ON THE ROAD: PROFILES
Hui Guo
Berlin, Germany
Hui and I met on a walking tour in Berlin, and then again in Hamburg. She’s originally from the small city of Chizhou in Central China, and currently lives in Melbourne, Australia.
“Before this, I’d only ever taken a short trip to New Zealand for 10 days, or Singapore for 5 days. I’d always traveled by myself but never expected to take such a long trip alone. I grew up in the countryside in a small town that wasn’t multicultural. My hometown in China is a small city in the surrounded by mountains and rivers. It’s called Chizhou. You hardy see foreigners there. As a child, I never thought I would be here, as traveler and overseas teacher. I definitely never thought I would be traveling alone for three months in Europe. I was terrified at the idea of waking up at night in a hostel where I didn’t know anyone, but once I got here and started visiting museums, talking to local people, appreciating local food, I realized that experiencing a new culture exposes you to beauty both physically and mentally.”
“I’m a linguistic teacher in a secondary school in Melbourne. My students range from Year 7 to 10. They’re quite rebellious, but once you get to know them the work is really fun. A lot of Australian parents want their children to learn a Chinese language, as there’s a lot of trade between China and Australia. It’s a valuable skill to have. And in China, we want to share our language and our culture as well. I enjoy teaching very much. Every day, in each class, I face 25 students with all these different personalities, and then even if two different Year 7 classes have the same lesson plan, the students all present different responses. That’s the part I like. I’ve always been a people person, and I’ve always wanted to learn from people. When I was studying in Shanghai, I loved meeting new people and asking them about their lives and backgrounds. I think this seeking spirit has always been inside of me. And now, having traveled oversees, it’s fully come out.”
“I’ve had some really special moments during my travels. In Rome, I attended an opera where I shared balcony seats with a very kind local Italian family. A daughter and her two elderly parents. When the performance was over, we all linked arms and walked out of the theatre together. They couldn’t speak much English, and I hardly spoke any Italian. As we reached the exit, we looked outside through the open space between the doors and saw that it was snowing! It was 11:30 pm, I didn’t really know anyone in the city, and I remember thinking that it was such a surreal, beautiful moment.”
“Another story is one from when I went hiking in the Alps. I really love hiking, so I hiked for 5 hours up Kleine Scheidegg, which is about 2061 meters high. I was so happy that I’d achieved so much and gotten to see the beautiful scenery, that afterwards, my friend and I decided to be brave and sledge down the mountain. It was my first time sledging, so I was very cautious in the beginning. Everything was going fine for a while, I was enjoying myself, and then I came across a part of the route which was quite steep, so the sledge started to get really fast. I was little bit scared, so I tried to stop, but it wasn’t working. So, I slid my body to the side and I fell off the sledge! I was safe though, I stopped, but the sledge went away. I tried to chase after it but it was too fast for me. After 10 minutes, I arrived at a village, and there was a skier there who asked me, “are you looking for a sledge?” I looked at him embarrassed. He said, “You see that valley, its down there…” And there was no train or footpath going down to the valley, so I lost my sledge. And I had to head back down on a train and the worker at the train station said this was a “Lost in Switzerland” story! Instead of getting mad at me, the sledge rental people offered me two pieces of swiss chocolate. And my friend, who’d gotten there a lot earlier, was really hungry and had been waiting for my arrival. He offered me half his sandwich, saying he’d specially saved me some. Everyone was so nice to me.”
“If you really want to do something, just do it. Don’t hesitate. It must be something you really long for, or you wouldn’t even be considering it. Just put it into action. You’ll be so amazed at your abilities. I’ve met so many solo travelers on this trip, and they all have such unique stories. It’s fascinating. As is the art and culture around you. You realize that being a human being is such a great thing. To come into this world and see such variety – it’s amazing.”