There’s nothing quite like sitting down to some tea after a productive day. Guiyang saw sun and blue sky today for the first time in over a month and the whole city seemed uplifted. The scooter ride to work had less honking than normal and it seemed that anyone who was able to, spent their day outside, soaking in the vitamin D! Thursdays are my ‘get stuff done day’ though, so I spent most of my day indoors cleaning the teacher’s office, chatting with my fabulous coworkers and then teaching my wonderful kindergarten students whom I love very much!
This little monkeys are my heroes 🙂 Not only are they a tonne of fun, but they are incredibly sweet too. I went into a coughing fit today in class and little Sufei (the cutie in the middle) came over and put her hand on my arm and asked “Marie, are you ok?”. Teaching is just so…….rewarding!!!
What is this sudden shift in mood, you might be asking yourself? My last few posts have been centered around how I’ve been ‘getting through’ this part of living overseas. October and the first half of November were tough. Culture shock, finding my ‘place’ at work and being constantly sick had definitely been putting a damper on my mood. Dave is my rock, but even the best couples get nippy with each other when stresses run high for long periods of time, so we decided to do what we do best: travel! What better way to improve moods and remind us WHY we’re here! So Monday morning (I teach all day Saturdays and Sundays so my days off are Monday and Tuesday) we packed up, hopped onto a train and headed down to Zhenyuan Ancient Village!
Zhenyuan is located in the eastern part of Guizhou province. This is roughly the route we took by train to get there. The trip took just over 4 hours but the scenery was beautiful and time fly by
We arrived shortly after noon, and caught a taxi to the old part of town, where our hotel was located. After a few minutes of waiting to check in, a woman arrived to show us to our room. I took out my passport so that she could match my reservation but she just laughed and told me that ‘she knew’ (as it turns out, not many Lao Wai visit this town).
The road where our hotel was located.
She lead us outside and down an alley, to a locked door. She called for someone who was cleaning his mop in the river, and he came and unlocked it for us. As it turned out, he was the hotel’s owner. He had just finished cleaning our room (which was spotless!) and he came up to welcome us to the hotel. He spoke roughly 10 words of English, but he’d gone ahead and written down several things for Lao Wai to do in the town in English. Judging by the way it’s written, he probably copied it down from something he translated in Google, but it was such a thoughtful thing to do and it really impressed us because China isn’t exactly famous for its customer service.
He’d memorized it as well, so he could point to thinks when we asked questions.Dave, sitting on our room’s balcony, overlooking the riverA little girl being taught how to row a boat by her grandfather. This was happening right under our balcony 🙂
After planning out our days in Zhenyuan with him, we sat down and had some lunch at a local restaurant and then set off to explore the town a little. I can’t really say we did anything terribly exciting, but there were so many beautiful things to see that it all felt like such an adventure! Zhenyuan is a 2000 year old town, and the buildings have been built and rebuilt in the Miao minority style. We wandered down cobblestone streets and eventually found our way to the busier part of town, where citizens there work, go to school and shop. It was such a beautiful mix of old and new.
One of many stone archways in Zhenyuan. This one led to an area where several tour boats (built in traditional Miao style) were docked for the evening.A wooden tour boatA woman loading up her horse with gravel. She was one of several people we saw with horses in downtown Old Zhenyuan, where taxis also cruise the roadsThis bridge was the object of many of my photos. It connects the north and south ends of town, which are divided by the Wuyang RiverOne of several pagodas in Zhenyuan
After our stroll in the afternoon, we head back to the hotel for a much needed nap. After all, what is a vacation if you don’t get to rest a little?? The view that greeted us as we left our room to find supper was incredible. I’ve told my family and friends more than once that China, at nighttime, is too beautiful to really explain. Here are some photos to back that up.
