33. Shenzhen never bores you. By Edcia Alcocer

33. Shenzhen never bores you. By Edcia Alejandra Alcocer Carpio

This story was adapted from an interview by Shenzhen Daily  conducted by Chen Xiaochun 陈晓纯 and Lin Jianping林建平

The story is available in Spanish, too. You may choose Spanish on the scroll-down menu on top

Photos by Chen Xiaochun 陈晓纯 and Lin Jianping 林建平

 

Hi there! I am Edcia Alejandra Alcocer Carpio, and I am a Spanish teacher in Shenzhen. To me, Shenzhen is a city with everything in one place, a city that has an infinite number of combinations for every taste.

After a long week of work, one may say: ‘I feel tired of Shenzhen, I need a break,’ but here we are talking about the non-stop moving of the city. You can’t say there is nothing to do in Shenzhen, because there is an infinity of things available for seven days of the week, like a colorful paint palette.

I hail from Bolivia, a country located in the heart of South America. Chinese people have impressed me a lot, because they know my country by the well-known natural tourist site, the majestic Salar de Uyuni, instead of the name of Bolivia. With my basic knowledge of Chinese, I say: bō lì wéi yà, and they don’t know exactly where to locate it. However, when I say the Salar de Uyuni, they will exclaim: ‘Oh yes! The salt mirror! The salt mirror!’, which makes me very happy.

I come from a traditional family from Cochabamba city in Bolivia. It’s located in a small valley with a temperate climate in the center of the country. After graduation, I had a customer service job for an international company, a stable job that people normally take and stay with until they retire.

I had worked in that position for around five years until 2013. Then, one morning, I was at work repeating the same routine day after day and at that moment, I saw the need to make a change, without knowing where to start or where to look at. The only thing that was clear to me was that I needed to get out of that cycle.

After looking for options and talking to many people, I knew that at that time many people in were coming to China to do business and they were doing well in general. So, I decided to come and try my luck.

I came to Shenzhen directly in 2013. When I set foot in Shenzhen, after a short stay in Hong Kong, I was impressed by the technology, and how new and clean Shenzhen was, although Shenzhen in 2013 was not as developed as it is now.

I stayed here for several months, visiting different places and researching business themes. But in the end, I didn’t do business. “I didn’t have enough knowledge so I didn’t want to take the risk.

Eventually, I moved to the city in August 2019 for a Spanish teaching job and have stayed ever since. For me, accepting the job and coming to Shenzhen was like a call from destiny.

Working with primary school kids has helped me a lot because they give me that sincere human warmth with a smile, a hug, showing their affection for me and making the lack of family love and care more bearable.

The first time I came to China, I was talking on the phone and heard someone running from behind. My first Latin instinct was to clutch my cell phone with all my strength against my body, because we learn to react in this way in South America, or in my country. I mean, we grab the phone tightly if someone suddenly runs nearby, because we feel like they are going to steal it. The security in China has been one of the nicest things.

Living in China has really changed my perspective. In school, or the general knowledge we had about China, was the capital Beijing; the famous pandas; people grow rice; they wear the big harvest hats. And we didn’t know more. The reforms of Deng Xiaoping without doubt opened and changed China totally.

What it said in the textbook and what I encountered in China were totally different. And I said: ‘God, this isn’t what I was told! This wasn’t in the book,’.

I love living in Shenzhen very much. There are very nice contrasts in Shenzhen. It’s a very diverse and dynamic city. Shenzhen is very advanced in terms of technology. Everywhere you go is clean, everything is new. At every moment you find new renovations and new constructions. At the same time, there are also places with nature where you can spend a tranquil weekend. You don’t have to travel several hours to enjoy hiking or a picnic. Everything is accessible.

Now, I am very good at using Chinese apps such as Taobao and Meituan, Now, I’m more Chinese than most Chinese in using these applications and finding promotions!

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