Newman Huo

    AN American teacher in QSI International School of Shekou in Nanshan District wants an opportunity to join a traditional Chinese wedding.

    “I would like to have the privilege of being invited to experience a traditional Chinese wedding,” said Bev Winterfeld, 54, from Seattle, Washington.

    “I want to attend a Chinese wedding because the culture is so interesting, beautiful and full of so many symbolisms. I would like to be able to understand them more by experiencing (a wedding),” she said.

    So far, she has not received any invitations to a wedding, but has had two job offers from Chinese companies.

    On March 18 this year, she took a bus to visit the new Coastal City Shopping Center in Nanshan District.

    On the bus, several Chinese people approached her and wanted to know where they could improve their English. She told them part of her job was teaching middle school students how to read and write English.

    After returning home, she had two job offers from Chinese companies wanting her to help their employees with reading and writing in English but this was not allowed under her contract with the international school.

    Winterfeld and her husband, Tim, sold their family home in the United States and put some of their things in storage before they arrived in Shekou last August with just four suitcases.

    “We had traveled overseas before, but wanted to experience international education,” she said.

    “Our move to Shenzhen has been a big change, but a good decision, and we like it very much,” she said.

    The American couple was recruited by the American nonprofit organization Quality Schools International (QSI) in 2007. Prior to their move to China, they had registered with a firm in the United States that recruited educators for international schools.

    “We had three offers, but decided to accept the positions in China because we wanted to live and work in Asia,” she said.

    Growing up on a farm in Washington State, Winterfeld started her teaching career immediately after college at the age of 23.

    She loves traveling, reading, eating out at restaurants, shopping and buying things for her immediate family.

    She plans to stay in Shenzhen for one or two more years, and then transfer to another school within QSI.

    She is also looking forward to a cruise on the Yangtze River and seeing giant pandas in Sichuan Province in the near future.