In mid-July 2024, we arrived in Dubai. In short, everything was difficult, but no one said it would be easy. So it was expected.
I also had a girlfriend who came with me and my friend, but we broke up after a couple of months—I don't even understand why all of that was necessary. My friend, for example, got a job where he wasn't paid on time, and even if he was, he never received the full amount. How did he survive? Coffee and hookah.
For example, I simply had a small salary, chaotic day and night shifts, food delivery, and consequently, poor health and burnout.
Naturally, we tried to find something better. Our other friend, who had already been in Dubai for two or three years, was working as a successful real estate broker. Naturally, he offered us both to go work there, but we were both reluctant. In the end, I even went to a couple of interviews, but they didn't hire me. Then, on the advice of his girlfriend, I applied for a job at Emirates, working at the airport. By then, my friend was barely showing up for work anymore, and eventually got laid off. A very wealthy client of theirs found out about this and wanted him to work for him, which he naturally accepted.

After a while, Emirates started calling me with job offers. I was getting ready to quit my job—I was taking fewer shifts, and sometimes I even had the energy to help my friend with their new office—doing some small things; I was just interested and helping them.

I got another call while I was at work, and it was my friend's boss—offering me a job in a field I had no idea about, offering the same salary as Emirates during the trial period, and then more. And so it happened that I turned down Emirates and went to work for an IT startup, without any IT knowledge. Then we moved into better housing. Life, fortunately, was starting to improve little by little. I'd completed my trial period, we were already preparing a couple of projects, and we were making great strides into the future... until the end of October 2025…

Toward the end of my studies in China, there was a moment when I needed to fly back home to Turkmenistan, obtain a passport, and then return to China to finish the remaining six months of my studies.

There was only one problem: I was already one year late. I was supposed to study for four years, but I had stayed for a fifth year. And I understood that there would be difficulties with the military office.

On the very first day after arriving, I felt a heavy pressure in my head. It felt as if clouds were gathering, as if the world had suddenly become heavier and even the air felt heavier. The sensations were very difficult and impossible to fully describe. And I couldn’t understand why it felt that way.

I felt tense, as if someone was constantly watching me, as if they could take me away at any moment.

The only joy was that I saw my family after almost six years. I saw my younger brother. It was difficult to realize that I was home. After so many years, after all the changes I had gone through in China, I returned there as a different person.

All the places seemed different from how I remembered them. Or rather, different from the way I used to remember them. Most people had remained the same - still the same as before.

And I had no choice but to accept them, because there was nothing I could change. And should I even have tried? Probably not.

At that moment, the most important thing for me was to leave there with a new passport. It was the key to my future.

And after a month - after many debts, spent money, emotions, and nerves - I finally managed to leave. It was painful to leave my family. But I was leaving believing that by not staying in Turkmenistan, I would be able to do more for them than if I had remained there.

After returning to China, I felt as if I had a new breath, a second life. And most likely that period in Turkmenistan was necessary for me as a person, for my personal growth. And I do not regret going through that experience.

Six months later I finished my bachelor’s degree. And the moment came when I had to decide what to do next: stay in China for a master’s degree and continue living in a comfort zone - a minimally comfortable zone - where I would receive some money, a small scholarship, and try to work somehow to earn a bit more.

And… I didn’t know what would come next. Usually no one really sees what comes after if you stay in China for a master’s degree. It’s unclear what happens afterward. Whether you just remain a perpetual student or how you change your life there - it’s not clear.

So it was decided to fly to Dubai, because I had a friend here who had already been living and working here for two years, trying to build something.

And in the middle of July 2024, we flew to Dubai.

And that’s where and when a different life began…

We'll begin our journey in China, where my adult life began. Before that, I thought I was living, but I didn't really pay attention to my life. I simply existed and went with the flow. But in China, when you're a student, it's time to start making choices, taking responsibility for your choices - that is, to start living your life.

In short, a lot happened in China - from ups to downs, from loyalty to betrayal, from arguments and fights to reconciliations, from a life of alcohol to a life in the gym.

What's strange? It's that studying itself was minimal, or at least we tried to keep it minimal. Less studying, more living.

I gained a lot of experience during this period of my life and am grateful to everyone who was with me and gave me this experience, good or bad. I can't regret anything that happened in the past, because it can't be brought back.

I can only say thank you and that my time in China will forever hold a special place in my heart, and I am always ready to visit again and learn more…

Stay Positive)