The view from our balconyThe same bridge at nightThe same pagoda we walked by during the afternoon, lit up for the night. All the red lights on the right are lanterns and the blue lights are of the boardwalk along the riverFishermen’s boats under the bridge
For supper, we enjoyed one of Guizhou’s most popular dishes: Sour Fish Soup. It came with an assortment of vegetables, tofu and of course, rice! We enjoyed Chinese beer, a spectacular view and fantastic food. I’d recommend this restaurant to anyone…if for no other reason than the location!!
Our view during dinnerOur waiter was kind enough to take a photo while our food was being prepared 🙂Too much food for 2 people to eat!
After this feast, we head back to the hotel, taking the North side of the river back. We got up close to the Green Dragon Cave (which is actually a temple..not a cave), and got to see the pagoda to the west of our apartment lit up. No pictures could ever really capture the beauty we saw in Zhenyuan Monday night, but I think my camera did alright in showing what it was like 🙂
An up close photo of the templeThe west pagoda. Behind it, is a mountain. Guizhou is famous for its rugged countryside, and its mountains are stunning.A close-up of the same pagodaWe met fishermen all along the path back to our hotel. I thought of my dad every time I heard a line hit the water 🙂
Stay tuned for part 2! I always think I can fit it all into one post, but I want to share so many pictures so I always run out of time! I suppose I’ll have to get my butt back online soon to tell you about our Wuyang River cruise and our lovely afternoon walking along an ancient wall 🙂
The last week has been fantastic! The atmosphere at the school has been far more positive this week, we got out of the city last weekend and had a mini adventure and today, I got to hang out with an adorable kitten at my favorite restaurant:)
Meet Romeo…the sweet kitten that Kevin and Loman took in a few weeks ago. He’s a confident boy now, and he spent most of supper today curled up in my lap, purring. Talk about comfort for the soul!!!
But I think the biggest thing that’s made this week awesome, is the little bit of extra money we’re making tomorrow doing overtime for the school. We save this money so that we can treat ourselves to some of the little things we miss from back home. Of course, we can’t find everything we miss from Canada in Guiyang, but the things we can find are always a big deal. A chocolate bar can make up for missing some of the things you can’t buy on Tao Bao or at Carrefour…
Seeing our Maple turn red in the fall, for example… I miss that!
We officially hit Month 3 in Guiyang on November 15th (My brother’s birthday!), and the end of this first quarter abroad is notorious among travelers for being when you really begin to miss things. I’ve mentioned some of those things in previous posts, but today I’d like to focus on the things we HAVE managed to find in Guiyang, that have made our stay here a little less ‘homesicky’.
If you listen very closely, you can hear the cushion on this chair whispering ‘I’m pointless…I’m pointless..’. We still have not discovered comfort in China, to my dismay…
1. Western Stores
I’ve mentioned in past posts that Guiyang is home to several North American food chains, such as Dairy Queen, Pizza Hut, KFC and Mcdonalds. But we’ve also found some western stores that have made our stay here easier. Walmart is common here, and Guiyang now has 4 locations. Walmart has come in handy for household items, such as: spray bottles (couldn’t find one anywhere else…), soft pillow cases (the ones that we originally had actually hurt my face), drain cleaner and stationary supplies. Carrefour is a weekly lifesaver as well. We were able to find everything we needed there when we left for China while our luggage stayed in Vancouver. Carrefour also has a fantastic ‘foreign foods’ section, that sells Cuban rum, Perrier sparkling water and salty popcorn.
We also found these babies in the import section last week. Too bad we didn’t find them 2 months ago…could have saved my mom sending me a box full of them from Canada!!! lol!!!
And there are even many western clothing stores here! H&M was a lifesaver during our first week in Guiyang. The biggest problem I had when our luggage went missing, was that I had no clothes. I’d been smart enough to pack some deodorant, my tooth brush and dental floss in my carry on…but I only had 2 pairs of tights and 3 shirts (that did not work with tights!) with me, so when I had to start work the next day, I would have been screwed if it weren’t for H&M. Women in China are tiny, so finding clothing that fit my Canadian Curves was a huge deal. I’ve since learned that China’s gained weight (probably from all the western fast food that’s popped up in the last 8 years), and it isn’t as much of a problem to find clothes that fit now, but at the time I had no idea where else to go, so it was a relief to find a familiar store, with familiar clothes.
