Hi guys, given the attention given to the recent interview that Meghan and Harry gave to Oprah Winfrey and the allegations of the royal family and the British media being racist towards Meghan, some of my friends have asked me about my experience as a non-white minority here in the UK. This is a topic I had covered so many times on my blog before. There is racism everywhere you go but really, let's not fall prey to tunnel vision here. Anyone living in the UK will have all kinds of bigotry to deal with and to imagine that racism is the only kind of bigotry that one might face is intensely stupid. Oh us Brits are extremely creative when it comes to finding new ways to hate each other and racism is just one of a thousand ways bigotry can manifest itself. Worrying about racism whilst being blissfully oblivious about all other forms of bigotry is like walking into the Australian outback thinking that scorpions are the only creatures trying to kill you when you have everything from venomous snakes to crocodiles to spiders the size of your face to killer hornets to the deadly Australian paralysis tick. To put things in perspective, of course a sting from a scorpion is not only extremely painful but potentially deadly if you do not receive medical attention fast enough, but that's hardly the only predator out there trying to kill you when you venture into the outback. By the same token, sure some racism exists in the UK but please, it's just one of so many forms of bigotry we have to contend with on a daily basis and it is hardly the most problematic one. Thus in today's post I want to focus on just person and share the story about the most racist person I have ever met in the UK.
So this was some years ago, I met a black lady (let's call her Theresa, not her real name) who asked me a strange question when I told her I was an actor. She asked me if I was doing it within my community - upon clarification, what she meant was she thought that there was a group of Chinese actors putting on plays in Mandarin and Cantonese in Chinatown, perhaps performing traditional Chinese opera for the Chinese community or producing radio programmes in Mandarin and Cantonese for older Chinese people here who don't speak English or prefer to consume their entertainment in their mother tongue. When I explained to her that I didn't do that and I couldn't do that - Mandarin is my third language, it is not as fluent as my English or French. So I explained that I usually worked with white people, I had performed in everything from TV programmes to films to advertisements to music theatre to music videos to circus shows, so when I mentioned advertisements, she again assumed that it would be an advertisment for a Chinese product, a Chinese brand targeting Chinese consumers. Again, I had to say no, I have never worked on an ad specifically for the Chinese market even if my work has been see in China before. I was shocked by her assumption that the only way a British-Chinese actor can make a living is by doing Chinese projects for the Chinese community and the concept of me working with black and white people on a project that doesn't target the Chinese community at all was quite abstract for her. So she said, "I'm sorry, but I find it quite hard to picture a Chinese actor working together with white or black people."
So I tried to find out a bit more about why Theresa had this self-imposed Apartheid regime in her head, where Chinese people should stick to themselves in Chinatown and not work with black or white people. Theresa told me that she worked in a company where every single person was black, there wasn't a single white or Asian person in the company and she said that it was better that way, if everyone was the same skin colour, then you can eliminate racism from the workplace altogether - it was a blunt but effective solution. I challenged her, I said that the solution was not to separate people according to their skin colour, but for everyone in the workplace to adhere to a code of conduct which outlaws racism, is it too much to ask for responsible adults to not act like racist bigots in the workplace? Do I have racist thoughts? Yes, if I may be totally honest - from time to time, I may feel the urge to make an assumption based on a person's skin colour or nationality. However, I then immediately censor myself, pick my words carefully and avoid causing any offence to anyone so if I happen to have some un-PC thoughts whilst at work, I know when to keep my big mouth shut to avoid any conflict. Now that's called being professional and exercising self-control, I do that all the time and I don't think it is too much to ask of an adult to behave themselves whilst at work. Hence separating people by their skin colour in the workplace is simply not solving any problems, it is assuming the very worst of people - that given every opportunity, they will always act in a racist manner, instead of exercising self-restraint and behaving like a responsible, sensible adult.
Perhaps Theresa has a nice work environment in her office where everyone is black, good for her in this case but I have also been in a work environment where everyone was Chinese - this happened on several occasions when I was serving national service in Singapore. Given that Singapore is about 76% Chinese, it isn't hard to find yourself in a situation where realize that everyone you're working with is Chinese. Did that eliminate all manners of conflict just because there couldn't be any racism when you have a homogeneous all-Chinese cohort? Hell no, there was a lot of conflict - the men were divided essentially into two groups: there were the English-speaking soldiers who had done their A levels and were headed to university after finishing their national service, then you have the Mandarin/Hokkien speaking soldiers who had not done their A levels and were either seeking some kind of vocational training or employment after national service. It was a clash of the different social classes - outside the artificial environment of the army where the conscripts were forced to work together, these men would never befriend each other socially given that they were from such different social backgrounds. We knew that it was in nobody's interest to fight and argue, so there was an uneasy truce as we tolerated each other but every now and then, there would be flare ups and quarrels. Racism wasn't the only reason the men would fight in the army - we are very good at finding new ways to hate each other and find reasons to start a fight with someone of the same skin colour. This was why I was very cynical about Theresa's approach to the issue of racism.
Not only was Theresa's vision of segregation un-PC, it also had its limitations. It was based on her tunnel vision that racism was the only problem why us humans can't just get along - I then pointed out to her that we have a problem of men sexually harassing women in the workplace, should we then separate men and women by gender, so we can try to have only same-sex work environments in order to eliminate sexual harassment in the workplace? What about separating people by religion - should we allow Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, atheists and Buddhists to work in the same office or should we try to separate them? I asked her if she had both men and women in her office, as well as people with different religions there - she answered yes to both questions. So where do we stop if we were to go down this slippery slope? Do we separate people based on the region or country they come from given that they may speak different languages and cultures? Would Theresa allow people from French-speaking African countries like Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire and Mali work with people from English-speaking African countries like Ghana, Nigeria and Gambia? What about the LGBT community then, should we separate them from straight people and give them their own safe workplaces to protect them from the threat of homophobia? But hey, let's not stop there - do we also separate older and younger people to protect them from the threat of ageism? What about people of different working classes, do we go out of our way to separate the working class from the middle/upper classes in order to avoid conflicts in the workplace? The fact is we can keep on sub-dividing people into smaller and smaller groups based on differences until everyone has to work alone, at home, in isolation (which actually happened because of the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions - the irony!).
I pointed out that Theresa's argument was based on an assumption that all black people from Africa are a monolithic entity and would get along because they had the same skin colour. Take the Rwandan genocide in 1994 when up to 800,000 people were killed, often butchered in the most cruel way possible when tribal conflicts exploded into a full fledged civil war than ended with that genocide. The brutal genocide in Africa isn't the first deadly conflict in Africa where black Africans have slaughtered each other - there is a very long list of wars on the continent that goes back centuries. Is Theresa aware of the Rwandan genocide along with other wars in Africa? Of course, but let's examine her mindset: she is suffering from tunnel vision. Theresa probably has a whole range of problems she has to deal with so she chooses to ignore all of them whilst focusing only on the issue of racism she faces as a black person in the UK. She then goes further to simplify the issue of racism altogether by picking a very simple solution: if she only works with black people, goes to a church with only black people, socialize and establish friendships only with black people whilst actively avoiding white and Asian people, then she can rid her life of racism and thus that problem is solved. But are all of Theresa's problems truly solved just because she shoves them into a blind spot the size of Africa? Far from it. This may bring Theresa a false sense of security but would she ever face conflict from her friends and colleagues in the future? Of course she will (it is inevitable) but she is in complete denial about that, which means she would be far ready to deal with those conflicts if and when they do occur in the future. I would rather have the right social skills to deal with conflicts when they do arise, knowing that such conflicts are inevitable, but I feel confident that I am capable of dealing with them.
