SPEAKER_03

Welcome to the Expat Rewind. My name is Stephanie and I will be your host in this experience. What we're doing in this podcast is reaching back into the first year of an expat or geopath's existence into something online, whether it was via a blog, Facebook, Instagram, any sort of social media feed, and we're going to reach back into that post where they told the world about their experience as an expat or geopath. And then the expat or geopath will reflect on what they think of, what they wrote, what they've learned since then, and anything else that comes up. This week I am delighted to introduce Michere to you. She is from Miami, Florida. She was a teacher there, and she's also teaching at a school here in Shanghai, China. She moved here mid this year, so it's almost about the six-month mark. And this woman is brave, courageous, and hilarious. This is a slightly different episode. Normally we talk to people after their first year and we look back at something, but we decided to do something a little bit different because Michere started writing as soon as she got to China. The China Chronicles is what she called it, and she put it on her Facebook feed. So what we're doing in this episode is we're doing a preview of what we will return to after she finishes her first year in China. And she'll tell you more about the China Chronicles in the interview. Michael is also a very generous, very thoughtful person. And when I asked her what information she wanted in the show notes and what shout-outs she wanted, if any, she said this. Jennifer was a guest on this podcast. She wrote a very emotional, familial poem that she wrote, and she shared that with us just a few episodes ago. Anyway, without further ado, here's our conversation. Well, thank you so much, Michelle, for joining us at Expat Rewind. Thank you for having me. So can you tell our listeners a little bit about yourself?

SPEAKER_05

My name is Michelle L. Moore, and I am in China for the first time. I arrived about three weeks ago and I'm working at a French school, uh teaching all grade levels from one to five.

SPEAKER_03

Aww, that's such a good age.

SPEAKER_05

Yes, they're so cute. They're so cute.

SPEAKER_03

Now we are breaking a little bit from the format. Normally, guests on the podcast will be after their first year in a country, and they'll come back and revisit their first year, but we decided to do something a little bit different with this one. And so Michelle is in her first year right now in China, and we're going to do this is basically like a preview of how what she thinks of her experience so far and some posts that she put online. Then she's promised us that she'll come back after the year's over and reflect on this reflection. So we're gonna double reflect at the end of the year.

unknown

Alrighty.

SPEAKER_03

So let's get started. What's the first thing that you're gonna share with us?

SPEAKER_05

Before coming here, I thought let me look back to my first couple days here in China. I made some what I call China Chronicles posts on Facebook. So I looked back and I thought, oh wow, after reviewing those first few posts, I guess if I could explain what I felt in one word at that time when I arrived in China, I would say overwhelmed. Overwhelmed. I was like a deer in headlights from the moment I stepped off the plane. Just my brain was taking in so much information, I didn't understand the effect that would have on me, but it did. From the moment I walked off the plane. I have never walked off of a plane and down steps immediately. Usually there's that joining little pathway, accordion thingy that that takes you into the airport. So coming down the stairs from the plane made me go, oh wow, this is different. So I get down and I look at the plane and everything was wow. Then I get on the bus. And I've never been on crowded buses before. Never, never? Oh, not like crowded here. And not like hold on, or you will fall on someone. So everything was wow, and people staring at me. That was wow, you know, just everything. I was a true tourist. I thought the bus drove pretty fast, so every time it made a stop or slowed down, we all whoa and leaned on each other. Everything was new, every every small thing. As I continued to move through the city, and over the next few days, I noticed the smells in the air. Thinking, oh, it smells differently here. I don't smell that anymore, by the way. You don't? I don't whatever it was, I don't unless I walk by trash. I don't whatever the smell was, I don't smell it anymore.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, you're so lucky. I still I still get it.

SPEAKER_05

You still get oh oh yeah. Yeah. Someone asked me too, does it smell so bothering?

SPEAKER_03

No, I don't notice it anymore. No, I don't know what it was. But this particular thing you're about to read is was on Facebook, right?

SPEAKER_05

No, this is just an overview. Oh just me thinking back to those posts. Those posts were really short.

SPEAKER_03

So you wrote this for yourself and it wasn't posted online. Right. Oh, okay, okay, okay, okay. Okay, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_05

So uh over the next few days of being here, other than the smells, I want to say for the first month, I was snapping pictures of everything. I kept my my phone in my hand, I snapped pictures of clothes on the clothesline. That was very new to me because I mean I've seen clothes on a clothesline, but not in apartments, everywhere. It's everywhere. That's what everyone does. Yeah, back home, it may be in the country, you know, and it's a choice, but here dryers for your clothes are not really as much of a thing. So I thought, wow, that saves some energy. Look what they do here in China. We should do this in America. It was that was amazing to me. Yeah, so from that to taking pictures of the food as I walked along the streets, uh, getting lost. I thought that I would never learn how to navigate the system, but I found out that people that are familiar with the lines from other cities, um, it it's not a big deal. But coming from Miami, Florida, which is where I'm from, heard those things there. So, yeah, this was all brand new, and I got lost several times. And yeah, I I've worried myself, I've worried other people, but I've learned how to navigate the Chinese food. I thought I should eat Chinese food in every meal because I'm in a new country and I should learn how to integrate and learn. And after about two months, my stomach said, I'm not getting used to this.

SPEAKER_03

You have a strong stomach.

