I was two and a half years old when I arrived in China. My father taught at a university, and my mother taught English in private schools. I went to kindergarten and then the primary school here in Shihezi, China. It was near the end of my primary education that my parents realized that I needed to be homeschooled. Thus, I quit school and got the rest of my schooling through the internet. Now I am at the brink of concluding my high school education. My subjects of interest are mostly psychology, history, and other social sciences.

Since I got to the age that I started understanding interactive behavior with other people at large, I have noticed that the community I am living in is harmonious, kind, and friendly. I, being a foreigner, have never been treated in a biased way.

Chinese society, as a whole, works like a well-oiled machine. They treat everyone the same and are never biased or prejudiced against anyone, especially foreigners. As for me, my parents raised and taught me to never judge people by their race, religion, ethnicity, language, skin color, nationality, or gender. All my beliefs and teachings within the home were strengthened by the community I was living in. I have met many other foreign teachers here who are Swedish, Dutch, French, and American, who all have different viewpoints about the society and community of China.

This lifestyle impacted me in such a way that I began to look at life differently than I did when I was a child. Before, I used to be a bit biased against people from specific countries and I used to have a mindset against them due only to my own frustrations and anger. My perspective was thoroughly based on negativity. But as my exposure to the people increased, and I started to be part of such a beautiful community and met different people and interacted with them occasionally, I began to look at life encouragingly. People around me living in the same strata positively reinforce strengths and abate weaknesses. I started to be grateful to be a part of such a people.

As is true for all communities, an individual remains an important part of the whole. I have felt that the people I am living with understand this concept to its core. The harmony is intertwined with the friendliness I experience in my day-to-day life. This community accepts individuals from all over the world by allowing them to stay and giving them a chance to prove themselves. Some do and some don’t, because they think that things should be the way they are and should never change, while other people believe that in order for a better life for themselves and for other people, they should enact certain types of changes in the community. I think positively of those who are willing to make their world a better place by working together to solve their problems, as I do with my friends and family. This brings all of us close, thus creating a better relationship with people. Sometimes, there is tension in the community between individuals and people who belong in a group, but what I like about it is that people always come together to try to fix their problems diplomatically instead of pointing fingers or getting into a fight or scuffle.

I wish to be a permanent part of such a healthy life and someday become a useful person to make my community proud of me.