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The Man who Gave up his homeJust to explore the worldBy Eileen Yeo

Mr. E, the physical teacher of the Elementary Section in BISS has generously allowed an interview on him and his migration process to China. Mr. E, full name Elmer Ryes, was born in Manila, Philippines, “Sometime in January,” according to him. The exact date of his birth shall remain confidential.

Mr. E fondly remembers his birthplace as “nice, warm, lots of green, blue skies, clouds and some rain.” He shared that he misses his birthplace when he goes back to visit. “I feel like a stranger when I go back to visit,” he disclosed, “I am lost. The language has evolved, and sometimes I don’t understand the language itself. There are some cultural changes and

upgrades that I find difficult to comprehend.”

Mr. E left Manila, Philippines in 1992 and headed to Thailand. When asked the reason for leaving his birth country, he replies humorously, “I wanted to get out and and explore the world. And world peace.” Mr. E stated that he wanted to leave his country himself, and that it was a personal choice.

Mr. E then felt ready to move on, and chose China because it was the best offer at the time. “It was a mystery to me,” he said, “and I wanted the adventure, I wanted to learn more about the chinese culture, being one of the oldest countries in the world and having been shut down for many years from

the world so I was like ‘Hmm, time to get in there.’ ” He describes how it was a little hard emotionally the first year that he came here. “At the beginning, it was difficult to keep connecting with the home country instead of moving on with the new country and enjoying it so yea, it was difficult the first year.”

Mr. E amusingly said that he used his star alignment card and flew here in economy class when asked how he got to China. Upon questioning, Mr. E stated that he did not favour neither China nor the Philippines, rather that they both have their own pros and cons.

Mr. E describes how he was stopped in Tian An Men Square by a couple of guards in his first year in China. They wanted to

This is a picture of Mr. E’s picture from the BISS official website. Mr. E has been to Thailand first, then China.

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take his picture because he was wearing shorts in April, which was still considered winter in China. Mr. E describes how he was worried when the guards surrounded him. “I thought they came to arrest me!” Mr. E exclaimed.

When we inquired about interesting stories of the people around him settling in China, he simply said, “Communication. Communication was funny, because people were trying to explain what they wanted to the shopkeeper or waitress or person on the street what they wanted with broken, barely intelligible chinese and gestures.”

Mr. E claims that the culture and the language is starting to make sense to him now, and it is much easier to communicate than it was when he first came here. He said that he has not thought about changing countries since he got here, as he was still enjoying China. The first thing that he looked at when he chose a country was safety, and China was a lot safer than Philippines.

Mr. E is still single and does not have any children. When questioned if he thought that if he had children, would his children like China or Philippines better, he said practically that it would depend on the parents, the way they thought about countries.

Mr E. said that he is very satisfied living here in Beijing, China. He would not want to move anywhere immediately unless absolutely necessary, and even then he would choose a country that was, again, safe.

That’s all for today’s special interview on Mr. E. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s Daily Interview, where we will be starring Amy Wang, student.

“When I first came to China, what shocked me most was the hacking and the spitting that everyone seemed to do. I had to keep an eye out at all times so I can dodge the spit that people spat out.”

Mr E.

Story of a new lifeIn Beijing, ChinaBy Eileen Yeo

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Coming up next... Amy Wang from BISS International School, 16.