Getting hosting job at CCTV9 - introductory letter

I had to write about myself and also why I wanted to work at CCTV9 as part of application process.

Finding myself in China - a 7-year journey

The sky was sunny blue with silk clouds when I climbed on a plane and waved goodbye to my home. Home was, of course, Johannesburg, the big industrial hub of South Africa. Where was I going? America. How long? Supposedly 15 months. With who? Just me and my teddy bear. Why? To explore new territory. To find where I belong. To find out something about that very tricky and illusive entity commonly known as 'myself'. It was November 24th, 2000 and I had just written my final exam two days before. I guess you could say I was in a hurry to get away. Didn't even hang around for the graduation ceremony. My girlfriend cried all the way to the airport. I told her not to worry because I'd be back in no time. Just wanted to stretch my legs a bit. But she didn't buy that. Maybe she saw a twinkle in a my eye or she picked up on a new tone in my voice or maybe it was just good old woman intuition. Anyway, she somehow knew I wouldn't be coming back. Turns out she was right.

I spent the next four months working in a ski-rental shop in Winter Park Colorado. Yes, it was an easy job with lots of free time which I successfully used to fall down the mountain and almost kill myself on numerous occasions. Skiing is a fun sport, but you must remember, I'm from Africa. We don't get a lot of snow. The time sped by and before I knew it, my contract was up and I was traveling the Mid-west, Nevada and Arizona. I then jumped on a plane and headed down to Peru, South America. This country will blow your mind. It is so rich in history and culture that it will force open your perspective on life with a crowbar. I stayed a month in Cuzco, the gateway town to the lost city of Machu Pichu and the Inca Trail that takes you there. It's a fun town packed with tourists - I picked up some Spanish, worked at an Irish pub, met a girl and then let her drag me across to Bolivia, just next door. Bolivia is the cheapest country in South America and so you get a lot for very little. You can see the Amazon jungle for $25 a day which I did and it was awesome. I tried hunting down an anaconda, hooked and ate the flesh-munching piranha and swam in the river while alligators watched from the bank. And all this to impress a girl. Hmmm, the things we do for love.

On my 25th birthday, July 29th (remember this date so you can buy me a cake) I arrived in Vancouver. I was here to finally start being responsible about my life - a thing that I had gracefully been avoiding for a good while. But, at the end of the day, all play and no work leaves the wallet rather empty. I can almost handle this situation but I've found that girls are not that impressed with a guy whose idea of a date consists of a pizza slice and a coke. Therefore, with my computer science degree tucked under my arm I hit the squeaky clean streets trying to find a company that would hire me. Unfortunately, this was no easy matter. In fact, I feel that Tom Cruise had an easier job achieving success in that movie 'Mission Impossible'. Vancouver was going through a recession and no one wanted to hire a recent foreign grad with zero work experience. So, I did what any semi-sane 25 year old with lofty ideals about life would do - I decided to become an actor.

Learning how to act natural was an arduous journey that consisted of a lot of disappointment and frustration. I felt that if I could just win the admiration of my teacher, who used to act in Hollywood, then I would stand a chance of making it. I did make some progress, although it was agonizingly slow. And after 18 months of classes, I decided it was time to find an agent. Unfortunately, I had already extended my visa twice and the Canadian government wasn't in the mood for doing it a third time. And so, I packed my bags and hit the road again. Next stop, Taiwan.

Within a week of arriving I was in Chinese class trying to figure out this ancient and beautiful yet frustrating and seemingly inaccessible language. Learning those tones for the first week almost killed me. All I wanted to do was learn how to say stuff, but the teacher wouldn't let me learn a single word before I could pronounce the tones. Did I say it was frustrating? It was, but thank God I stuck with it. To support my life, I started teaching English. This job makes sense in Asia because its easy and the money is quite good. But, I could only do it for about two years. After which I started working for a magazine writing mostly travel articles. This was a fairly decent job, but not ideal. What I really wanted to do was find some acting work. But every agent I approached told me that all the movies and TV shows were made in Hong Kong and Beijing. I did a few commercials and that's where acting in Taiwan ended. Taiwan is a great place, but after three years I decided that I needed something new, something big, something that would make my head spin.

