tonight, so I had been prepared since my class was over to finally get out of the neighborhood. Sometime around 10 we got a call. Lisa had gone home and the bar they found was empty in a creepy way. It was payday and I'd been cooped up inside the apartment for most of the week. We met them in front of Carrefour. In retrospect, I was quite excited. I twice jumped a one-meter fence separating Carrefour's bicycle parking lot with the sidewalk.

As knowledgeable elder, we took the two new guys to Ali Babba's for Tsingtao and sandwiches. Babba's isn't necessarily the most happening place in Tianjin, but it has the most foreigners - which is a welcome site sometimes, an annoyance other times - and the only reasonably priced Western menu in town. We mingled over grilled cheese and beer. The new guys were really cool. Both down to earth and both had the personality that comes with being a small vessel bouncing around the globe. These are the people I hoped to meet traveling... the restless vagabonds, the people open to whatever came their way for the sake of experience and stories. The people only competing with themselves, as Steve Sykes would say.

After finishing our food and beers we walked over to Scarlet. Most of the worthy Tianjin nightlife is clustered around Nankai university. Dru hadn't been there since the fight, but we had a mission: show what Tianjin had to offer in the way to nightlife. It was fun. Daniel and I wound up in front of a private room trying to sneak into a room with a group of girls tickling each other. I wisely suggested we refrain as it was certain their boyfriends would be coming back. We all hit the dancefloor and caused trouble there.

It was a good night. For better or worse, part of the reason I came to Asia was to meet the other people who'd want to come here.

Tags: Treyopia China Stories Life Tianjin