The China Experience
Contemplating Next Moves
Never in a million years did I ever think I would live in China. My goal was to teach in Asia and I had set myself the mission of getting a job in Singapore. After four years there, however, I was thinking of what my next move could be. Was there somewhere else calling me? Or could I just do what many British friends had done and change schools but not countries? I wouldn’t be heading back to Australia. But there was a force pushing me in one particular direction. A direction that just a few years earlier seemed unlikely. That force was called ‘Richard’.
It’s Often About Who You Know
Two of my best friends from my time in the Philippines, Richard and Niki had been teaching in Nanjing, China for the past two years. Richard had half-joked that he would find a job for me there. However, his school was still developing its curriculum when he first arrived as dean of studies. They were not offering Business or Economics when he arrived there.
But now they were!
Would I really think about moving to China?
Well, life can get complicated in the world of international work. My future wife, Miko and I had been together for a couple of years and we had discussed taking her two daughters who were still living in the Philippines with us if we moved. But not being married yet might make that difficult. Her daughters at the time (in 2007) were 12 and 11.
When Richard suggested that I fly to Nanjing, all expenses paid, for an interview with the school’s director, the prospect suddenly became fascinating. I would be re-uniting with good friends in a really different and exciting country and I would be provided with a salary and benefits package far greater than my two previous jobs. Yeah, I was definitely thinking about moving to China.
So of course, I took the trip to China for the very first time to interview for a job in Nanjing, China. Nanjing is about 300 km north-west of Shanghai and has a population of around 9 million. This doesn’t rank it in the top 10 of China’s largest cities.
Another Interview and Another Decision
I was put up in a 5-star hotel close to the school and given a guided tour of the city, the school campus and even the accommodation where I could be living for the first year. The interview went extremely well and I was offered the job on the spot. I explained that I needed a little time to consider such a large move.
And I had some questions. Question 1: ‘Could my girlfriend come with me?’ Answer: ‘No problem’. Question 2: Could my girlfriend’s daughter come also and would she be provided with free education at the school where I was working? Answer: ‘Also, no problem’.
At this point, I was just a little speechless. Not just at the answer to the second question, but also at how quickly it came. We had decided that Miko’s older daughter would come with us while her younger daughter would stay in the Philippines. This could be an incredible opportunity for her to get a high-quality international education. And all of this is a part of my employment package.
My mind was made up before I left the building. Everything just felt right suddenly. It was a scary move in some ways. But it turned out to be one of the best moves of my life.
Living In China
Six months before arriving for my first day at work in Nanjing, China wasn’t even on the radar. It’s like that sometimes. I’m so glad that all of that changed. In fact, I wish I stayed much longer than the three years that I lived in Nanjing.
I could write a book about my experiences in my three years trying to adjust and learn the language and culture of China. Everything here was just fascinating. It was three years of huge cities, lots of language challenges to overcome, working in a great expat community and also seeing the natural beauty of this vast enormous country.
It was the complete opposite of Singapore in terms of climate. The weather extremes saw us walking through snow at certain times of the year and then struggling with the intense heat in the summer months. My daughter saw her first snow one afternoon when football practice was cancelled and preference was given to making snowmen on the field instead.
The thing though that I enjoyed most was just the daily challenge of trying to communicate in order to get somewhere or to get something done. I was determined to learn at least a survival level of Mandarin. I learnt to use numbers in the markets (Mandarin numbers make more sense than English ones) and I became proficient enough to fake conversations with taxi drivers and to once order pizza over the phone.
Unlike the Philippines and even Singapore where it was not that useful to learn the language, here it was essential. And the best thing about ‘essential’ is that you make much faster progress. Learning even just a little Mandarin was a pretty great achievement for this small-town Aussie. But I defy anyone to live in China for 3 years without learning some Mandarin. Many of my fellow expats have since become very proficient. Unfortunately, my next move would take me to Cantonese and English-speaking Hong Kong, where I would lose most of what I learnt in those amazing 3 years.
China is also where I rediscovered my passion for running. I managed to run a half marathon (my first ever) on the streets of Shanghai and another on the Great Wall of China. The second was one of the most amazing things that I’ve done. A group of us teachers travelled together for a weekend never to be forgotten.
We climbed the wall to its peak in the early stage of the run, paused to take in the scenery before meandering back down and then passing through small villages. Cheered on by hundreds of llocals chanting loudly ‘jaiyou, jaiyou’ (Good luck, Go for it, You can do it) there was plenty of motivation to put in a good performance.
A few years later when living in Hong Kong, I would return to Shanghai to run my first-ever full marathon.
The School
When you move overseas as a teacher, especially somewhere like China, your happiness is very much influenced by your workplace. The school becomes the centre of everything that you do. It becomes your community and even your family.
In Nanjing the school was amazing. The campus had all of the facilities that you would hope for such as state of the art swimming pool, gymnasium, arts and drama centre and lots of space for students both indoors and outside.
The faculty were diverse and forward-thinking professionals who taught me a lot about what international schools were all about. The school exhibited a great sense of community and the students were motivated and mostly high achieving. And they were nice. I was happy to work there and I was happy that my daughter was studying there.
I am reluctant to compare schools. They are all so different. Those with the best facilities aren’t always the happiest. Teachers with the best salaries aren’t always the best teachers. Students with the best grades aren’t always the most enjoyable to teach.
I have been extremely lucky to have taught in very different types of schools that have all had a great sense of community and where students and teachers had excellent relationships. I have been inspired to be a better teacher not only by my colleagues but also by my students. My time in China played a large part of my development as a teacher and a global citizen.
Final Thoughts
In a nutshell: It is a fascinating place that provided us with a great opportunity to experience a truly different culture just before it got too modern and crazy.
Key lesson learnt: Learning languages is really tough but worth the effort and helps you to understand the culture better. Mandarin is a beautiful language. It’s a shame I’ve forgotten most of it now.
My wife says: ‘China is beautiful but communication was so hard for me and it can make you feel isolated’