#2 Monica Le: mainland China to Hong Kong to Australia

In this episode, met Monica Le! 

Monica shares her journey of moving from China (first Ningbo, then Shanghai) to Hong Kong and then to Melbourne, Australia. She discusses the motivations behind each move, including job opportunities and a desire to explore the world. 

How much planning did Monica do? As it turns out, not too much... Key here, however, is what it means to be "an interesting person" as well as how to "be in the world." It sounds deep, but Monica explains these things effortlessly for us. 

I loved her reflection on the differences between the Chinese and Western education systems, highlighting the importance of hard work and never giving up in the Chinese system, while valuing critical thinking and teamwork in the Western system. And her emphasis on the need for bravery and the willingness to try new things at any age is part of what makes her moves so successful. 

Having lived in China throughout the booming 2000s, I was keen to understand why leave she left Shanghai when the city was, quite frankly, 'the place to be'? Her reasons might surprise you... 

And lastly, after some decent (mostly positive) research by yours truly about Melbourne - where I am from after all - I was keen to understand what the challenges are. Is Australia such a great place to live? We got into a great discussion of how to go about making international work experience relevant in a very 'domestic' market like Australia. 

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Thank you for listening to this episode of Wayfinders! If you find this interesting, please share. If you know someone suitable to be a guest (yourself included!), please let me know – very grateful. 

See you next time, 
Sacha. 

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The book I mentioned about education in China is called “Governing Educational Desire: culture, politics, and schooling in China” by Andrew B. Kipnis, published in 2011 by University of Chicago Press. 

See here: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/G/bo10549225.html