2. Coffee: The Nectar of Life
Oohhhh..you beautiful beast, you!!
There are many small cafes in Guiyang that make excellent coffee; definitely more than there were 8 years ago in Xiamen. There are times when my monthly Venti Caramel Machiato with an extra shot of espresso is my reason for living, and although I’d love to have this wonderful liquid more often, it’s monthly for a reason…coffee costs the same here as it does in Canada. That’s ok, for someone who’s making a Canadian salary, but for me…well, I just can’t justify it. So coffee is one of those things that we do rarely, and only when we’ve stuck to our budget for a while. Don’t get me wrong…I’m paid well here in Guiyang…but we are trying to save our pennies (or jiao, rather) so that we can do as much traveling as possible, so daily coffee is out of the question. But we do treat ourselves when we can!
Today’s Caramel Machiato at Void Cafe. PS…Denara…if I go broke, it’s ALL YOUR FAULT!!!!! (She got me hooked about 4 years ago on these things…)
Any time I work overtime I save my money for coffee. No matter how crummy my week has been…1 whiff of that delicious espresso and it all fades away. We actually spent 4 hours at Void Cafe today, here in Zhong Tian. We sipped our coffees and I corrected my students tests. It’s funny how such a seemingly boring day can be such an amazing one. Plus…correcting tests is always more entertaining than I expect it to be…
It would appear than in order to empty the trash, a Cheshire Cat must first be found….(it was suppose to be ‘trash can’
3. Online Shopping
I’m not sure how many people in Canada are aware of Alibaba, or it’s extremely popular shopping site, Tao Bao…but for us…it’s a life saver. Last week was China’s ‘Single’s Day’. Some students in Beijing decided to name November 11th (11.11) singles day, so that people who have no significant other can feel justified to buy something for themselves one day a year. Of course, online shopping companies turned this holiday into a money making monster and this year’s Single’s Day broke records. Over 80 billion RMB was made on Tao Bao and other Alibaba sites, and I have to admit, we took part in that great feat.
This was a postal sorting sight the day after 11.11 in 2012. The real accomplishment here is that I’ve received any of the things I actually ordered! Some items came in 2 days after they were ordered. China’s a neat place…
Online shopping is a huge industry worldwide, and it’s easy to see why. You can shop from the comfort of your living room and you can find almost anything you could possibly need online. And you don’t even need to lug all your items home…they come right to your doorstep!! But online shopping is even more awesome for Lao Wei living in China. Here’s a breakdown of why Tao Bao is a lifesaver for the expat:
One of the items we bought was a foot warmer for Dave. There’s no indoor heating in Guiyang, so while he’s at home, working on the computer all day, his feet get very cold…even with slippers and an area rug to help. But to find a foot warmer in China isn’t as easy as just going to the store and getting one! First, you need to find a store that sells them. This isn’t always easy, as was proven during the month it took us to find a spray bottle in Guiyang. Then you need to find the right product IN the store. Once more…it might seem simple from where you’re sitting, but in China, finding the right product is an ordeal. The packaging on most items is in Chinese so you have to base everything off of the picture on the box . When looking for something of good quality (that’s actually going to warm your feet without catching fire), you can’t even rely on brands here, because all of the brands in China are foreign to us.
This is almost the exact footwarmer we ended up buying. And this is what kind of information you’re given on the box….not overly helpful..
Buying things online is just SO…MUCH…EASIER. For starters, you can punch what you’re looking for into Google translate, and search websites in Chinese. Then, Google Chrome translates the entire page for you so you can find out the wattage and other important stuff, and even check reviews online from other buyers. Best of all though, is that you don’t have to deal with a Chinese sales person trying to help you. They try so hard to be helpful, but they hardly ever speak any English (retail doesn’t pay well here either, so if you speak English, you’re most likely working somewhere that ISN’T a store…), so they talk to you in Mandarin…constantly…no matter how many times you tell them that you don’t understand. It gets very frustrating, and I often end up walking out of stores as a result. On Tao Bao…I don’t have to worry about that!
