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[NoBillyNO]

[kungfuman]

[Bud Powell]

I taught in Taizhou, Jiangsu awhile back. It was the only two-year college in the city. All of the colleges and the big high schools were on the outer limits of civilization.

There is no convenient shopping.

The school refused to pay FTs taxes, so we couldn't convert money anywhere without a Chinese citizen.

This college had two campuses: one on Yin Bin Lu, the other on Phoenix Road. The one on Yin Bin Lu required a ten minute walk to the bus stop from the FTs apartments and another twenty minute walk to the bus stop nearest the school, and another ten minute walk to the school itself. Forty minutes total rain, shine, snow, and ice.

This is where the western FTs worked. The building was broken down, and my class rooms had been scavenged of every usable piece of equipment, furniture. One morning, in the very center of the blackboard i found a a huge hammer and sickle painted in the middle of the blackboard, making it very difficult for me to use the board. The students theorized that it was probably done by one of the "coordinators" or "counselors" who had a very bad habit of wreaking havoc on schedules and student attitude. Once I got the students to realize that the screwups weren't my fault (they were freshmen), they came to my side and kept me informed so I could stay one step ahead. Fortunately, the class monitor rarely showed for class.

The city itself has little to recommend it save a good bus system (that, unfortunately, shuts down at about 6:30pm). There's an area of expensive restaurants and a deafening Ukranian disco with eastern European "hostesses". That's it.

The main, new campus is pretty on the outside with red brick but looks like any other cheaply-constructed Chinese class room.

My first week there, my cab driver was beaten up and robbed in front of the school. Pay was always late. In 104 degree weather, the central air conditioner was turned off. (The teachers lived in the school-owned hotel apartments while the new accommodations were being built on-campus). Then, when cold weather came, the "heat" was about 2 degrees above the outdoor temperature, and it flowed only in the bedroom. Hotel employees piled garbage on the steps of the FTs apartments.

The guy who doled out the money (ALWAYS two weeks late) was abusive to the point that I refused to go the FAO's office to be paid. I picked up my money from the palace guard. When he was ready to pay us, he'd call and demand that we be in his office NOW. It didn't matter that we were on a bus heading out of town. He'd call every ten minutes).

I expressed my displeasure to the FAO. A week later, a new FT arrived, and I was told that I could leave at the end of the semester.

Things went from bad to worse, when the FAO wound up changing my Z visa to a very-long duration L visa. I thought my Z was being transferred to a new school. Nope.

The new FT arrived from Chonqing and was told that he'd have to go to Hong Kong to get a Z visa. (No sense whatsoever). That made him really happy. He picked up his stuff, said toodles and was never heard from again.

If this is the same Taizhou in Jiangsu, south of Yangzhou, be very wary of the school. The ten percent deduction probably IS an attempt to reduce the likelihood of FTs saying buh-bye.