Studying abroad is becoming the "antidote" for all workplace anxiety and involution in the examination room. After repeated setbacks in the graduate school entrance examination, public examination and 996, more and more people think of studying abroad.
Before Xiao Yin went to Egypt to study, he also experienced a failure in the graduate school entrance examination. She was born in a small mountain village in Dali, Yunnan Province, and did not go to the provincial capital Kunming for the first time until she was in college. Before that, she had never thought about studying abroad.
At that time, Xiao Yin had only two options: accept a job with a monthly salary of less than 5,000 yuan in China, or spend 30,000 yuan a year to study in Egypt for graduate school, hoping to get better job opportunities in the future. In the end, with the support of her family, she chose the latter.
After graduation, Xiao Yin wants to stay in the Middle East to work, and her classmates, including the previous seniors, think so. If she returns to China, after graduating from graduate school, she estimates that she can only find a job in Hangzhou or Guangzhou with a monthly salary of seven or eight thousand yuan. Staying in the Middle East – her dream is to go to countries like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates or Oman, where she expects to earn between 13,000 and 25,000 a month.
In recent years, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have all taken the opportunity to launch various policies, the most representative of which is the "Saudi Arabia Vision 2030". The core of these policies is to attract foreign-funded enterprises and foreign talents to start businesses and invest.
The following is Xiao Yin's own statement.
■Life in Egypt is not as scary as you imagined
After many friends in China know that I am studying in Egypt, the first question they ask me is usually, "Are there really so many liars in Egypt?" ”
Big camel walking on the road
Indeed, slaughtering was all too common in Egypt. As soon as you get out of the airport in Egypt, you will encounter the "first pit". Once, a friend of mine came to Egypt to play and took a taxi from Cairo airport to a scenic spot, and the local driver asked us 500 Egyptian pounds as soon as he opened his mouth. Knowing that I could speak Arabic, the other party lowered the price to 300 Egyptian pounds. But in reality, if you hail a taxi from a taxi platform, the distance is only 140, 150 Egyptian pounds. These drivers come to pick up customers at 3 or 4 times the actual price.
The biggest "pit" is in the scenic spot in Egypt, for example, if you go to the pyramid scenic spot, there will be a lot of people shouting "hello", "I love China", "you are so beautiful", and you will crazy attract Chinese tourists. When we first started to the Hariri Market in Cairo, we were stunned that almost all the stall owners in the entire night market spoke a word or two in Chinese. Even if you pass by a perfume shop, the owner will say, "Perfume, 50 yuan (please make a third sound, brain supplement Egyptians speak Chinese)?" ”
After greeting, the staff of the pyramid will talk to you in fluent Chinese, "I can take you a nice picture." After the shooting, you ask for money, and as soon as you open your mouth, you will ask for US dollars - 1 dollar (about 7 yuan) or 10 dollars, and then Egyptian pounds.
Riding a camel in the pyramid scenic area is also a "sky-high price", and riding around the pyramid will basically cost 500 Egyptian pounds (about 76 yuan), or even 1000 Egyptian pounds. But in reality, you can bargain up to 200 Egyptian pounds. In the process of riding a camel, while riding, the other party will suddenly ask the camel to stop and say to you, "This position is very good now, I'll take a picture of you". When he finishes taking a picture of you with your mobile phone, he has to add money, which is really a variety of ways to ask you for money.
View of the pyramids in the distance
As far as I can see, Cairo seems to have the largest number of Chinese tourists. It is true that you can bargain if you can speak Arabic, but it is still impossible to prevent it. As a result, most of our ride-hailing apps in Egypt are online, and there are three ride-hailing apps we commonly use: inDrive (an international ride-hailing app based in the United States), Uber (an international ride-hailing app based in the United States), and Didi Chuxing International, which is currently only available in Cairo.
Another reason why we are used to taking taxis is that the locals are more accustomed to taking minibuses, and I haven't figured out where it starts and where to go for almost a year. The minibus here doesn't have a sign written on the front of the bus – where it departs, where it goes, and where it ends up. It's just on the side of the road, and it gives you a gesture and the locals will know what that gesture is, and then they will get in the car. Basically, before the car stopped, people got on, and the time left for people to get on the car was very short, and the car drove away. Moreover, most of the cars here do not close their doors.
However, out of the scenic spot, it is relatively rare to be "slaughtered". In the case of Ismailia, the city of everyday life, this is almost a rarity. Most foreign tourists don't come to the city, it's mostly locals. But in fact, it takes only 1 hour and 40 minutes to take a taxi from Ismailia to Cairo, which is not too far. From time to time, we would take a taxi from Ismailia to Cairo and go to a Chinese restaurant in Cairo to exchange some Egyptian pounds.
In Ismailia, my neighbor's grandfather, who taught me to read the newspaper
In addition to those ridiculous "slaughtered" past, Cairo also brought me a lot of personal experience outside of textbooks when I went abroad for the first time. The first time I landed at Cairo airport, as soon as I got off the airport, I felt a 40-degree heat wave hit me. What I thought at that moment was that what the textbook said was right, that Egypt really had such a high temperature.