The reason why I find Theresa's story fascinating is that she isn't the typical racist you might have in your mind. She is not an older working class, uneducated white male who is afraid of immigrants coming over here to steal our jobs. She is not some white supremacist who thinks that white people are superior to black and Asian people. She is actually quite highly educated, has a pretty well paid professional job and she was polite with me - even though she made it clear that our interaction would be limited to that one conversation that took place by chance, it would never develop into a friendship because she didn't want to befriend someone of a different skin colour. Of course there are white supremacists out there who would hold more racist views than Theresa but I have not had the misfortune of crossing paths with them in the 24 years I have lived in the UK. Theresa was the only person in the UK I have met who truly believed that black and white people should not mix together, that there ought to be some kind of 'voluntary Apartheid' segregation in the UK which would help maintain the peace and eliminate racism. I did try to point out why I thought Theresa was wrong but she wouldn't allow me to challenge her point of view. Firstly she played the "you have no idea what it is like to be a black person in this country, facing all that racism from white people." Then she defended her warped logic, "sure human interactions can be very complex and we can find different ways to not get along with another person, but all I am doing is removing one major factor, so there's one less problem to worry about and that may not solve all of your problems but it is a huge step in the right direction, especially for black people." We had to eventually agree to disagree on the matter.
So there you go, ironically the most racist person I have met in the UK is actually a black person who is extremely afraid of racism, yet somehow she is totally oblivious to the fact that her reaction to that is to become racist as well. I can't help but feel that there is a wicked sense of irony to Theresa's situation - she has totally embodied the one thing she hates and fears the most: racism. What do you think? Have you ever met someone like Theresa who is suffering from tunnel vision? Have you seen people turn into racists for the unlikeliest of reasons? Do you think that advocating racial segregation is just another form of racism? Should people like Theresa be encouraged more to assimilate or is it her right to actively avoid people who do not make her feel safe? Is silently accepting Theresa's personal choice tantamount to condoning a form of racism in our midst? Let me know what you think, leave a comment below. Many thanks for reading.
Segregationists like Theresa believe there is no solution to a problem like racism, and you will better off sticking to your own kind. She has a pretty myopic view of the situation, but I guess she just got lucky with having good Black colleagues, and might indeed have had some genuinely bad experiences with other races. Not for me though. Nasty people come in all shapes, shades, genders and sexual orientations. You can't just use racism to explain away all bad behaviours, and I hate it when some people use that card to promote their own agendas. I am of a minority race in Singapore and when I served NS an eternity ago, I received the worst form of bullying from officers and men of my own race! I knew then I was being bullied because I was better educated than them, and they considered me different and someone to be hated. There can be myriad reasons why people treat other people badly, and blaming it all on race misses the point entirely.
ReplyDeleteHi Ayhtas and thanks for your comment. I find Theresa's logic incredibly simplistic - it is based on the assumption that black people can't (by default) be racist to other black people hence her problems are solved if she only has black people in her life. But can black people hate each other? Of course they can, ref: Rwandan Genocide when up to 800,000 Rwandans were butchered in a brutal, horrific genocide. Amongst black people, you have people of different nationalities, different religion, different cultures, different social class, they speak different languages, have different political views - for her to ignore all those differences which define us as individuals and simply focus on skin colour is myopic to say the least. I would rather use a common sense approach to this issue and say I'm colour blind: I would like to have nice people in my life, skin colour doesn't matter as long as you're genuinely a nice person and be a good friend. I disagree strongly with her assumption that a person with a different skin colour will automatically hate her for being of a different skin colour - I would never make such an assumption, I would judge everyone as an individual regardless of their skin colour. What bothered me about Theresa was that she made it clear this was her choice, she wasn't going to let me challenge her, she was giving me the privilege of having some insight into the way she felt but the topic was not up for discussion even though I clearly disagreed with her.
DeleteAnd even if Theresa had suffered racism at the hands of white people in the past, is it fair for her to say that ALL white people are therefore guilty of being racists? That's like saying just because you once had a melon from Brazil that isn't sweet, so all the melons ever grown in Brazil are not sweet. Such is the danger of using anecdotal evidence, when you focus solely on your personal experiences rather than the bigger picture.
DeleteWhat if the problem isn't racism per se but simply diversity?
Deletehttp://www.amerika.org/politics/why-are-hate-crimes-against-asian-americans-rising/
Sam, you posted a link to a far right, racist, pro-Trump, anti-immigrant website but I shall let that stay because I wish to respond to your allegation that it is diversity that is the problem. The problem with the article is that the logic does not stand up: yes we have witnessed all kinds of racist violence between blacks, Asians and Latinos in the US, but the article suggests that without diversity, such acts of violence wouldn't occur - really? Remember the most deadly shooting in America in 2017 in Las Vegas when Stephen Paddock (who was as white as they came) opened fire into a crowd at a country music festival? He picked a country music festival that would typically be attended by pro-Trump right wing Republican voters, he didn't pick some K-pop festival or hip hop music festival, no he couldn't have picked a more white and right-wing audience to kill. But hey, just go on and shove that into your blind spot.
DeleteAs I've explained in my post, I've also spent time in a homogeneous environment as the majority and there was no shortage of hatred and violence in there because we're not divided solely by our skin colour - no, we're also divided by our social backgrounds, our nationalities, our religions (or lack of), our education levels, our wealth (or lack of), our sexual identities, our political convictions etc. Heck, I witnessed this growing up when I saw my own father fall out with his brother: they were brought up in exactly the same way in the same family speaking the same language etc - yet my late uncle was pure evil and did many bad things, so my father hated him. There's no guarantee that even people within the same family will get along with each other, the problem hence isn't diversity or racism, but us humans and our ability to find ways to hate each other.
There are so many reasons why you can hate another person and racism or skin colour is just one of so many ways. Even if you go to towns in the middle of nowhere in America where people are 99% white, do you think they will magically all get along or find new ways to hate each other? Us humans, regardless of our skin colour, suck when it comes to social skills and it is due to their poor social skills that we're unable to resolve conflicts. So there you go, I've stepped out of my left-wing echo chamber and talked to you politely on the issue: that's because I'm trying to demonstrate that we should all work on our social skills.
Theresa like many people unfortunately, prefer to retreat to the comfort of their own community rather than to deal with the complexities of racial integration. You need to have certain shared values, interests and of course frequent interactions for some kind of positive integration to even happen. Theresa has gone all out to keep her contacts with White people to the bare minimum, to the extent of even working in an all-Black office. She is too set in her ways, I doubt she can ever change her perspective on race.
ReplyDeleteHmmm. I look at the situation with Theresa and compare it to my father - his friends are all Chinese for a simple reason: he can't speak English. So it would be very hard for him to befriend say a Malay or Indian person in Singapore if he can't even communicate with them. He speaks a little bit of Malay but that's hardly enough to establish a good friendship and his English is non-existent. So that's his excuse for not having a more multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-culture, multi-lingual set of friends but Theresa speaks English in an English speaking country. Yet her rationale for only sticking to Black people is based on very warped logic.
DeleteYes Theresa is an unusual case, as one tends to associate racism more with those lower down the social ladder. I guess it could be psychological then. Perhaps in all her years growing up in the UK, she could have actually been acquainted only with the worst sort of White people, which allowed her hatred to fester. This might have led her to having radical views on race and distrusting anyone not from her community. Ultimately, our view points are all shaped by our experiences and I guess what happened to her is not what happened to you or I.
