A Journey Begins With One Step ….

After spending nearly 34 years in public education, I had come to a point in my life in where I had to decide what path I would follow next. When people asked if I was happy to be retiring, I would always think to myself that I was too young to retire. I certainly did not want to just retire and have nothing but leisure on my hands. I am sure that would have driven my wife Karen nuts! While this option is desired by many people, I just wanted something else. So I postponed my retirement until I could find out what that might be.

It is funny how certain opportunities can present themselves. In my former position as a District Principal for Continuing Education, one of my roles had been to oversee the Heritage Language programs in Burnaby. I think it was fair to say that during that time, my relationship with many of the schools and operators became very strong as I would solve any potential conflicts between these schools and the host schools that they were using.

Last year one school, the Pui Ying Christian Services Society, invited my wife and I to go to Hong Kong and China to help them celebrate their 136th Anniversary. This was truly an amazing trip as we were treated as VIP’s, attending dinners, giving speeches and even hitting the first serve in a Volleyball tournament. One of the other activities was that we toured several of their schools in Hong Kong and in Guangzhou. These schools were amazing and changed my perspective as to how these schools ran and

the resources they had. While in some aspects they were lacking some of the Western amenities, in others they were exceeded. I was also impressed by the students and their hard work.

One other key event for me was that the Deputy Mayor of Taishan lent us a car and driver to take us to my ancestral village of Moy Kwok, which was about 45 minutes away. Many of you are probably unaware that my family tree (and my wife’s family on her mother’s side) stretches back over 3,000

years when my ancestor was the Governor of the region. There we saw a ceremonial gate that was funded by many “Chong’s” and the names of those whom I can probably regard as my blood relatives. For me, it was a personal moment as I realized that for many, many years this is the place where my family is from.

Therefore, when an opportunity presented itself in the fall of 2015 to become a principal of an International School in Beijing, China, I accepted the job and retired from the Burnaby School District.

Early in the 1900’s, my grandfather came from China to Canada unable to speak English and tried to make a life for himself, and also send money back to China to support family members that remained in China. He later brought my dad to Canada so that he, too could have a life in Canada. For me, I see myself as now going back to China and completing a circle to return to my roots and learn more about my birthplace. I think both my mom and dad would be very proud of this if they were still alive.

Many people have commented that I must be very brave to make such a big change in my life. I don’t think that I am “brave” but rather more “fortunate”. I am fortunate that I do have the opportunities and means to make this change. Most people do not, whether it be family commitments or other obligations that may hold them back. I am fortunate because of how supportive my family has been in my decision. Not only are all of my children now in a position of being self-sufficient or nearly so, they all are very independent. However, I would not have been able to do this without the support of my wife and life partner – Karen. I think I am the one that has it easy since I am starting everything from new. But I think, even though we have tried to make everything as either automatic or as simplified as possible, Karen is left by herself to make sure that everything still carries on as smoothly as possible and deal with anything unforeseen. This is why I love her so much!

But now the adventure begins! Future posts will provide glimpses of my experiences in China. I hope you will enjoy them.