Another time, a few of us went to Alexandria, another city in Egypt, and when we were driving on a road, the driver offered to introduce us to the road. I suddenly remembered a text I had studied before, and the original text was probably "The best way to get from Cairo to Alexandria is called the 'Agricultural Avenue.'" How wide the road is, how beautiful the scenery is." Unexpectedly, many years later, I was driving on the highway mentioned in the textbook.
It's the same with learning Arabic, I no longer just learn to prepare for exams, but to ask a local vendor what it is, for example, when I go out to buy groceries, and I can even bargain with him in Arabic. And when you go downstairs every day, you can greet the locals in Arabic – "Have you eaten?" "What did you do today?" "Goodbye" and so on. The Arabic letters, with their pronunciations, come to life as if they were all at once in a textbook.
After the freshness, I also experienced the loss in Cairo. For example, Cairo is completely different from the big city I imagined, and the whole of Cairo is gray. When you look closer, it looks like all the buildings are covered with a layer of sand. On the way from Cairo Airport to the city, you can also see many residential buildings without roofs, and their top floors are still reinforced concrete, which is very peculiar to the outside.
Grey Cairo
I found out the reason afterwards, and the reason for the gray color was that Cairo was so close to the desert that it was easy to blow dust when the wind blew. The apartment I rent now has three balconies, all of which are unenclosed and look very European-retro. But every day is dusty, and the dust is too big. And those residential buildings that are not closed are to avoid taxes - as long as there is no cap, it can prove that the house has been built, and there is no need to pay an additional "cap tax".
Traffic in Cairo is also very congested, and you can see all kinds of cars on the local roads – tricycles, motorcycles, minibuses, and even horse-drawn carriages. There is basically no such thing as scrapping cars in Egypt, and even my grandfather's car seems to dare to drive on the road as long as the wheels can still turn.
"Antique" cars on the streets of Egypt
Corresponding to the traffic jams, various horns can be heard on the streets. There is no ban on honking in the local area, and for local drivers, when there is a traffic jam, I honk my horn and press it frantically. The car behind it may press louder, "I'm going to overtake you".
Here, you can feel the sense of freedom that existed before the new order was established, but also at the cost of it. For example, if you stay in Cairo for a day, you will come home and feel that your whole ear is buzzing, full of all kinds of human voices and horns.
I love Ismailia more than Cairo. The Suez Canal in the textbook is right next to my rented apartment, and it's only a 3-minute walk away.
Every day, we don't have many classes, like today we only have one class. However, all the lessons are taught in Arabic, which is still very difficult. When there are no classes, we will make appointments with students from the Confucius Institute at the same school, who are usually locals who want to learn Chinese, go to the café to write homework together, and tutor each other.
Write homework with friends
Cafes here are very common, and you can usually order a cup of green tea for about two yuan, and you can sit there for an afternoon. Or you can order nothing at all and you only have to pay for one Wi-Fi fee, which is about 5 cents.
In addition to the café, we often go to play billiards or tennis, and the popularity of football here is also very high, and there are people playing in the streets. Watching a football game is an important part of the nightlife here. A local ice cream parlor, pizzeria, rotisserie or snack bar will have a television set to broadcast the game. As a Muslim country, there are no bars here.
One night, I remember a match between Ismailia and Cairo. At 8 p.m. that night, as the daytime heat faded away, I gathered at an ice cream parlor with a few local friends, and we sat on the side of the street, blowing the wind, licking the ice cream while watching the whole game.
At 10 p.m., shouts, arguments, and sighs could still be heard in the streets. This lively scene will not gradually dissipate until 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning.
As soon as I arrived in Egypt, I would probably go back to my apartment as soon as it got dark. But after staying for a long time, I will play with local friends in Egypt until 10 or 11 o'clock in the evening before returning home. At night in Ismailia, as long as you don't walk on the unlit path, as long as you walk on the main road normally, I don't think there is much danger.
■My first 20 years: From a mountain village in Yunnan to studying in Egypt
Before coming to Egypt, I grew up in a small mountain village in Dali, Yunnan Province. Until the fourth grade of primary school, I attended the primary school in the village, about 2 kilometers from home. Until junior high school, I attended a school in the town, and my life radius expanded to about 20 kilometers from home. Slowly, when I reached high school, I went to the county seat, about 80 kilometers from home.
When I was in college, I went to Kunming, the provincial capital, for the first time, and Yinchuan, Ningxia, more than 2,000 kilometers away from home, where I spent my four years in college. Then, because I chose the Arabic path, I went abroad for the first time, and I actually went to Ismailia, which is more than 11,000 kilometers away from home.
I remember these numbers vividly, and they bear witness to how I went step by step from my hometown to the bigger world.
landed for Egyptian pounds, carried a whole schoolbag, and protected it all the way, but it was actually very safe
My dream in the future is to make a lot of money, and I want to take my parents to see what the earth is like. My dad is a "geography buff", and he likes to look at maps, whether it's a map of China or a map of the world. When I'm at home, I like to ask him where a country is, and he's often quick to point me out which continent it's on and where it's on the map.