DeleteMy theory is that there are many people in the UK who voluntarily segregate and will never have a friend of a different skin colour or nationality - they are more like my father in that sense, ie. they don't have the social skills or the language skills to form relationships with someone who is quite different from themselves. But I think even my father realizes that he is limited in that sense, but what puzzles me of course is that Theresa isn't facing those limitations. If Theresa grew up with parents as well as aunts, uncles and other extended family friends who have voluntarily segregated because they didn't have the social skills to assimilate and integrate, if they were first generation immigrants who spoke English but were completely unfamiliar with British culture - then you have a situation that's more similar to my father's case. But I am surprised that they managed to influence Theresa to this degree: after all, she was born here, grew up with English as a first language and is in a much better position to assimilate but chooses not to. I don't take my education and the opportunities I have been given for granted - it has enabled me to do a lot of things my parents never could, that's why I think even if Theresa's parents avoided white people because they simply lacked the social skills to make friends with people from another culture, Theresa shouldn't follow in their footsteps.
DeleteHaving said that, you'll be amazed how many people there are out there just like Theresa. The only difference is that she proudly defended her logic whilst I would never ever cross paths with others like her. By that token, I'm quite unusual given that I have friends of so many cultures, nationalities and backgrounds - the reason is that my main social activity outside work is going to my gymnastics class and we get people of all nationalities and social backgrounds coming to participate in the class and that's where I get to meet many people. We're united by our love of the sport, rather than anything to do with the languages we speak, our religion, our social backgrounds or our various nationalities. I do speak several languages anyway, so I am not fazed at all when meeting someone from another country.
DeleteWhen Theresa assumed that a British Chinese actor could only find work performing Chinese language plays for Chinese people, I felt a sense of envy that a nonwhite person like yourself could find work among white people that sold to white people because it is very difficult for black people to do the same. But also, like some other commenters said Theresa looks like she thinks racism is not something that can be fixed. It reminds me of the movie Black Panther where the rich African country of Wakanda decided to hide itself and not let in any foreigners(of any race) rather than deal with white people colonizing their country.
ReplyDeleteAlso, that solution of an "all one-race/ethnicity workplace" would never fly in my community, the scientific community. I'm not saying there isn't racism or bigotry in the science, we still struggle with race representation and LGBT acceptance even now. But for a scientific law to be considered a law, it must be universal and work on Earth, on the moon, among white people, among black people, among lgbt people, etc. There is no separate set of scientific laws for one group of people and a different set for others like human laws. If you want to be a scientist then you have to want to be accepted by everyone. I can accept the argument of using race based affirmative action to account for prior racism, as to get the numbers of underrepresented groups up to foster a less racist community. But some people use the argument that affirmative action is necessary because there are some jobs a black person can do that another ethnicity can't, like serving the black community. But I don't think this applies to science and is really selling the intellectual ability of an ethnic group short. Racism may be complicated, but the solutions we have to deal with it can be even more complicated.
Hi Amanda and thanks for your comment. I have to explain that it is hard for ALL actors (black, white and Asian alike) to get any kind of paid work in showbiz as it is a tough industry to get into. I don't see skin colour being a major factor and I don't think it is any harder or easier for an East Asian actor like me to get paid work compared to a black actor - it's simply not a simple comparison. I have my friend Sally who is an English actress: Sally's problem is that she is English, she has blonde hair, blue eyes and looks quite similar to so many other English actresses up for the same part; she doesn't stand out as well and even though she is as white as they come, showbiz isn't any easier for her. The problem with people like Theresa is that they think race and racism defines everything when really, it doesn't because we're all individuals. Allow me to offer my take on that situation: I think that someone like Theresa would only ever watch a movie with an all-black or majority-black cast. If there was a white character, he would be an Uber driver with two line or a waiter who doesn't even get to speak. Like Black Panther, there were a tiny number of non-white people in the film but the main characters were all black. Theresa was probably assuming that white people only want to see films with white people in them and the same applies for Chinese people etc - the concept of having a cast with loads of diversity is something quite abstract to her because she doesn't embrace the concept of diversity in our modern society, where everyone can get along regardless of our skin colour.
DeleteOh and I've experience an "all one-race/ethnicity workplace" when I was serving national service and believe you me, us Chinese people still found many ways to hate each other, start fights and make enemies. Talk about tunnel vision. But my point about sharing this story was that Theresa wasn't the kind of racist who would shout racist abuse at me, no - she was above all that, she was remarkably civil with me. But I found her vision of racial segregation really quite racist nonetheless. Racism can take many different shapes and forms - I do think Theresa is racist, albeit a different kind of racist.
Hmm I don't think it's the case that white people only want to watch movies with white people, but that racist Hollywood executives only want to make movies with white people. I love watching cartoons and I notice how diverse it is compared to big budget Hollywood movies. And the only difference seems to be that the animators and writers who make cartoons are in their 20s and 30s whilst the people in charge of huge movie studios are in their 60s and 70s where racism and lack of diverse spaces was more common. But yeah I guess Theresa has some form of internalized racism if she can't imagine a future where many different races can get along, instead settling for one where people only tolerate each other if they look like each other.
DeleteYup one-raced and even one-gendered places can be rife with bullying and discrimination. I remember at work I had problems with 2 people who were asian, even though we were one of the very few asians in the entire department. It was nothing to do with skin color, they had a different class background to me and I said something that came off as insensitive(my bad). Meanwhile the rich white students around me didn't even notice. I would say that a lot of racism(and classism) is casual and borne out of ignorance rather than direct maliciousness. It reminds me of how only 20 years ago lgbt students couldn't take their same sex partners to high school dances. But after more media visibility in showing that gay people are totally normal aside from not being hetero, there is a lot less lgbt discrimination in well educated places.
Hi Amanda. In the case of movies, I don't think there's anything wrong with making movies with all-black or majority-black casts; that's not racist. I watched Black Panther even though I'm not black because I knew it was a good film. However, it's the assumption that black people need a majority black cast before they will even consider purchasing that cinema ticket and watch that film - now that's racist. I think anyone can watch any movie from anywhere in the world as long as it is a good movie. Just because you have an all-black cast doesn't make it a good movie, I think black people also want good movies at the end of the day and it goes beyond a matter of representation. But yes, I actually experience this from an LGBT perspective because for so many years, there would be the London LGBT film festival where we would purchase tickets to see movies with gay storylines where the token straight character has two lines, boy meet boy and falls in love, stories told from an LGBT perspective. But because these were considered niche films put in the LGBT category, they are never going to be mainstream enough to be shown on TV or your local cinema - but guess what? That gay film festival took a major hit ever since I can now access sooooo many LGBT films online without waiting for the BBC to decide when it is finally time to include a programme about the LGBT community in the name of diversity and representation.
DeleteAt the end of the day, we need to equip ourselves with social skills to solve any kind of problems we may encounter when dealing with people at work. Don't try to avoid the problems or else you will spend the rest of your life running away from them - instead face them bravely knowing that once you've solved a problem, you will be more confident about facing the next problem you encounter. That's just my philosophy whilst I think Theresa is always going to be running away.
Oh yes black panther was a great movie, and its setting and cast did not mean it was any less appealing to nonblack people. Also, this reminds me of how plenty of white people voted for Obama in order for him to twice win the presidency. But when it came to Hilary's election many of these white voters didn't turn out for her even though they were of the same race.
