My neighbors down the hall are a family from suburban Atlanta – husband Chuck, wife Toni and son Nate. Chuck and Toni are also teaching English at Henan University of Technology, though they were hired directly by the school instead of a third party. They’ve been here for just over a year and like most of the expats I’ve met in Zhengzhou, they have unusual backgrounds.
Chuck, 57, has held a variety of security-related jobs, including transporting high-risk inmates, guarding a nuclear reactor and helping protect President Jimmy Carter when he visited Georgia. He and his wife, who both have black belts, also ran a martial arts school. He’s lived in Japan, Cambodia, South America and about 30 U.S. states. Chuck has been married five times, including twice to Toni, and has four grown sons from previous relationships in addition to 12-year-old Nate.
Toni, 47, is a musician who plays the guitar, piano, flute and clarinet. She studied music theory in college and taught piano for many years. She also writes haiku and short stories. She and Chuck met in an Internet chat room in 1998. “I love Teddy Bears, and his handle was Georgia Teddy Bear,’’ she says. “So that’s how we got started.’’
Nate, who also has a black belt, is home-schooled. He has skipped two grades and is now studying at a ninth-grade level. Though he shares a small apartment with his mother (Chuck lives in another apartment across the hall) and has had to make a major cultural adjustment, he likes living in China. “The food is better here,’’ Nate says, “and everyone is very friendly.’’
Chuck is white and Toni is black. Do they ever draw stares from Zhengzhou residents, who aren’t used to seeing interracial couples? “I have met people who are positive that I can’t be from America,’’ Toni says. “They say I must be from Africa.’’
