Home Away From Home 2021

Name: Kristina Fedoskina Country of Origin: Russia Occupation: Master’s student Years in China: 5 years How did your journey in China begin? I never thought I would go to China, let alone live here for so long. In 2016, I was invited by Xi’an Jiao Tong University to study Chinese for a month in the […]

Name: Bernard Blum Country of origin: Israel Occupation: Teacher / Professor at Xiamen University School of Management Years in China: 7 How did your journey in China begin? I planned most of my life, however China was never on my radar. Living and working in China was totally unplanned but incredibly fascinating and worthwhile in […]

Name: Jaap Grolleman Country of Origin: Netherlands Time Spent in China: 3+ years Occupation: Marketing Director I’m writing this article while I have just started reading Peter Hessler’s Oracle Bones.  Hessler writes about the students of his English class in Sichuan, a trader who he meets in Beijing, and other Chinese people in the early […]

Name: Bill Aitchison Country of origin: United Kingdom Occupation: Director/Actor/Teacher in Theatre Years in China: 7 Years How did your journey in China begin? It all started when I was a student doing my masters in London. By accident, I got a part time job in the School of the Oriental and African studies so […]

Name: Juan Miguel Ortega Quesada Country: Costa Rica Occupation: PhD Candidate, East China Normal University, Shanghai Time Spent in China: Six years in China 2014-2018, 2019-2021 One would suppose that journeys have a beginning, a definite point of no return from which life inflects and your soles step into unknown paths bestowed with new adventures. […]

Name: Dr. Nic Tam Years in China: Almost 3 years Occupation: Sports Science Researcher Hometown: Johannesburg/Cape Town, South Africa How did your journey in China begin? I always had a curiosity about living in China since my family is originally from The Guangdong Province, although it was not a priority of mine. My family left […]

Name: Mitchel Africa Time Spent in China: 9 Years Occupation: Educator Hometown: San Pedro, Philippines How did your journey in China begin? My initial journey to China is in fact a remarkable story. Back in The Philippines, I am a registered nurse and it was actually my mom who was initially supposed to come to […]

Name: Mino Andriantsimahavandy Country: Madagascar Do you want to hear my love-story with China? Okay! I was 22 years-old when I got a letter from the Embassy of China in Antananarivo. Antananarivo is the capital city of Madagascar, the country where I was born and raised. A country that I’d never left, not even once. This is […]

Name: Upul Wickramasinghe Country: Sri Lanka Occupation: Journalist How did I begin my journey in China? I can still remember watching a TV program on China and Chinese culture about 20 years ago when I was still very small. In the background, I heard melodious strains of Chinese music and I can still remember how […]

Name:  Ariana Murray Country of Origin: United States Occupation: Educator Years in China: 1 My journey in China began back in 2018, when I saw a flyer at my university to study abroad for one semester. At that time, I recently won a prize to receive a free passport through a drawing so it just made […]

Name: Vicente Sivera Catalá Country of Origin: Spain Occupation: Board Game Illustrator and graphic designer Years in China: 8 “Maybe you were a Chinese person in your past life.” Over the 8 years that I have been living in China this is the, somewhat corny, jokingly way some of my Chinese friends replied to my […]

Name: Katherine or Katya or 凯瑟琳 Country of origin: USA Occupation: Educator Years in China: 11 How did your journey in China begin? That is not as easy a question as it seems. * Was it every time I visited a new big city as a child and declared I’d live there someday?— In hindsight, […]