Hello Friends,
It is time for me to bid sloppy or nonexistent manners, rudeness, talking behind my back and bribery good-bye.....for the last time.
I have been in this teach-English-to-those-who-don't-want-to learn situation for almost 4 years and my experience has not been a real pleasant one. Yes, I do speak Chinese, but most of my associates do not know that because I try to act dumb so I am able to hear more of their conversations about me. My FAO actually asked me for money to renew my current Resident Permit!.....when I asked the local Police about this, they told me it was common.
In my 4 years here, I have seen the display of very bad or no manners everywhere.....from babies peeing and shitting on the sidewalks to men peeing on a tree in the middle of the afternoon to taxis trying to take me the long way to my destination, to students cheating while I was watching and they lying about it, to my Chinese girlfriend telling me she was pregnant thinking I would marry her on what she said.....when I said we need to go to the hospital for tests, the picture changed and less than 30 days later she disappeared and I have no idea where she went.
Mine has not been a happy journey. It will be a real relief to leave in 45 days.
Best of Luck to all of you who remain here and those who will be coming......Ask LOTS and LOTS of questions so you have real answers....not some slip-shod non-answer, which they are wont to do.
I was offered and have taken a position with a Corporation as their in-house translator and will be living in a country whose Primary language is ENGLISH! The CEO and CFO are both Chinese and they understand all I've said above and they don't like it either....that's why they are not in China!
So Long Everyone!......have a safe journey.......
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I agree totally with Steve, and I too have just renewed my contract for a further year. Our life experiences is what shapes us and our attitudes to what goes on around us. yes I've seen children peeing in the street with those split pants on.....but I accept this as part of the Chinese culture. I don't like it but isnt that part and parcel of living and working in a different culture??? Some things we will agree with , others we wont but it all adds to the richness of our life experiences.
I feel sorry that you have chosen to see nothing but the negatives in your experiences and it begs the question - why on earth did you stay here for 4 years if it was all so digusting and distasteful?? I hope that at some point in your future you can look back upon the positives of your time in China - and be honest there must have been some or you wouldn't have hung around for so long......
Best of luck with your future endeavours and I hope that your blog does not deter potential teachers from coming to China to experience a completely different lifestyle from our "western" one. There will be good times. bad times. frustrating times, challenging times and joyful times but most of all you will have the satisfaction of having made a difference to another persons life.......
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