Russian girl came to China and fell in love with Hainan

Victoria is a Russian dance teacher. Looking forward to working overseas, she made the choice after graduating university to come to China. After a few years in Beijing she decided that she would rather go to a warmer city with a slower pace of life, and preferably one that was close to the sea. When she heard that Hainan would meet all of her ideal lifestyle requirements, she immediately made the decision to come to Hainan. 

After settling in Sanya she discovered that there were no ballet schools with foreign teachers. From that time on she thought: “Why don’t I open my own ballet school?” As a result, she established the Russian Arts Center. 
 

Teaching Ballet and Organizing Cultural Exchange Activities

From young children to adults, Victoria has students of all ages and skill levels. In order to do a better job at teaching ballet, Victoria also takes time out of her busy schedule to study the Chinese related to her work. Victoria said, “My Chinese teacher gives me words that are related to ballet and this allows me to use Chinese to teach my students. No matter how busy my work is, I always make sure to have Chinese class at least once or twice a week.” Victoria feels that her purpose as a dance teacher is to oversee her students’ progress in their dance performance abilities and their happy smiling faces when they realize the progess they have made. 

In addition to all this she also organizes  cultural exchange activities regularly. For example, Victoria has not only introduced Russian food culture to her Chinese students, she has also shown them how Russians spend Christmas. “This year is the 60th anniversary of the first human space flight. For this year’s World Cosmonauts Day, the Guangzhou Russian Consulate-General assisted our Art Center in preparing the "Our Gagarin" photo exhibition to help everyone commemorate this important milestone in human history,” said Victoria.

I love the beautiful scenery of Hainan. Seeing it makes me very happy

Victoria really enjoys traveling. “Living in Hainan, it’s very convenient for me and my friends to rent a car and drive to places around the island. Hainan is a great place. It’s very easy for foreigners to rent a car,” said Victoria. During her free time, Victoria likes to go with friends to go hiking, to visit waterfalls, or to just generally enjoy the natural beauty of the island.

Six years after she settled in Sanya, Victoria has seen tremendous changes in Sanya. “Life here is becoming more and more convenient. Hainan is becoming more and more international. This is making more people want to come to Hainan, giving people like me more opportunities to progress with cultural communication and cultural exchange activities. I really like living here,” she said.