#新西兰##中国女婿##新西兰人##中国工作##跨国婚姻#
This is the 4,198th real story we have told
I'm DanDanMan, I'm from New Zealand, my family has more than 600 acres of farms and more than 100 racehorses.
I studied medical radiology at university, but I didn't work long before I gave up because of workplace struggles.
Because I was very curious and yearning for China, I came to China to work and made a lot of Chinese friends. I especially like the strong human touch of Chinese calling friends, and I feel like I am half Chinese!
Later, my family needed it, and I was forced to return to China, and I always wanted to find an opportunity to return to China. Due to the epidemic, I was unable to return to China to work, but I made a Chinese girlfriend in New Zealand.
We are committed to the friendly development of New Zealand and China, and we hope to return to China together in the future.
(我是DanMan-担担面)
My name is Daniel Thomas Pascoe, I'm 35 years old and I'm from a small town in the Waikato region of New Zealand, just a 1.5-hour drive from Auckland, New Zealand's largest city.
The Waikato region is a plain region of New Zealand dominated by animal husbandry. Most of New Zealand's best quality thoroughbreds come from the Whakado region.
Our farm is a thoroughbred horse – a thoroughbred English racehorse, and now there are more than 100 of them.
The farm was bought by my parents after they got married, and it was still a dairy farm because my mother loved horses since she was a child, and later transformed it into a racing horse farm with the joint efforts of the family.
I was very young, but I used to follow my father's buttocks, help him with tools, and watch him renovate the fence and fix the stables.
Watching my dad transform his dairy farm into a fully functional racehorse farm little by little gives me the same sense of accomplishment as my dad.
These things have taught me since I was a child that all fruits must be created by their own labor and their own hands.
(My family's farm)
My mum was a manager at the Bank of New Zealand and was one of the first female bank managers. She is particularly good at investment, financial management and human resources, as well as dealing with people.
My dad was a well-known local carpenter and builder, and when he was young, he was able to build a house. He also had a truck driver's license and drove large trucks to transport horses.
Our family is a united and friendly family, my parents love each other, and I have a good relationship with my grandparents and my parents' siblings.
Like the Chinese who express love, we express love with actions, not words.
When the farm was busy, I needed help, and my grandparents would come from Auckland to help my parents.
During the holidays, Mom and Dad didn't have time to take care of us, so they sent us to my grandparents' house.
My grandparents would take good care of us, take us to aquariums, parks, movies, etc., and let a few of us "hillbillies" experience the new stuff of this big city of Auckland.
Every year or two years, our whole family goes on holiday together to Australia, the United States or to places around New Zealand like Fiji. My grandmother liked to take cruises, and sometimes our whole family would take cruises abroad.
(Grandpa's 90th birthday)
Although our family is in good financial condition, none of our children are pampered.
In addition to the normal food and clothing, if we want extra pocket money, we have to find work on the farm, so we all rush to work.
Our parents have cultivated our practical ability since we were young, so that we know how to drip our own sweat, eat our own food, do our own things, rely on people, rely on heaven and rely on our ancestors, and we are not heroes!
My parents are like most parents in New Zealand, as long as we are happy and don't cause trouble for them. For academic performance, they never require an A in all their homework, or they must be a top student.
However, I studied well and was accepted into a private church school with excellent grades. It is a good boys' secondary school.
Many schools in New Zealand are more likely to be accepted if you have a family member who has studied here, or if you are the child of a teacher, or if your parents are alumni of the school.
(I'm friends with the horses)
After entering this private church school, my two younger brothers were naturally accepted into this school.
After graduating from high school, I went to medical school and studied radiology. During the study period, I will go to the hospital for internship, and the working environment is relatively closed.
In the hospital, there would be some small political battles between doctors and stuff, which made me feel very depressed. Later, I gave up studying medicine.
I've read a lot of books about the United States, the United Kingdom, etc., but I haven't read much about China, because the school library has very few books in this area.
I was very curious about China at that time, I thought China was very mysterious, and I really wanted to go to China.
(The final stage performance of the 2022 Chinese competition, playing Li Bai's fan Hu Ren man)
Those who are unknown are always full of temptations and possibilities.
In 2012, I had the opportunity to work in China through an intermediary and became a teacher in an international kindergarten in Guiyang, Guizhou. The reason why I chose Guiyang is because there are many foreigners in big cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, and I think of places where there are fewer foreigners and the air quality is better.
Just arrived in Guiyang, walking on the street, wow! That's a lot of people! Because New Zealand has more than 270,000 square kilometers and only more than 5.1 million people, we live in a small town with fewer people, while Guiyang has more than 170,000 square kilometers and nearly 40 million permanent residents.
I think it's funny, because there are a lot of people, and when you walk on the street, if the voice is quiet, the other person can't hear it clearly, so you have to say it loudly or close to it, and I like the feeling of closeness and excitement.
I had a great time in China, and after a year, I met a lot of local friends in Guiyang, as well as some foreigners in Guiyang. If you have something to do, you can call friends to play with you with a phone call, or who is in trouble, everyone is very helpful and enthusiastic to help, this strong human touch, always makes me linger.