DeleteYeah I suspect Theresa either encountered extremely racist white people growing up, or she's like that Asian woman who wrote a post about Asian American identity in one of your previous blogposts who doesn't know how to handle particular questions which single her out as "different" in some way. But in 90% of the situations I've encountered, people didn't intentionally try to be mean. In the few 10% I just shrug and think "yeah they're probably just losers in life trying to vent by bullying others." Similar to the hate mail you got over complaining about the Singaporean education system a while back.
Amanda, some exciting news to share with you this afternoon! I got an email from my agent to audition for a part in a big budget Italian TV series: due to the complete absence of Chinese actors who speak Italian, they have somehow managed to track me down and invited me to audition for the part. I'm under NDA so I can't reveal what it is, but if I get the part, it is a 22-week shoot in Italy during which time I will be in 3 Italian cities - Turin, Trieste and Rome (damn, I've been to all of those places already) and I swear if I spend 5 months in Italy I will become soooo fluent in Italian. LOL, let's not get ahead of ourselves here, first I have to ace the audition and it's a 4-page long script all in Italian. But there you go: that's representation for you. They could have cast an Italian native in the role but no, they decided that this guy had to be Asian. And from what I could tell in the script, there's nothing 'Asian' about the character, it's not like he runs a Chinese restaurant in Rome. He is just one of the bad guys, part of the Italian mafia, he speaks Italian but he just happens to be East Asian. I am so excited, it's so refreshing to get auditions for parts that I feel I have a pretty good chance of succeeding.
DeleteWhoah thats amazing! It's great you still keep in contact with your agent despite no longer working full-time as an actor. Lol I can't imagine what it must be like being a casting director and reading your CV in the "languages spoken" part. Most actors can only list 2 or 3, and maybe 6 if you're the late Christopher Lee, but you can list maybe 10. When you think of it many movies set in East Asia love to cast white people as the bad guys(e.g Frank Grillo in Wolf Warrior 2, a Chinese film). Or cast someone of a different ethnicity as the ally of the main character, like the movie with Rain as the main character "Ninja Assassin", where Naomi Harris, a black woman, plays the co-lead. My guess is that the more races in a movie the more "international" and "bigger" that it feels. Somehow I feel even though humanity has a tendency to be racist, we also have curiosity and the penchant to seek the unknown. If all of humanity were racist then international tourism wouldn't exist.
DeleteAlso, didn't you play a member of the mafia in a Hungarian film once? I think maybe the casting director saw that and was impressed. I hope you get it! Good luck!
Oh please, unless you're super famous and successful, no actors work full time because they're not always in demand. They finish a project, then they effectively become unemployed The number of actors who can claim to work full time are very, very few and limited to A-list Hollywood celebs. My agent understands that, she knows she cannot give me enough work to sustain me full time from acting (especially during the pandemic), so she is just pleased that I am able to take care of myself financially by having another job in the meantime. In my acting CV, I was told to limit myself to 10 languages for credibility because I was told that if I listed more, then people would start doubting if it is possible for anyone to speak that many languages to a high standard. Luckily, Italian is amongst my 10 languages on my online CV so they were able to find me via the search function and offer me the audition.
DeleteThe movie was based on a true event that happened in Europe about 20 years ago - one of those true crime dramas, "based on true events". Big budget, famous cast, loads of Italians with a sprinkling of international flavour, my character is a complex one - according to the script, they wanted someone obviously Asian or at least half Asian, speaks good English and Italian. He has to hunt down one of the members of the other gang and intimidate him whilst having an argument and I can do that scene either in Italian or English (or both) and I am going to do both. I hope I get it obviously, cos the last audition I did was so freaking random. It was for KFC and they wanted "male or female, young and old, any ethnic background, we want big characters who love their KFC" and I read that casting brief and thought, you don't know what you want do you? Male or female, young and old and no preference for skin colour? I did that audition and thought, no way I have a chance of becoming the next face of KFC as they don't know what they're looking for. But this time it is so so specific, they want an Italian-speaking Asian actor and I thought, that list of Italian speaking Asian actors must be super short.
I think you confused two of my projects. I was a mafia boss in a German TV series (shot in Germany), I did do an ad that was shot in Hungary in which I was a dancer but ironically, that ad was only shown in the UK & Ireland but not Hungary. We only went to Hungary as everything is so much cheaper there when you have a big project to shoot. But yes, my big ugly bald face can look quite menacing when threatening someone in angry Italian. LOL, remember that incident at the airport in Italy when I pretended to be a doctor in Italian to get out of a sticky situation? I have been preparing for this role for a long time!!
*Sorry my mistake - this is not a 'movie' but rather a TV series, think of one of those series that you see on Netflix, neat one hour long episodes with something like 10 episodes per season. Then imagine if it is successful, then they will bring it back for season 2, 3, 4 etc. If I can get this, hey it may signal a return to acting. I've not acted for a bloody long time.
DeleteI hope you get it. Filming for 22 weeks in Italy sounds like quite the adventure, and for multiple scenes across multiple episodes too. I am surprised that they chose to cast a role for an Asian character, whom I assume isn't a historical figure. But then again no country is that homogenous, people want to watch what reflects their society and then some.
DeleteMan acting is that cutthroat huh? Like when I used to apply to jobs I was thinking of how many other CVs they must throw in the trash, probably in the 10s to 100s. But with acting it could be in the 1000s. So many people want to be actors but there are so few roles available. It also amazes me how many people could audition for a small role like for KFC commercials. Anything to get a foot in the door.
Lol I just realized when you got into the argument at the Italian airport, you were speaking in Italian and not English. This whole time I just pictured you were speaking English and pretending to be some super posh London doctor. Did the security staff even ask how you learned to speak Italian? Even among the typical non-Italian EU passport holder, fluent Italian is not as common as fluent English, French, or German, and probably even less among British passport holders. I guess if you can sweet talk some airport security into allowing you to pass without spending 3 Euro at a nearby vending machine, you have a good shot at this audition.
DeleteThe series is capturing a "true crime" even dating the period around 2001 to present day, the climax of the crime was in 2003 then it was how the police tracked down the people involved but it's not a simple cops vs bad guys story. There are many factions and I have seen a long documentary about it on Youtube - so it's a really great project with loads of money, it's going to be the kind of thing that will look great on Netflix. The mastermind of the team is Italian, hence his core team are all Italian but the crime involved other Europeans as well and so a lot of the interactions with the non-Italians will all be in English. The role that I am up for is one of the guys representing the "one of the other factions" that is not Italian so they can decide to either make my character Italian speaking or English speaking. Even if I don't get the part, I do hope they will pick another Italian speaking Asian actor rather than just default to making the character English speaking - that would be so boring.
DeleteAs for a small role with KFC, don't turn your nose up at it: if you become the global face of a KFC ad of "happy lady biting into a piece of chicken", that could easily earn you $100,000+ for a day's work because that's how lucrative it is especially if your deal includes the US market. For an actor in a cut throat business, you would want to earn the equivalent of a year or two's wages in just a day or two like that. Sure eating fried chicken isn't exactly requiring much acting talent but it's just another form of modeling and once your face is used to promote a brand, that is very, very lucrative work. That's why my agent wanted me to audition for it - she knows that if I got the part then she's entitled to her cut of my $100,000+ pay check for that ad. It's not about the foot in the door - it's about money. But I didn't get it, guess my face didn't look happy enough. All auditions are done at home these days: I get sent a script by my agent, I go to my spare room, perch my phone on a chair and spend about a few mins recording myself then send that video off to my agent. I imagine all or most auditions will be conducted like that in the future as it is more efficient than expecting people to travel halfway across town just to attend a first audition.
