After a casual conversation in 2008, Alex Olah decided to teach at China University of Petroleum after retirement. Photos Provided to China Daily

Retired Australian Alex Olah's published diaries document the challenges and achievements of teaching English in China. Zhang Yue reports.

Alex Olah's wife's first reaction when he suggested considering teaching English in China was: "Are you crazy?" That was years before the 67-year-old Australian who'd retired from the Australian Trade Commission recently published a book on the topic.

It was soon after that the couple took a three-week tour of China in 2008 to decide whether teaching in the country would be a good idea.

After working as an English instructor for four years at the China University of Petroleum in Dongying, Shandong province, his selection of diaries about his interactions during his first two years teaching students in CUP was published in September by the university press.

This is Olah's first book, and its publication coincides with the university's 60th birthday.

"I feel lucky looking back to 2008 as we made teaching English in China our second career," says Olah, who'd previously worked for the Australian Trade Commission for 30 years.

"It has been a wonderful time in our life to be with students in China."

It was a casual conversation back in 2008 in the gym in Olah's apartment back in Canberra, Australia, that inspired him.

"I came across a good friend of mine in the gym and he told me he was doing the course Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages with his wife and was intending to teach English in China."