My absolute favorite thing ever, is when a sales rep or waitress is trying to tell us something in Mandarin and we tell them they don’t understand. Then they pull out a notepad and start writing it out in Chinese, thinking that maybe we’ll understand THAT! It happens all the time…I’m unclear on the logic…
And when Google Translate or Chrome fail you, it’s easy to bring your laptop over to someone at the school and ask for help. The Chinese staff at Interlingua are great, and they are always happy to help translate if we need. One girl in particular, Lumi, has helped me on several occasions. Just this morning she called a number that had been calling me all morning to find out what they needed (It was about a tao bao delivery haha!). Today is her day off, but she was happy to help. So I try very hard not to abuse that help and I can tell you this: It is much nicer to bring your laptop over to Lumi while she is at work, than it is to have her play translator via cell phone on a Monday afternoon!!
She may seem sweet, but Lumi is kinda terrifying when she gets angry! So far I’ve been lucky and have never been on the receiving end of her rage. I’d like to keep it that way, so I shall keep translation requests via telephone to a bare minimum!!
So there you have it folks; 3 of the things that make our lives in China easier. Now I need to head to bed because I’ve gotta make some coffee money first thing tomorrow morning!!! Goodnight, my lovely friends!!!
I never had a chance to write this weekend, and I regret it but also know that it couldn’t be helped. We had to pack up the rest of our Christmas presents and bring them down to the post office so that they make it to Canada in time for the Holidays. This may seem simple: buy presents, pack them up, and ship! But in China, nothing is simple. It takes hours sometimes to find even the most basic things. When everything is unfamiliar (from language to brand names), finding the ‘right stuff’ can be difficult.
There’s no lack of selection in China, but when all the name brands are unfamiliar, and when there is little English on the packages, it can be a little overwhelming. It’s much better now than it was 2006, but still…to find drain cleaner, we had to look at each individual bottle until we found a label with a drain on it. The most simple tasks in Canada can be a nightmare out East
We purchased a lot of our Christmas shopping in Guilin, while we were on holidays. So it might seem like all we had to do was stick it all in boxes and ship it off to Canada. But customs can be quite difficult…so if they decide to open our box up, everything might end up a mess when it arrives. I experienced this in Xiamen, so this time I labeled everything as best as I could, so that our friends and family on the receiving end know whose gift is whose. I also included a letter with each box detailing which item was for which person as a back up.
Oh…and when I say I made ’46 labels’….this is what a ‘Marie’ label looks like. I don’t half-do anything lol! I got paint…construction paper and glue (2/3 of those items too ages to find!)
Then, we had to go to the post office and ask for boxes and wrapping materials (in Chinese). Of course, this should have also been simple, but the women there sold us boxes that were too small for their labels, so in the end, we had to pack everything up twice (as well as buy a second round of boxes). Oh China!
Just some of the boxes we have left to ship/have left over. In total, I had 46 labels to make, including all of our nieces, nephews, siblings and our close friends. Our living room looks like the cardboard monster threw up in there!!
Then, of course, there’s the long list of items that cannot be shipped anymore. Although we were careful with our purchases, knowing that they’d have to be sent via China Post, several items were removed from our boxes, leaving certain family members and friends with half-gifts. Some things in particular were especially confusing. Milk products aren’t allowed to be shipped. We were told this rather abruptly today, however, we have no idea which of the gifts we were sending contained milk! They didn’t take the item out. They left it in and scolded us instead. It is all terribly confusing.
This is a blank copy of the form we had to fill in before we could ship each box. Behind it are 8 carbon copies. When I finished writing it all up, (after we’d already been there for an hour), the guy told me to fill in the right side of the page in Chinese. I looked at him, pointed to myself and snapped ‘lao wei!!’ He got the point that I wasn’t happy and said ‘Ingwen ye hao da’ (English is okay too).