As for the airport incident in Rimini, you have to realize that Italy is a very homogeneous society: Italy is 90+% Italian and even the minorities like recent immigrants like those from places like Romania and Slovenia, Croatia etc are pretty well assimilated so that means in 90% of cases, you will encounter people who have no need to speak another language as everyone they deal with speak Italian. So when I was in Rimini for example, I was getting a bus ticket to San Marino and the kind lady at the bus station was trying to explain to me that there are only two buses a day, do not miss your bus as they won't be another one for another 8 hours, make sure you are there not only on time but early. Obviously, I am a foreign tourist but she couldn't deliver that information in English, she did try to speak Italian slowly and clearly so I could understand her better. Obviously, if you were in a restaurant or shop in central Rome near all the major tourist attractions, then sure they will speak English but even in a smaller town like Rimini (ranked 27th in terms of size, pop 150,000) very little English is spoken. Hence the locals just expect you to speak Italian for you have ventured beyond the usual well trodden paths that the tourists use. It does make Italy less accessible for tourists who are fazed by the language barrier.
So let me put the KFC ad in perspective like this: imagine there's a lottery and the grand prize is $100,000 USD, pretty good money. All you have to do is enter by taking a short 2 minute video of yourself. Even if you knew the odds of winning the grand prize is low, would you enter it if all it took was a 2 minute selfie-video? Even at that stage, I might not do it knowing my odds are poor - but if my agent wants to do it and I have to split the money with her, I would record the video just to keep her happy. And my agent is doing this with so many actors on her books and once in a while, somebody scores a big role and makes a lot of money, then she gets her cut and she's happy. Hey, she has bills to pay y'know. So even if the odds of me getting the role (such as in the case of KFC) are tiny, she would still want me to try because to win the lottery, you gotta buy the lottery ticket first.
DeleteI didn't know KFC paid that much to a single actor for a short ad. But then again they must be expecting to make 10s of millions from a single ad that 100 grand is a drop in the bucket. That'll make me question how much the actors in the youtube ads I see are getting paid next time I watch youtube. Even for high paying jobs there's no such thing as making 100k in a single day like showbiz, but its much steadier work.
DeleteThere is a formula to work out how much you get paid for the ad but it is not a precise science - the three key factors are as follows: firstly, what territory the ad is for (eg. USA + Canada) and what is the combined population of those markets (as a rough estimation of the people who could potentially see the ad). Secondly, how long you intend to use the ad for (ie. just a few weeks in the summer or 2 years - again, the duration would determine the number of potential viewers) and finally what platform it is going to be on: TV, movie theatres, internet, events etc. They use this formula to work out a magic number about how many people could potentially see the ad then offer you a figure for the "buy out" in exchange for appearing in the ad.
DeleteSo to contrast two projects I did - I did an ad for a mobile phone operator in Slovakia in 2011. It was shown in Slovakia only (population 5.4 million only), it was a summer themed ad for a promotion they were doing that summer only (ie. 3 months) and it was for TV + movie theatres + internet. For a project like that which wasn't seen by that many people, I got about £3,000 (approx US$4,165) all in all for it. But it was a fun project, I got to fly to Bratislava for the shoot which was done by a poolside and I went swimming in the pool after the shoot. During the times when we were not shooting, the local crew took me out sightseeing and fed me very, very well - I felt like I was treated like a VIP there. But $4165 is a far cry from $100k because this was an ad for a small country, it is a very limited market.
Contrast that to major global brands like KFC, Coca Cola, Apple, Hyundai and Nike, when they do an ad, sure they could go down the local route and produce something for a tiny market like Slovakia, but what tends to happen is that they will have a global campaign - so KFC will pool the resources for all these different markets they are present in and then spend all that money on just one ad campaign so whether you're in Slovakia or Singapore, Sweden or Sri Lanka, you're going to see the same ad from KFC this summer. That's why they would probably have a multi-ethnic, international feel to the ad - you probably wouldn't show an ad in South Korea featuring an all-white cast, but if the cast is a mix of white, black and Asian people, then that transcends any national boundaries which is probably why my agent was hoping I could be a part of that KFC ad campaign given that they will need to include some Asian faces to give it that international feel.
But yes, that KFC campaign was global so we're talking an insane amount of money to appear in an ad eating chicken for was is probably no more than a couple of seconds. This is an incredible industry because actors are actually pretty protected from exploitation - imagine if KFC, Starbucks or Nike said, "we'll give you a chance to appear in our ad, but we'll pay you nothing because this is great exposure for you as an actor to raise your profile." There will be so many desperate young people who will do it for nothing (or even pay for that privilege) and get exploited. So we have unions and governing bodies to step in and make sure that we are paid according to how many people could potentially see the ad - that's why the formula exists and how you can get potentially paid $100k for appearing for 3 seconds in a KFC ad happily eating some fried chicken.
To put things in perspective, the most lucrative ad I did was for Snickers back in 2014 - the ad was shown in Europe, Africa, Asia, Oz + NZ but not North and South America. It was used for a period of about 2.5 years across all platforms. So yes, for a contract like that, it was extremely lucrative. Not gonna put a figure on it as it would be in bad taste bragging, but let's just say it was good money.
As for the actors appearing in the Youtube ads, I say, it depends - use the formula to work it out. Often you will see a version of the ad that is already on TV, they would just use it for Youtube as well to reach more people (since they have already invested the time & money to create the ad for TV). But my point is simple: you don't get paid more just because you have the perfect body of a super model, you're stunningly beautiful and you're appearing in a make up commercial for MAC. No, whether you're a very fat grandmother appearing in a fast food commercial stuffing your face with chicken nuggets or if you are a 21 year old super model, you're subject to that same formula to work out what you would be paid for it. A lot of people would assume that the supermodel would be paid more but that's not always the case with this formula. Can't say fairer than that!
DeleteI must say, this audition has really brightened up my day. Sure I was dealing with the usual crap at work today but otherwise I was a) learning my lines in Italian, b) researching the true story that that is the inspiration for this series (and boy it is fascinating indeed - true crime is a brilliant genre). I also like my character, he is mean, evil, confident and most of all, he is suited and takes great pride in his appearances. And I'm like, YES, please let me play someone like that on TV, someone who is supposed to ooze confidence, sex appeal and danger all at the same time. Sure I know it's still a long shot at this stage, but having something to focused on has lifted my spirits - after all, we're still in lockdown here in London and it is the 12 April when the first steps will be taken for normal life to return to London with a gradual easing of the lockdown restrictions.
DeleteThat's a surprise to me, that acting actually has unions. But then again they do treat people better than a lot of industries in some cases. Also it's funny you mention that a grandma appearing in a KFC ad is paid just as much as a supermodel type. I think I've seen a few grannies used in fast food ads in Sg.
DeleteLol your character sounds a bit like you with regards to fashion. Sounds likes he's a bit higher up the food chain in this crime business than being a lowly hired gun. Almost like a "dark" version of the job you do in sales. I like to watch True Crime podcasts and I'm surprised how some of the highest ranked people in organized crime don't look like the typical view of a "brute." Instead they're extremely streetsmart, charismatic, good at organizing things and people, and very good at not getting caught.