SPEAKER_05

It took two months for that to happen. It took about two months for me to say, Okay, no more. Some people said, Oh, you'll get used to it, but that didn't happen. I I have a very sensitive stomach, so yes. I've been here now three months, and I am just now experiencing homesickness. Wow, that took a while to hit it. It took a while. Last week was a rough week, and I thought, what is going on? Why now? I didn't even know what homesickness was. I've heard of it, but it has been painful. Yeah. And I thought, oh wow, I've got to push past this. I've only been here three months. I have seven more to go. You know, seven or eight.

SPEAKER_03

That makes sense because the honeymoon period can definitely be two or three months, four months, five months. Some people have extended period, depending on where and all kinds of factors. That's what it was. Was there anything that set you down the road to homesickness?

SPEAKER_05

Anything that I think it was little things like when the president came to town and I started having internet problems, phone problems, couldn't contact people, started to feel isolated. I was kind of afraid to leave the house because I was told, well, they may stop you and ask to see your passport. And if you don't have it, you may have to go with them. And I thought, that's stressful. I'll just stay home.

SPEAKER_03

I actually just carried mine with me all week.

SPEAKER_05

Which I hated doing because I carry it, but just the idea of being stopped and asked for it to me, that whole idea.

SPEAKER_03

It's nerve-wracking. Yes. It's very nerve-wracking. It is to me too. And just for clarity's sake, for those of you guys who aren't in China, um, the president meaning the president of China was down. There was a big conference, uh, trade conference, something, something, expo. I can't remember. I've seen science for like two weeks and I can't remember the name of the expo. They beefed up security. They did, yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_05

With the metro, I was told don't take the metro anywhere. I almost took a D D to go to work just to get some things done on a Sunday. The D D came to pick up a friend first and said, Oh no, no, no, those roads are closed down, can't go that way. Yeah. So I thought, okay, so now I'm trapped. Yeah. So I think that did something to me.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

And not being able to reach out to family and friends, I just thought, 47 by the way, but I was thinking, I want my mommy. Oh, 47-year-old woman.

SPEAKER_03

I'm like, I just want my mommy. Oh gosh. Culture shock? Yeah, the parallel between the like the ups and downs of culture shock and the ups and downs of of being a kid maneuvering through the world for the first time. I wonder how those overlay.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Because there's a lot of of helplessness, especially with the the script like this, like Chinese script. You can't fake your way into reading it. You really have to know what's happening. It's easy to get overwhelmed by all of this. But sorry, you were in the you're still on a little bit.

SPEAKER_05

No, that that's pretty much it. I mean, I've talked about the loneliness and um just getting used to the work routine where it felt like a vacation for a very long time. Wow. So now reality is setting.

SPEAKER_03

When do you think the reality set in? Was it like one month, two months, or just that this week?

SPEAKER_05

I want to say towards the end of two months. Yeah. I mean, I got August 10th. Today is the 9th, or something like that. So it's been almost exactly three months, and it started about a week and a half ago, and it just right about Tuesday, Wednesday, it hit me hard.

SPEAKER_03

Gotcha. Yeah. Okay. So I need to focus on food because I love food. And I know that some of our listeners are from the US, some are from Sweden. We've got little pockets here and there. Okay. So when people think of Chinese food, a lot of times they'll think of Kung Pao chicken or kind of the Western Chinese dishes.

SPEAKER_05

Exactly. That's what I missed.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Broccoli beef, sweet flour. Yes. So you weren't eating those. What were you eating that you that you liked?

SPEAKER_05

Well, since I've been here?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. You said you were eating like Chinese food.

SPEAKER_05

I was eating for two months. I was trying the dumplings and tasted good at the moment, but later on my stomach would go and I go, Oh, okay, that may not work. And I hear it's the oils that there's just different oils used here, and the body has to get used to it. Now I'm to the point where I just want some good old rice. Give me a little scrambled egg in there, maybe some shrimp, just what we get back home in the States.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. No, I had the same problem in Taiwan. And the food is a little bit lighter in Taiwan in some ways. It's not as fried, although there is that component of it, but my stomach just immediately was like just kind of tightened up. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

And that could be it. That alone. Coming here, I didn't eat five foods. Yeah. So the fact that so many things are cooked with oils. And when I did use oil for anything, it's just a little olive oil. So now my body is just going, what are you doing? What is happening right now?

SPEAKER_03

I don't understand the things you would put inside of me. I'm going to reject this. I have a new YouTube channel called Tube to Pod. And what I want to do in this channel is have micro videos of people answering three questions about podcasts. My goal for this channel is to bridge people from YouTube over to podcasts. Not to replace their YouTube viewing, but to supplement it with podcasts. A lot of people apparently still are not listening to podcasts, still are unaware of what they are, what they can do with them, what they can learn from them, that kind of thing. So the three questions are one, where do you listen to podcasts? Two, why do you listen to podcasts? And three, what is your favorite podcast at the moment? Now if you're interested in participating in this, you can either post a video under two minutes on Instagram with the hashtag tube to pot e T-O-P-O-D. Or you can email me your video and I'll post it on the YouTube channel. If you put it on Instagram, I'll record it, copy it over onto the channel. If you send it to me via email, I'll post it over onto the channel. And if you are more tech-savvy than clearly I am, and you know a better way how to get other people's videos onto YouTube, please let me know. Because right now I'm doing a copy and paste kind of thing. So I really look forward to your participation in that. Again, it's under two minutes, it's three questions, it's super easy. I want to expose people on YouTube to another audio experience that I think they would really, really enjoy to spread the joy of podcasts. I think there's a lot of specific niche content out there that can teach us a lot about the world and a lot about the things we're already interested in. In moments of the day when we're not doing anything else with our brain. So yeah, it's a push to people to learn more about the things that they're already interested in or learn about things that they don't even know exist yet. Anyway, tube to pod. I'll also put the link to the new channel in the show notes.