But have no fear, we will manage to ship the rest of them before too long. Tonight, I’m taking a break from that stress so that I can finish writing about our last 2 days in Xiamen! I bet you thought I’d never get around to it, eh??
We only had 3 days to enjoy in Amoy city, so we had to spend them wisely. We woke up early on Friday October 3rd and checked out at the hostel. We weren’t too terribly sad to go, as the hostel wasn’t the greatest we’d stayed in. It’s only redeeming quality was the excellent bartender who was both friendly and nearly fluent in English.
Unlike the sheets in our room…
Our first stop was Nanpu Tuo or “The South Temple”. The location of this temple goes back 2000 years, and it has been called Nanputuo since the 1600s, when it was rebuilt. It received another facelift since I’d seen it last, and it now has even more elaborate wood structures and its old stone statues have been replaced by newer ones.
Nanputuo Temple from afar. Years ago, I climbed the mountain behind it. This year, it was too busy and crowded so we decided to skip the trek up.One of the new structures. It is very well painted and the woodwork is beautiful.
Our next adventure in Xiamen was an overnight stay on Gulang Island. I’ve already written about the insane experience getting there, so I’ll keep this post short (er) by leaving that info out. (You can read about it in my post: Chinese National Day). Once we arrived at our hostel, and checked into our room, we set off to wander the island. What I was most looking forward to showing Dave, was the view of Xiamen Island from Gulang. At night, the buildings are all lit up and it’s absolutely beautiful.
From here you can hear the crowds and the music on ZhongShan Lu.
This is my favorite of the night shots I took (our camera didn’t do the view justice, which is why I included a professional pic as the feature image for this post). In the foreground, you can see a small boat. It is carrying supplies either to or from Gulang Island, most likely for one of the many restaurants there
As our stomach’s began to grumble, we made our way into the island’s center, where there are shops and food vendors waiting to be explored. I had my heart set on some fresh Xiamen Seafood, so we spent some time looking for just the right place.
The live seafood is kept outside restaurants on GulangYu. You can choose your fish, eel, clam, oyster etc…The fish we chose. It may not look like much, but it was very tasty 🙂
We spent the rest of the evening drinking beer, journaling and relaxing after a hot day in the sun. We did get adventurous at one point and tried to find some wine to enjoy out on the terrace. We did find some wine, but it was a tad difficult to enjoy. I love many things about China: the food, the beer, the people….But I do not enjoy Chinese wine!! We called it quits at around 1am and jumped in the most comfortable bed we’d slept in since we arrived here in Mid August (a western style bed is a HUGE selling point for any hotel in the Orient!!)
The terrace where we sat writing and enjoying some Chinese beer 🙂A view of the hotel from where we were sittingGulang Island is beautiful any time of day
The following morning, we set out to explore the island some more, but with 80,000 people in such a small space, it was a bit rough to get anywhere. We did manage to enjoy some very good skewered potato as well as some steam dumplings and other treats as we walked the paths and squeezed through the crowds
I pity all those who do not ‘do street food’
Eventually, we began to feel the effects of the sun, so we set off down a shaded path that was mostly empty. The lack of tourists lead us to believe that there wouldn’t be much to see, but I can say that the time we spent in that shade was the best I had on our last day in Xiamen. There is so much interesting architecture on Gulang Island, and it’s all so well kept! We took our time, taking photos of the beautiful walls and the winding path. Eventually we found our way into a mini-shopping area, where we discovered a bar with free Wifi. We spent about an hour in there, trying a Chinese iced cream dessert and chatting with Dave’s brother William on Skype. This was definitely another highlight of our day!
Part of this wonderfully quiet path
Nice place to stop for a photo 🙂 The tree behind us was growing up against a wall
This quiet path eventually lead us back to our hotel, where our bags were waiting to be taken with us to the airport. It was time to leave. But this time, at least I left Xiamen on my own terms.