I know the most about the actors' union in the UK called Equity but they aren't different from other actors' unions in other Western countries. I have had two problems before in the past when I didn't get paid the full amount for a job I did, in one case it was a booking I got from a dodgy agent who withheld part of the money due to me, the other one was a middleperson who helped herself to 20% of my earnings when she was merely the person who made the inquiry and had no right to take that deduction. In both cases, my union's lawyer represented me and they just went to these scoundrels and said, "hi, you know me, I'm Equity's best lawyer and I never lose - I can make this very painful for you or you can settle out of court now and give me what I want. I recommend the latter." And in both cases, he got me more money than I was owed - you might think that in my other job in finance, unions are totally unheard of, you think of people working in factories or public transport having unions but yeah, actors have unions too and they have been incredibly useful. It's like a smoke alarm - normally, you don't even know it is there in the building, but when it wakes you up in the middle of the night because smoke is filling the room from a fire next door, you become extremely grateful that it is there to save your life.
DeleteAs for grannies used in fast food ads, I remember this granny in Singapore from the time I was a teenager - she was featured in a McDonald's ad and she had that one line in Mandarin which translates to, "this is my youngest grandson, it is so troublesome when I have to take him out, he only likes McDonald's." It was just something very genuine about her in that ad which made her very popular, she was actually working non-stop for quite a while further to that McDonald's ad. But of course, there is undoubtedly more work for a 21 year old supermodel than a 71 year old granny. Such is the nature of showbiz, but the fact is the casting depends on the product. McDonald's or KFC may choose to cast a granny because of the wholesome heartwarming image that she has over a supermodel trying to eat a Big Mac, I bet I would react by saying, "oh come on, look at that skinny supermodel, it looks like she hasn't touched carbs in 5 years and you're trying to convince me she is actually enjoying a Big Mac and large fries? Not very convincing, nah."
Yeah true crime is a great genre, I can spend ages on Youtube watching true crime videos.
Let me tell you about one of the cases that Equity helped me with. This was for an ad for Carlsberg beer that I did many years ago. There is a complicated process for the casting whereby the creative agency might outsource the casting to a third party or do the casting themselves. In this case, they outsourced it to a woman - we'll call her Judy. So Judy got in touch with my agent, who submitted me for the job; I auditioned and then got the part. But what Judy then did was very sneaky: she took 20% of my earnings and then passed 80% of it to my agent, who then took another 20% from what she got and I was left with 64% of my earnings.
DeleteSo let's imagine if I was supposed to be paid £1,000 for the job, I would split that 80-20 with my agent and I ought to walk away with £800 whilst my agent got her £200. Instead Judy took £200 at the start, then my agent got £160 whilst I was left with only £640. The true amount for this was actually a lot more than £1,000 but I picked that number just to have a simple number to work with. But it was also a matter of principle, when I challenged Judy through Equity's law department, she called me up, screamed and me and claimed that I would never ever work as an actor again if I dared to cross her. And I said to her, "bring it on bitch, is that the best you've got? I'm not afraid of you - I've got my union on my side."
Anyway, I showed my union's law department the paperwork and they concluded that Judy ought to have been paid by the creative agency for her services rendered in the casting process - how they choose to pay her for her services is up to them but otherwise she has no right to help herself to my earnings. My union sued her and she lawyered up, refusing to back down until her lawyer said to her that she doesn't have a case at all - that it would be better to settle out of court ASAP. So I won and I went on to do so much more acting whilst she's disappeared into oblivion. Whilst I can laugh as I tell this story, there is a sad part to it.
There was one other guy Andre who was in exactly the same position as me, he was also with my agent and when I won my case, I told Andre exactly what to do to claim some more money that was rightfully his. But he got that same threatening phone call from Judy and he was younger, more easily intimidated and decided not to pursue it - he didn't think it was worth making an enemy for that amount of money. Andre left acting anyway eventually and moved away - so in hindsight, he should have sued Judy anyway and claimed that money for himself. But goodness me, the number of people like Judy who act this way in my industry is shocking, you have got to have nerves of steel dealing with these sharks.
*Andre was also cast in the same Carlsberg ad, of course - his booking also came through Judy, that's why she also took an unlawful cut of his earnings as well.
Delete*Andre was also cast in the same Carlsberg ad, of course - his booking also came through Judy, that's why she also took an unlawful cut of his earnings as well.
DeleteOh god Judy sounds like a very greedy person who I hope nobody works with ever again. Wow didn't know the unions had lawyers on their payroll as well, but there is a lot of money at stake so there is bound to be a Harvey Specter type who goes into showbiz. That reminds me of how I was watching this true crime podcast where the interviewee said Netflix made a documentary about his life, but paid him in the low 5 figures for his story despite clearly making much more than that on him. And the podcaster said "I could put you through some good entertainment lawyers for next time." Considering how much money is at stake, probably a good idea. It does take some chutzpah to realize how much you are worth and commit time and effort into creating a huge fuss if you feel you are ripped off though. A young actor like Andre is probably just trying to get his first few gigs and pay his rent, while a seasoned actor like yourself is much more confident that you can win arguments. I mean you did win an argument with a salty security guard in Italy whilst pretending to be a doctor haha.
DeleteThis also reminds me of how I was surprised to find out that Tyler Perry is a billionaire while Brad Pitt is only worth 1/3rd as much despite the former being much less famous than the latter. It turns out Tyler Perry initially started out as a screenwriter, and he got to befriend Oprah who told him to negotiate for ownership when he branched out into making movies and acting in them. Contrast to Brad Pitt who was working part time as a hot dog seller whilst in between gigs in the beginning. Brad Pitt wasn't in as good a position to negotiate when he was younger, compared to Tyler Perry who had Oprah mentoring him in the business of showbiz. Tyler Perry owns all his films and even built a movie studio which he rents out to major film productions, while Brad Pitt is only starting to form his own production company in recent times (Plan B productions).
Well Judy's approach to such conflicts is intimidation - she knows she is in the wrong, she knows what she is doing is illegal and unlawful, yet she gets away with it with people like Andre cos she shouts at him and makes threats. I'm disappointed in Andre, he's a mouse not a man - but then again, I've actually survived national service so I am quite unflappable after having had 2 years 4 months of people yelling obscenities at me for the entire period I was in NS. So if Judy wants to try to intimidate me, I say she picked the fight with the wrong person. I never pick a fight I can't win and that's why I just calmly referred her to my union's lawyer. I'm not sure exactly how the union's lawyer is paid but when he wins a case, he will get the other side to pay his fees as well so not only do I get the money I was owned, he gets paid for his time not by my union but by the losing side. That figure is secret but I found out that he walked away from that case with far more money than what I got: I only got what Judy owed me, that's all I wanted whilst he was able to say, "here's my bill. If you pay the full amount now, I won't add any interest to it." He's calm, cool and super experienced, he said something like Judy was wearing diapers when he won his first case so she has no idea what she is up against. In the end her lawyer told her to settle and end it ASAP by paying us exactly what we demanded.
DeleteSome people like me are resourceful, I can't win the fight with Judy so I find reinforcements and legal muscle to make sure I get what I want. Even if it was for £100 I would have taken Judy to court just to make a point, it is a matter of principle because people like her bully her way through life. She bullied Andre and he just collapsed under pressure. I don't think it has anything to do with his age or inexperience, I challenge you to think about the people you know and put them into two categories: "bullies" and "bully victims". In such a situation, I chose to stand up to the bully by fight back whilst Andre rolled over and became a victim. It has nothing to do with his age or financial situation - it has a lot more to do with self-confidence when you decide whether or not to stand up for yourself. I've been through enough in life to know how to deal with such a situation.
