Job Discussion Forums

[Yu]

I will be staying at the same school, in the same department, and most likely teaching the same classes.

I will also be going back to my home country to spend the summer.... Shanghai is too hot. My son is leaving a month earlier than me to go back and spend some extra time with his grandparents.

[NickD]

Staying or leaving? I change my mind every single day.

[SheZook]

I feel the same way Nick - the town and school I am in are not great but neither are they completely horrible.
My only problem with the town is that it is a small, rural community and sometimes I feel cut off from the (western) world. But some days I am perfectly happy - the "big city" is only a 30min bus ride when I feel a need to seek out other foreigners.
My issues with the school mostly stem from a lack of communication and slow or no responses to my requests for assistance with various problems. But this seems to be the same almost anywhere in China, with a few exceptions to the rule.
My apartment is bearable - I have seen better but also much worse. Sometimes it bothers me, sometimes it doesn't.
I'm pretty sure I will stay but there is always the possibility that I will get a supreme case of the "shts" and decide to pack up and go. If that happens (unless I skip home to Oz) it's rather a case of "out of the frying pan and into the fire" no matter where I choose to go.

[NickD]

[latefordinner]

Not entirely sure yet, but about 85% commited to the idea of staying at this school. My wife and I both like the apartment we're in, and I like my students. There are problems, but they seem smaller than at other schools. Moreover, having a baby in our arms, we're not really inclined to move unless its for somthing really outstanding. <looks around> Not much in China that fits that description. Not so much a case of satisfaction with the employer as of domestic sluggishness, er, stability.

[kev7161]