Culture Shock

Spitting…EVERYWHERE. Is what I thought as I listened in horror to the gentleman sitting at the table next to me while awaiting my beef noodle soup hawking up phlegm from the bottom of his respiratory passage. “I will not look. I will not look. I will not look” is what I repeatedly stated to myself in my head. For God’s sake, don’t look! I dared not to let my eyes deviate from my straight ward gape of righteousness to see where he would discard what seemed to be like a loogie from the outer space layer of his cerebellum. If I did, that would be the beginning and end of my meal.

Now, we all know the typical “In China, they eat cats and dogs” mentality, right? I venture to say the amount of spitting doesn’t get nearly the amount of exposure or recognition it unquestionably needs. And I’m not talking about an occasional spitting something out to get a bad taste out of your mouth kind of spit. I’m talking about the I’ve been sick and congested for three days, so I hawk up something from the bottom of my intestines kind of spitting…onto the sidewalk…where everybody is walking! Am I the only person who has a problem with this! Yes! This isn’t something you’d do in America without someone letting you know that you’re a disgusting human being who should be beheaded for being utterly distasteful. But here, this is the norm. Oh boy, things just got real. I wouldn’t say that it is morally or ethically wrong because it’s their culture, it’s just you know…different. And honestly, I doubt that I will ever get used to it.

I hurried to scarf down my meal quickly to avoid any further possibilities of hearing the grotesque sound of some elderly woman gather saliva from behind her ears; to chuck it between her dentures onto the ground or in the trash can next to my foot. I then quickly rushed out to the metro station to head to my medical assessment.

The medical assessment

“You must wait until 10 am to ask the doctor if they will see you or not.” Is what the receptionist told me after handing her my medical assessment request, and quickly finding out that my appointment was a day prior. Boy, this sure is getting interesting, how could my school forget the date of my assessment? I felt a bit reprieved looking around the room, however, and seeing the petrified look on the faces of other foreigners, as they nervously shuffled papers around ensuring they didn’t forget anything that would get them embarrassingly sent to the end of the line. At least I’m not alone in this one. As a result, I sat quietly in a corner and listened to music until I finally got my chance to see the doctor.

10 o’ clock on the dot, I find myself back at the receptionist desk praying to the doctor gods that the doctor would allow me to take my medical exam. Luckily, they agreed. I then was sent down the assembly line to multiple rooms.  I’ve never felt like such a piece of meat.  The first, I had to take off the top of my clothing and put on a white robe along with some plastic shoe coverings. Of course, the kid in me attempted to skate across the tile floor gliding into the next room. I don’t think the nurse was too fond of that due to the unnerving look on her face as I glided into the room almost crashing into her. The next room I had to pay for my assessment. Boy, this is awkward. I’m so used to being seen first and worrying about the price later. In China, you must pay your $200 to pass go on this monopoly board. The next room was the EKG room to check my heart. The nurse was very formal and didn’t seem to have much of a personality. So me being Mr. social butterfly, I speak out “Good morning, how are you?” Pure silence…then she says, ”Lay down and open robe.” Well, excuuuuse me! At this point, I’m thinking that maybe it’s good that I just shut my mouth and get through this assessment before somehow I get my work visa revoked. But the competitive side of me just couldn’t resist.

After finishing my EKG, I looked up to the nurse and asked, “Well, am I going to die? Is my ticker working?” Boy, what an idiot you are Satch. Just shut up already! The nurse then cuts her eyes at me and ignores me, then tells me to go to the next room and hands me my paperwork. I then go to a large metal door with what looks like the poison warning label on it. Oh, it’s the X-ray room. I walk into the X-ray room, which was freezing cold, and instantly start talking again. “You guys don’t like the heat? It’s freezing in here!” Everyone pauses and stares at me. That indicated to me that I probably should stop talking. I then was prompted to press my breast area against the freezing cold machine to take the picture. Afterwards, I was quickly rushed to the next room.

