Living Abroad

This journey starts out at 6:00 am with a 10-minute walk to the metro station on Dong an’ road. I lucked out and my flight to Shenzhen (borders Hong Kong) was leaving from the airport closest to our apartment, it’s called Hongqiao. Of course, you can fly directly into Hong Kong, but this route can save you around USD$100 depending on when you book.

I made it to the airport and was quite surprised that we boarded the plane on time. In my experience and from what I’ve read, flights in China are almost always delayed. Boarding was the only thing we did on time…once seated we sat on the tarmac for a good 45minutes.

It occurred to me that some people may go to teach abroad and assume that just because they are in another country that amazing things are going to happen to them. In some cases this may be true, if you lie low and don’t do much, it will probably still be a great experience.  Of course this is the “easiest” path, stay in your comfort zone and let time pass you by.  But that’s not the kind of person you are, that’s not why you’ve chosen to teach abroad, is it?  Depending on which country and city you’re teaching in, this will be more relevant to some of you than others. Some of you lucky people will get placed in cities where you are one of very few foreigners, which will make following these steps easy. Others will end up in huge metropolises with McDonalds on every corner and an operator service that will send you text messages in the language of your choice.  I write this more for the ladder situation.  For those of you preparing to go abroad, put these items on your to-do list and if you’re already abroad maybe you need a reminder of why you’re there.

China being an ancient culture with 3,000+ years of history brings with it many customs, traditions, and ways of doing things. This isn’t meant to be a complete list of all of them, but just some day to day things that I’ve learned and may benefit you on your adventure to teach abroad in China.