Traveling is meeting people

Traveling is also about meeting other travelers, connecting with people from faraway places who bring us closer to the inaccessible. In the small group visiting the Maori village, there was an asian woman with her two teenagers who were not particularly exotic, uninterested in the guided tour, they retreated to their car, glued to their phones. Sound familiar. So I found myself alone with their mother, not being part of any subgroup. We exchanged a few glances, and gradually a conversation began. It must be said, she was particularly beautiful, with an engaging calm.

After our tour of the village, we find ourselves face to face in the small, deserted café. R., who is Chinese, is in New-Zealand for a year on a professional program, working as a university professor of English literature. The conversation flows easily, one question leading to another. She's very curious about my trip around the world and my artistic creations. We glance at my drawings; she likes them.

Her twins, a giant boy and a girl, are 15 years old and she is raising them alone. Separated for 6 years, shared custody is not the norm in China, but the father contributes financially.

She asks me if I've ever been to China, and I tell her about my reservations following the "kidnapping" of the two Canadians. She mentions that it's ancient history, a misfortune unlikely to happen again, and that there's a lot to see in her country. She lives in central China and invites me to visit. It's tempting, I must say. I tell her about the incredible highways built through the mountains that I've seen recently. Indeed, our government is building roads everywhere, and there's currently a craze for road trips and van life, with many trying to make a living from it. As our conversation continues, I realize how much the Chinese of our childhood have changed. The cultural differences seem to have faded away long ago. One can criticize the Chinese regime, but it's undeniable that it has probably succeeded in lifting more people out of poverty than any other country in human history.

She reminds me of the group of Chinese people from Shanghai with whom I hiked to the volcano in Iceland. One of them even transfer me a video he'd taken with his drone, which you can see in my film shot there. I felt very close to these people, who also encouraged me to visit them in their hometown.

R. has to go back to Auckland; his children have school to attend slowly. We exchange contact information for a possible meeting before my departure for Malaysia.

Finding a time was difficult; she's working and her son has a migraine. But we finally manage a short break late in the afternoon the day before my departure. She had some urgent matters to attend to for a project with her university in China. She's under a lot of pressure there and appreciates the much more relaxed atmosphere in New Zealand, to the point of considering moving there. Her daughter would also like to go; she regularly cries at the thought of returning. She, too, finds the education system more tolerant here; she doesn't get yelled at at school like she does at home when she makes a mistake or doesn't know something. However, her son isn't happy here and is eager to return in August, which perhaps explains his migraines.

But moving to another country isn't easy. For one thing, she'll have a very comfortable retirement back home at 55, in 13 years. Here, it will be difficult to find such a good job, her degrees certainly won't be fully recognized, and she'll have to work until she's 65. But the fast-paced lifestyle in China, where she's constantly rushing around, is making her reconsider.

Although the first two years following the divorce were difficult, she found her footing and enjoys her single life where she doesn't have to answer to anyone.

With that, we each went our separate ways. She had piqued my curiosity about her little-known country which, whether we like it or not, is becoming the world's leading power, with Trump giving it a serious boost.