Job Discussion Forums

[anne]

Hey-
Just curious, if anyone else is getting the same vibe as me and my husband....
We've been at our school (a teacher's college) for about 5 weeks now. We've been pretty well taken care of in that time, been taken to some nearby attractions, had lots of meals out, all in all, pretty good service!
BUT at the same time, sometimes when we mention the idea of taking a little weekend trip BY OURSELVES, our keepers get a look of panic and tell us that either it is a) dangerous, b) easier for them to take us, c) we should wait and one day they will arrange it and the college will pay for it. Of course it's not really the point who will pay for it anymore. we just like the idea of getting to a city that's not in the middle of nowhere and having a BEER in a BAR and speaking in non-broken English for a day or two!
For October 1, we expressed a desire to visit an nearby big city BY OURSELVES and it sounds like this is being CONSIDERED. meaning that they might say no???? I understand that they want to keep us safe, but damn, it's getting a bit much!!!

Anyone found themselves in a similar situation?

[Wolf]

My school can be overprotective as well. I can't afford to travel (yes I'm that poor) but there was a married couple that was here last year to "do" China, and they just went about their buisness of traveling on their time off (until SARS).

Every situation like that is different, though.

[struelle]

[Steiner]

It's easier to ask forgiveness than permission. Our school wants to know when we go anywhere and the overprotectiveness got to us a lot our first few months here. So now if it's a short trip we just keep it to ourselves.

For longer trips we usually tell them and lately they haven't had a problem with it. Usually we do tell and not ask. Then we ask for a car to drive us to the airport. They're happy to do it.

They're overprotective because if anything happens to you whoever's in charge of you is going to be out on the street. If your livelihood could be taken away because two buckaroo foreigners get killed in the big city you might try to prevent them from going, too. Nah, you wouldn't, but they do.

[cheekygal]

never was in this situation myself. But my friend from UK who works outside of Harbin in country side and works there has faced this situation. For the first 2 months he wasn't really allowed out of school. Later he got really upset and told the school to literally bugg off and stated it's not in the contract and that they are breaking the law on the human rights. They quickly found him a translator who would travel with him around for the first couple of times and then let him go on his own.
If they ask you to tell where you are going, it's better to do so, cause they feel the responsibility and the penalties for foreigners being harmed in China are worse than same for locals. If you are in the South of China or somewhere in a provincial place - they are pretty much concerned about you being safe. So, just be polite, but insisting - they can't keep you locked up. It's against even Chinese laws
One more tip: don't carry your passport with you, just a copy of it and on the other side the copy of your valid visa, plus you have to have a little piece of paper from the police station which states that you are registered in a place where you are staying at - it would do if you are walking around your own city; for in-China travels, you know you need your passport. Make sure you have a correct address in Chinese of your school and an emergency phone number of someone in your school who is in charge and speaks English. Better if you have a mobile phone on your own [the cheapest is pardon my spelling ShaoLingTong - or XiaoLingTong (?) - which has a number of a regular phone, much cheaper - the only problem you can't use it outside of the city you buy it in ]
May be they are just afraid that you leave and don't come back? Try to ask them why they are so afraid and keep on KINDLY and CAREFULLY imposing your point of view

-cheekybabe

[ChinaLady]

lets see [ 10 hours of teaching, 4 hours English corner, lunch with the FAO each day (add in 8 hours), , , ,and where is this time to explore.
1. get a map.
2. the wonderful people at China Eastern Air speak English.
3. book a ticket
4. and go.
BUT I agree, if anything longer than a weekend - tell (say, please, and say you will be back) the FAO where you are going. (at one university we actually had to fill out a school form asking for permission to leave the campus.)
I will assume you are over 15 and consenting adults.
5. take a English Chinese English dictionary with you.
school sponsored trips are fun but I start to feel like I am invloved in a 24-hour English lesson by the second day.
6. befriend some students. some of the best, and most fun, trips we have taken have been to "meet the parents" in some outlying village that isn't on a map. we were treated like royalty. no one spoke English except our student. ate the local food, slept in a hotel that was owned by his "uncle" and used mainly by long haul truck drivers (another experience to be treasured). these people keep strange hours, really strange!
7. take a camera and send the photo's back to the people.
8. notice I did not address taking the train or a bus. this is to be done with some help and perhaps a student or friend who goes with you. yes, they are cheaper but once you do either one, you will understand why the bus and train are CHEAP!! (but it is a China experience!)
9. FLY
10. enjoy the special people of China.

