VETERAN Australian chef Julian Smith works at Shenzhen's Landmark Hotel as a food consultant for the Western kitchen.

He said he was helping the hotel offer different international food every day but he originally came here to marry. He decided to take the job while waiting for his wife's immigration visa.

"If you love somebody, you are happy," Smith said, although he felt at a loose end sometimes because his wife, a vice principal of a vocational school, works long hours and has only one day off a week.

Speaking little Chinese, Smith uses a lot of body language to communicate. When he went to buy mosquito repellent incense at a store, he gestured outlining an incense coil in the air. Then he slapped his arm as if hitting a mosquito and the shop understood.

Two Chinese terms that Smith familiar with are (I don't know) and (I don't have), as he does not know what people say to him and he can not buy many things he can buy in Australia.

While he had some complaints about the city's traffic and public order, he said he was happy to be working at the hotel where he had been able to help improve the hotel's food service.

 
Editor: Wings