Geography was also my dad's favorite subject when he was a student, and he said that studying geography made him feel like our world was big. But the farthest place he and my mom have ever been to is Ningxia. I begged them for a long time to buy the two tickets that time, and finally bought them secretly.
I especially wanted to take my dad to see the countries he was talking about, to see where they were, what the cities looked like, and how the people lived there.
Landed in Egypt for the first time
Before studying abroad, I also took the graduate school entrance examination in China. But there are five students in our class who want to take the postgraduate examination in Beijing (school), and none of the four of them have passed the political line, and only one person has passed the political line.
I was so reluctant at the time that I even thought about "World War II" (taking the graduate school exam again). I also tried to find a job, I really wanted to achieve financial independence as soon as possible, and every time I spent my parents' money, I felt a strong sense of guilt. But after graduating from my bachelor's degree, most of the jobs I could find were in sales, either in Hangzhou or Guangzhou, and the salary was basically within 5,000 yuan, which was too low.
Those who can achieve a salary of more than 10,000 yuan are basically overseas translators. But in this position, many people don't want to recruit girls. When I was recruiting, I submitted my resume to the same company with a boy in the same class. I was no worse than him in terms of professionalism, and in the end, the other party rejected my resume on the grounds that "I am a girl", and this boy is now working as a foreign translator in Iraq.
For our major, it is not unusual to study in a Middle Eastern country. Eventually, after a series of setbacks, with the support of my parents, I chose to study in Egypt.
Before applying for a university in Egypt, I thought about applying for a university in Saudi Arabia. As long as you can apply to universities in Saudi Arabia, most of them are free of tuition. For example, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) and King Saud University in Saudi Arabia are free of tuition and scholarships, and they can basically achieve free air tickets and accommodation.
The problem is that these schools seem to have restrictions on girls. The differential treatment of different genders is probably unavoidable in some Middle Eastern countries when studying and working. Even after I finished my graduate school in Egypt, many translators still don't want to hire female students when it comes to job hunting.
I understand this to a certain extent, after all, it is really dangerous to go to some places to work as a translator abroad, such as going to Iraq. There are also projects to build a road in the desert, and the conditions are also very difficult. But I don't understand the fact that women are not very welcome in universities.
As an Islamic country, the status of women in the country is not as high as in China, but I can feel that the status of women in the country is slowly improving, but it will take some time.
Moreover, although they are both Islamic countries, there are slight differences in the tolerance of women in different countries. Compared to Saudi Arabia, I feel that Egyptian women have more freedom in dressing. In Saudi Arabia, most women seem to wear black burqas that almost lengthen to cover the instep. They also wear a headscarf on their heads, and some even wear a veil that only shows a pair of eyes. But in Egypt, I rarely see women in black robes, and their clothes are relatively varied, and some of the turbans show a little bit of the neck.
As foreign women, in Egypt, we are more free in what we dress. Hardly anyone asks us anything about what we wear, and you can choose any piece of clothing that shows a lot of skin on the street if you want. It's just that you may have to endure everyone's gaze, because you may be the only one on the street. In order to avoid this, like my daily routine, I basically wear those big T-shirts and cropped pants.
When I chose a school, my dream was to study Middle Eastern Studies at The University of Edinburgh in the UK. But the tuition fee of that British university may be 600,000 yuan a year, plus living expenses may be 1 million. It's far from what my family can support.
The Suez Canal University, where I am currently located, has a tuition fee of about 30,000 yuan (4,500 US dollars) a year, and my monthly living expenses are about 1,500 yuan, which is much more cost-effective.
Some peculiar architecture in Egypt
I also consider past Jordan, where Arabic is closer to standard Arabic (which can be understood as Mandarin). It's not like Arabic spoken in Egypt, it's a bit like an Arabic dialect. But considering that Jordan costs more than Egypt, I will give up.
From the perspective of employment, I also think that there will be more opportunities in Middle Eastern countries. In June of this year, after I finished my first year of graduate studies, I was ready to start looking for a part-time job. I hope to go to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and other countries to see more opportunities, and it is best to earn back the tuition fees for graduate school, haha.
Most of my classmates, former seniors, also want to stay here. It is very realistic that if you go back to China to Guangzhou or Hangzhou to work as an Arabic translator or salesman, the monthly salary is about six or seven thousand, and the better one is seven or eight thousand. But staying in the Middle East, the monthly salary range may be in the range of 13,000 to 25,000.
In some specific areas of Cairo, you will see a lot of Chinese signs. And throughout Cairo, basically all the signs are written in Arabic and English. I feel that the most sought-after talent in the Middle East world is also English, Chinese and Arabic. Even if you don't know Arabic, as long as you are good at Chinese and English, it is not difficult to find a good job here.
I will seize the opportunities that the Middle East has to offer, and as for the future, I still hope to find a job close to home, after all, the leaves are back to their roots.