It’s now the last hour of my last workday. The end of my third year teaching English in China has come to a close. The past week has been spent reflecting on specifics within my teaching, cleaning my office spaces, and saying good-byes to Foreign Teachers leaving. Bittersweet is always the feeling because of splitting ways from friends and students while excitement gives me chills knowing that I’m going to see my family quite soon.
In my reflections, I’ve also been contemplating personal situations from the past year. It seems that this school year has been the one containing the worst culture shocks. Though a man may tremble at admitting his flaws, these are some I have to share. Why? Because I’m 100% positive we all go through it at some point whether or not we live in a country or scenario that we are über-comfortable with. I don’t plan to address all of the concerns in this one post. Thus, consider this the intro to a series (of unknown number) of frustrated, disappointing, selfish times I went through and the thought-processes that could tear you down.
Reliving negative memories isn’t the most desirable nor is it an attractive method of inspiration. I do this, weeks and months afterward, because of the strong desire I have now for Chinese to be understood since I myself initially sought for others to understand me. This is the way life goes. If one wants to be understood before understanding others, life will just be irking until the day he decides that he (or his culture) isn’t the all-important point in the universe.
The following stories aren’t just about how to handle differing logical patterns; they even include some sorting out that I still need to do. Thankfully, a good two months in America will help me do just that.
Discovering Chinese Life 