My China

I was the only foreigner on that early morning Air China flight from Beijing to Hohhot on December 3rd 2015. The night before I had arrived from my home country, Serbia, and stepped foot on Chinese soil for the first time in my life, leaving behind my family and friends who had probably wondered why I had decided to embark on this adventure and move to a country we all knew so little about.

It has been more than five years now since that cold winter morning of both fear and excitement that I felt while sitting in the last row of the plane taking me to my new home in Inner Mongolia. It was supposed to be a year long thrilling ride on a rollercoaster of everything unknown. But that ride has not come to an end yet, because it is 2021 and here I am, writing these lines on a lovely summer morning in my home in Hohhot, China.

People have often asked me "why". Why have I stayed? Why have I not returned home after the first year? Why have I not left China after all the years that came after that first one? I don't have a simple answer and I believe it would take a lot more than a single sentence to explain this choice of mine to be a guest in this glorious country. Every year spent enjoying that privilege has had its own reasons to not be the one when I leave.

Year One was like a newborn child. The pleasures of infancy, the time when one begins to see and touch and smell the world with disbelief and insatiable curiosity, the time I began to understand just how well China lends itself to those seeking to experience all the wonders of its vast lands.

Year Two was an unsteady toddler, struggling with its tiny steps towards a different goal every single day. Still very much dependent on the help of others and their hospitable nature, I started making friends with the infinitely generous and obliging Chinese people, some of whom became very close and dear friends. It was also the time of developing a taste for a special something — gombao chicken as a favourite dish at a local restaurant being one of those. It was the year of discoveries.

Year Three was the time of early childhood. The time of questioning my choices, the time when I first became aware of the feeling of longing I felt for home, for simple everyday interactions in a language I knew, aware of how difficult it was starting to be having to live a life somewhere where it was hard to communicate one's needs, wishes or problems. So it became the time of learning the language of my local friends. Once I started listening attentively and nervously uttering a few words in response to a friendly taxi driver's question or a welcoming waitor's remark, China began to open up to me in ways I could only have imagined.

And so my relationship with China continued into Year Four, our teenage era. Eager for excitement, impatient to experience everything that was on offer, I traveled around China in awe. Whenever I thought that it was impossible to feel a deeper connection with this country whose culture I was now somewhat familiar with, China would surprise me again: a driver who came back to the hotel he dropped me off at because he realized I had forgotten my coat on the back seat and wanted to give it back; an old lady working in a local fruit shop who would always sneak an extra handful of nuts into my bag out of pure generosity; a security guard in the community I live in who would stay at work half an hour longer just to help me get a package from abroad from the community parcel lockers. China is its people, and I knew that now.

And then just in a blink of an eye, without much preparation and with a blast that was felt all over the world, we had to learn how to grow up, because Year Five was on our doorstep and it changed everything. I spent much of this year back in my home country, wishing every day to be able to return to China, realizing for the first time just how hard it was being a grown up who needs to understand that there is no turning back time, but that with courage, perseverance and patience things eventually get back on their track, something I had learned from Chinese people. And so at the end of this year I was back in China, happier than ever for this second chance that China has given me.

I do not know how many more years I will keep living in this country so foreign and remote at first, yet so close to my heart now, strengthening the special bond I have made with its culture, its people and its language. What I do know is that if that time comes to an end I will leave knowing that China has touched my life, my heart and my soul in ways I would need another lifetime to write about.

I am an English teacher from Serbia, living and working in the city of Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China. I have been living here since December 2015. I am passionate about teaching and I have a masters degree in English Language and Literature. I have been a teacher since 2012, which is the year when I graduated from the University of Belgrade in Serbia. I came to China hungry for new experiences and wanting to teach abroad, but I stayed because I fell in love with the culture and the people. My wish is to leave a meaningful mark in my career and be remembered by my students, which is something I aspire to in my daily work.

The opinions expressed here are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of China Daily and China Daily website.