Career woman or housewife?

Jennifer, Meredith, Diana分别来自美国, 澳大利亚和哥伦比亚. 来厦之前, 三人都有各自钟爱的职业, 随夫工作调动迁至厦门后, 在异国他乡她们不得不当起了全职太太. 乐意? 失落? 她们是如何在人生的重新定位中寻找平衡和满足, 让我们一起来听听她们酸甜苦辣的故事吧.

 

Unexpected blessing
By Jennifer Fischer



1. Are you a career woman or a full-time housewife?
In the US I have practised as a physician assistant (PA) in Family Practice since 1989, however, since coming to China I am a full-time housewife. My main responsibility is that of caring for my two daughters, Morgan, 11 years old and Anna, 9 years old. We “home school” each day for about 4 to 5 hours using a Christian based curriculum. I have also had fun while teaching English to doctors and nurses on a part-time basis.

2. How do you enjoy your current situation and why?
This is my 6th year of home school with my daughters and it really has been an unexpected blessing. I enjoy watching them learn new ideas and skills. I also enjoy making our home a warm and comfortable environment.

3. How do you find enjoyment and have fun working as a full-time housewife?
I enjoy spending time with my family, and each week we always have one night that we call “family night” where we eat together, and then watch movies or play games. I also enjoy inviting our Chinese friends over to our home for conversation and relaxation.

4. Have you ever encountered any difficulties or been at a loss in your current state? How do you overcome them?
Sometimes it is difficult to have patience with my children when we are often together 24/7. My husband is always available to pitch in and let me get out for a ‘xi tou' or some other outing to take a break.

5. If you are given another chance to make a choice again, what will it be and why?
I would not change anything about my life. I have had the opportunity to be a professional in the past and now I can devote this season of life to my family. My children will some day return to the US for college, and then I can return to my profession.

 

 

Wish for more time
By Meredith Tharapos



1. Are you a career woman or a full-time housewife?
I am currently not employed while living here in Xiamen as I have three boys; Alex aged 15 years, Daniel aged 11 years and Jonathan aged 9 years. While we were living in Australia I lectured in accounting at a university in Melbourne.

2. How do you enjoy your current situation and why?
I do enjoy being home with the children and being free to attend field trips and special event days at their school. It is nice to be there and hear about their day when they first arrive home from school.

3. How do you find enjoyment and have fun as a full-time housewife?
I am very involved with an association for expatriates in Xiamen which organizes cultural, social and sporting activities for our members. In addition I like to keep fit by doing a daily exercise routine and various other activities on a weekly basis. There is no shortage of things to do here in Xiamen and I often wish I had more time to fit everything in!

4. Have you ever encountered any difficulties or been at a loss in your current state? How do you overcome them?
I think living so far away from our family and friends in our home country, it is important to establish a support network of friends here in Xiamen. They are always willing to help when you really need them.

5. If you are given another chance to make a choice again, what will it be and why?
To always try and make a difference in other people's lives. ‘Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the number of moments that take your breath away.'

 

 

Staying home - a luxury
By Diana Hu



1. Are you a career woman or a full-time housewife?
My name is Diana and I am currently not working. I came to China from the US with my husband Edward 2.5 years ago and we lived in Beijing prior to coming to Xiamen. We have a 2-year-old son named Alexon who was born in Beijing. Before coming to China I was a Marketing Manager for AT&&T in NY/NJ for 5 years and this was where I met my husband, who worked in the same department as me. He first came to the US from Hangzhou, China for his Master degree at New York University, and I first came to the US with my family from Colombia as a child.

2. How do you enjoy your current situation and why?
As my son is still very young, I currently like to be at home to spend unlimited time with Alexon, which would otherwise be a luxury in the States. I'd like to get back to my career when Alexon grows up a little more, and I'm trying to explore what I can do in China since it doesn't seem our family is moving back to the US very soon.

3. How do you find enjoyment and have fun as a full-time housewife?
I find enjoyment by seeing my son's growth and development every day and not missing any moment of it. I also get to contribute to his language learning (we want him to learn three languages: Chinese, English and Spanish) and I also get to pass along to him my culture and morals.

4. Have you ever encountered any difficulties or been at a loss in your present state? How do you overcome them?
Sometimes I miss being back in the corporate world and being up to date with what's going on in the business world, and practising what I learned in college and prior jobs. I also wish to know more about the Chinese culture and corporate ethics by going back to work. However, I feel at this point in my life I must dedicate my time and effort to my family in order for all of us to be successful in the future.