[Roger]

I ascribe it to their nanny state mentality - everyone is being taken care of by their work unit (housing, food, medical services, old-age, even the right to maryy and have a family - oh, that's slowly being phased out, but it basically is still in place).
Some twenty years back, even Chinese could not move around without going through the motions of informing everybody of where, why and how they were going. Whole village populations never saw the outside world - the provincial capital, for example! You had to be buddies with the village elder!
Foreign nationals are viewed as visitors who need special protection. It is a traumatising loss of national face should anything untoward happen to you. The school bureaucrats would be called to task. The PSB would have to answer.
I am lucky - I live in my own premises and won't need permission to go home. This could change, of course, if I accepted a job a day trip away from home.

[gerard]

I'm really surprised at this thread. I wonder if your FAO's are angling for a free trip --- guiding you to a big bad Chinese city. Dangerous??? They mean like the bathrooms and the cafeteria on campus??? I would find the idea that I (we in your case) can't handle a trip to a hotel in a nearby city insulting. They mean well of course but still.

Also I wasn't aware we needed divine permission to travel during free time. I suppose if you are leaving the province though you should tell them. You are at a teachers college so your students are English majors---get help buying the tickets. I wouldn't place much on this "well take you later" talk. Even worse would be if they did take you. The idea of them forbidding you to go is unheard of---isn't it???

[woza17]

Yes my school did this and it was only about being protective of me, after my first trip by myself to Wuhan and iI got back safely they didn't worry anymore. The bottom line was what are they going to do restrain me?
I got them to write in Chinese all my destinations to show to taxi drivers and bus drivers and the like,actually it was more confusing when a translator came with me
Cheers Carol

[Steiner]

Yes, Carol. They do try to kill you with kindness. There have been so many times when it's just easier and a lot clearer to use my bad Mandarin than to let someone translate. Whenever our students try to get a cab for us in town they get ripped off big time. The worst is if we've been to a student's home and they feel like they need to flag down the cab and "negotiate" the fare for us before we head home. Then we usually end up paying twice what we would if we'd bargained for ourselves.

[arioch36]

They are not trying to be overprotective, because they don't care about you. They are just trying to make sure they never have any embarrassment or problems. They are engage in CYA. There is nothing in your contract or any law that I know of that says you must inform them. I only tell them If I want them to give me a ride to the airport.

as in the military, do it and then ask permission

[smarts]

they may just be afraid of losing you

if you are in the middle of the boonies and you get a glimmer of the shanghai lights in your eyes, you may just not come back to their school anymore.

[AKA]

In the sticks, where there's nothing more to worry about than maniac mini bus drivers and rabid rats, FAO's are easily spooked.
Here in the big smoke, where REALLY interesting things could happen to you, they don't give a toss.
So it goes.

[lfclouds]

Indeed it does depend on the situation.

If know of teachers in big cities and in the country that have been subjected to ridiculous sanctions -likewise I know of teachers in big cities and in the country that havent.

I'm pretty sure it depends on the school.

My school is very protective but they still know that I can do what I want, and are extremely supportive of that - and I live in the sticks of Guizhou.

Try and have a chat with your principal or whoever your boss is to explain your situation. Theres a fairly good chance that once they fully understand your prefrences, they will be more than accomidating.
Good luck.

[combchick]

Gerard is right. I was 2 years in China - now in HK. When I was in Nanjing I just used to take off on my own for Shanghai and other places. I didn't tell anyone because it wasn't their business. When they found out, they had a fit and I got the "what if something happened to you" thing. Yeah someone's head might roll if you end up dead down an alley, but they have no legal right to stop you.
I did find out later that local teachers do have to ask permission to leave town, particularly if they're travelling out of the province. My argument was that I wasn't a local teacher.
In the end I was away two weekends a month - and they knew and just gave up on me.
And like others said here - you don't ASK - you just TELL them that you're leaving. Like when I flew down to HK for a few days - I just TOLD them to organize the re-entry visa.
Also the advice about getting stuff written down. This is how I managed getting train tickets etc. in a place where no one could speak English and my Chinese was limited.
Just go for it. If you wait around for THEM to take you where THEY want you to go, you'll see nothing and experience little in your time here.
Sometimes it doesn't pay to be too nice and accommodating.