The day after posting a link to the great laowai debate, I had an interesting conversation with a co-worker. It was the kind of thing I would probably not have paid much attention to were the matter not already on my mind.
My co-worker is in her late twenties and comes from Sichuan. She has been living in Shanghai for the past five years or so.
I was having a conversation with my co-worker about foreigner teachers. When she got …
Sometimes I still ask myself, “Why have I taken my degree in Japanese and chosen to develop my career in China? Why don’t I consider going back and pursuing something in the States?”
Oh yeah, now I remember. Thanks, Monster.com, I’m not so sorry now that I still haven’t removed myself from your job update e-mail service.
Note: Of course, yes, I do love my life in China, learning every day.…
As in many Chinese companies, from time to time things get pretty hectic at my company, and people are asked to do overtime. There’s no talk of overtime pay; working overtime is just a periodic necessity in the workplace. Chinese workers don’t even complain about it much.
When I’m asked to work overtime, I make it very clear that I expect that time off in the future. I know I won’t get overtime pay, but I don’t work for free.…
“Paji looooi!” the vendors cried as I stepped from the train. Hazy memories from almost a year ago quickly came back into focus. I was in Dezhou again.
My company had sent me for the second time to the mid-sized Shandong city for a day of teacher training. It’s a 14 hour train ride to Dezhou, and the train leaves Shanghai at 8pm, which puts arrival at 10am. The only problem was the training was scheduled to begin …
I’m down to my last week of teaching kids, but there’s a lot of other stuff going on. As a result, my entries have been a little sparse lately. There’s still plenty left in me to write about, but it’ll have to wait a little longer. A possible upcoming visit to Taiwan could be very interesting.
Besides finishing up classes, I’ve also got to do a bunch of paperwork to stay legal. My previous visa and work permit will expire …
I’m kind of surprised myself, but I successfully negotiated a new contract with my employer. I laid out my demands: half the hours, 2/3 the pay, and no more teaching kids. They capitulated.
This is good because I will not go crazy. I can continue to like Chinese children from a distance, keeping the good memories of the times I had teaching them, while the bad parts slowly fade. But I’ll make sure I don’t get roped into teaching kids …
Happy New Year! Mine was spent with a small group of friends drinking and making merry. Somehow we also ended up playing some blindfolded hide and seek game. Bizarre. Fun though.
I haven’t felt like putting in the effort to write any quality entries lately. It’s largely due to my job. I’m really tired of teaching kids and doing all these holiday-themed activities. Fortunately, my job will change at the end of January. Whether or not I’ll stay at the …
Last week at work I had this conversation:
A: John, you have an activity on Saturday.
J: This Saturday? The 25th?
A: Right.
J: I can’t. It’s Christmas.
A: Why can’t you?
J: It’s Christmas. I have Christmas things to do.
A: It’s just for an hour.
J: No. It’s Christmas.
A: OK, I’ll tell them.
Later I was approached by my supervisor:
V: John, I realize it’s Christmas, but can you please work on Saturday?
J: No.
V: Come
…
My company has been doing some Thanksgiving activities lately. It’s my responsibility to help design the activities to make them educational both in basic vocabulary as well as in cultural content. It’s also my responsibility to execute some of the activities. This involves such excellent speaking opportunities as explaining in Chinese to a group of kids the basic history and traditions of American Thanksgiving.
So the other day I found myself explaining to some kindergarteners about the Indians (my company’s …
The search for another kindergarten teacher trainer to work alongside me is finally over. Funny how these blog connections work, but the one who ended up taking the job is Micah Sittig, a long-time China blogger who has recently returned to China. Anyway, I’m looking forward to working with Micah and molding him in my badass teacher training likeness in the weeks to come. (I’m also looking forward to having someone to share my workload with. This past month …
John has lived in China for
11.5
years. He is a linguist focused on SLA and tech.
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