SPEAKER_05

I have a couple um just copies of the first four posts that I made, day one through day four, and I've named them all.

SPEAKER_03

Now is this something that's available online that the let's hear us can look at. Facebook.

SPEAKER_05

I would have to go to my Facebook page. And I want to say the first month or two, I post it every day. Maybe the first month and a half. Then it became well every week. And every other week. Internet problems have been so bad that I made a post October 30th, about a week ago, and it's still swirling in Internet Twilight, so I'm trying to load from my phone. I'm having phone issues. Right, right. First few posts are actually very short. They got longer as time went on. There were shorter posts but more pictures and videos. Oh. So the videos and the pictures, it blew people away. Or begging me. People were saying, I can't wait every day to read your post. You know, it was like the I don't know, it was just the thing to do.

SPEAKER_03

So before you start, was your intention to write these things and to post the pictures and videos for yourself to chronicle it so you can look later for people back home so they could follow you, or both?

SPEAKER_05

It was both. Both, okay. Definitely both. I wanted to feel like I wasn't alone and that people were here, and and so many of them said that. I feel like I'm right there with you. Thank you for taking us on your journey, and thank you for keeping us updated. And and I I can't tell you how many people say you need to put this into a book. So it's good to have the the record.

SPEAKER_03

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05

Well, let's dive in. China Chronicles Day one. I wrote, arriving late last night. Today is my first official day in Shanghai, China. I went out for a nice hour walk with a colleague and came back drenched in sweat. It's 2 10 p.m. here while you guys are sleeping at 2 a.m. and I have already taken two showers for the day. And then I posted pictures. That was another thing that got my attention. The humidity level.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Wait, you're from Florida.

SPEAKER_05

I'm from Florida, I'm from Miami.

SPEAKER_03

That breaks all kinds of things in my head.

SPEAKER_05

The humidity level does not compare. I didn't know what humidity was until I got here. It just doesn't leave your body when you sweat, it stays there.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

So very, very different.

SPEAKER_04

Wow.

SPEAKER_05

So I talked a lot about the heat the first few weeks. Understandably. Chronicles Day 2. Today was a very rainy day. Grateful that my hotel provides umbrellas. Spent the better part of my day tagging along with a coworker while she apartment shopped. I will apartment hunt tomorrow. In the past two days, I've done so much walking and sweating that if I continue at this rate, I'll be a fine China girl in about three weeks. I've also washed my hair two days in a row. Something African Americans don't do. My first night. Yeah. And about to shut my eyes right now, which at 9.05 p.m., which was still pretty early to go to bed for me, but and that was it for day two. It was a bit much. So then it starts to get a little exciting. China Chronicles day three. Never say never. Yesterday, my brother from another mother said he couldn't wait to see me on a scooter. I told him, wait on it. It was never gonna happen. And while apartment hunting today, the realtor motioned for me to get on her scooter so she could show me a few places. I hesitated for a moment and then thought, what the heck? It's time to live, and the rest is history. So I posted all the pictures of me on the scooter. Needless to say, I found an apartment. It took riding two scooters, walking for an hour nonstop, briskly at that, climbing seven flights of stairs twice, and changing out of three sweaty shirts. All of this ended about 9 p.m. tonight, and I'm through dealing for the day. I signed the lease in the morning, and this is really happening. I'm in Shanghai. It was very exciting.

SPEAKER_03

Oh my god, seriously. Okay, growing up, growing up on the East Coast, there were these women that did like speed walking in our neighborhood, right? Yes, I remember that. The apartment rental agents in Shanghai go about six times faster than those women. Uh-huh. Yes, they do. Yeah, and they walk fast. Yeah. They walk fast. They're like, okay, meet me at the station. Then you meet them, they say hello, and they go, they're ready to go. And then you can't see them. And it's like, oh my god.

SPEAKER_05

Right.

SPEAKER_03

So it wasn't so fast. Yeah, it was literally a trip. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Keeping up. I was on a ride.

SPEAKER_03

It's good they had a scooter because we did ours all on foot. We'd tell them like what metro stations we wanted to live near. We'd meet them there, and they would kind of be very flexible with near this metro station, and we would literally walk so much at their like crazy breakneck speed all over.

SPEAKER_05

But a scooter was a really big deal for me because it was kind of a phobia. Yeah. I've never been on a motorcycle, never been on the back of anything. Really? So I wanted to rent one for my birthday once, and I said, no way. Yeah. So for me to make that split moment decision, like what the heck, let's just live. Yeah, that was major. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_03

So what went through your head when you when you were faced with that? Okay, here's how I get there. What do I do?

SPEAKER_05

Like, I had just told my friend, wait on it. You're not gonna hear me on the Twitter. So I went, oh my gosh, the moment is here. Uh uh uh everyone's looking at me. Okay, let's do it. And again, we're talking about how fast they move, their pace. Yes. She didn't look like she wanted to wait for me to make a decision.

