Job Discussion Forums

bgh · Joined: 12 Jun 2007 Posts: 1

I've agreed to teach at the Dalian post of Missouri State University and wondered if anyone had any experience there, any suggestions or warnings about the LNU-MSU positions or the city or the area of the country. Please let me know; I'm going to start in August. barbara

tw · Joined: 04 Jun 2005 Posts: 3898

vikuk · Joined: 23 May 2007 Posts: 1842

Supermarkets within bus distance - underground shoe shopping - sounds too good to be true. I believe you'll grow soft living the kind of luxury life that's invited by this level of opulence. So to keep yourself in the typical "I'm a tough FT, that's why I'm in China, mould" - I recommend you do some sun bathing on the beach - during feb/march.

Dragonsaver · Joined: 12 Oct 2004 Posts: 41 Location: Dalian, China

I work at LNU-MSU. I renewed my contract for another year. What will you be teaching? PM me if you want any detailed information about the school

lychee · Joined: 14 May 2007 Posts: 109

Dalian is a lovely city . Vcuk I don't think the OP mentioned anything about roughing it. If she does, go west.
Personally for me, China is one of the easist countries I have ever lived in.

vikuk · Joined: 23 May 2007 Posts: 1842

Hey lychee the comments were very tongue in cheek - they weren�t meant as a comment on the OP, the school, or the city - of which I know nothing - but were focused on the mindset developed by a group of teachers in this industry who rather than striving for better conditions and wages just seem to endure various degrees of indignity and degrading treatment.
After all what other group of ex-pat workers would think to recommend a work location because it was within bus distance of a western supermarket - what other group of ex-pats, are so short of money that they travel on Chinese busses!!!!
What intrepid traveler thinks about coming to live in China so they can endlessly shop in underground malls? I know real china isn't endless pagodas and holy mountains - but I don�t think it has yet disintegrated into such a gray overcrowded polluted lump that FT's travel all those miles for the attraction of a year's shoe shopping. But I suppose the mall does become a center of FT attraction - after all, with their limited income, many only have a DVD collection to fall back on to kill those hours of free-time.

No we have to be careful in the way we both think about and present this FT China job - otherwise we'll start to spout out such sentiments as -
"my job is a good job because they pay me on time"
And if we don't watch it - in the future our profession may evolve a mindset that'll be degraded down to -
"my job is a good job because they pay me"

lychee · Joined: 14 May 2007 Posts: 109

Vikuk why didn't you write that in the first place.? I really respect your opinions but you have to elaborate on what you say.

Some of us can read between the lines and what you say is valid but for the new people and the dim, they have no clue about what you are talking about .
I for one think you speak the truth

Shan-Shan · Joined: 28 Aug 2003 Posts: 1074 Location: electric pastures

shenyanggerry · Joined: 02 Nov 2003 Posts: 619 Location: Canada

Vikuk, when I take a bus, I know where to get on, where to get off and where I'm going. All to often in the past, I handed the taxi driver a business card and he determined the route. I didn't know where I was or how to get there.

Besides, at this time of year, the scenery on a bus can be quite attractive!

vikuk · Joined: 23 May 2007 Posts: 1842

Shenyanggerry - what would those Chinese employers do without folk like you Laughing

lychee dear sir - thank ye for putting me on the straight and narrow Wink

colonel · Joined: 19 Jul 2005 Posts: 89 Location: Nanyang and Cha-Am

vikuk · Joined: 23 May 2007 Posts: 1842

Duhhhhhhhhhhhhhh - I'm sure traveling on the bus is very nice - but if someone were to tell me that the promise of a nice bus route to a western supermarket will make me like a particular destination in China - I'd be starting to take a "this will be my oriental dream come true" reality check Laughing

But then again you guys go ahead and argue away at the pros and cons of being bus passengers - some would say it really fits the stereotypic FT image. But don't take too long over it; the number 59 is due in 5 minutes.

kev7161 · Joined: 06 Feb 2004 Posts: 5880 Location: Suzhou, China

Are people that are planning on coming to China NOT supposed to be concerned about conveniences that will make their every day lives a little easier (like a convenient bus route for example?). When people come to China, their weekend excursions and their holidays will give them the chance to sample the "real China" but that doesn't preclude them from wanting to go shopping or to the post office or their local bank when the need arises. What's all this stomping on toes about in this case? I just don't get some posters' grumpiness sometimes.

Yu · Joined: 06 Mar 2003 Posts: 1219 Location: Shanghai

Dalian is not a terrific place. I don't know why people like it.
Food sucks. There is nothing to do there. It is a place that sucks the life out of you. It can only be endured for a week a most. At least there is finally a Subway (sandwiches) and Starbucks (or four) there.

colonel · Joined: 19 Jul 2005 Posts: 89 Location: Nanyang and Cha-Am

Vikuk, I used your statement out of context. Access to a western supermarket, or whatever, was not on my list. I merely wished to say that bus travel is not unacceptable - where I am. I use taxis but find the seating area cramped and invariably only one door opens so, if there are two of us, someone has to 'shuffle' in and out - a pain in the arse in more ways than one. Taxi drivers often smoke; bus drivers also smoke but I can remove myself from their immediate vicinity whereas in a taxi one is trapped. I am working in a small city where buses are not crowded and if you travel during 'siesta' time they are often empty - but each to his own.