Kinda makes me wonder in what figures was Judy stealing in. If she regularly stole in the 4 figures from 5 clients a year, that's a decent amount of ill-gotten gains. Oh yeah UK law states that losing side has to pay winning side's legal fees. It makes it easier for poorer people to even get a lawyer if they have a strong case, but it can really bankrupt the losing side like in the case of Roy Ngerng in SG, where SG law is very similar to UK law and has the same "loser pays" rule. In the US we don't have a loser pays rule, so one has to be very rich to even file a lawsuit.
DeleteYeah in a lot of cases sometimes you have to fight back just to show people you won't be bullied in the future, even if fighting back carries little material reward by itself. I recently had a paper rejected by some unfair reviewers, and even though its not my best project and I have other more important things to do, me and my boss agreed we would argue back just to send the message to the community its not gonna be this easy to shut us up. When you said Andre didn't think it was worth "making an enemy for so little money", I think Judy is already an enemy, and if other greedy people find out he didn't fight back then the sharks will start to circle.
But in life many people don't fight back, and sometimes I think I fight back a little too much to the point of paranoia. There is virtue in forgiveness and living a peaceful life with a peaceful mindset too, even if one can't let every Judy they come across get away with it. Though in your case its strictly business. If you want to survive in the industry you can't look like someone easy to take advantage of.
From what I understood, Judy wasn't a full time thief - she had a regular job performing a function within the industry (by helping out with the casting), but structured it in a way that she put herself in the position of a middleman so that the money someone had to go through her office before it comes to the actors. All highly irregular and illegal of course which is why my lawyer said it was a slam dunk easy win - pay up or we'll expose your illegal wrongdoings. So the losing side will have to pay and the longer she dragged it on, the longer my lawyer would chalk up his daily fees just to take her calls, answer her emails etc. Even her own lawyer pointed this out to her, that's why upon legal advice, she gave in. But she wasn't stealing full time - let's compare her situation to someone who worked in an Apple Store and once every now and then, she would take an iPhone or iPad from the storeroom home (to sell on eBay, give to her friends or use it herself etc). So most of the time, this Apple Store employee is doing a completely normal job but when given the opportunity (ie. the storeroom is unlocked and she is the only one in there, no CCTV etc, she is wearing a sweater and can easily conceal an iPhone underneath it etc) then yeah she wouldn't hesitate to become a thief when the opportunity presents itself. That is quite different from someone who steals all the time and is a professional thief - Judy is more like that Apple Store employee who takes an iPhone every now and then.
DeleteAs for standing up for yourself, that's so important Amanda!
The thing about Judy is that there was plenty of proof that she was in the wrong, dunno how she would've talked her way out in court. That lawyer does sound super intimidating, like jeezus he managed to get Judy to pay double of what she normally owed, not including her own lawyer's fees.
DeleteBtw today I just had an "apartment check" with the leasing office which I could tell was a thinly veiled way of asking me to resign my lease. I felt really cheated last time I signed a new lease since I was on a 6 month lease which they wanted to extend to a 14 month lease on the same price. The salesperson lied to me last time that moving costs would be $5000 usd, and also telling me the offer was only valid within the next half hour because he had to go home. Now, I know from talking to you they were just doing their job in being a good salesperson and they probably make commissions from each new lease they sign. But even if they're turning the charm up to 1000% I can and should still say no if it doesn't fit my budget. I'm just surprised they turn very hostile in the end asking me to give my notice 7 months early so they can pre-lease my apartment and I can't come back to it. Some days I think most humans aren't built to deal with conflict or hostility, its a skill you learn from being stuck with really bad people for years like your experience in NS. Hell even a group project in university is hard enough to deal with, let alone a greedy casting person like Judy.
Ah, I wasn't entitled to more than what Judy owed me in this case and since it was settled pretty quickly then there wasn't an issue of adding interest onto it. I only got the satisfaction that she had to pay my lawyer's fees, which wasn't cheap at all. But sigh, I am not sure what you should do about your lease situation - all I can say is that because of Covid, rents in major cities have taken quite a hit, so you're in a position to negotiate a discount or shop around for a better deal. In a downturn, people do leave the city and that's bad news for the landlords. So in a worst case scenario, just leave your current place and find somewhere else but know that you would be in a good position to drive a good bargain. Like if you're asking for $750 a week, tell them "I will give you $600 and that's my final offer." Sure it's a pain to move but it'll be worth it Amanda.
DeleteOh yeah I didn't think about Corona. And I'm a tennant who has been paying their rent in full and on time for the past 12 months, unlike some other tennants during Corona who have been able to stay in a place without paying rent due to the eviction moratorium. I've never negotiated like that, giving a lower price and saying its my final offer, but since you mentioned it I will!
DeleteTrust me, you have everything to gain and nothing to lose. I am sitting on the other end of the table with tenants bargaining with me: do you want to risk having a void period (ie. no tenant, no one paying you rent) or do you want me to renew? If so, then I want to negotiate a discount, a nice big fat discount. Ouch. I have accepted that a discount is inevitable due to the current circumstances but it's trying to limit it to a small discount.
DeleteYou have to ask yourself: if you leave this apartment, is there a long list of people waiting to jump in and rent it? I doubt it in a pandemic. What we landlords fear most is a void period with no income from an empty apartment. We would rather give you a discount just to avoid it.
DeleteOh yeah I forgot you're also a landlord since you own property. Are people really leaving London in droves because of the pandemic? In my case I live right across my University and near 10 different hospitals. Most of the people in my apartment are either the university's wealthy undergrad students (their parents pay $50k usd in tuition every year) or young doctors/nurses/dentists who work in the nearby hospitals that don't own houses yet. The former group may prefer to go home and live in their mansions while taking online classes, while the latter group is definitely still employed during a pandemic and has to live close by. But I heard there was a nearby luxury apartment that was highly discounted, as in 2/3rds my current rent but with a bigger pool, gym, and a freezer at the front desk to store takeout deliveries. Too bad my lease is up in October when most people would be vaccinated and the economy would be back to normal. I really shouldn't have been enticed to stay last time, only because I didn't want to move during corona and school was just about to start. But even before corona there were cheaper apartments nearby, it's just I initially signed a 6 month lease because I was still waiting on another university in California on their admission decision, but was working a short 6 month researcher job here until August.
DeleteMany people who can leave have left - take university students for example: they no longer need to be on campus as all classes are conducted online. So they save money by moving back home with their parents and so with all the university students gone, there is a huge oversupply of rental accommodation in cities like London which normally has a pretty big student population. Others have also left because of remote working - I have one friend who used to live/work in London, but since he can work from home now, he has relocated to a remote part of Northern Ireland where he has beautiful countryside and the beach just down the road. There's little point in him being in London as everything's shut during the lockdown and he doesn't need to be in the London office. He tells me that he forgets there's a lockdown when he is in the countryside, whereas it is depressing in central London to see everything shut during the lockdown.
DeleteOh yeah I remember in August my brother who is a software engineer decided to go on a road trip for 2 weeks since his company told him to work remotely. I also have a friend who lives in Los Angeles and said just after the lockdown he cancelled his lease and moved back with his parents because he switched to remote work and rent in Los Angeles is very expensive (similar to London though not as bad). I guess in my city that could be true as well since we have quite a few universities in the area that switched to fully online (though not my school), but I haven't googled the rent prices recently.
DeleteI'm surprised you haven't left London to work remotely from some exotic location. But your partner works in tech so I doubt he can come with you as easily if he has to oversee new prototypes regularly.