SPEAKER_04

So I thought, let's let's keep it moving.

SPEAKER_03

Agent pressure. And when you got on the bike and she started going, how was that?

SPEAKER_05

And I was riding on the back taking selfies.

SPEAKER_03

So your hesitation and fear just kind of melted.

SPEAKER_05

I'm like, I have to share this. People have to know that I really did it. I really, really jumped out of my own. Well, here's the very last chronicle. Um, this is when my personality really starts to kick in. So I start off saying, How can I be brief? So much happens in a day. Best news first. I signed my lease to an apartment and got the keys in my hand. I rode on a subway, scooter, and a bike to handle my business today. I have pictures of that too. This is truly an experience of stepping out on faith, not knowing what's ahead, going alone with determination to maintain peace, joy, strength, and knowing that come what may, this will be a stepping stone because I just feel like God's got me and it's all gonna work out. I understand this will be major for anyone, but if only you knew my story, I think writing a book is on a horizon. Anyway, and I continue, a friend recently asked me what it's like dealing with the language barrier and being in a new place. Well, there are so many people that I feel unnoticed, and when they do notice me, they stare and look me up and down. Yesterday I got so many stares that I finally held my head up, stuck my chest out, and began strutting. Yes, I put on a show with a slight smirk on my face. So if these people want a show, I'll give it to them. Google Translate has made uh it possible for me to navigate a little better and communicate. I can hold the camera in front of anything written in Chinese and it automatically translates to English. So also I can speak and type and hand my phone over and it translates for the person to read. They do the same and then we can have a conversation. They have to be patient, of course, especially if they want my business. So, anyway, before I can move into my place tomorrow, I'm only able to purchase what I can carry into a taxi and walk down the street with. So I have to remember when I'm shopping, don't get everything you want because you're walking with this when you leave here. You have to carry it to the taxi and from the taxi to your apartment. So shopping has been different. Never thought about that. Gotta figure out how to make those things work, how I can walk down the street with things in my hand. So glad I arrived a week and a half before teachers have to start, and I continued to solicit donations. I did a donations thing here. I did a whole China going away thing, and people donated to me moving to China, and it was just That's really cool.

SPEAKER_03

That's really cool. We have a few different ways that you can feedback. So if you go to stepfuccio.weebly.com forward slash contact. Let me do that a little slower. S T E P H F U C C I O. W E E B L Y dot com forward slash contact. You'll see all kinds of ways you can contact me and let me know what you think of this podcast. I have email, WeChat if you're in China, or have used WeChat before, and you're still fine. I have Twitter, LinkedIn, and my new favorite thing is speaker pipe. Over on the right hand side of that page, you'll be able to leave a sound recording. Basically, a voice message. You just hit the start recording button that's in bright orange. And uh once you preview it and decide that you want to send that message, you press send, and I receive an email with the voice message. I can also respond in a voice message there as well. It's a really, really cool feature. I can't believe they have this available for free, but until they get smarter about that, I'm gonna take advantage of it because it is such a cool feature. Thank you so much. I appreciate all of your input. Which is one of the things I want to talk to you about, because that shopping thing, are you on BaoPels or Tao Bao or you've have you done the online shopping thing yet?

SPEAKER_05

Oh I have done one thing online, but I actually found someone that was selling something, so I met her across town and bought dishes. Other than that, when I tried everything was in Chinese, so I'm being being told I have to go to another site and I haven't dived into that yet.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, I I'm about to spend about a quarter of your paycheck here. Val Pals is basically an English language interface to Taobao. It doesn't have everything that they have, but it has a lot of them, and their customer service will help you talk to the seller in English. Oh, uh very they have English-speaking staff that will talk to them in Chinese and then they'll come back and tell you you can do returns, you get deliveries, everything that Taobao does, just slightly less the inventory, and you can search in English.

SPEAKER_05

That's what I need. Yeah. Well, my first week in my apartment, packages were on my kitchen floor when I got home. And I called my landlord to say, Did you drop off packages? She said, No, it was probably the mail. I said, But how do you get in my apartment? Yeah. Oh, probably the window. So what? The screen slides open. So he must have reached over, and I have bars, so you had to do a lot of reaching. Push that that screen door open and toss packages in on the floor. And I thought, no way. I can't live like this. He can't. I can't do it. She wants me to keep the windows open, but I said, those are that windows getting closed. Not throwing things in my kitchen.

SPEAKER_03

No, I felt invaded. Yeah, that's no. No, I don't want people. Even if it's just their hand, even if there are bars, that's the bridge too far for me. No, no, no. It was too much. Because our last place, they would just hold it down at the security guard, which was right as you walk in, and you walk in and they hand you packages. I felt like a serious baller. I have security people that look after my packages when I'm not here.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah. I was I was on the bus with three, four bags, something under the arm, sitting it here, walking. And I thought, I know people are looking at me thinking she's crazy. Because I don't see anyone else doing it.

SPEAKER_03

Oh no, they do. Not to that that degree. More so the metro than the bus, I'll give you that. But packages and carrying things, and I don't know if you've seen those temporary luggage things that they have. Oh. Those have you seen those kind of clothy-looking giant things that are about the size of a carry-on? Oh no. During spring festival next year, you're gonna see a million of them. Things get transported around China a lot. That I've noticed. It's not always in the most sustainable bags. Yeah, they're gonna be able to do that. You'll see the temporary bags. There's a special name for them too, and I never remember what it is.

