What does the other side of the world look like? By Daniel Esteban

This story was originally written in Spanish.

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My name is Daniel Esteban Perdomo Rincón and I was born in Bogotá, Colombia 27 years ago. I am currently an English teacher in a high school in Huizhou, China, and I have been in this country for about four years now.

Wouldn’t it be cool going back in time?

My city in Colombia offered a degree in English studies, but I chose teaching and set myself the challenge of learning English very well in order to be able to teach others. I have always liked the pedagogy part, sharing knowledge with someone else to help them improve. So it was that during my studies in Colombia, I came to China to do an internship in 2018 in a school and then I went back immediately to graduate. Back in Colombia I worked for two months in a private school, but that was all my experience in education there. China gave me the opportunity again in 2019 to develop myself as a teacher.

Watching Mulan I dreamed of being there one day

What brought me to China

I had always dreamed of doing an international internship and I heard from some friends that had volunteered in Brazil for two months and it counted as a degree option. Then, with my desire to travel, through a company I learned that there were many options to go abroad to countries such as India, Turkey, Russia, Brazil… And on the list was China. Chinese culture had always caught my attention, its long history of dynasties, its culture so different from the Colombian one. For example, if I had gone to Brazil, although we are different, we are all Latinos and the essence would have been similar. But I was curious about China, on the other side of the world.

 

I wanted to get to know and explore that culture and that different language. At no time was I afraid, although another classmate had had a bad experience in China, but that did not scare me. I did wonder how I was going to defend myself without knowing Chinese, but at the same time it motivated me and pushed me, so the decision was great.

 

I am very grateful to a Colombian person who was here and gave me all the detailed directions for my arrival in China the first time. I landed in Hong Kong and I knew exactly which bus I had to take, and how to get to the city of Huizhou.

I love to explore old towns

After that, I was rather shy and what I did was write on a piece of paper the characters to show people or take lots of pictures and print out the names of places to ask for directions.

 

After my internship in China I returned to Colombia, I liked it very much and I left very happy. I made my graduation presentation about my experience in China and the professors loved it. Then, when I was about to graduate my first boss wrote me to invite me to come back to Huizhou, they provided me with visa, tickets… I said yes without thinking. I graduated and two days later I was back in China with my first job.

 

What made me fall in love with China

A colleague invited me to spend Chinese New Year with her family

I love China’s temples, all those ancient cities and villages. The first time I came here my big goal was to visit the Great Wall of China. I went to see the terracotta soldiers in Xi’An. In Guangzhou I went to see the Panda, which was my big goal. It’s the colors of the temples, the statues of animals with their colors, I love them. I also went to Zhangjiajie near Shanghai and, although there were a lot of people and it was cloudy, I enjoyed it just the same. I also went to Yunnan, to Shangrila and the Tiger Leaping Gorge hike, I loved it, loved it! I really like natural places, hiking, parks… And China has a lot of places like that, very attractive. But my favorites are the ancient villages like Dali, Shangrila…

 

Cultural differences

As a Latino, I have noticed cultural differences in social relationships. Latinos are very affectionate and very expressive, we hug among friends and smile a lot. I realized that in China there is not so much physical contact and often my Chinese friends tell me that I say “thank you” too much, they tell me that here there is no need to be so grateful or why I am always so happy and smiling. And you realize that people here are more introverted.

 

As for Chinese food, I married the most basic food, dumplings, noodles, fried rice “chaofan”, I love hot-pot. Other dishes I don’t usually eat them, maybe I have tried them and I didn’t like them, I don’t know… But I love dumplings and noodles, although they tell me it’s a bit like fast-food in China. I have found in other cities some Colombian restaurants, so when I miss the ingredients and seasoning of my country, I like to visit them.

Trying to learn the lion dance.

The pandemic

I think we can all divide our life experience before and after the pandemic. For me, life in China before the pandemic was very different. I had the possibility to travel to so many other countries like Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam. On my list was to visit South Korea, the Philippines, Laos, Japan… But after the pandemic, the ease of getting around is not so good. In any case, I felt safe here during the pandemic and I didn’t feel I should leave. So I think maybe I will stay one or two more years in China to grow professionally as a teacher and to reach a level of Chinese to be able to have a conversation and be able to defend myself.

 

“Your hair is a bird’s nest.”

In China I have encountered very kind people who have tried to help me even without knowing English. As I have also found people who dodge me or talk to me a little rudely… But I feel that this is everywhere, I’m not saying it’s something that happens only in China. As a Latino, when I first arrived they asked me why I was black and I didn’t understand. I explained to them that my skin color makes me who I am, that I am Latino and I love my skin color.

I felt rejected at first, but I realized that it is not about me, but that in China they tend to generalize everything, maybe without bad intentions, but they include all foreigners in a group. At first I did feel bad, but it helped me to feel proud of who I am, my skin color and even my hair. My students used to make fun of my wavy hair and say I had a bird’s nest on my head… And eventually I learned that my wavy hair makes me who I am and I love it.

I would encourage anyone in Colombia who has the chance to come to China because there are many stereotypes that one breaks. For example, that false myth that everyone eats dog meat. So, to come here is to learn not to get carried away by everything you hear, to learn for yourself. Whether you are from Asia, Europe, America, we all have stereotypes towards the unknown, so I would encourage people to come and enjoy the ancient culture of China and get to know what the people here are really like.

 

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