Ronnie Biggs the TEFLer

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Ronnie Biggs the TEFLer
« on: August 10, 2009, 01:58:59 AM »
Ronnie Biggs has been released from prison in the UK on compassionate grounds.  A quick Internet search will tell you a bit about him: train robber that escaped from prison and went on the run - living it up in Brazil but eventually returning to the UK because of illness.

I sometimes felt that living and working in China was like being on the run.  Great fun until life catches up with you.  I used to break down the type of person I met in China into two categories: those that are running away from something, and those that are looking for something.  In my opinion the more interesting characters were always those in the former category.
« Last Edit: June 20, 2010, 11:24:28 AM by Slim Pickens »

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AMonk

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Re: Ronnie Biggs the TEFLer
« Reply #1 on: August 10, 2009, 02:15:57 AM »
Ronnie Biggs aside, you do pose an interesting idea.

......I used to break down the type of person you meet .... into two categories: those that are running away from something, and those that are looking for something.  In my opinion the more interesting characters were always those in the former category.


Hmmmm.... mmmmmmmmmm Just how much of our lives is the "running away from" and how much is the "looking for something"? 

I'll have to give it some thought, and (maybe) get back to you when I have an answer....at least as pertains to me :wtf:
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Monkey King

Re: Ronnie Biggs the TEFLer
« Reply #2 on: August 10, 2009, 03:03:44 PM »
I think I am looking for something.  Beats the dead end feeling I had back in the UK.  Plenty of people end up broke and lonely without ever leaving their home country.


....So, when are you coming back to China?
« Last Edit: August 10, 2009, 03:13:49 PM by MK »

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Foscolo

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Re: Ronnie Biggs the TEFLer
« Reply #3 on: August 13, 2009, 01:41:46 PM »
I'm not sure that the two categories of "running away from something" or "looking for something" are the whole story, but I've certainly had a higher hit-rate of finding interesting people to hang with among TEFLers than I have in other walks of life. Maybe that's just because I'm a TEFLer myself, but also maybe it's because an enquiring mind and a daring personality are quite likely to make you end up working for peanuts in some mad job in some weird place.
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decurso

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Re: Ronnie Biggs the TEFLer
« Reply #4 on: August 14, 2009, 06:48:37 PM »
Well...I tell ya ths Slim. I'm not running away from anything, but China does sometimes feel like jail to me (except its more fun and I don't get raped in the shower). I actually have nowhere to stay in my former hometown and in no way can afford Canadian hotel prices. So my choices are to remain in China or move on to another country.

 I like the Ronnie Biggs analogy. I first heard of him by way of the song he recorded with Steve Jones and Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols.  bfbfbfbfbf

Re: Ronnie Biggs the TEFLer
« Reply #5 on: August 15, 2009, 09:15:08 AM »
I'm not running away from anything. No kids, no bad relationships, no ex-wives, no criminal record, no debilitating use of narcotics....the only thing I'm running away from is the small-town mentality of my increasingly effed-up country. China doesn't feel like jial. I always thought it felt like following the rabbit down the hole and drinking the bottle with the label "Drink Me"...the bottle in this case being some kind of rot-gut baijiu.

Though I understand the Train Robber analogy, I fear I can't be said to have much in common with him.
"Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination." Oscar Wilde.

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