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Findlay A. Nicol: Shandong has made a dramatic change

2015/7/30 11:36:23   source:sdchina.com

Findlay A. Nicol

 

Findlay A. Nicol takes part in a Halloween celebration in Jinan.

  Findlay A. Nicol, a teacher in Shandong University of Finance and Economics, is a Scotsman who has lived in Jinan for nearly 18 years. He is recognized as a kind, easy-going and humorous man by his students and friends.

  Before he came to China, he had taught in Latin and Britain schools for many years. And when he was 55, he got a chance to retire early. To get more experience of teaching, he came to China in 1997 to realize his dream when was still a student. In the late 1980s, few people knew China, “only five or four people I know had been to China at that time”, he said, “and it is expensive to go abroad”. So, as a boy, he was deeply attracted by the secret ancient China.

  Initially, he intended to stay in China for only one year. Yet just before the winter holiday of the year, his boss asked him whether he would like to stay for another year. After thought about it for one day he signed up for a second year. He then tried to learn some Chinese, make some friends and got to know the place.

  “Sometimes when looking back maybe I should have done something different”, Fin said, but he always enjoyed being in Shandong and enjoyed his friends here, people he worked with in the university could not be better. They are very helpful, friendly, kind and encouraging. He thought he is lucky here because the university offers the best offices for foreign teachers, look after them and help to deal with any small problem.

  Some of Fin’s friends asked him why not move to bigger city or better city. He said, “Why should I do that? You should have to start all over again, to get to everything again, though it is interesting to go to another city but Jinan has changed so much over the years that it is almost like being in a different city.” Watching a city grow is just like watching children grow. Jinan city has made a very big change, it is twice big as he first came to Jinan. 18years ago it was like countryside. He always remembers the day he came here, he landed at the old airport, somebody met him, and he got on a car and was driven in darkness all the way to the university. There was no street light, it is pitch black. When he woke up in the morning, he and his colleague went on a trip to pick dates and did not came back home until midnight. At that time, the internet didn’t exist and it was hard to make a telephone call. But everything has changed in Jinan now; people can travel to Beijing overnight.

  As a university teacher, Fin enjoyed his job every much. It is interesting to see different students came along, improved and got better. He hopes anybody is able to do what they can do, but do expect everybody to be super star.

  In June, Fin will leave China though unwillingly. He said that life is moving on, you have to move to a new stage. He planned to continue to work at the age of 73. “In China, people retire very early, in Britain, if you want get pension, you cannot retire before you 65, it is considered quite young to retire”, he said. Fin’s family is genetically hardworking. His father retired at 70, while his brother retired at 78. (sdchina.com)

 Findlay A. Nicol travels in Nanjing.

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