How China Changed Me

Source: JobTube, Arianna J., Freya W., Josh B., SELFIE

On September 3rd, a British man's self-narrative story touched many netizens, which was released on Chinese media. Here is what he has experienced in his 25 years of life, so far.

Below, is his story, in his words.

Hello, everyone! I am Thomas W., my Chinese friends also call me Tuomasi.

For the last 24 years, I have never left my hometown. However, everything changed in 2018. In order to overcome my introverted personality and anxiety, I flew over to China and became a foreign English teacher in Beijing.

Unexpectedly, I gained friendship and love, and learned to value my identity and to become confident. This year has been absolutely amazing, and the best that I've ever had.

Lonely Childhood

I was born in 1994, at that time my mother and father were just 18 years old, which means they were also kids. Suddenly, because of me, they changed their identity and acted as parents.

Shortly after my birth, my father left us to realize his own dream of traveling around the world. He ruthlessly said that he couldnt be tied up by a child.

So, I was raised by only my mother. When recalling my childhood, I remember sitting alone in the corner of the house, watching my mother being busy with everything. After a whole day working at the hospital, she would have to come home to take care of me. Even though she worked hard, our lives were still difficult.

On the one hand, my home town in Derbyshire, once the center of the British Industrial Revolution has a rich history. However, most of the people living there were elderly, so it was quite rare for me to meet people that were my own age.

On the other hand, growing up in a single-parent family made me insecure. I was afraid of dealing with people from an early age, due to this. I never thought that I could achieve anything in my life, and that my future was bleak.

At the age of 10, my life changed a lot. I had a half-sister, who made me happy as we could share our common issues. Below is a picture of my classmates in elementary school, and I'm the kid in the upper left corner.

My Learning life

My school life was very busy, but I always felt lonely. Fortunately, I didn't have a lot of homework to do, so I could play games and such in my free time. This was the usual life of students in my country.

However, when I came to China, I saw students that were the complete opposite. Each day, they would go to school with a heavy backpack, and were always studying late. I felt bad for them.

As I've experienced in middle school, not every student has to go to college, unless they're interested in a particular field of study. This is because there are a lot of jobs that don't require a degree.

Despite my social anxiety, I decided to attend Nottingham University to study Ancient Greek, as I became fascinated with the topic after playing a game called Guluo Wars.

With all of my time spent looking at books, I really felt like an Otaku, as I became distant from modern society.

Luckily, my school's campus was only a 30-minute drive from my home. This made it convenient for me, as I could feel safe, as I was close to home. Yet, when I went to the school, I felt shy and would always sit quietly. 

Needless to say, my anxiety made me want to drop out of school, but I overcame my struggle with social phobia, for the time being.

Finally, I made it. In the summer of 2018, I graduated with a full score. I felt so relieved at that time.

\n