Way back in the spring of 2008, I was gearing up to graduate from Michigan State and busy juggling classes, a few internships, and an independent study. In the downtime at work, I crafted my resume and scoured job postings online. I attended a handful of job fairs and even volunteered at a few of them. In short, I was doing just about everything I could to line up a job in my field (radio & TV) after graduation. Unfortunately for me and thousands of other young people at the time, the Great Recession was just starting to hit, and jobs for us recent grads were the first to go.

Faced with the options of continuing to work for free, moving back in with my folks, or doing something drastically different, I went with option C. A bit of research pointed me towards teaching ESL in another country, and a bit more narrowed that search down to South Korea or China. With the Summer Olympics going on in Beijing that summer and a friend who had already spent a year working there, I settled on the Chinese capital. On the morning of my 23rd birthday, hungover and armed with absolutely zero Chinese language abilities or real knowledge of the country – “Pandas can do kung fu there, right?” – I boarded a flight and flew across the world. Originally, the plan was to stay for a year, do some traveling in China and a backpacking trip around SE Asia, and then come home – you know, to find a “real job” and all that. The thing about plans, though, is they tend to change…

My first year in China was a whirlwind to say the least. The first few weeks were full of Olympic festivities, group dinners, sightseeing, and of course getting to know Beijing’s nightlife. Us newbies were lucky to have some guys around who had already been in the program for half a year who took us under their wing and showed us the ropes. Thanks to Marc, Andy, Adam, and Matt for making our first few weeks so much fun. When my first job didn’t quite work out, it seemed as if I was going to have to abandon ship and give up after just a month. Without an apartment or much savings, things weren’t looking good. Thankfully, some of my new friends and my newly found agent threw me a lifeline and lent me some money to move into a different place. Without them the story ends here, and I’ll always be thankful for their kindness and generosity.

For the next eight months, I lived in the student area of Beijing called Wudaokou (or “the Wu” to us expats). Mornings were spent in class, thankfully with a very patient lao shi who helped me gain the confidence to get out there and speak Chinese. I didn’t want to be one of those foreigners who lives in China but never learns the language, and I have my first teacher to thank for getting me out of that bubble and opening a whole new world. Within a few months, I was using Chinese in every possible situation – in the restaurant, at the shop, in a cab, buying train tickets, and so on. For all of you beginner Chinese learners out there, I can’t stress it enough that the best way to hone your skills is to come to China and put yourself out there. The people love hearing foreigners speak their language, and they’ll be patient with you as you stumble over their difficult language.

I even felt comfortable enough to travel independently, usually with my good friend Tim, and we had some amazing adventures throughout the year. Thanks to our cushy schedules, we managed to get out of Beijing very often to explore the Middle Kingdom. From getting high-school girl drunk at the Qingdao Beer Festival, to ending up in the kiddie park of the Harbin Ice & Snow Festival, to a wild New Year’s Eve in Shanghai, and a whole lot of day trips, hikes, and more, it was an awesome year to say the least. Thanks to Tim, or Da Kuai as many of us know him, for getting out there and seeing China with me. 

Before I knew it, the time had come to board my flight back home. I had planned to stay a full year, but the reunion of my favorite band (Phish) after a 5-year breakup led me to fly home a bit early to do their summer tour and work at a few music festivals. That, plus a cute girl I had met the summer before wanted to join me for all of it. Fully intent on returning to China, I left most of my things there with friends. It became clear to me that one year wasn’t even close to enough time – I had just started speaking the language, gotten comfortable with the food, and only hit the tip of the iceberg in terms of travel. 

Plans changed once again, and my return to China was delayed indefinitely as I moved in with my new girlfriend in support of her job search in the music business in Nashville. Surrounded by great friends and great music, it should have been the perfect situation for us, but fate had different plans. The economy was still in the dumps and jobs were slim pickings, especially in our respective industries for young people. When both our house and car got broken into in a span of a few weeks, it was time for a drastic change. She wanted to get as far away as possible, and suggested giving Beijing a try. Longing for my good life in China, I immediately said yes and we flew across the world together. 

