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Photo: Jenny Ek<br />
Young <strong>Expat</strong>s<br />
The Life of a Young <strong>Expat</strong><br />
Vilma is a eight year old girl from Sweden and she lives with her mother<br />
and father in <strong>Qingdao</strong>, since her father works here. In July the family will<br />
move back to Sweden again and I asked Vimla to share her experience as a<br />
young expat. These are her thoughts about living in a foreign country.<br />
When Vilma leaves <strong>Qingdao</strong><br />
in July, she has been here for almost<br />
a year. However, it is not the first<br />
time she has lived here, she tells<br />
me—it is her third time! In total<br />
she has spent almost three years in<br />
the City of sailing.<br />
Vilma’s mother Annica explains<br />
that Vilma’s father has been<br />
working in three short-term<br />
projects here in <strong>Qingdao</strong> and that<br />
is why they have lived here at three<br />
different times. The first time the<br />
family came to <strong>Qingdao</strong> Vilma was<br />
just over two years old. At that<br />
time they moved back to Sweden<br />
after six months but returned to<br />
<strong>Qingdao</strong> again when Vilma was<br />
four and a half years old, and that<br />
time they stayed for a little over a<br />
year. Vilma was 7 years old when<br />
they came back to <strong>Qingdao</strong> for the<br />
third time.<br />
Vilma, what was your first thought<br />
when your parents told you that<br />
you will move to China<br />
My first thought was that I would<br />
not have any friends and that I<br />
would not be able to learn anything.<br />
Even though I have lived here<br />
before, I was very little at that<br />
time and I did not really remember<br />
much, but I think I had thought it<br />
was fun to see a new country.<br />
What school do you go to<br />
I go to YCIS. (Yew Chung<br />
International School) - Year 3.<br />
Vilma’s mother explains that when<br />
they had to choose a school for<br />
Vilma, there was a lack of time to<br />
do enough research. For example,<br />
they did not have time to go to<br />
<strong>Qingdao</strong> in advance to visit the<br />
different schools.<br />
To get an idea of which school to<br />
choose, she contacted Vilma’s<br />
teacher that she had when they<br />
lived here previously (Christina at<br />
Joy English Language School).<br />
She also contacted two expats<br />
she knew that had lived here for<br />
several years. All three of them<br />
recommended YCIS and therefore<br />
they chose this school.<br />
<strong>Qingdao</strong> <strong>Expat</strong> Magazine - 6<br />
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