Cloudy in Beijing Blogging about my time in China

I freelanced my first article this month. Finally.

Xi'an has a local English magazine meant for foreigners. In this past issue I wrote an article about Epang Palace, which I posted about some weeks back.

It's nice to be published again. This was all part of the reason why I came to China. To try to be a foreign correspondent.

But I wish it were easier. And more broad in scope. Writing about tourist attractions is so far my only outlet.

Also, interviewing people can be cumbersome. This past week I was trying to find someone to talk to for a story I was doing. I ended up scavenging the Internet for what seemed like hours, and calling 5 or 6 different people, before finally finding the right person.

"What is the name of the publication you are writing for," the woman I wanted to talk to asked.

"Uh, China Grooves..." I said awkwardly.

"What does that mean in Chinese?" she replied.

"Uh... I'm not sure how to translate that." I said.

She later said that she'd be happy to answer my questions. But first she wanted me to send a document with the publication name and my journalist ID. Then she'd talk with her colleagues, and get back to me and maybe I could come and speak with them.

I just wanted to interview someone to get a human voice in my article. Three questions, that's all. But it was clear that I was asking for more than I wanted to deal with. Journalist ID? I think she was referring to me having a journalist visa. Sadly, I do not have that.

I decided to send in my article without any quotes. I sighed as I did that, because I would never do that when I was a reporter back in the States.

I'm looking for more writing opportunities. But it doesn't help that the newspaper business isn't doing so well. Now I'm looking at in-flight airplane magazines.

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Once my teaching contract ends early July, I plan on leaving Xi'an and heading to Beijing.

It was a tough decision, since I really enjoy this ancient city and I'm not sure how much I'll like the capital.

But my Chinese teacher recently summed up the career opportunities in Xi'an: "Basically you can only be a teacher or a student," she said.

We'll see what Beijing has to offer. I plan on studying Mandarin at a school there with the hope my Chinese will improve and that I'll have more time to freelance.

But I have to say, I feel like a struggling artist. Along with my teaching job, I also have another weekend job updating an Internet website. And then I have all this Chinese I need to study too. Work, work, work.... ugh crap.

As for my freelance article that recently got published, I didn't get paid for that.