Meet Tom, an incredibly kind and wise man with a very distinctive background. From dropping out of school and being an engineer at 23 years old, he knew inside of him he always wanted to become a teacher. He then, at the age of 29, pursued university to make his dream come true, which eventually would lead him to teaching opportunities internationally and open possibilities for him to come to China to be a principal at international schools!
If being a principal wasn’t enough, because of his extensive background experience, Tom was asked to start and develop brand new schools around China, which started 15 years ago, and gave him the possibility of living and experiencing manydifferent cities around the country. His son eventually got interested in mandarin and wanted to join him in China to go to school to learn the language.
Tom also shares his own journey on learning mandarin and why it has been a struggle for him, even after all these years. He actually makes a very interesting comparison with Chinese kids learning English versus English speakers learning mandarin, which he believes it has to do with the way kids are taughtmathematics and logical thinking in general (a similar comparison my friend Anna, who came on the podcast a few weeks ago, also pointed out).
Without having planned all these past 15 years in China, and not even having to actually apply for jobs, everything seemed to perfectly unfold by itself. Unexpectedly, Tom also found love in China, and have been married with a local woman for a few years now. After having lived in a few different places inChina and traveled a lot around the country and the world, Tom decided that Shenzhen would be his place of retirement.
We chat cultural differences, society expectations and personal growth. Tom is an example of how despite coming from a very humble background you can still make a difference, create something incredible, and become the best version you can be of yourself.
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