Job Discussion Forums

[KopiKopi]

I have taught EFL since 1998 and it seems that the BS meter is stuck on overload in China. I have taught in South Korea (the good old days), Indonesia (damn, Islamic laws), Vietnam (women are too darn distracting) and most recently in China.

I have a MA in Instructional Design and a BA in English Writing. I know how to teach, but damn it, if I am not getting pissed off at the sorry state of EFL schools in China. I have never been so boldfaced lied to, in my life. Being sent "changes in labor law" written in Chinese, which oops, since I can READ it, it turned out to be a newspaper story about something totally unrelated. When I asked why I was sent the wrong information, the reply was "Oh, you can read Chinese?" WTF? Seriously?

So my question is what is, and what agency can confirm the legality of the request for a medical check in my home country and in China. I know I will have to get it done in China, but the Chinese government won't even accept a medical check done outside the province, let alone in a foreign country.

Just venting. The ONLY reason I am returning to China is because of a woman... a friggin' woman! It was a woman that got me into TEFL 15 years ago in Vietnam and got me in trouble in Indonesia.

Sorry.... back to your regularly scheduled flame wars.

[johntpartee]

[rioux]

[wangdaning]

[GeminiTiger]

How are women more distracting in Vietnam?

[KopiKopi]

Okay... let me explain.

All three women were different.

The Vietnamese exchange student I met at uni who returned to HCMC...

The "divorced" Indonesian woman whose husband just turned out to be working abroad in Singapore and did not like the photos that he found on his still married WIFE''S computer.

And the Chinese woman who is friggin' magically delicious.... but, oh so borderline psycho. Have you ever noticed how liberating it is to date a true freak?


Sigh...

Oh, and Vietnamese women are scrumptious -- dark eyes, dark skin. giggling, but mentally strong... o lala....

[KopiKopi]

[it'snotmyfault]

[KopiKopi]

[tangal]

The key to anger management is managing our anger in healthy ways. Sure, BS is rampant in China and many jobs, schools, and recruiters make for miserable conditions, but if we look on the bright side and learn from our mistakes it's still possible to land decent to very good teaching jobs here with the sort of credentials and experience the OP is claiming. Based on the OP's cavalier tone and somewhat specious rational for venting it's pretty clear he wants to blame the system and others for his repeated problems and mistakes. If you're mad at the system but choose shady and/or subpar jobs and schools (e.g. one that sends you a bogus letter and takes you on a wild goose chase through the Visa/RP process), all for the sole sake of being with a friggin' woman, it may be high time for a deep look in the mirror and some major soul searching.

[mwaltman]

Absolutely pathetic and yet it's still not yet deleted. Some rant about various women from various countries. Geez.

[Bud Powell]

Back to the OP's original question:

"...So my question is what is, and what agency can confirm the legality of the request for a medical check in my home country and in China...."

No agency that I know of.

Technically, some treaties signed under the Dayton Accord as well as terms signed under 2004's Hague agreements, China is bound to recognize official documents issued by other countries at any level of government. This includes degrees and other proof of eligibility for various visas. The problem with the medical tests are that they may fall into a gray zone inasmuch as most hospitals are not government run (though they are always state certified and overseen by the state and must abide by state and federal laws. Not all western universities are state run, but China's Ministry of Education accepts degrees from private colleges and universities, so go figure).

By the same token, other non-governmentally-issued certificates are readily accepted for employment, (certificates such as CELTA and other certificates that indicate that the candidate has passed minimal educational requirements and can conform to accepted standards).

If you wanted to press the issue, you could take it to the U.N. and argue your case there. Unfortunately, certain countries seem to have forgotten all about the Dayton Accords as well as agreements signed under the Hague Agreements, so you'll be barking into the wind.

Re: who issues the letter of invitation: I've gotten SAFEA certificates that I assumed were letters of invitation. I've gotten forms from the Ministry of Education that served as letters of invitation. I've received fourth carbon copies of forms that were so difficult to read that I had no idea who issued them.

As it is said: You pays your money and you takes your chances.

[KopiKopi]

[KopiKopi]

I meant the legality of the request within China for the need for medical checks for the application of Z visas.

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@MWaltman

Oh, and the system in China is broken. And you began teaching in Asia for, what? The money? The thrill of educating people in a useful skill? Or maybe "learning the language and the culture?" Bwuahaha. In the end whatever you do, anywhere, is for women. It is the biological drive for men. You can deny it all you want, but you are simply trying to reason away biology.

And which jobs in teaching in a foreign country dispenses with BS? Please tell me... because I have worked in universities, public and private secondary schools, corporations and language mllls, and they all have their own form of BS.

Your posts here seem to b 80% attack on people and 20% claims of being superior. Be gone.

[kev7161]