Change through the years

On of my first posts was Are they looking at me? and it discussed the problem of being watched no matter where you went. Now 7 years later more and more foreigners live in Guangzhou and I don’t get nearly as many looks as back then! Perhaps I’ve grown older, but it’s true that seeing a foreigner on the streets in Guangzhou isn’t as big of a deal anymore.
The first apartment I rented defintely wasn’t the average expat home in China. It cost 600rmb per month and in the end I had to move out because foreigners weren’t allowed to live in that village. What has changed? 7 years later I’m living in another village just 5km from the first one! At least our new home is a lot nicer and we are renovating it bit by bit to build a dream house of ours.
Back in 2012 I was wondering how immersed I truly was in China. Back then I estimated I spoke Chinese 80-90% of the time, right now it might be a bit less as I need to speak more English when I teach beginners. Perhaps 70-80% is still a good number. Eating Chinese or Western food was 50/50 back then and after that I’ve eaten more or less the same amount of Chinese food. With people I’m denitely spending a lot of time with foreigners now, being a teacher and all.
I also touched the topic of being a poor westerner in China. I came to China as a student and I know what it’s like to count your coins even though I still consider my self lucky. The amount of money I use for eating out in 2017 would have terrified me back in 2012.
Finally in 2013 I met my future husband, visited Hengshan snowy mountain with him and the rest is history.
During the years Guangzhou has changed a lot, but even more I have changed as a person. I have finished my degrees, started my career and business, got married and started a family.
I best the next 7 years are gonna be even better!
3 Comments
gordon chung
just curious about the picture you took with the chinese girl in 2010. was that in guangzhou?? it looked like it was really cold !!! here in canada, this is the kind of dress i wear when it is around -15C.
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Sara Jaaksola Reply:
August 10th, 2017 at 8:43 am
This photo is from Guilin in February, it was a bit chilly and they didn’t have proper indoor heating so it was being cold all the time. It’s like in Guangzhou during the Winter it’s +10C and you dress like it’s Finland with minus celcius!
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Joe Otley
Hi Sara, just dropping in to say I really enjoy your blog. I’ve started my own now, and I’ll be documenting my progress at SYSU. http://www.guangjoe.com if you want to check it out.
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