Stranded in China: Founder Stories

A few days ago, a close friend of mine asked me why I am dropping the day to day life and starting ExcelMandarin. I initially gave off the easy answer, “Over 1.2 billion people speak the language. It is literally the most spoken language on Earth, even more than English. We should be learning it.”

She rolled her eyes. She has heard this answer before at dinner parties and in front of investors.

“Evan, I’m not your investors. I’m not your clients. It’s a lot of commitment and I’ve never known you to commit to something you don’t care about. So, why are you REALLY doing this? “ That stumped me. Truly. I thought for a long minute. Looking at myself honestly, there was really only one answer to her question. “Did I ever tell you about what happened when I first arrived in China, that very first time I went?”

Several years ago, in the middle of my university experience, I had a sudden realization that the world was very large, and my little home in Bellingham, WA was so far disconnected from that world. I had never left the country before, and all of a sudden, all at once it felt like I was suffocating. I was trapped in a box of familiar culture and painfully ignorant to the rest of the world. This feeling built and built over the following month. And eventually it cracked me.

On a whim I took a leave of absence, got a passport, a visa, and flew to Kunming, China. For my first trip out of the USA, I went as far away as possible. The plan was to study for one semester.

On my second day there, a thief stole my passport, wallet and cards, cell phone. Everything I needed to live was taken right out of my bag while I was eating at a curbside shop. I only found out back at my hostel hours later when I couldn’t pay for my room. I was devastated and terrified. At that time, it was really hard to find anyone in Kunming who could speak English, and I didn’t know any Chinese. So, with no money, I stowed away in a little cot on a patio of the hostel. Somewhere people seldom went, even during the day. I managed to get by like this for three days, until one night I was discovered by an attendant who spoke very little English. He poked me awake with a light nudge.

He pointed at the hostel door and asked, “you stay here, pay?”

To which I shook my head and responded, “no money.”

He then furled his brow, turned around, and disappeared out the entrance to the patio. When he came back, he was with what looked to be a manager. The man was wearing a nice button up with khaki pants, and looked tired, but present.

The manager asked me, in markedly better English, “What is going on?”

I explained what had happened and that I had no money.

“The nearest consulate is far. Very far. Tonight we will give you a room. Can you speak Chinese?”

“No. None.”

A biting silence cut the crisp, spring air. He stared at me intently.

“Well you will learn. Tomorrow you start work. A few hours a day. We will give you home and food.”

He then showed me to my room and left. Over the following month until school started, I worked for them every day. I would wash dishes and clean beds and mop the floors. Occasional night duty. The staff treated me like family, and the teacher they hired for me was incredible. After 2 weeks I was speaking more than our foreign guests who had been studying Mandarin for years. The Chinese guests took a special interest in my story; they would ask me endless questions, offer me food and tea, invite me to games of Chinese chess, cards, mahjong. They took every opportunity to teach me about their culture and language and history. I felt like was on vacation in some mystical paradise.

When the school semester arrived, I bid My farewells and got ready to start classes. The manager had prepared a little farewell for me and everyone had pitched in to get me some new shoes and a book bag with school supplies.

My teachers found me a host family to live with shortly after school started. I had saved up some money at the hostel, but it wasn’t nearly enough to live on and go to school full-time, and tuition was not cheap. While the older couple spoke no English at all, they brought me in and treated me as their own child. We would eat together, drink together, watch morning news together, and go for walks in the park every evening as the sunset. They were older, late 60s or so, and through their wrinkled eyes and full smiles there was never any doubt; these were the kindest and most warm-hearted people I had ever met in my life. They were family.

When I left to travel the country 3 months later, it was really hard. My host mother sat me down over the breakfast table that morning. She had something she wanted to say. “I will always be your Chinese Mom. You are my American son.” In English. Accented, but flawless. She explained in Chinese that she had been secretly studying that phrase for the last month, knowing that I would eventually leave. I was so moved that only my eyes could speak in tears. She had never studied English before and I can hardly imagine how hard that was for her to learn.

My host father handed me a note that he asked me to not read until some time had gone by and something reminded me of them. We all cried more. I told them I loved them and that I was so thankful for them.

I then left and travelled and worked in China for about a year before returning to the States. The kindness I received from the various Chinese I met during that year after, it never fails to amaze me.

She looked at me quietly. After a minute she nodded.

People here in The States have all sorts of thoughts about Chinese people. Everyone sees what they get in the news, and all the fun little eccentricities of Chinese culture, and the Hallmark zodiacs and Kungfu. I want people to see the China I saw. I want people to see how kind Chinese are. How thoughtful they are. How loving and inviting they are. But I can’t bring everyone in here to China. What I can do, however, is bring the culture and language here. We have this system at ExcelMandarin, and with it I can make the language accessible; through the language, I can show people real Chinese culture. That’s a huge part of our teaching method. I want people to not look at China as something to be afraid of, or intimidated by. I want people to see a beautiful country, with beautiful people. I want my countryfolk to be open minded to exchanging with, and learning from such an interesting and different people.

It’s a lofty goal, sure. But at the end of the day, this is why I partnered with N.O.E.T. and started ExcelMandarin. This is why I am throwing all of my eggs in and starting this school. We are launching classes here in Seattle over the next several months. Both online and in small group classes. After some number crunching, we even found a way to reduce costs and make scholarships available for students who will have a hard time paying. We want this dream to come true. We want everyone in The States to break down those walls and see what I saw.

We are starting a Chinese language learning revolution. We are starting it here in Seattle.

I am confident that this dream will come true and that the company will persist to success. Whenever I have doubts, whenever I get too caught up in the day to day, I look back at that note my host-father gave me that morning.

“艾文。你来的这段时期，虽然短暂，但是我们是过得最美妙的时期。我们会在心目中永远记得你。无论你到哪里，也无论你在做什么或遇到什么困难，我们将会一直都在。你在昆明永远有家人。”

“Evan. This time that you have spent with us, though short, has been the most magnificent of our lives. We will always remember you, in the very deepest parts of our hearts. No matter where you end up, no matter what happens or what tribulations you encounter, we will always be here. You have a family in Kunming, forever.”

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