Becky Ances

Confessions of a Chameleon by Becky Ances

In our mid-30’s, my husband and I left our cats and cozy home in the New England hills to teach English in a small, dirty, industrial city in southern China. We thought we were living the dream of following our bliss and leading an adventurous life as a unstoppable couple.…and then my husband asked me for a divorce.

I was truly alone, friendless and lost in a foreign country surrounded by a strange culture and strange people where I could barely order food at a restaurant, much less contact my friends on facebook or twitter for support (both were blocked by the Chinese government). Faced with those problems, most women would pack it up and go back to the comforts of home, but I decided I wanted to stop being most women. I saw living alone in a foreign country as a challenge that I could overcome….if only I could find the courage to leave my house.

Part travelogue, part personal journey, CONFESSIONS OF A CHAMELEON (memoir 86,000 words) is a journey around China, from small villages in which no foreigner had been seen in remembered history to modern, fast-paced cities like Hong Kong and Shanghai. But really it is a journey into an even more exotic location: myself, and figuring out who I am without the title of “wife,” “friend,” or “American.” What color is a chameleon when is has nothing around it to blend into?


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