(In the 2023 Mid-Autumn Festival, he plays Hou Yi in the story of Chang'e running to the moon)
The finger seams are wide, the time is too thin, and five years of time quietly slip through the fingers.
At the end of 2017, my farm was very short of manpower because it could not recruit suitable workers for a long time. My parents desperately needed me to help out on the farm, so I went back to New Zealand.
Originally, I thought that when the workers were recruited and the farm was running normally, I would have the opportunity to go to China again. Unexpectedly, the operation of the farm had just improved, and my mother accidentally fell off the horse and suffered a brain injury.
When the pandemic broke out in 2020, I couldn't leave. Because my parents are not familiar with the Internet, I have to go online from time to time to pay attention to a series of policies and measures related to the epidemic, and take care of the safety and health management of the farm.
Before the pandemic, there were many Chinese who traveled to New Zealand, and I worked as a tour guide for a while, and everyone liked my recommendations and designed routes.
I became interested in the travel industry at that time and wanted to pursue this industry, but the pandemic put my plans on hold.
(My family at Dad's birthday party)
I was depressed when the pandemic disrupted my plans, but to put it another way: many people were confined to their homes, but I was much luckier than most to be able to walk freely around the vast farms, chat with the horses, and leisurely watch the blue sky and white clouds. Thinking more deeply about your life and dreams is not necessarily a good thing.
After 2022, with the end of the pandemic and the recovery of the economy, the seeds of my dream began to grow again.
I went to Auckland to talk to a partner about the development and operation of the tourism business. At this time, I didn't know that there was a huge surprise waiting for me ahead, and another prelude to my life was slowly opening!
It was hard work to start a travel company, but when I brought a lot of Chinese tourists to their destinations, they had a great time, they were amazed by the beautiful scenery, and they had a child-like smile on their faces, and I felt that everything was worth it and I felt a sense of accomplishment.
During my work in China, Guiyang held a "China (Guizhou) International Wine Expo", and the organizers knew that I was a Guiyang Tong and had a lot of feelings for Guiyang, and invited me to call on foreigners in Guiyang to be models and performers for the exhibition.
(At an agricultural exhibition in New Zealand, Chinese promotion)
China's recognition has given me great encouragement and made me feel that my years of hard work have paid off. I'm so proud!
I hope to do my part through tourism to strengthen the cultural exchanges between China and New Zealand, promote the friendly development of China and New Zealand, let more Chinese know about New Zealand, and let more young people in New Zealand truly understand China.
I joined the board of directors of the Auckland branch of the New Zealand-China Friendship Association, and I am a member of the board of directors, and I have done a lot to promote the development of friendship between the two countries.
In 2023, the Department of Culture and Tourism of Hubei Province will come to do a tourism promotion meeting, and I will be the host. In 2024, I will also be the host of the event to commemorate New Zealand's international friend Louis Alley.
I joined a Chinese football team in Auckland and was their only "foreign" striker and now trains and plays games every week.
I'm a New Zealander, but I have a deep affection for China, and I often feel like I'm already Chinese.
(I strive to promote the friendly development of New Zealand and China)
2022 was a lucky year for me, my travel company was launched, and in this year, I met my girlfriend!
One weekend, I was in Auckland when my phone rang and it showed that a girl on a dating app had been successfully matched with me. As soon as I saw her profile, it was actually a Chinese girl, and I was very happy and passed it immediately.
My girlfriend later told me that she chose me because my profile was in Chinese and my photos were sporty and sunny.
We just chatted online at first, because I had been in China for a few years and had a lot of common topics, and the two of us didn't feel strange, like old friends, it was very relaxed and enjoyable.
The first time we met was in a park near my girlfriend's house, and we planned to have a picnic together. The first time I met my girlfriend, I was still very nervous, I didn't know what I thought of her, and I didn't know if she was the same as I imagined.
(My girlfriend and I are at the aquarium)
She is a big-eyed Hunan girl, studied in New Zealand, and worked in New Zealand after graduation.
Her pure smile came into my eyes, like the most scattered and bright dream of my youth, and easily touched the softness that had been sealed in my heart for a long time.
That day, we talked a lot, walked in the park, and had dinner together. In those days, I saw the wind and felt warm; When I see my horse, I feel gentle; Even when I saw a dog's tail grass, I thought how this grass was so beautiful.
What does true love entail? It is easy and happy for two people to be together, and there is no pressure. We were so relaxed and happy together!
(Participated in the opening ceremony of Auckland Chinese Football Youth Training with his girlfriend)
This intimacy is comforting, like filling every inch of space in life, no more mottled old traces, joyful and calm.
Now, the travel company has just resumed normal operations, so there will be more time in New Zealand in the past two years, but when the travel company is on the right track, we still want to go back to China and develop more in China.
China is her home and will be mine.
The best thing in life is such a moment, the water waves are gentle, the weather is warm, the flowers are blooming, and the people you love are around.
I can hug the person I love, hold the hand of the person I like, and wait together for the traces of time to climb up little by little.
(Welcome to DanDanMan-Dandanmen in New Zealand)
【口述:DanDanMan-担担面】
[Written by: Xiaoyue Lin Xi]
[Editor: Xiaoqi]
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