Aaaah actually we could just move to some exotic location in the world - my partner is the CTO of a tech company with activities in the UK, Australia and America so if they wanted him to deal with a new prototype, then they send it over to him in the post. The delivery man brings it to our house, rings our doorbell and that's it - so technically speaking, he could do that from a tropical island in the Pacific Ocean as long as DHL serves that island and we have good internet access there.
DeleteHowever, it's juts little things that keep us here: we have a nice house with outside space here, so it is not a bad way to spend a lockdown given that I escape to my roof garden many times a day just to be outside without coming into contact with people. In the summer, I can do a lot of exercise in my garden and I do take simple pleasures in growing my own fruit and veg in that garden.
Besides, I have been to so many exotic places in my life before and I actually get bored pretty quickly. Let me give you an example, I went to this town called Esquel in the Andes mountains in Patagonia, Argentina for a few days in 2019. We got a really, really nice AirBNB in town and we had a nice balance of lifestyle there - our local guy there would take us to do various fun activities but he would also give us a few hours free every now and then as it's not a boot camp, it's a holiday. My hubby appreciated those hours as he would use them to catch up with work - I may do that or I may just go for long walks in Esquel and quite frankly, there's not much to it. When I first got there it's like, WOAH look at the snow capped mountains in the distance, the air is so fresh, this is so incredible.
But I remember one afternoon - I was due to attend a one hour long Welsh class and then my partner had the whole afternoon to catch up on his work, after the class I was like, great now what? Do I walk along the same streets as I did yesterday and the day before? I suppose if I had rented a car, it would have given me more freedom but holy crap they drive on the other side of the road in Argentina so I didn't dare to drive there (which is why we paid for a local guy to take us to places to do fun activities in the mountains since he knew every road in those mountains like the back of his hand and he spoke 3 languages fluently).
By the time we were due to leave, I got bored and we were there for barely a week. That's why I like the idea of taking loads of holidays, going to somewhere different and leaving before I get bored. I somehow even managed to get bored in Argentina - I would have loved spending more time in a big city like Buenos Aires or Mendoza, I won't get bored in a big city like that but all big cities are subject to lockdowns at the moment due to Covid. Anyway, on balance, the advantages of being at home outweigh decamping to an exotic location.
Wow that sounds very cool to be able to work in tech anywhere in the world and have them ship you the prototype. I have been meaning to go home to my family in another state for a while, but I dunno when I'll finish the coding part of my research and have to start work on a prototype, which I need to be on campus for.
DeleteYeah I was wondering how you were coping exercise wise since your gym must have been closed for an entire year. But its good you have a rooftop garden to hang out in, I think I saw one of your videos of you doing gymnastics up there once. I can't exactly fence in my apartment even though its not that small. I do have a rooftop garden in my building and a park next door, but fencing is a multiplayer sport and not social distancing friendly.
Oh yeah come to think of it there isn't much to do in the countryside after you've been there for a few days, unless its a crowded destination but those are all closed. Sigh... the pandemic has lasted a year even though everyone thought it would be over in 2 months like swine flu.
Hiya Amanda. My gym was closed from March to July, it opened from August to December then shut again. So I received an email to inform me that I can start booking again from 12 April onwards, so I am pleased that there is light at the end of the tunnel. As for the countryside, I have been there and done that - exotic places in Sri Lanka, Greece and Dominican Republic in the middle of nowhere and boy the boredom factor will kick in quickly. I don't get that in big cities though, put me in any big city and there's so much to see and do. But there's little point in me going to somewhere like Paris or Berlin right now as everything from shops to museums to restaurants to cafes to cinemas to theatres are all shut because of Covid restrictions. Mind you, my late mother in law lived in the middle of nowhere in Ireland and my sister in law still lives in the middle of nowhere in Scotland and I know how fast the boredom factor kicks in once I visit them.
DeleteOh that's nice they're reopening, especially with how fast the UK is being vaccinated. Can't imagine how much money they had to lose during the pandemic, same with tourism. Yes a big city always has something to do, but like I said tourism is pretty much bust at the moment, unless you live in New Zealand. As much as I like browsing the internet or playing online games, I really miss trying new restaurants or going to new activities in person.
DeleteI love big cities, it is just the little things you know - like walking into a supermarket and seeing how everything is different, or going into a restaurant and seeing what the locals are having for lunch and seeing what the vendors are selling at a street market. That's why I love traveling - take for example going to Rome, sure everyone wants to see the grand monuments like the Colosseum and Vatican City but I also remember little things like the local pizzeria near my AirBNB run by a family of two brothers and a sister - super friendly people who didn't speak a word of English and even though I speak Italian well, my vocab didn't cover every single topping that could go on a pizza and I remember how she was trying so patiently to explain to me (in Italian) what the individual toppings were on my pizza. I remember and love these little interactions so much and that's the buzz of a big city. I loved Miami because there was always some old Cuban lady who didn't speak any English in the shops I went into and I would end up chatting to them in Spanish. But such is the difference between going somewhere on holiday for a limited time and actually living there for months and months - I can't wait to go traveling again and create new crazy memories (and then share them on my blog).
DeleteOmg streetfood is the best! I still remember going to Bali with my batch for my high school graduation, and the best food I ever had in Bali was at a local "warung", basically a small streetside hawker center that allowed you to pick from a variety of entrees + rice. None of the food was expensive, but it was amazing nonetheless especially since I couldn't find the same food in any other place. And oh yes meeting other people on vacation is always a treat, they might have some interesting story to tell. This makes me think I should've travelled more before the pandemic when I had time to do that in Singapore. I just hope tourism prices won't be too expensive once cities reopen, since everyone would have saved money and is eager to spend it.
DeleteWell fingers crossed, we're still at least a few months away from restrictions on travel being lifted. You might have more freedoms than I do traveling around the USA and exploring the US domestically though.
DeleteHi Sandra, allow me to respond to your comments please. Firstly, I think you're too focused on skin colour - there are other ways to be a minority too. I have a friend who is Polish + gay, but he appears to be totally white (well, he is from Poland) with blonde hair and blue eyes. Yet in many ways, in London, he still feels like a minority in more ways than one. I am sure you can also appreciate the kind of discrimination that white Jewish people in the UK feel, despite being white. My point is simple: there are many different ways we define ourselves as individuals and build our cultural identity and that identity can put us in a minority group even if one is white - simply focusing on racism (the way Theresa has) whilst ignoring all these other forms of discrimination based on sexuality, religion, different cultures/nationality, social class etc is myopic to say the least.
ReplyDeleteI would also like to clarify that London is 45% white British but if you then include people like my gay Polish friend who is white but not British, then that number goes up to 60%, but yes of course London is a very cosmopolitan city. I had the benefit of moving to London to start my life here at a university with a lot of international students and so there wasn't much of a culture shock for me. But I also want to place some responsibility on the individual to fit in and make friends - I did see some international students who was very isolated and lonely because they simply lacked the social skills to make friends with people from a different culture, so whose fault is that? I say, the onus must be placed on the individual to develop those social skills in order to adapt to the situation. So in some of these cases, it is not racism that this international student is isolated, rather this student simply lacks basic social skills to deal with the challenges of adapting to a brand new environment where s/he is faced with people from a different background.
I actually didn't discuss the Meghan Markle case at all in this article. I do have some opinions about her and this whole episode but I will save that for another time.
*Clarification: London is 45% White-British and 60% white, ie. there is a total of 15% of Londoners who are white but not British (but tick a box like white Irish or white Polish, white Swedish etc). This figure does vary borough to borough with some boroughs (notably the richer ones) being more white and some others (notably the poorer ones) being more diverse.
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