China is huge.  Once you've navigated the visa labyrinth, you may not be able to talk about "China" so much as where you are in it.

Here are a few photos of yours truly from Korea and from Inner Mongolia and Shanxi.


My wife in the snow near our teacher apartment on campus.


Korea 11 years earlier


A school activity


Looks like ancient Rome; but it's Shanxi province.


some retards decided to crash inside a tunnel and this is the result


My angels.  They once were camera shy.

Interesting stuff thanks. How is your wife handling the change of environment etc living there? How does the pay there compare to Thailand? How are the students compared to Thais? Ok basically whats it like teaching there?

Cheers

I can only speak for my region and school.

I get the idea that Inner Mongolia is more laid back than some other areas.

I've been told that there are lots of foreigners in Baotou, but I don't see them.  People still sometimes to ask to be photographed with me.

We had lived in Korea once before coming to China, so my wife likes the snow when we get it.

In addition to Korea and Thailand, I'd also worked in Cairo.  It wasn't long before Baotou was in my comfort zone.

I'm paid eight months per year at this school, and that makes the pay comparable to Thailand, except that the school provides us with a very nice teacher apartment.  My teaching duties are quite light compared to others. I'm required to be present to teach classes but I have no office hours.  This almost always keeps my teaching hours at or under 45 hours per month, and this allows me to collect social security - usually.  This is a huge help.

At every other place of employment I've ever been at, there's always been an anal orifice to deal with.  Here, everybody is nice.  No matter how busy people are, there is always time to help me, and they went to great lengths when we first arrived.  One example is that when my father-in-law passed away, one manager lent my wife the money for airfare so she could return to Thailand.  While I get a refund of a ticket to Thailand twice a year, my wife does not.  Another manager lobbied repeatedly to get my wife the ticket refund.

One woman, very high up the food chain, has been especially gracious and along with her colleagues has made me very happy here.  I've come to think of her as the most beautiful woman in China. There are three other teachers and an assistant who make large efforts on my behalf as well, and other assistants and teachers who watch after me.

I've been very fortunate in that I might be popular with the students.

The students, almost all women in my department, can be monkey girls.  I once had to wrestle a telephone away from one student.  She had a death grip on it and drew blood before I got it away from her. Aside from the phone-itis, they are far more polite than what I'm used to and some take it all quite seriously.  One of my schools in Thailand had spoiled and stubborn boys who were impossible, even for some Thai teachers, to deal with.  I don't miss that at all.

It is the PRC and one is sometimes reminded that one is in a police state. The big difference between China and Korea remains the writing system.  Korean writing can be learned an an hour or two.  Chinese requires an hour or two per day for months.  

When I returned to Bangkok last January, I went bat shit crazy at my old haunts. So, next January or next July might be a good time to call it a day for this part of my life.

I cannot overstate how glad I am that I did the "not sensible" thing by declining a job offer near home and coming to China.  I cannot overstate how fortunate I was to wind up here.

Your experience in China will probably be very different.

Interesting, thanks for the reply.

Nice photos. Thanks for sharing. 

and now to hear from a pathetic troll with no life . . .

"Be there or be sqare"!

Surely the advert for an English event could have been proofread prior to production.

1stevec wrote:"Be there or be sqare"!

Surely the advert for an English event could have been proofread prior to production.

  
  "Surely the reply could have been different."

  Considering that you might not be familiar with this saying, please have a look here:

  be there or be square
A square being a nerd, geek, dork...un-hip, un-cool, unpopular, not with-it, etc. ...sort of person..."be there or be square" means about the same as "everyone who is anyone will be there", which is to say if you're not there you're nobody.
All the hot girls and all the rough boys will be at this party/club/place dude be there or be square!

  

Guest aka persona non grata wrote:"Be there or be sqare"!

Surely the advert for an English event could have been proofread prior to production.

It was proofread, and missed, and later caught, and corrected.

I was more impressed that somebody had heard the expression and tried using it than I was by the spelling boo-boo.

The day of the week was also wrong in the first draft. That's why there's a MAD zeppelin on the poster.

My name also has an "S" on the end.  Bringing that up seemed to be just too picky.  The Chinese staff and students do an amazing job with a very foreign language. There's a balance between making corrections and diminishing enthusiasm.

Of course, a damn troll is all about diminishing enthusiasm, being a pain in the ass, and creating hardship by spreading misinformation. In hindsight, the original post was hardly surprising.

I've met most of the new students and all of the returning students. It was a bit of a shock to observe that there were no "telephone addicts." The great offenders from the previous term never had a phone in hand. All were polite and helpful, as usual, but friends didn't chat very much. It was if administration had threatened the students with something draconian.

I'm not complaining. I'm curious as to why the big change, but I'm not complaining.

I wore a necktie for this first meetings of the new term. Maybe I should continue wearing one.

Of course, I also taught with a rubber chicken. Maybe they respect rubber chickens.

The students prepared a Thanksgiving DInner.

I was moved when some spoke about why they're thankful to have me for a teacher.

My peak experiences as a teacher seem to be happening here.

Our resident permits should be ready in a couple of weeks and we'll be here until summer.

Reflecting on the first 2 & 1/2 years, getting my Chromebook up and running was a miracle.

As an aside, how are you finding the Chromebook ? I ask as they are on special here, under 5k. Am just wondering if they are worth it ? Thanks.

If you use it just as a Chromebook, they're convenient.
This is not just my opinion. Chromebooks have doubled the percentage of Linux machines.

If you use it as a full blown Linux computer (i.e., install croutons); they're fantastic.
Caveat: Croutons on a Chromebook are not for Linux newbies.