Without a whole lot of money saved, we were unable to rent our own place at first. This led us to take out a room for rent in a house shared with what seemed to be another cool American guy and a German kid. With housing secured, we went about finding a variety of part-time jobs – teaching, babysitting, voice recording – whatever we could get paid for. Things were going great by the time summer rolled around. We were comfortable in our place, making good money, learning Chinese, and having more fun than should be allowed with an amazing group of people. It was at that time that a tremendous opportunity fell into my lap, as a friend recommended me to join the team here at Transparent Language. Five years later, and I’m still going strong. Thanks to Steve and the incredible people at TL for giving me the chance to share my experiences in China throughout the past half-decade. 

Unfortunately, it came to light that our roommate had been ripping all of us off on rent. Needless to say, this led to a bit of tension in the house. Rather than admit to his wrongdoing and make up for it, he decided to move everything out of the apartment and run for the hills while we were on an otherwise fantastic trip in Inner Mongolia. We returned from the yurt to find all of our things packed up in a hotel across the street, homeless and confused. Once again, friends came to the rescue and opened up their living room to us while we searched for a place. Thanks to Tavey, Jun, and the rest of the gang who were living at Li Hong at the time for giving us a temporarily place to stay. 

In the end, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Thanks to the unfortunate turn of events, we ended up finding a great 3-bedroom apartment in our friends’ neighborhood that we were able to rent directly from the landlady – a super friendly lady who spoke near fluent English. We would end up calling that place home for three years, and it will always hold a special place in our hearts as the first spot that we lived on our own. For the second time in my short stint in China, I had bounced back from what appeared to be a hopeless situation only to come out in an even better place. Rather than focus on the few bad apples, this is a testament to the kindness of most of the people you’ll encounter living in China – both locals and expats. 

A few months after moving into our new place, we had an entire month off for the winter break. Having worked hard and saved some money, we treated ourselves to a month-long backpacking trip in Thailand and Laos. Escaping the miserable Beijing winter was nice, but the best part was falling in love with the world of backpacking and Southeast Asia in general. That trip opened our eyes and made us realize how much we loved traveling to new places. For the next few years, we would do our best to travel as much as possible, both in and out of China. 

After a summer trip home in 2011, we returned to Beijing with a new addition to the family – my best friend Sean who I’ve known since pre-school. After considering the move for a whole year, he finally decided to make the jump when we had a bedroom open at our place. At the same time, another new arrival landed in Beijing from Texas, and we all became instant friends. Thanks to Sean and Win for deciding to move to China. Without you guys, Beijing would have been a whole lot less fun. At that time, my girlfriend and I were also both starting new jobs at Wall Street English. After years of dealing with part-time jobs, agents, visa runs, and unreliable schedules, it was a breath of fresh air to have foreign management and a stable job with working visas. We had a great two years working at WSE, and the company comes highly recommended to anyone searching for a teaching job in China. 

Firmly established in Beijing with a nice apartment and good jobs, 2012 would turn out to be an unbelievable year for us. It started out with a 2-week trip to Mexico to explore the Mayan ruins and see some of our favorite bands at an all-inclusive resort – an experience we couldn’t have dreamed of just two years prior when we were living paycheck to paycheck and on food stamps in Tennessee. In that year alone, we: soaked in red wine hot tubs in Japan, climbed a 4,000-meter mountain in Sichuan, visited the Terra Cotta Warriors of Xi’an, and spent two weeks in paradise on our first trip to Bali. People often ask us why we live and work in China, and I simply point to our 2012 travel schedule in response. The fact that we were able to do all of that in one year, as part-time English teachers, is more than enough explanation for why you should consider living and working in China. 

Our Beijing family just kept getting bigger, as one of my four younger brothers decided to make the move after graduation to join the party. He had visited the previous year and had had such a good time that he took a year of Chinese at school and moved over in the fall of 2012. Over the next few months, we had tons of fun together – joining in the annual Santa Con event, spending his birthday up in Harbin, and exploring cool places outside of Beijing on days off. Big thanks to Pip for being the first of my family members to visit me in China, and the only one to take the leap of faith and move there.

Living abroad isn’t exactly an easy experience, especially when you find yourself thousands of miles away from the people you love during the holidays. Over the years in Beijing, however, we managed to build up a new family full of some of the most incredible people we’ve ever met. Rather than dreading days like Thanksgiving and Christmas for fear of homesickness, we looked forward to them thanks to the amount of fun we had with friends. Special thanks go out to Dan and Nancy, our rockstar-couple friends who always facilitated large gatherings of friends whether it be at their apartment or a club they were singing in.