SPEAKER_04

Creative.

SPEAKER_03

Things happen whether it's ready to happen or not. I have a lot to learn, so I have a lot. Oh, of course. Three months. I have a lot to learn. And see, cumulative, like three years. Three years. With eight years in between, almost exactly in between, actually.

SPEAKER_05

I do still pull out the camera and take pictures of certain things, just not all day, every day. Oh yeah. Maybe once in a while I go, oh my gosh, what is that?

SPEAKER_03

What is this fine China girl thing? What is that phrase? Because you had it in caps, yeah.

SPEAKER_05

I had it in caps, so I haven't walked this much. Ever. I haven't walked this much, and especially the first week when you get in town and you need a phone, and you just all these basic things you need. And apparently the co-worker friend that I was with, walking, normal walking to her is speed walking. I walked like a dachshund that has little baby little doch dogs and have little short legs. I have a hard time keeping up with anybody, and I was just so worn out, and I thought, wow, all this working out. I'm gonna have a fine body when it's all said and done. If I keep up at this rate, and let me tell you, I have noticed, I wasn't trying to lose weight, but I have lost, I guess, between the changing the eating and just all the walking, yeah, running to the bus stop every morning for 15 minutes straight. I mean, I have to get up and stretch some mornings, like I better get a good stretching because this is literally a workout.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, that's very true. And some of the metro transfers in Shanghai are exercise program in and of themselves.

SPEAKER_05

You're right. The stairs, the stairs.

SPEAKER_03

I'll actually look at my transfer options. If one of my options is to go to People Square, Nanjing West Road, or there's one more, or there's one more, I can't think of right now. If it's one of those three, I know the transfer is going to be really long, and I don't have that much music on my phone, and I'm like, I'll take the other transfer and transfer twice instead of once.

SPEAKER_05

Just to avoid that. I've learned, I've learned it's like walking down the street. It's like a 10-15 minute walk almost to get to the other station.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

unknown

Wow.

SPEAKER_03

It's crazy. Yeah, and I I love walking, but walking in that crowded of a space under underground, sometimes where it's like deep, deep shelter kind of stuff in the heat, and people like trying to get to work and doing all these, and I'm just like, nah, too much stress around me, I'll take the extra transfer.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, oh oh, and add getting lost for me because there were sometimes I had to go to the wrong place, get back on, go the other way, and have people waiting for me that I'm trying to meet, and I'm going. So, none of that anymore. That is kind of soothed.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah. I I still do that sometimes depending on where I'm going. But I have also gotten into a mode of going to the same places. So it's not as often because of that. But but then I feel like I'm not exploring enough. Um I'm feeling that already. There's so much. So 17 metro lines in this city. 17! And that's just now. Like next month they'll probably be the 18th.

SPEAKER_05

I've been on three or four of those 17 in three months. Maybe four.

SPEAKER_03

That's pretty good. That's pretty good. Well, Central Shanghai has probably what five or six or something, and then it there's all these that I still look at and I'm like, I don't think I've ever been on that one at all. Ever. And I probably won't.

SPEAKER_05

I hear that there's some that I should just take to the end for the sake of writing, get off, and go explore. And I thought, okay, if I can force myself out of bed on this vacation time, I may just do that.

SPEAKER_03

We haven't done that. Like there are these fake these replica towns all over China. Like there's a replica Venice up north. There still is a replica UK in Shanghai. I forget exactly where. I think it's near Songjiang down south. There was a replica Germantown. And that's that's when we went to the end of a line and we're look was looking for it, but it already got renovated over into just really nice condos. So we found one German restaurant that was at the heart of what used to be Germantown. What are you gonna name the book? I'm thinking China Chronicles.

SPEAKER_05

Chronicles. China Chronicles. Yeah. People are asking me, you know, well, I can't wait to read your chronicles again. And I think, wow, that may do it.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Now obviously it has to as pick have pictures.

SPEAKER_05

Oh, I definitely point now that's gonna cost a little more, but that is what makes the chronicles the chronicles.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Other pictures going along with it. It just it blows some of the things just blow you away.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, but here's here's the thing though, you mentioned videos too, and those are powerful. Videos are powerful. How maybe links?

SPEAKER_05

Maybe in a book, just put a link to something, and if they want to see it, they can go to the link and see the videos.

SPEAKER_03

Ooh, or a company like website for the promotional purposes and have some videos on there.

SPEAKER_04

You have some thoughts there. I have thoughts.

SPEAKER_03

Very two brains are better than one. There you go. That sounds really exciting. So, when do you think you would do that? Because you're you're busy. I'm busier.

SPEAKER_05

It would be after. Yeah, it would be after the fact when when I can come down from the high of work. Work consumes me.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

It, I mean, if I could work to eight, nine o'clock, I would. I just don't want to miss the bus.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

I don't want to miss the bus and have to pay out of pocket every day. That's a whole nother bill. I'm allowed to leave at three, but I don't leave until about five something. That's that. And I'm running to the bus every day. I'm trying to suck every minute of time that I can get to get things done. Yeah, yeah. Because when I get home, I'm not gonna do it. No, and it's good to leave it at work.