I can’t say enough times how lucky I felt to visit this hometown of mine. Part of me has always stayed in Xiamen, and it’s hard to put into words how much this trip meant to me.
Stay tuned! I’ve got many more stories and pictures to come!!
After spending the last hour or so organizing our Christmas presents for loved ones back home, it’s time to sit down and visit my good old neglected blog. I’ve been wanting to write all week, but I always try to write when I’m feeling positive. Unfortunately, I haven’t been feeling too positive as of late. But thinking about it today, I realized that my blog is suppose to be story about Adventure and Growth. And maybe some of my readers would like to hear about the bumps we’ve had during our first 3 months in Guiyang.
I think this picture shows it best. Adjusting to a new culture is such a crazy mix of emotions!!
Culture shock can be rough. According to the text books, the worst stage is when the honeymoon is over, usually around the 3rd month. Things aren’t exciting anymore, and although your routine keeps you sane, you sort of resent the routine because it means the adventure is over (well, on the surface anyway). Around month three, you begin to notice the little things that annoy you about the new culture you find yourself in.
Like rat poop…in your desk and on the school’s bookshelves. That’s getting REALLY annoying…
Aside from the small annoyances I’ve been feeling, I’ve been missing certain things from home too. Some days I just want to hop on a plane and go hug my nieces. Some days I want to close my eyes and wake up with Hobbes wrapped around my head. I miss his purr. Most days though, it’s the little things I miss. A comfortable place to read, a soft bed with soft sheets, good hairspray…
Our couch. This is an improvement from the couch in the old apartment, which had no cushions. The back isn’t angled at all, and the cushions don’t really help much, so 20 minutes after sitting down, your bum is completely numb. I miss comfort
What’s made my last month difficult though, isn’t the culture shock or home sickness. These are things I expected. I knew that I ‘d get sick of hearing people spit. I knew that the beds were hard, and I cherished my last nights in Canada accordingly. I even knew that Skype could never replace a hug from Ellie, or seeing Addyson crawl towards me the first time. What’s made it difficult is the amount of negativity I’m surrounded by at work.
The school where I work has a lot of great things going for it. I work with some REALLY awesome people. The visa process was also done properly and the owner here takes great pride in her 100% legit team of teachers. Last month, 19 Lao Wei were deported for having the wrong visas in Guiyang, so to work for a company where those legalities are taken seriously is a HUGE win for any teacher.
The foreign staff at the school where I workLexie and I hiding behind a counter at the Halloween party. We stayed hidden and jumped out at the kids as they entered the cafeteria 🙂My wonderful TA Talia and I. She is really great. I never need to ask for things twice and she’s always there when I need someone to translate for a parent. She’s also super sweet and so nice to my students 🙂
But Z Visas and great coworkers aren’t always enough. When your work atmosphere is a negative one, it can be hard to overcome that negativity, no matter how hard you try. When you are overseas, missing your nieces and worrying about a friend’s health, that negativity is magnified a hundred fold. When you do your very best, coming in early to make sure the Halloween party is a success and staying late so that each of your students’ parents feel heard, you expect a certain degree of gratitude from your boss. But in China, that’s not how things are always run.
One of the haunted houses I came in to finish on my day off. I can’t complain too much, seeing as how I love arts and crafts 🙂
China is all about ‘saving face’. When I got a flat tire on the scooter, and the thing fell over as I tried to get it to a fence where I could lock it up, nobody helped me. This wasn’t because they were mean people. This was because they didn’t want me to ‘lose face’. Similarly, tipping isn’t a norm in China. To tip a waitress implies that the owner of the restaurant doesn’t pay him/her enough. This makes the owner ‘lose face’. This is also why verbal appreciation doesn’t come naturally to many people in China. Your paycheck is the ‘thank you’ you receive for doing your job. Anything more than that is to imply that you NEED your staff, which means you aren’t in control of your business. This makes the owner lose face. I think a lot of the negativity where I work is due to that culture norm.
