Chapter 2: Overseas Work
December 2012, it was the height of winter in Shanghai, China. Although there wasn't any snow, the bone chilling breeze mercilessly struck Shawn in the face as he shivered out in the open. The student was standing outside his housing compound, awaiting the arrival of his school bus. Under dressed, only wearing his school's winter jacket and his school uniform, Shawn sneezed under the mercy of the bus.
"Can't believe I had to finish my homework this morning…" Shawn muttered under his breath, complaining about today's morning routine.
Usually, the boy would be able to sleep till 7 in the morning before waking up and heading downstairs to get on the school bus. Yet, today, his mother woke him up at 6am to check whether he had done his homework. Of course, he hadn't. This meant that he was kicked out of bed and sent to the living room to finish it up. Begrudgingly, Shawn did it half-heartedly. Now, on a cold wintry day, the boy was in a bad mood.
Soon enough at 7.30, the bus arrived timely. It wasn't very large in size and could only fit around 20 students at best. Though, that was enough to fetch the few students that stayed in this affluent area of Shanghai. Shawn stayed in the city centre of Shanghai, Lu Jia Zui. The housing prices in this area could be said to be one of the highest in the country and it was thanks to his father's job that he was able to stay around here.
In 2011, Shawn's father, Jacob Lin, had received a once in a lifetime opportunity to sign an expat contract that would allow him to bring him and his family to China and work over here for 5 years. Jacob, at that time, was a regional operational manager and with his moving to Shanghai, it was for him to undertake the position as a global hub manager. The man had worked in the same company his whole life, dedicating time into perfecting his managerial craft. It was good news that he was up for promotion, but the fact that his entire family had to move with him, Jacob spent countless nights debating with his wife, Jane Kong. In the end, the couple left the decision in the hands of their children.
Shawn, a 12-year-old at that time, was about to undertake his biggest examination of his time, the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE). The PSLE would determine what secondary school he was eligible for entry and his parents paid extra attention to this exam. What all Asian parents in Singapore wanted was for their children to enter a good secondary school as it laid the foundation for a better tertiary education. As a result, Shawn had tuition 6 times a week and of course, the boy eventually changed for the worse. Rather than stressing about the exam, Shawn acquired a lacklustre attitude towards life and learning. Surely, he would do what he was told in the tuition centre. If not, he would not be able to go home. However, when it came down to learning, he developed a strong dislike and disdain towards it.
When the boy heard that he had a chance to leave this country and start afresh in a different place, Shawn, in a heartbeat, said that he was more than comfortable to move over with his family. His sister, Cherry Lin, who was five years younger than he was, innocently agreed with her big brother. With a resounding yes from his children, Jacob accepted the contract and within 2 months, the family of four had packed up their luggage, purchased the necessary winter clothes and headed off to a foreign country.
The contract stated that they had a significantly large budget when it came to renting a home to stay in. And so, at the expense of longer commuting hour for father Lin, the family decided that they wanted to stay in the city centre as it was easy to get around places from there. In addition, schooling would be in international schools, and all school fees would be paid for by the company. Jacob did not take much time in this aspect as he was busy with work. And so, choosing the first option on the list of schools in the vicinity, Shawn and Cherry was enrolled into Roselia International School of Shanghai (RIS). RIS had numerous branches of schools all over the world and in Shanghai, there was a total of three schools, two for the older students and one for the younger ones.
For Jacob, education was a top priority for his children. Yet, when he arrived in Shanghai, he did not put much thought into it as he assumed that the international curriculum would be more vigorous than in Singapore. Sadly, he was wrong.
Entering the first year of secondary school, or so Jacob thought, Shawn was to be a year 7 student and was about to do a five-year program that went all the way to year 11. In Singapore, the country boasted its four-year schooling program, meaning that Shawn was enrolled a year behind his peers. Though, that was something Jacob realised only after 3 years of staying in this country. What this meant was that Shawn did not have any sort of difficulties when it came to the subjects that were taught the same by both countries.
The four subjects, Math, Science, English and Chinese were his strongest suit in year 7, while the rest of his miscellaneous subjects, such as, History, Geography, Literature, Music, Drama, Art and Design & Technology, were all new to him. However, rather than being zealous and excited to learn something new, Shawn had picked up from his bad habits in Singapore and continued on as an unfulfilled student.
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