SPEAKER_04

It's good to leave it.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

It's good to leave it. That's why I'm in China to not be stressed out. Exactly. Me too. Leave the stress left behind. Leave the stress behind. Didn't come all the way here to bring that lifestyle a little bit. Absolutely not.

SPEAKER_03

No. Yeah, that's why it's funny. I've met so many people who, when they came over here, they were like, okay, I'm not gonna repeat working too much. Yes. Exactly. What is that? Yes. Because they work like super duper crazy hard in China. They are hard workers here.

SPEAKER_05

But we don't do that. They are I noticed simple shops will be open till 9, 10, 11 o'clock at night. Yeah. And I'm going, these people live here. And their children come there after school. They bring their dogs to work with them because they're there most of the day. And I thought, wow, they work really hard.

SPEAKER_03

They work a lot. The students work really hard. Like everybody, it's it's just like a 12-hour day is normal. Yes. Kind of thing. Yes. And then we come over here and we go, Oh, we don't have to work too hard now. And I'm like, yeah. I feel slightly guilty with that.

SPEAKER_05

I tell you what, I've worked enough back home to last me a lifetime. I think so. Working double ship when I didn't have to. Teachers were on salary. Yeah. So when you work late, that's your choice. Yep. You don't get paid for that. And you just you want to do a good job, and so you're willing to do it. Yeah. And the students.

SPEAKER_03

The students are what we're doing. But little humans. They're so they're so amazing. I didn't teach little ones, I taught like I taught teenagers mostly for a while, and then older teenagers at the first year at university. But they're people and they're cool people that are blossoming. And it's like, oh, if I can just get this one more thing done, I can help them fill in the blank. Yes. Exactly. I have no cutoff. I don't even think I would have made the last bus if I was you.

SPEAKER_05

There have been a few times that I've stayed out, but not often. Yeah. Not often.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, it's hard. It's hard. This is exactly well, this is one of the top five reasons I am not teaching anymore. That cutoff for me is a good idea. That's my goal.

SPEAKER_05

That's my goal. To work, save, get another plan, and because we're getting older. You can't do the same thing forever and ever and ever. We have lots of talents and gifts, and I want to shift into some other tap into some book writing and other things.

SPEAKER_03

Yes, absolutely. Oh, I love that commercial thing you just did with your hair. Oh, listeners, you wanted to see that. But you can't. You can't. Alright, let's do a rapid fire love-hate kind of thing. And then we'll revisit these questions at the end of the year. What were you most surprised with at China? With China.

SPEAKER_05

Oh, what was I most surprised at? I think the people going down the streets with the carts. And the carts can get extremely high. They are amazing at packing those carts. And some of the carts are homemade, but they pack them really high. So I would take pictures of the people driving down the street in their carts and how they balanced with these strings and ropes. And I thought, wow, amazing. Back home, we'd just get a big truck. But so I mean that hasn't stopped surprising me. That I still want to take pictures of.

SPEAKER_03

I still do.

unknown

Yes.

SPEAKER_03

Almost not daily, but weekly, probably. I took a driving test when I lived in Taiwan in 2003 and 2004, and they for a scooter. You know, you didn't have to, didn't have to, nobody checked, nobody cared. But I wanted to take the test. It was in English, but I took it. And one of the questions I'll never forget this was how high can people have packages on their scooters? They didn't specify in front, behind, or anything. And it was like the option was, and I still have the manual actually. I have a couple pictures of the manual. And it was knees, shoulders, or head. And guess which one I picked? What? Knees. Like up to your knees. And that's that that's a safe distance, right? Yeah. Guess what the actual answer was? Whoa, shoulders. They were allowed to have packages or whatever on their scooter, front or back, up to their shoulders.

SPEAKER_05

Oh, okay. Those are the scooters. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Shoulders. Okay. So then you have the carts where they they're pulling something behind them, and it just there seems to be no end.

SPEAKER_03

No end. Yeah. But the scooters, they would go higher than the shoulders. But shoulders was even. Even legal higher. Even legal. Like I saw people with like furniture on the front.

SPEAKER_05

They're not as big as American refrigerators, but they're still big.

SPEAKER_03

They're big. They're very big. Yeah. And they can navigate. I just I can't. I've only seen one tip over. Really? One. But we're talking 2003 until now in different parts of Asia. I've only seen one of them tip over. They're they're we're gonna put some pictures, listeners. You're just gonna be floored. If you're outside of China, you're gonna be outside of Asia especially, you're gonna be floored by how much stuff can be packed onto scooters and carts.

SPEAKER_05

My goodness.

SPEAKER_03

It's amazing. I don't have those balancing skills.

SPEAKER_05

The other shocker is seeing women riding as passengers on the back of a scooter sitting to the side. Yes. Not straddling it, but sitting to the side. That throws my equilibrium off just watching them. And I think, oh, truly, I'd be on the ground. I would not last. I would not. No, I think they're very skilled and talented people here.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. I couldn't do that for two blocks. No. It would not happen. No. Uh-uh. Um, when I used to take motorbike taxis in Vietnam, I used to grab onto the poor guy. There's like skinny, like young guys in my school and hold on to him, and he's just like, what the hell's going on? And I was sitting, I was traveling. But so I I could have balanced myself, but I couldn't. And then I learned I could hold on to the back of the scooter instead of the poor guy. So I started to do that. It's a skill.

