Yo-yo life overseas

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-04 10:47

Laura Marie Martin emerged from the University of Northern Colorado with no solid plans for the future.

"All my friends were getting serious jobs and I didn't want to face that," the English and history major says.

The alternative was to go abroad. Luckily, Martin quickly received a teaching offer and soon she and her mother were packing up her belongings, most of which she had just moved out of her apartment at school. She arrived at Wenzhou, a port city in East China's Zhejiang province, about a month after graduating in 2007.

She could deal with chaotic traffic and throngs of people. But then there were the 3- to 12-year-old children in her charge at Yo Yo Kid Castle, a private after-school program.

The class of 15-20 children screamed, picked their noses, bit and kicked - not just each other, but also their teachers. Martin taught them English six days a week. Chinese teachers helped translate and restore order when things got hairy. "When I'm yelling and the kids are laughing," Martin says, breaking into giggles.

Thursdays were her escape. She took extra time off for traveling the country but mostly indulged in movies and shopping. The job paid so well that she was able to put aside money for the summer.

Martin will head home to Colorado tomorrow armed with a year's worth of experience and anecdotes - or war stories.

"If I made it a year through this school, I can survive anywhere," she says. "It has taught me about patience."

(China Daily 07/04/2008 page18)