Hey there! I thought I’d share something unrelated to my political views on Feminism and mental illness this time around. I hope this ”guide” will be of help to a those wanting to go overseas to teach.

On 23/10/2016 at the tender age of just turned 20 the day before, I sat watching a giant plane being refueled out of the window of the restaurant in the airport of my tiny city in South Africa. I had never been out of my province before and there I was an hour away from boarding a plane to Hong Kong and eventually, Mainland China. Naturally, I was shitting my pants about this new adventure I was being faced with. But that metaphoric shitting in my pants was both from excitement and pure terror.

I was about to ascend 31000 feet into the air in a Bowing 737. All I could think was that this shit is dope and I wish I could be in an aeroplane all the time. Seriously planes are so much fun, sometimes I don’t understand people being afraid of flying. It’s like being on a bus, although while flying we flew over a tropic area and the storm that was at its peak made me say my goodbye’s. That turbulence was wack yo! However, don’t let that put you off. 90% of the flight is fun if you’re not sat in by other passengers or sitting in the aisle seat near the galley (kitchen on the plane) because the air hostess will fuck your shit up with her service trolley!

After a long 12 hour flight, I got to inhale the warm Hong Kong air and run around the airport like a headless chicken looking for the gate I needed to board. After finding it an hour later, I was officially on my way to the place I’d call home for the next 2 years. The flight from Hong Kong to Chengdu was at night and by now I just wanted to take a hot bubble bath and get into bed. I had just traveled for an ENTIRE day, I was scared, tired and broken. Oh by the way jet lag is just the worst thing and mine lasted almost a month, whenever I walked I felt as though I was going down an elevator. Also, I couldn’t keep my eyes open and fell asleep everywhere all the time. Fun times I know, but after the lag passed everything was pretty bomb.

After a few days in Chengdu, my boss drove us to our new city, Mianyang! In mandarin that means sheep. I was then taken to the school I’d be teaching at to do my ”demo” lesson in front of a bunch of teachers and the director of the school. I was terrified and completely messed my demo up, but obviously, they saw something and hired me, which was the biggest relief because I didn’t want the stress of being watched again! After the demo, I went for Hot Pot. I’d never seen or heard of such a thing before so I was quite surprised when I saw a table with this huge saucepan built into the middle of it, with a smaller one in the middle of that one. They filled it with chili-infused broth and the smaller one with vegetable broth. I straight up refused to eat meat in China, just because it always looked dodgy. I decided to become a veggie and continued on that path for a while. That is until I came on holiday to South Africa and indulged in things I had been deprived for 2 years.

When I had just gotten to my new apartment there was no internet and so I couldn’t even contact any of my family which made things crap because after all, I was only 20 and had never traveled this far from home before. I cried like a baby for my mom and went into a deep depression for almost 6 months. However, once the apartment was set up and internet installed, I strangely felt at home (also I didn’t travel alone, which makes all of this so much easier). Once the apartment and internet were sorted, I had to get a medical done, which you don’t want to do while you’re sad and jet lagged. Then I had to register my existence at the local police. When all of this is done, ayeee you’re A for away.

That is a basic summary of what can happen when you go overseas, usually the language barrier, culture shock and random food you don’t understand can cause some anxiety and quite a bit of depression (I suffer from depression so I’m always depressed, you probably won’t need to worry about being depressed).

Here’s a small list of things I suggest taking with you until you get the hang of things:

1. Flu medication (you will get a super strain of flu that might make you wish you had died instead)
2. Lotion & Good Conditioner (the water dries everything out and you need to moisturize yo)
3. Deodorant (it can be hells to the difficult trying to find deodorant, especially if you’re in a smaller city. Places like Walmart and Watsons have deodorant, but not roll-on)
4. A years supply of any medications you are on as it’s so difficult to get Western medication in Asia (you can also attempt having it sent over to you by a family member or friend, make sure you bring a letter from your doctor with you)
5. Comfortable walking shoes, because and I cannot express this enough, you’re going to be walking a lot!
6. A sense of adventure because it’s really fun once you get into the hang of being in a whole new place with a whole new job and an entirely new life.