“Money money money mooooneyyyyy. Money!”
Bouncing up and down on my king-sized waterbed, I sang the classic tunes by The O’Jays and threw stacks of cash in the air while sipping champagne.
“That is a lot of money…” It was my father’s voice that finally snapped me back to reality.
“Oh yeah” I rubbed my eyes sleepily and struggled to pay attention to the phone conversation.
“NOOooooooooooooooo!” The screeching voice of a female jolted me awake.
“Don’t you listen to him!!!” Sounds of struggle and bickering in Chinese can be heard as my mother snatched the phone from my father. “Life’s not all about money ya hear? You consider carefully what you would be giving up if you stay in China another year!”
What I would be giving up…
- Clean air
- No…that’s it.
Seduced by money, I temporarily forgot why I wanted to leave China in the first place.
If I was honestly, there wasn’t one but a combination of feelings and motivations that made me want to return to Canada. They had become a melting pot of emotions at this point that I could no longer tell what my real reason was. If you forced me to break it down, I would say that after three years, I just needed a change. I was curious to see if I could make it on the other side. Grass is always greener right?
Except now I had another reason to leave, and that reason was a boy.
If the boy wasn’t in the picture, I would probably take the job. There wasn’t much waiting for me in Canada and at the back of my mind I always suspected that I’d be back to international teaching eventually anyway. So screw curiosity, I choose money!
Now that there was a boy in the picture, it all looked so different. The boy was going back to Canada. The boy was probably gonna stay in Canada. It’s friggin’ 2014 and I’m considering giving up an awesome job opportunity for a BOY??? *Pause for feminist heads shaking everywhere.*
Yes I find it riDUNculous as well, but the problem was…I love the Boy. I can always find another job, and I can always find another boy, but I can never find another Johan. And before you arrest me for taking the women’s movement back 10000000 years, let me just say that if I was a Boy, I’d do this for a Girl. If it’s the right girl, of course. (Preferably someone with J.Lo’s body, and Barbara Walter’s brains. Preferably not the other way around.)
If there was any way for Johan study and find a social work career in China, I would have asked. Well, actually I did, but we couldn’t figure out how. Whereas for me, teachers are needed everywhere, just not paid as equally. Not that anyone EVER comes into this profession for the money. It’s just nice knowing that our jobs are valued enough to be compensated accordingly.
And ohhhhh, money is just so nice sometimes!
So money or love?
A question that might be a no brainer for many, but given that I love both very much, this was worse than Sophie’s Choice. Actually don’t quote me on that, I have no idea what the movie was about.
—
“Babe?” I murmured as we laid side by side in the dark.
“Yeah?” He mumbled softly, on the verge of following asleep.
“We should book that Malaysia trip before we go back to Canada.” I said casually and waited for his response.
He was silent for awhile then finally asked “We?”
I smiled at him and replied “We.”
Toronto - Shanghai - Vancouver 