I get to the grand finale, which is where they draw your blood. There was a Colombian study abroad student in front of me freaking out about being stuck by a needle. In my head, I thought that maybe she was more afraid of being stuck by a Chinese nurse than the actual pain of the needle. So, of course, me being helpful me, I chose to talk her through the pain. I could tell the nurse wanted to tell me to shut up, but she showed restraint, which is common in the Chinese culture. After a swift and effective blood draw, I stood up proudly patting myself on the back for the good deed of the day. The nurse put me in the chair quickly to draw my blood, and get me the hell out of there. I attempted to strike up a friendly conversation but was greeted with a devilish stare.

After successfully completing my blood draw, I was done! I quickly wrapped up in the office and rushed out. “Boy, what an interesting day.” Is what I thought on the taxicab ride back to the metro station, as the taxi driver picked his nose the majority of the drive. I did my best to pretend not to notice but was prepared for war if that hand reached out towards me. After a long day, I ended it with a quiet cup of noodle and some Chinese television. Days like this are rare but very interesting to experience first hand. Oh Shanghai, the best is yet to come. Now it’s time for orientation.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

As I sat in my patrol car listening to the dispatcher dispatch me to a call, some questions lurked in the back of my mind. Is this life, all that life has to offer? Working long hours to pay bills, and having little to no money left over to enjoy it? That’s it? I mean, a lot of people would love the opportunity to engage in an adrenalin filled foot chase to catch a bad guy, run into a burning building to save someone’s loved one, or save a person from drowning right? That is what I initially thought to myself over the span of 2.5 years as a police officer which was my dream job.

Being a police officer takes a special kind of person. Waking up every single day knowing that your career is the most hated job on earth. Knowing that everything you say or do is going to be heavily scrutinized by the public, media, and the criminal justice system. Not every person can get up in the dead of night, leave their families, to go protect another’s at any given moment. Nor is every person willing to lay down their lives for the sake of someone they don’t know. As a police officer, you must accept the fact that your life can end at a moment’s notice be it a car accident, shooting, or a heart attack due to the accumulation of stress over a period of time. And most importantly, doing so with little to no reward.

To some, it is a job just like any other job that requires a special kind of skill. But to many, this is a calling. A calling to serve without being asked to. A calling to display love, compassion, and humility for someone in their most vulnerable moments. A calling to render fair judgement on a person who’s lost their way on the path of life in the midst of darkness. This isn’t a job that you get for fast cash to pay bills. This is a career where everyday is constant preparation. Preparation for a constantly changing, forever evolving environment filled with a myriad of unknown circumstances. And for the first time in my life, I must admit, I wasn’t happy with it.

Now to some, it may come as a shocker considering how hard I worked to get to that point. You know, joining the military, criminal justice degree, graduating from one of the top law enforcement academies in the country, no criminal history etc. I mean, I lived my life virtually squeaky clean to have an opportunity to be a law enforcement officer. And through constant struggle and failure, I finally attained it. And through all of the hard work and dedication I gave to have this career, I wasn’t happy. The question I had was “But why?” I struggled over the period of 2 years on the job searching for answers to this question. I spent days, hours, and even entire weekends laying in deep thought racking my brain over it. But what was I searching for?

The answer came to me on an early Wednesday morning during a 12-hour shift at 2:26 am. Traveling. I’m not talking about the saving money here and there to take a trip later on type traveling. I’m talking about world traveling where I’m living and being submerged in cultures far different than my own traveling. Traveling the world has been my life long goal since I was about 14 years old. I achieved some of it while in the military being based in Germany, and also traveling to various countries. But how would I even begin to do something that bold? How would I support myself? These were my first thoughts, as well as my zone partners when I blurted it out to him. At that moment, research became my addiction. My first google search was: “Jobs that travel.” I scanned each article on every page to find the answer for the next week.

Bingo! Teaching English. It made me think about the times when I was young, and my mother would always tell me that when I grew up, she thought I’d be a really good teacher, fire fighter, or police officer. It made me laugh to myself because I thought: “Well I tried one, and look how it’s turning out!” What’s wrong with trying another? You know they say: “A mother always knows best.” And over a period of time, I’ve truly grown to believe that. It’s something magical about a mother’s wisdom where no matter the timing, a mother’s wisdom will always trump yours.

