Travelling and working in Anyang, China
In 2026, the college where I teach offered to send me to China to teach some of our courses at various partner institutions. On paper, this worked out great for me because my regular teaching contract would end in May, and I could transition straight into this trip. The catch was that it was for two months. Up to this point in my career, I was still trying to make my bones, so I had not yet reached the point where my wife and I could afford to travel. I was not well-travelled or worldly at all. I was also still really dealing with a newly diagnosed anxiety disorder and was working really hard to not make decisions that were fear-based. As you can imagine, my initial reaction was to reject the offer. Two months alone travelling in China felt terrifying to me. Still, everyone around me saw it as the amazing opportunity it was and gave me the helpful push that I needed. Years later, my wife Christina admitted that she was surprised that I went but didn't want to express her doubts in the moment for fear of discouraging me from taking the plunge.
So I drew on all my mental fortitude and took comfort in the things I could control, which meant being a prepared person. I took all the necessary preparatory steps, including doing informational interviews with a couple of colleagues who were what I would call "China veterans" of this joint venture program. I also benefited from the fact that the director running the program in Canada and my constant contact were an unstoppable force that could make anything happen, so I knew that if I got into a jam, her sheer tenacity would bail me out.
So I ended up at my first stop, Anyang in Henan province. I met all the staff and students I would be interacting with over the next few weeks, and I immediately felt very welcome. The weather in May was hot, but since we were fairly north, it wasn't stifflingly humid and only occasionally smoggy.
It's at this point that I really started shedding my skin and seeing the world through a wider lens. China was not at all what I expected, and honestly, that's all down to the version of China that we are sold in the West through propaganda. I found people who were cosmopolitan and worldly, tough enough to survive in a crushingly large population yet friendly, helpful, and very accommodating to this fish out of water. The young people were innovative and connected, and they enjoyed all the normal trappings of a fun teenage life. I never once felt that I was in an environment that was repressive or any of the many Chinese stereotypes that we are told.
Beyond school, I was able to take some wonderful day trips, the most impactful being a visit to the OG Shaolin Temple, the famed birthplace of kung-fu. I had absolutely no idea that we were in the same province as the temple. Still, when one of my contacts at the school learned about my love of martial arts, he set the whole thing up. As you can imagine, the temple was steeped in history, but also a very well-oiled modern tourist attraction. Our group walked the grounds, visited the various temples, and took in a performance featuring martial artists as young as 8. At one point, I went up on stage and had to follow along as one of the children did a tiger-style form, and I was meant to copy it. They do this largely for comic effect, and for sure, people got a good laugh out of it.
If I had to describe this first leg of my first trip, I'd say "impact." The impact that travelling had on my overall worldview and appreciation for food, language, and culture. Also, the great perspective it gave me, being in a place where I couldn't speak the language at all and feeling that total insecurity and reliance on others' generosity. It has, of course, impacted my artistic practice as this opened up a whole new world of visual language and its connection to a long history. This was the start of my journey into an appreciation of China that continues to this day.