With such a good life secured and after all the difficulties we experienced getting it, you’d think we would have been content to stay in Beijing. While we did have a wonderful life there, something was pulling at us to leave. On that first trip to Bali, looking out on a postcard-worthy sunset over the small island of Nusa Lembongan, something hit me. Why did I have to leave that beautiful place after such a short time? Because I had a job, an apartment, stuff, etc. Well, then, that begged the question – why did I have that job, apartment, and stuff? Did I really need it all? I told my girlfriend that in the next year, we’d pack up all of our things and hit the open road to travel for at least a year. She of course told me I was crazy, but I felt like it was truly possible. Back in Beijing and armed with a new goal, I worked my tail off and spent hours budgeting and planning for our gap year travels. 

In the summer of 2013, after half a year of hard work and careful budgeting, we bid farewell to our Beijing life and hit the road with nothing but our backpacks. For the next 14 months, we traveled across the US, SE Asia, and China on a life-changing trip that saw us: skydive over two national parks, cycle to Angkor Wat for sunrise, learn to scuba dive in Thailand, stand alone atop the world’s largest Buddhist temple, and so much more. For those who say gap years are only for 18-year olds, we beg to differ. Waiting until 28 to take a year off was a valuable experience in so many ways. For one, we funded the entire trip ourselves. Also, waiting until we matured a bit ensured that we saw more museums than bars, more temples than nightclubs, and more local than comfort food. You’re never too old to take a gap year if you ask me.

Although we would have been happy to stay on the road, dwindling bank accounts and a sense of exhaustion eventually led us to resettle in China in the summer of 2014, this time in Kunming. With blue skies, a moderate climate, and far less people and traffic than Beijing, it was a nice change of pace living in China’s Spring City. It didn’t take long for us to find a nice apartment, jobs, and cool people to hang out with. We like to joke around that Kunming is really an oversized village rather than a small city, but that’s actually one of its best features – you see people you know on a daily basis and make friends much more easily than in the mega-cities. 

As you might expect by this point in the story, we also managed to do a fair amount of traveling while living in Kunming. We finally finished up our first Yunnan trip – which was cut short by the need to start new jobs in 2011 – by visiting Lijiang, hiking the Tiger Leaping Gorge, and going all the way up to Shangri-la. A very Chinese Chinese New Year was enjoyed in the south of the province, as we traveled to the ancient town of Jianshui and rang in the Year of the SheepRamGoat at our friend’s village. Short trips were also made up to Dali, where we escaped the holiday crowds during the Labor Day weekend, and Luoping, where we explored stunning waterfalls and landscapes. To celebrate the Dai New Year, I also headed south to Xishuangbanna to take part in the epic water fight. Yunnan is a fascinating place to live and travel, and one year wasn’t even close to enough time to be there. Thanks to Sean for convincing us to move there, and to all the friends we made in Kunming for making it one of the best years yet.

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, this is my farewell letter to China. After five amazing, life-changing, eye-opening years living, working, learning, and traveling there, I’ve decided to move on. I was offered a part in the Darmasiswa program in Indonesia to study the language and culture of the country in Bali for a year – an opportunity that was very difficult to decline. As my dad said, “When someone wants to pay you to go to paradise, you don’t say no!” 

Living in China has been the experience of a lifetime, and I’m incredibly grateful for the years I got to spend there. I came into China speaking none of the language, knowing very little about the culture, and barely able to use chopsticks. I’m leaving with a high conversational ability, a much deeper understanding and appreciation of the culture, and a love for Chinese food that will be hard to satisfy in other countries. I’ll always consider China my second home, and I can’t thank all of the people who made my time there so special enough. If you’re considering making the jump to work or study in China, let my story serve as an inspiration to you. It’s not an easy move, and there are sure to be plenty of hurdles in your way, but it just may turn out to be the best decision you’ve ever made. As for me, moving to China was the 2nd best choice I’ve ever made in my life. “What’s the first?”, you may be asking. Well, that cute girl I mentioned way back in the story who convinced me to go home that first time – she’s my wife now. 

It’s hard to find the words to express how I feel leaving a place I’ve come to love so much, so I’ll rely on a trusty old Phish lyric to do the work for me – “This has all been wonderful, but now I’m on my way.” Goodbye, China. So long, and thanks for all the rice.