SPEAKER_05

Where do you put your feet in? And yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, but I couldn't just do it without holding something.

SPEAKER_05

No, you have to hold something.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, especially how they drive.

SPEAKER_05

It was just like no. Well, I've seen them writing, reading books, uh, on their phones, and I'm going, this, you've got to be kidding me.

SPEAKER_03

I mean, I'm reading! Are you serious? Like ebooks, paper books, both?

SPEAKER_05

No, like I've seen a book in someone's hand before.

SPEAKER_03

Well, they're writing a script. Driving. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_05

Oh, car. On the phone. Yeah. Driving the schooler. Yeah. Yes.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, I haven't seen that yet.

SPEAKER_05

I just cannot believe it.

SPEAKER_03

Wow. I don't I don't know if I do or don't want to see that. So that's my shocker. Yeah, those those are two shocking things. And the driving. What do you yeah? Oh yeah. What what is the thing that delights you the most that you didn't expect?

SPEAKER_05

Oh, let's see. Um I I I would have to say the school that I work at. I work at a French school and it's just an amazing, it's an amazing monster, just an amazing machine. That's what I should say. It has so many components. Yeah. And the way it's a well-oiled machine, very complicated, and I'm so interested in finding out another way than just the American school system type of way. And I'm just I'm blown away by that. And not just that, but the children here and how education is so important from a very young age, and teaching them many odd languages. It's almost the norm because they know their children need to be ready and they need to be prepared, and you need to know English. So it's very important to them. And yeah, it blows it still blows me away. Yeah. That I teach children that speak three languages already.

SPEAKER_03

Some of them more than that. I'm so jealous of them.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah. And I thought, wow, how much further along in the world would I be if I could speak? I speak a little Spanish, a little Espanol, coming from Miami, but just enough.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, but if we had started at that age, three, at least three, I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_05

Taking classes, yes.

SPEAKER_03

Right? Content classes in those languages. It's amazing. It's amazing. Oh, amazing. Okay, but you know, with the good comes the bad. So what's the most annoying thing so far?

SPEAKER_05

I want to say the stairs. It was it was kind of cute and funny at first, but I've become very, very annoyed with the stairs because sometimes those stairs they go a little beyond just staring. You get the up and down, you might even get a twitched lip. And one co-worker and I we were talking about this, and while we were talking, at that very moment, a woman walked by, looked me up and down, and kind of crinkled her nose at me, and turned around and kept going. And I thought, there it goes, just what we were just talking about. There's your proof, and it's not my country. So I have to remember, you know, that it sometimes it's not anything harsh, it they don't mean anything by it, you just look different to them, you know, and they do stare. And um, I have to just get used. I've I've we were taught that staring is rude, so I don't stare, but I've learned to stare back just to say, you see that feeling you get when I stare at you? I get that too.

SPEAKER_03

What do they do when you stare back?

SPEAKER_05

Sometimes they look away.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah, me too.

SPEAKER_05

Oftentimes they look away.

SPEAKER_03

I started to start from the feet when I stare back and do that back, and I hate doing it. But sometimes I'm like, hmm, like if they just look curious, I'm like, whatever. Curious is curious. But if there's that growly look on the face, I'm like, I don't care where you're from, that needs a little attention. Yes, yes. I would do this in any country, and I'm gonna do it right now, and I'll start at the feet and I'll go up and I'll intentionally not be smiling, which is hard to do.

SPEAKER_05

There is one elder Chinese man that rides the same bus and gets off at the same stop with me and my coworkers in the morning, and he stares. Yeah. I mean, at me more more than anyone else. Stares, looks me up and down. So one day I just smiled at him and I said, Nihao. And he said, Nihaw, with this little frown, with this little frown on his face. But the next day he stared again and he said, nihao, a little softer. And each day it got a little softer, and now he smiles and says, niho. Yeah. And when I'm not there, my friends tell me your friend was looking for you today. So I thought, oh, that is so nice. Yeah. So I was just different. Yeah, yeah. And he had to learn that it's okay to speak speak. Yeah. It's okay to smile. Yeah. And keep going. Yeah. Okay. Well, it's funny.

SPEAKER_00

NIHO. He wanted to make sure I was like, but I'll do it.

SPEAKER_03

I'm not gonna be rude.

SPEAKER_00

Right, right, right, right.

SPEAKER_03

Now about the home thickness. What do you miss the most and what do you miss the least?

SPEAKER_04

Oh my goodness, what do I miss the most?

SPEAKER_05

You know, I I kind of miss having my car and being able to having the liberty to just get in the car and go where I want to go, when I want to go, whether it's spur of the moment, I don't have to plan or figure out or map out a route or be afraid of getting lost. And I, you know, it sometimes I would be driving and I'd go, you know what? I'm gonna stop at the beach because I lived five minutes away from the beach.

SPEAKER_03

Oh my god. Yes. Why did you leave?

SPEAKER_05

Oh my gosh. I would go to the beach all the time. It was a five-minute drive. Yeah. So I I just I miss being able to just jump in the car, go see a friend if I wanted to see a friend, take myself to a movie if I you know that liberty. I I I'm starting to feel trapped in my apartment, and I need motivation to get out because I don't have that same liberty to just jump and go when I want.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

You know, I used to get out and just walk, but I'm getting bored with just the same walk in my vicinity. You know. So I miss transportation, driving a car. Yeah. I'm telling my son, who has my car now, when I come home, already have plans over how you're gonna get around because that car is mine.

