What inspired you to join the team at Hutong School?
I heard about Hutong School a while back, I believe during my bachelor degree studies—maybe a little longer than a while ago, 2009 I believe—I already thought that it would be so cool to be able to work for Hutong School one day. Hutong School aims to give students an all-inclusive experience in China while staying flexible and professional, and that’s precisely what really appealed to me. What I mean with this is that to me, it seemed that the Hutong School gave students very organized experiences of China while leaving them enough free time to get out, practice and explore even in 2009.
During my study years, I went to Beijing to do an internship—which was amazing—and after that I was always hoping that one day I could help others experience China in the best way possible like I had! So when the job opening for Program Consultant at Hutong School appeared in my mailbox six months ago, it just ‘clicked’ both in my head as with my cursor on the ‘apply now’ link. No regrets for sure!
Describe a typical day/week as the Program Consultant.
It sounds a bit cliché, but no day is the same at Hutong School, as Program Consultants deal with all kinds of people who all do different programs. I’d typically start with replying to email inquiries from students from all over the world who are interested in our programs. Next, I go through the resumes of students who want to do an internship through us, to prepare the interview I’ll have with them later in the day. In between interviews, I reply to the emails of students who are already enrolled in our programs, I prepare their welcome packages, have a chat near the coffee machine with students that are already here, and go out to visit new companies which we might end up working with! And of course no day goes by without a nice team lunch!
What is your favorite part of your job?
That’s a difficult question, for when I think of my job I first of all think about how lucky I am to have such great co-workers. They make it hard to think of a task as ‘most favorite’ or ‘least favorite’, because we all help each other out along the way! But if I have to choose one specific part, I think I like finding internships for students the most—the whole process from interviewing them to saying goodbye on their last day. It’s a lot of fun meeting so many different kinds of people and very rewarding to see a student learn many new things here, and leave happy and satisfied.
What do you hope participants take away from Hutong School programs?
That China is actually an awesome place to be! Many people who haven’t been to China before can be very hesitant to come here—they seem to be a bit afraid even! Of course, the cultural and language barriers are real, but I hope that when students leave, they realize that these barriers are actually just interesting challenges, not obstacles.
You have lived in Beijing for three years and majored in Chinese Languages and Culture. How does living in Beijing differ from studying Chinese language and culture in school?
When I graduated I knew that even though I might have been able to speak and understand Chinese in the Netherlands, I would still struggle with ordering a coffee in a random Starbucks in China—true story! Living in a Chinese speaking environment really boosts your fluency and feeling for the language, yet that environment is difficult to find outside the classroom in the Netherlands. So I had to go back!
I experienced myself that Chinese is something you need to experience and not only study to make it a language you can function with. The language is so intertwined with the culture, and living in this culture helps you to actively use the language instead of just understanding some Chinese words. It takes some time, but I promise the day that you are just chilling with your Chinese friends and you suddenly are chatting in a thick Beijing accent while you are not even realizing you actually are speaking Chinese, will eventually come!
What challenges have you faced in living and working in Beijing and how have you overcome them?
The main thing that found myself struggling with is—I’m laughing at myself while typing this—the flexibility of people. In the Netherlands, people work a lot with schedules, agendas, long term planning, etc. Over here appointments and plans are made much faster and on very (or very, very) short term. Of course people make plans and use agendas, but in a very different way than I am used to. Over the years though, I adapted more to this and actually quite like it!
Do you have any advice for individuals trying to learn Chinese?
Learn to write your characters! Write them, walk them, dance them, blow them in your breath, and dream them in your sleep! In my experience, focusing on writing characters down really helps remembering them!
Why is it important for people to travel and learn new languages?
Traveling gives you a different perspective on things you thought you should worry about back home. It’s easy to not see the positive side of things when you stay in your home country, and it’s actually great fun to find that out! Learning a new language helps you to be more creative and enables you to communicate with people from different cultures. It not only looks great on your resume, but it also opens your mind more and helps you understand other people’s point of view.
What does meaningful travel mean to you?
‘Meaningful travel’ to me means traveling while making a positive difference. This can be a difference for yourself or to the life of someone else. It’s meaningful if it helped change a life for the good, or if something good came out of it that wouldn’t have if you had stayed home.
What hopes do you have for the future of programs at Hutong School?
I hope we will be able to expand even more, and that we can help more students to come to China to study Chinese or do an internship here through us!
