IntCustCom.Com: Profile & Contact (Sept 2018)

My name is Glen Clifford (Chinese name 葛傑倫, because 'Jay' is my middle name).  I am a trainer/instructor in International Customer Communication, specialising in International Customer Service for the lodging, touring, and dining sectors of the tourism industry.  I guide students all the way from elementary hospitality English to advanced intercultural communication for personalised customer service.

The Stable Years - 2006-2016

I began basic training / teaching in 2006, after a successful career in commercial radio.  In many ways, I have come full circle, as my first paid job in radio was a part-time position as the technical director of a Japanese radio programme, aimed at Japanese tourists.  Now I train Chinese how to communicate with Western tourists in the hospitality sector.  This full circle has involved working in Korea for almost six months, Taipei for 6.5 years, and mainland China since the middle of 2013.  My initial time in Taipei, was mostly about private language academies - for both children and adults.  I then moved on to English communication consultancy for Swarovski, Ferrari, Nike and other global companies in Taipei.  My time in mainland China has been about colleges and universities, what I refer to as my 'academic training career'.

The 'mainland China' academic training career, beginning June 2013, has actually been quite successful...  Initially, I purposely tailored every move to gain as much experience as possible, in the shortest possible time.  At the same time, it was a wonderful three year introduction to mainland China, involving diverse cultural exposure in three very different cities.  In Nanjing, I simultaneously worked for an Industrial Engineering Institute and an American University (the latter, I taught Radio/Media Production).  In Qingdao, I simultaneously worked for a Foreign Trade College and a Hotel Management College (picture gallery).  The following year, in Jinan, I simultaneously worked for a (General) Management University and a Transportation University.  The next semester, I taught part-time at a Political Science University, and - at the same time - taught workers at Jinan International Airport (picture).

The Unstable Years - 2016-2018

Visa Chaos In May 2016 (after ending all contractual associations with Jinan), the Chinese Department of Labour AND Exit/Entry Bureau made substantial changes to the work visa system, throwing many people into a long-term situation of chaos.  Thousands of international workers would need to 'go home' to get (and wait for) further certifications and authentications on their original university degree documents, security checks, and - in some cases - health checks.  If a person had been in China for a long time, the burden (personal, career, and financial) of giving up everything they had established in China was enormous.

These visa changes threw my life into turmoil.  I did not want to walk away from, and risk losing everything I had been building in China.  Nor did I want to quickly return home (indeed, a New Zealand where I had no real 'home', no job and no recent history), where I would be stuck for somewhere between three to five months, waiting for visa associated paperwork to be completed.  At that time, in my case, it was easier to buy a business visa for China, and live for a while as a type of 'freelance'.  Therefore (after Jinan) from August 2016, I lived and worked in several places, as a type of 'freelance consultant / trainer / instructor'.

My Freelance Journey - South China My freelance journey began in Shenzhen, where I helped the Southern University of Science and Technology, which had not been able to to get its new lecturer into China in time for the start of the autumn semester.  It was an amazing university with a very proactive attitude to genuine internationalisation.  For example, most Chinese universities would never employ a Western Dean for their languages department.  In fact, the only Westerners I see at Chinese universities, are regarded as common lackies.  Even when we have more experience and more work history IN CHINA than our Chinese colleagues, we are treated as if we are unskilled, naive, and unwise 'outsiders'.  But in Shenzhen, there was no hint of the ethnocentrism and total absence of cultural diversity that is accepted as 'normal' in Chinese academic institutions.  Shenzhen wanted to be 'different', and in hierarchal, collectivist countries like China, that is extraordinary.  After Shenzhen, I knew that I would never again let a Chinese superior treat me as a lower 'nothing', simply because of my lack of Chinese language skill or the simple fact that I don't have a Chinese face.

My next stop was Zhuhai (in the far south of China), where I came into contact with many English learning hospitality workers from nearby Macao.  It was a great experience, and I was able to visit Macao at least once a month.  I taught many of these students advanced English, but with a strong hospitality focus, using my prior experience from Qingdao Hotel Management College.

My Freelance Journey - Middle (Eastern) China After about six months in Zhuhai I traveled up to Zhejiang where I taught in both Zhuji and Shaoxing (both smaller cities than the more famous Hangzhou and Ningbo, which were both nearby).  In Zhuji, I taught at the Zhejiang Agricultural and Forestry University for one semester, and in Shaoxing I taught YIHA Hospitality Institute (picture gallery) of the Yuexiu Languages University for one semester...  There was also some holiday time, and a rubbish job teaching at a fake 'international' high school in Zhuji...

Eventually, I had been 'on the road' from August 2016 until the end of March 2018.  Importantly - in retrospect - the four training positions (Qingdao, Jinan Airport, Macao, Shaoxing) I had obtained in the tourism hospitality lodging / touring / and dining sectors confirmed my desire to keep working in customer communication (and later, Shanghai offered my ideal training / teaching position).

23 March-23 August 2018: A five month wait in NZ, a 'home' I did not know BUT... eventually, I couldn't get any more business / visitors visas to stay in China!  Ready or not, it was time to face New Zealand.  To secure long term, more 'official' employment in China, I would need to go back to New Zealand for a long (and expensive) time to get all my documents updated and processed for the new certification system that China required.  In this case, problems always created further problems... It took about two (hugely expensive) months in NZ to get all the papers finished for China.  It was then risky or difficult to return to China because of a lack of funds, and also because quality teaching contracts are not available in May, being the middle of semester of the Northern Hemisphere academic year!  Therefore, I accepted that I would be stuck in New Zealand for the full five months.

Finally, I (eventually) returned to China to start a new contract in Shanghai, on 1st September 2018 - being the normal start of the Chinese academic year.

Future Plans

The five months compulsory wait in New Zealand became a wonderful life experience.  Rather than staying the whole time in Auckland, I visited my 'home' town, a place I had not seen since being 12 years old.  I spent a long time relishing visits to houses and schools that I had not seen since being either 7 or 12 years old (I migrated from NZ at the age of 12).  The most wonderfully powerful flashbacks frequently and suddenly took place, producing memories and feelings that I had never expected to 're-remember' or 're-feel'..  The entire experience was incredibly dreamlike.  Although I was not close to my father, it was especially exhilarating to visit a house that he built (still in excellent condition) where I had lived from 2 to 7 years old.  There had - in some locations - been minor architectural changes, but places were full of powerful and deeply hidden recollections, to a time long ago, a time of both innocence and a simple life.  Perhaps such a powerful experience can only be had, when one has traveled for a long time to far away, entirely different cultures, and less developed, less civilized countries.

However, my time in New Zealand also had other bigger, wider effects... To summarize a LOT of mental / emotional processing, I have no desire to live in NZ, a country that is so isolated, and with such a small economy and scale of everything.  For decades, I have lived in cities with populations bigger than all of New Zealand's population!  But, at the same time, upon returning to China in late August 2018, I knew more deeply than ever before that I did not want to continue living in Asia, and specifically a country that is less civilized, less clean, less free, and - generally - less developed than many others.

As I write these notes, I am 'planning hard' and 'working hard':  Planning a move to a completely different part of the world, where I can continue my work as a Customer Service trainer / instructor in a large global market, but also to have conditions that I could never have in China.

You can CONTACT me here