Traveling through eighty countries has provided me with plenty of A-Ha! travel moments. But undoubtedly, my time teaching English in China taught me many of life’s little lessons. Besides the fact that this was the first time living and working outside Maryland, or that I was a naïve 22 years old, the exposure I received changed my life.
I was raised as a first generation Chinese-American in a middle-class, multi-cultural suburb outside of D.C., so I felt pretty exposed to ethnic, social, religious, and cultural diversity. When I went to China in 1995, most of the 1.2 billion people seemed to look alike. The food was delicious, plentiful, and cheap…but I bowed down on my knees when they opened a McDonald’s about an hour away after eight months of arriving, and when I saw a Pizza Hut in Beijing during a holiday break, it was my new Temple of Heaven. Most of the buildings were drab, dull Socialist styled cement buildings, which didn't gain any appeal under the polluted skies. Vehicle variety consisted of millions of bikes, yellow breadbox taxis, and honking buses that stopped at every street corner to squeeze another dozen plus people.
Embracing the pushy crowds, loud talking, spitting, chugging bai jiu, learning to hover and squat over Chinese toilets, and claiming a spare seat on a hard seat train ride were just basic examples of a mile long list of A-Ha! travel moments in China. But the best lessons that I learned while teaching abroad was how easy and fortunate my life was in America.
It was an average teaching day and I started my class with an open discussion topic. I asked my students what their goals were and their plans upon graduation. When I asked for voluntary students to respond, Dove stood up and answered that she would return back to her home town, live with her family, and work at the local factory until marriage. I thought Dove was joking since she was a bright and ambitious student, as well as the class clown. I tried to get her to think broader and answer the question seriously of what her plans would be, but Dove scratched her head and said that was the truth. This was her plan and path.
Most of my Chinese students were assigned what college they would attend, what major to study, and what job they would have upon graduation based on their test scores and government control. Only the most prominent or smartest Chinese would be able to change their hukou (a national residence card) and obtain jobs to live outside their birth city. Living in major cities like Beijing and Shanghai were big dreams for them; and visiting a Western country like America was an unrealistic fantasy. Fortunately, times have certainly changed, but it's amazing this was just twelve years ago.
What would my life be like if I had a ‘Sliding Doors’ moment and was born and raised in China?
Meeting and getting to know other people from all walks of life has taught me to put myself in other people’s shoes. It has given me a new perspective and compassion for others, but more importantly, an appreciation of the opportunities and freedom available to me. Now, the question isn’t what am I going to do with these choices, but how am I going to respond to them.
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