I arrived in Beijing 15 months ago, aged 30 and 9 months. My birthday is still July 29th (I'm a big fan of ice cream cakes). My plan was this: continue to write for the Taiwan magazine part time and spend the rest of my days working on a sitcom idea. I had decided that the best way for me to get an acting job was to create an absolutely awesome script, a script that no director in his right mind would reject. The main character in the story, would of course, be written for me so the director would have no choice but to hire me for the job. So, I set about doing that. Fortunately, because I found an acting agent, I also got some acting work on the side. I was therefore able to stop working for the magazine and could devote myself entirely to acting and writing. I haven't quite finished that magic sitcom script yet, but I'm still working on it. Lately, I've been concentrating more on my Chinese because I love the language and the more I know, the clearer and more beautiful the colors of China become. The language truly helps me immerse myself in the Chinese way of life. It's a way of life that I love. I'm happy to say that Beijing has become my home and couldn't imagine living anywhere else right now.

Over the last year, Tom and I have become pretty good friends. And since we arrived in China at pretty much the same time, we've had a bit of rivalry going on to see who could make a success of themselves first. When I met him, he was acting in an American independent movie and I envied his situation because he was doing exactly what I wanted to do. Then I got a job on a mini-series (壮士出征) and although he didn't say it, I think he was envious of me. Then he got a job working for CCTV and my whole head turned green with envy. What a great job! And how I could I compete with that? I've watched most of the shows that Tom has presented and enjoyed listening to his stories about where he's been and what he's seen. His firsthand account of the Sichuan earthquake was horrific, but I also considered that being there, in the heart of darkness, to be an awesome opportunity to witness how a country can mobilize and come together as one, in body and spirit, to deal with unbelievable tragedy. I thought Tom handled a very difficult and traumatic topic well by being sensitive and objective at the same time.

As far as I feel, working as a host on Rediscovering China is far more than a regular acting job. Not only do I get to be in front of the camera, a place where I love to be, I also get a chance to explore exciting parts of China, many of which most people don't even know about. Like the show you did about Nanning for example - I had never even heard of the place. And to discover that its destined to be a future economic hub - who knew? It's also a chance to interact with Chinese people in a work environment and to make use of the Chinese I've learned. Chinese people are so warm and kind, they're also very unpretentious. If you need proof of that, just look at the footage we got at Wangfujing yesterday. Every single Chinese person that I spoke to responded to my questions in a polite and gracious manner. I much preferred talking to them than the foreigners because they were approachable and friendly. Quite a few of the foreigners I tried speaking to did not want to know me. They were too proud or arrogant or just too busy going somewhere to answer a few questions.

When I went to the CCTV office yesterday to meet Mr Pang, I immediately liked the work environment. Everyone I met, in true Chinese style, welcomed me and made me feel at home. I enjoyed getting to know Mr. Pang a little bit. I also had a good chat with Mr. Jin and we joked about Tom's so-so level of Chinese. Tom didn't understand everything we said, but he got the gist of it. I guess his Chinese has gotten better since the last time I heard him speak. Keep working at it, Tom!

In closing, I would just like to say that I appreciate the opportunity I've been given in applying for the position of host on Rediscovering China. I feel, based on where I've traveled in the world and what I've seen, that I will be able to bring new and interesting ideas to future shows. Tom and I are both excited about the possibility of working together to create something sensational for China's viewing pleasure. I know that working for CCTV is a job that requires 100% commitment and dedication. I promise to give you a 110%. This is the kind of attitude I have when doing something that I love. And I know I will love working on your show. And now I have to go and give Tom a Chinese lesson. He still doesn't know how to get his sandwich warmed at Starbucks.