Life is Wonderful after Retirement

by Harry Cheng, Hee Namkung, and John Wu

Most people think that life will be boring and full of worries after retirement. However, as for Yu Ja Hua, her life is full of excitement and joy after retirement. When she retired from her job as a financial manager, she found herself left with nothing to do. So she started to work as an ayi at SSIS and her second life began.

‘I was born at 1958, in Suzhou’, she says. It was the time when China was in poverty. She didn’t achieve her dream of going to college. Going to college wasn’t recommended—instead, finding a job was more important at that time so that she could help the family financially. Because of this, she started searching for jobs and became a financial manager. This was her life before retirement. It was hard and unfair.

Since she arrived at SSIS six years ago, she has assisted three different teachers. Most recently, high school students will recognize her as Ms. Wilson’s assistant. ‘There is a language problem and it’s a bit hard to understand’, she says, ‘but I’m very happy to help Ms. Wilson’. Although her job is tiring, she finds it enjoyable. After school ends, she works as a bus ayi. ‘Do you enjoy taking care of the kids on the bus?’ ‘I will be very happy’ she says, ‘as long as the parents don’t complain about me.’ Sometimes life doesn’t go as smoothly as she wants it to be. However, she still overcomes the difficulties she’s faces every day. ‘SSIS students think differently from the students in Chinese local school. I think they have a better chance to study at a wider range’ she says. She also finds the students of SSIS very creative and productive.

She usually does knitting at home and is satisfied with her knitting products. In her spare time she often watches the headlines news and dramas on TV. She also does housework every day. She repeats the things that she usually did day after day before she came to SSIS to work. Therefore, she was motivated to start a different life after retirement.

The other reason why she began her second life is that she had nothing to do after her daughter went to college. ‘If I stayed home doing nothing, I would have been a useless person for the rest of my life,’’ she said. Therefore, she decided to search for a job that best fits her. She has learned a lot from the students and the teachers. Instead of staying home and having nothing to do, she prefers spending time with the pupils. She prefers to learn lots of new things being an assisant. As for Yu Ja Hua, after her daughter has her own family and she is old enough for retirement, she’ll stop working and simply enjoy her wonderful life.

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