My name is Robin Marschak. I’m from Virginia in the United States, but now I live and work in Harbin, China. I teach English, mainly to young children, but sometimes I teach older students as well, including high school, university, and adult students. My major in university was English, but this is one of the first jobs I’ve worked which actually utilized that. Before coming to China I did all sorts of delivery work, from pizza delivery to long haul trucking to limousine service. I also worked for many years as a carpenter and all around handyman on jobs ranging from rental maintenance to historic renovations to theater set building.
As you would expect of an English major, I’ve done a fair bit of writing, but only once professionally as the editor of a now defunct music magazine called Magazine33. I’ve published a book of poetry and numerous other poems and essays. All of which you can find on my other website Thoughts on Life.
I find public transportation fascinating and love riding everything from buses to trams to subways. Unfortunately my hometown of Richmond, VA has little to offer in the way of public transit. There is a bus system, but it is inconvenient and overpriced, the type of thing you only ride if you have no other option available. When I was a child my dad and I would ride the bus around town as a fun daytime activity. But as an adult I rarely used the system, preferring to bike or even walk.
Upon arriving in Harbin I was thrilled to see the, what seemed to me, extensive public transit service available. In actual fact compared to other large cities in China, Harbin’s public transit system is quite limited. When I arrived there was only one subway line. Now there is a second, but it only runs a partial service. But the bus service in excellent and, from what I have seen in my time here, steadily improving. There is at least one bus stop within one to two blocks of virtually everywhere in the urbanized area of the city. And a number of lines which serve the more suburban areas, some going as much as 40 km outside the center of town.