SPEAKER_03

I'm gonna be in the 24-7 mile. It is mine. Oh my gosh, oh my gosh. Um, and what do you miss the least? What are you glad you left behind, even if it may only be for the season?

SPEAKER_05

I'm glad I left that teaching. That just the teaching full time in America is very different from my experience of teaching full time here. It is just very different. I love teaching as a profession. I think there'll always be some aspect of teaching in my life, but the system and the way they do things and why they do it, and I worked at a good school before I left. I wouldn't go to any other school when I was. You know, back home, yeah, but they were still a part of the system. I have to figure out a plan for the rest of my life, so I don't have to go back to teaching full time. I can always tutor. I'm getting my Cambridge examiner's license while I'm here. Nice, and you can use that globally. So um, different things. I'm an actor, um, I do different things, you know, but you have to have a constant stream, and I have to find a way to make it work. But full time, yeah. I don't know, maybe someone will start a charter school and want some ideas from someone who's worked in another country, you know. That would be interesting.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That would be very interesting. That would be very cool. Yeah, full time feels so passe right now.

SPEAKER_05

I just know my children will be graduating college within the next couple years, my daughter in a month. Yeah, so it's a new phase of life for me, and I want to feel like I have a little more freedom. I've already been told you're acting like a teenager. My daughter's not supposed to be an insult. My daughter's friend said your mom acts like a teenager, and I'm going, you have no idea. I think I missed my teen years because I just, you know, I wanted to be grown up so fast.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, me too. We always wanted, yeah, we wanted to grow up. I wanted lots of jobs, lots of I wouldn't say lots of money, but lots of different experiences, lots of credentials. So I just was going to school, working a lot. I had the car, I had the apartment. Like I was like adult, adult, adult, adult, adult, adult, adult. And then I was like, I'm exhausted. Yeah. So yeah, I just I just want to have fun. Girls want to have fun. You got it. Oh my gosh, yes. Yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_05

Yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_03

What do you think would be your reaction to these first four chronicles at the end of the year? Oh wow.

SPEAKER_05

I'm hoping by the end of the year I'm not bored because there was so much excitement that first one. There was so much excitement. And it's very easy for me to get used to a routine. So even preparing to come here and looking back at the post, I went, oh wow, you know, that was really funny. I remember that day, I remember the emotions. So I um I want to always appreciate that you are in a different country, you are in China, make the most of it and get out and do things, you know. But I kind of need motivation to do that. If someone calls me and says, Hey, we're going here, what do you want? I'm there. I'll go. But if they don't, I'm like, uh, I'll just sit here and watch a couple movies.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, okay. If I may suggest something, yes, meetups.com, which I never really used in any other country, is really active here. I think I might have said this before. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

I've heard about some of these groups that I need to join. That's gonna take a little prodding.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, for sure, for sure. And if if you I like getting notifications. I know a lot of people don't like reminders and emails and stuff like that, and I need them. I need somebody to send me something saying, hey, this is happening, are you going or not? And and the the website will send it. It won't be a nagging person, it'll be some anonymous website. You signed up for this group, are you going to this thing? Yes or no? I need to do that. And then I was uh then I think about it and I break out my calendar and I make a decision. But if it wasn't for that, I would, yeah.

SPEAKER_05

I need to do that.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. And they have a lot of different activities. And what I like about it here is it's not just expats, it's like a usually a mix of locals and foreigners and foreigners from all over the world, because foreigners is not one variety, as we all know. Yeah, yes, you're right, you're right. And so it's it's a really interesting mix a lot of times with people from all over.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, notice that.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, and I and I like that. Yeah, I like that too. I'm still, like despite having studied Chinese for a year, way low level. So I cannot converse in any meaningful way with any local. So the fact that they have so many folks who have gone to study overseas and come back, and they can in English is such a deep discount into the culture. Yes, it is, you're right. And so it's kind of fun to meet them and then you know have those conversations that you're kind of thinking, I wonder about, and then you can ask someone. Yes. So I'm not a lot, yeah, yeah. But you're at three three months, you've got plenty of time to do all that stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Not be so hard on myself.

SPEAKER_03

No, absolutely not. And there's in the first like six, seven, eight months, if there's no problem in doing what you're doing. When you relax, you relax at home, you absorb what you've done all day, all week, all month. There's no problem with that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

But when you get bored, know that there's tons of activities out there for you.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah. I I need to have those options.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. For sure. Thank you so much for doing our first during the first year interview. All right. We will check back with you in nine more months or so. Anytime after that. Yes. That point.

SPEAKER_05

Nine or ten months. Yeah. Thank you for having me. This is exciting.

SPEAKER_03

Alright, so listeners, we're gonna have all that information and links in some way, shape, or form in the show notes. So check those. Again, I welcome and encourage guests on this podcast. So please do contact me if you have a first-year experience that you'd like to reflect on in your current day state. You don't have to currently still be living in the same place. There does need to be some time distance between when you experienced that country and that first-year experience and where you are now. Doesn't need to be as long as my my 13 or 14 years is from this experience, but there does need to be some time after the first year ended. Contact me for more details. I would love to hash that out with you and have you be a guest on this podcast. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Expat Rewind. We're coming your way soon.

SPEAKER_01

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