Home Away From Home 2021

Name: Jenny Liang Country of Origin： Philippines Occupation: HR & Training Supervisor for Sealand Maritime Service Co. Ltd. Years in China: 16 years and 1 month How did your journey in China begin? After my college graduation, I met up with my high school friend, Renelyn, who was at that time working as a foreign […]

Name: Biba Urška Originally from: Slovenia Years in China: almost 10 Occupation while in China: Student Biba’s unique China story, written by Biba Urska: My husband and I lived in Xiamen for almost ten years, but apart from colleagues or friends in groups involved in saving animals, we didn’t meet that many other foreigners. The […]

Name: Jennifer Gunter Originally from: Huntsville, Ontario, Canada Years in China: 4 Occupation: Teacher, department chair, college counselor and voleyball coach! Written by: Jennifer Gunter When I tell many people that I live in China, they ask me questions about crowds, traffic, and other problems that they’ve heard exist in China.  I’ve been living internationally […]

Name: Alonso Quijano Originally from: Ecuador Occupation: Economist / Ocarina musician Years in China: 5 How did your China journey begin? My journey began in 2011 when I started studying at the Confucius Institute of Ecuador. I fell in love with the language right away and committed to studying Mandarin Chinese until I could speak […]

Name: Graham Faulkner Originally from: The United Kingdom Occupation: Translator Years in China: 18 People often ask me why I came to China. To be honest, I’ve never really had a quick and ready answer to that question, other than simply saying that I was curious. I didn’t know much about China before I arrived […]

Name: Atul Verma Occupation: Yoga Instructor Country of origin: India Years in China: 13 years How did your journey in China begin? My journey started in 2008 in Xiamen. It all started with when my previous employer came to India that year and saw what I was capable of. I had been offered an opportunity […]

Name: Andre Country of origin: Germany Occupation: Former Technical Manager in Construction and current Gelato Master Years in China: 14 How did your journey in China begin? I used to work in the construction industry in Germany and in 2006 I got the opportunity to interview for a job as a Construction Manager for the […]

Name: Lucía Fajardo Country: Uruguay Occupation: Sales Representative Years in China: 11 years (on and off) How did you journey in China begin? It all started with a phone call where a friend told me about scholarships to China to study the language back in 2010. Without hesitation, or being very aware of what I […]

Name: Tav Country of origin: South Africa Years in China: 2 Occupation: Former business analyst, current educator To me, China was always this place on my had-to-see list. Since I was little boy, I was fascinated and intrigued by this magical place with its rich culture and many different dishes that I only saw on […]

Name: Bode Occupation: Creative in the sports industry Years in China: 11 Years Originally from: The United Kingdom Introduction My Name is Bode, I’m an artist, a creative in the sports industry and a former UK National Champion in track & field. Over the past 22 years I have been fortunate to have a career […]

Name: Joyce BeelenCountry: BelgiumYears in China: 4Occupation: emerging fashion designer Hello! My name is Joyce and I come from Belgium. I’ve been living in China now for about 4 years. In the beginning, I got a job as an English teacher and at the moment I am trying to start my own business in fashion and writing a book in my spare time. […]

Name: Homero Augusto Fierro Ruvalcaba Country of Origin: México Occupation: Masters student at Xiamen University Years in China: 2 How did your journey in China begin? Like many people, I came here to study the language. However, whenever people ask me why I started studying Chinese, I suddenly find myself unable to simply explain it. […]