Apologies are hard to come by here…
But there’s more to it than just that. If I simply not being thanked for going above and beyond, I wouldn’t be struggling like I am. I work for a Chinese woman. It’s harder for women to ‘make it’ here, in the business world. The culture is very sexist and women here are basically dolls; they wear high heals and are always dressed to the nines. A teacher who used to work at the school summed up China with the 3 Hs: Honks, Horks and Heels. The men in China are a whole different story though. There is a very clear difference in expectations where the sexes are concerned. Women are dolls. Period. They aren’t suppose to be much more than that…
Even Police Women wear skirts! Appearance here is so important for women, that I worked with a girl who had been rejected from a Chinese airline when she applied for a job as a flight attendant. The reason: her ears stick out too far from her head.
So for my boss to have made it to where she has, running a VERY successful English School, I know that she’s had to work HARD! I respect that about her, I really do. But her success also means that she has to be taken seriously ALL THE TIME. Even in Canada this is still a bit of an issue. My 5 years as a retail manager taught me that women are not treated the same way that men are. My boss didn’t shake my hand, like he shook the boys’. He’d go in for a hug…and I am NOT a hugger. I had to be better than the boys to be noticed, and my boss has to deal with that same sexism in a country where equality is even more of an issue.
Rule with an iron fist, ladies…
So when someone at work steps out of line, or doesn’t do what they’re suppose to do, I know that my boss has to yell louder to be heard. I know that she thinks that the only way she can be taken seriously, is to be serious all the time. This creates a very negative atmosphere. To only ever hear the bad (because saying the good can mean losing face) and to be jumped on for every small misdemeanor (even the ones you didn’t realize were a faux pas until it was too late…) becomes exhausting. Add the fact that the honeymoon phase is over, and it’s a pretty raw deal.
I’m sure not…
So why don’t I just pack up and move home, you might ask? Well, there are two reasons.
I am able to recognize that many of these issues I’m having at work are due to cultural differences. I recognize that my boss isn’t just a bad person. So much gets lost in translation here, and so many other things get mixed up because we have different expectations of what the boss/employee relationship is suppose to be. At the end of the day though, KNOWING THIS is what gets me through.
To help you understand my second reason, I need to tell a little back story here…
In 2006, when I left Xiamen, it wasn’t on my own terms. I was working for a school where the visas were not legit, and I was caught working with that bad visa. After 5 days at the immigration bureau, signing papers and answering questions in an interrogation room, I was handed back my passport with a big red stamp across my visa: REQUESTED TO LEAVE THE COUNTRY WITHIN 5 DAYS. It was heartbreaking. I was kicked out of a country that I’d learned to love so much.
When I returned home, my family and friends couldn’t understand why I missed China so much, after I’d been treated so badly here. People couldn’t see why I’d want to return to the cockroaches and language barriers and uncomfortable beds. But the thing is…once you’re back home for good…you miss everything about your life overseas; cockroaches, deportation and all!
Knowing that one day I’m going to miss every moment of this helps a lot. In a few years, I’m going to look back at my time in Guiyang and see how these bad days shaped me into the person I’m going to become. We’re all growing after all…we’re all becoming new versions of ourselves. My most important goal in life is to make sure that my next ‘version’ is an upgrade from the last.
Marie V.28.4 – The ‘in control’ edition
So I’ll take these experiences in stride. Hopefully, the school will begin to see me for the teacher that I am: a hard working, caring and dedicated educator who wants what’s best for her students above all else. And if that doesn’t happen, well, I’m all about growth and moving forward. The best thing about Marie V.28.4 is that she’s been in these situations before. My experience and my determination will get me through any rough patch that shows its ugly face 🙂
I got this tattoo as a grad gift to myself. In spite of how terribly painful it was to have done, I love what it means to me. Grow, no matter what is trying to keep you down. Oh and of course, I’m a musical junkie 🙂
I haven’t forgotten to write about my last few days of holidays! They’ll be coming soon, I promise!