5. If you are given another chance to make a choice again, what will it be and why?
Before coming to China, Edward and I spoke about who would be the parent to focus mostly on career and who would be the parent to focus on family and children, and we decided that I would focus on caring for our children while he focused on his profession. It is not until my children are older and in school that I would think about going back to the corporate world on a full time basis again. I feel very lucky to be able to stay home and be the direct source of education for my children during their early years as well as make our home a beautiful and peaceful place to live.

 

 

Enjoy being a housewife
By Susan Brown



1. Are you a career woman or a full-time housewife?
I am a full-time stay-at-home Mom and wife, and I love my job and wouldn't trade it for the world! I have home schooled my two boys since they were in first grade. After the first eight years with Calvert (a program that started in the 1890s), they started a high-school home school program with University of Nebraska that allowed them to do classwork, assignments and tests on the internet with teachers in the US. They are teenagers now and prefer to work on their own.

2. How do you enjoy your current situation and why?
One thing I enjoy doing is making other foreigners feel at home in Xiamen. I designed a website that introduces Xiamen to foreigners, www.amoymagic.mts.cn and receive letters weekly from people all over the world (and in Xiamen as well).

3. How do you find enjoyment and have fun working as a full-time housewife?
I teach an English class of 4 ladies in my home and attend other weekly gatherings with friends. When I have time, I enjoy cooking western meals for my family. My favorite time is spent with my best friend and husband, Bill! One of our favorite dates is dinner and foot massage! Other times we enjoy going to one of the malls and walking around and shopping. One great thing about being a stay-at-home Mom is the flexibility I have with my schedule. I can take off whenever I want for a trip with my husband or return to the States to visit my Mom.

4. Have you ever encountered any difficulties or been at a loss in your current state? How do you overcome them?
The most difficult thing with my job is prioritizing my time. I always have more things to do than time and it's hard to decide which things to do first. Another challenge is not to get so busy that I don't take time for my family. Being available to them and making our house a home is very important to me. Now that my boys are teenagers they need me a lot less, so I have learned to give them their space. I will soon be facing the “empty-nest syndrome” when both my boys leave home for college. I know I will adjust, but I am not looking forward to it!

5. If you are given another chance to make a choice again, what will it be and why?
If I had another chance I would do the same thing - be a professional mother and housewife, and spend my time making people feel at home in Xiamen.

 

 

Too young to be a housewife
By Anita



1. Are you a career woman or a full-time housewife?
My family is very simply, just me and my husband. He is currently engaged in hotel management as a professional manager. As a full-time housewife, my major work is to take good care of him.

2. How do you enjoy your current situation and why?
The biggest enjoyment being a housewife for me is that I can arrange my own time. Besides all the free time, I can do whatever I like. And the most important thing is that I can be very flexible to adjust my time to my husband's agenda. It's really super to be able to control your private time.

3. How do you find enjoyment and have fun working as a full-time housewife?
I find it nothing special. I just put most of my time and attention in offering my husband a healthy diet so that he doesn't have to worry about it, thus helping him somewhat be released from the pressure. Normally I like to go shopping at the supermarket, carefully choosing his favorite food, then go back home and cook delicious dishes for him. Flower decoration is also my hobby, which is appreciated by my husband. I place many beautiful flowers in our bedroom, sitting-hall and bathroom so that whenever he is back home, he can enjoy the cozy family atmosphere, away from the business world.

4. Have you ever encountered any difficulties or been at a loss in your current state? How do you overcome them?
I've been in Xiamen for about 7 months. Presently with few friends, I am mostly alone at home when my husband is at work. Unfamiliar with the surroundings and far away from downtown, I'd rather stay at home. So maybe loneliness is the biggest difficulty I have to face. Sometimes I was rather downcast and lost my temper with my husband. He tries his best to comfort me by introducing some friends, and accompanies me for meals or sends me messages as much as possible. I also read magazines and books or chat with friends and try to enjoy my private time.

5. If you are given another chance to make a choice again, what will it be and why?
I wish I had a job. I'm still young. I'd rather become a housewife when I grow older.

 

Vocabulary
curriculum 课程
profession 职业
luxury 奢侈
dedicate 奉献