And there I stood at the fork in the road with the biggest decision of my life. Am I really willing to really take this risk? I know nothing about being a teacher. What if I fail? If I fail, would I have ruined everything that I’ve done up until this point, and cannot return? These are real questions that I think anybody faced with a decision of this magnitude would ask themselves. The biggest fear of taking a risk at anything in life, is the fear of failure. Everyone fears taking a chance, failing, and ruining their lives while chasing a dream. This fear leaves people powerless, mediocre, and unhappy. I was one of those people. I’m not saying that police work is a mediocre job by no means, but the inability to take a risk to achieve something greater, which results in being stagnant.

I continued my research on good schools to apply with over the next few weeks. If anything, I would at least pursue this avenue to the end and see what happens. I was recommended by a friend to try the International TEFL Academy, which is arguably the best school to attend for this type of job. TEFL is an acronym for Teaching English as a Foreign Language. I went to the website and instantly fell in love with the success stories told by other teachers. It made me feel like I wasn’t alone in how I felt about my life at the moment. I got into contact with a counselor, who did an amazing job of explaining to me what to expect, and how to prepare for it. Additionally, she told me that with me being a military veteran that they’d take half the price off the tuition! Is that more of a sign or what?! So without any hesitation or contemplation, I signed up for the course.

The course was very detailed and really teaches you how to teach others. I went from not knowing how to teach the ABC’s, to writing lesson plans, teaching lessons for different learning styles, and how to manage a classroom of rowdy students without wanting to swallow dive onto them. The course was about 5 months in total. After completing the course, I immediately placed my resume online to see what kind of offers I’d get. Coincidentally, about 20 minutes after doing so, I was bombarded with emails from schools in Taiwan, Thailand, China, Japan, Colombia, and Chile. I was instantly overwhelmed. What the heck am I going to do with all of these places?! What helped me was another goal of mine that I set when I was 14. I wanted to move to Asia at some point in my adult life. Well, now I have the golden opportunity right? After careful research, my heart landed in Shanghai China. A vast, fast-paced, internationally diverse hub full of numerous adventures and opportunities yet to be explored. The largest city in all of China full of colorful night life, art, exquisite cuisines, and culture. I finally settled with a well renown school in Shanghai to teach.

I decided that life was too short to not enjoy it. To spend my life working my knuckles into the ground for 20 years, and not really getting the chance to live. I don’t want 20 years to past me by and I think: “Well that was fast!” I want to take each minute, each hour, and each day smiling from the bottom of my heart because I am enjoying life. To chase dreams, catch them, and live life to the fullest. That is what life is about right? As I sit here in my small but cozy hotel room in the heart of Shanghai, I look back and think that the will to live, the support of friends and family, and the courage to take a risk made it all worth it. I turned in all of my police gear and uniforms, I gave away all of my possessions (except my Xbox of course), and I boarded a long 15-hour flight to Shanghai. I don’t know what lies ahead at this point. I could very well wake up tomorrow, and fail and think that I made the worst decision of my life. But that’s ok because today I’m happy. I’ll let tomorrow’s thoughts come when it’s their time. I’m going to live in the present, which a lot of us commonly forget to do. And right now, I am still pinching myself because I actually did it!

So I implore you all to journey with me throughout Shanghai and other parts of China and Asia. Lets enjoy this adventure. If you are unhappy with your life right now, I strongly suggest searching that dark corner of your heart that seeps out from time to time to remind you it’s there. One thing I can tell you about unhappiness is that it is a harbinger of ill-advised feelings of guilt, insecurities, and depression. The best way to overcome it is by surrounding yourself with people who genuinely care about you. People who will instill confidence in you, uplift you and support you without letting you overcome your obstacles alone. If it worked for me, I’m quite sure it can work for you as well. Until next time…