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Egas
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 Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2004 3:18 pm Post subject: |
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Did you read the post by the guy who was telling people to come to China for the beer and girls? He bragged that you could get two in one night ("if you want") , and then added that only losers actually marry them because they are submissive ("trust me" he said.) He put his email address at the bottom of the page and it was all I could do to restrain myself from writing a piece of "Bertrand"-style hate mail to the guy.  But I took ten breaths and took a cold shower instead.
These kinds of morons should be identified and barred from ever re-entering another foreign country - and from posting on Dave's. |
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ChadwickKent
Joined: 30 Jan 2004
Posts: 55
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| Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2004 9:05 pm Post subject: |
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China has a way of separating the wheat from the chaff, the men from the boys, the real teachers from the backpackers.
Yes, the rants can appear to get out of hand but remember, every lie has a kernal of truth as foundation. Every complaint has some factual basis, even if just a misunderstanding.
If you want a positive example of what China can do for a person, go back almost one year and read the old posts of Wolf and Kimo. Compare them with recent posts of theirs. Their personal growth and maturity is stunning.
China can be a real educational experience, even for the foreign teacher. |
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kimo
Joined: 16 Feb 2003
Posts: 668
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| Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2004 4:20 am Post subject: |
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CwK, if what you say about me is true, it has been a very slow three years in coming to gain any semblance of maturity. Guess I'm a little slow to absorb many of life's lessons. Wolf, on the other hand, has come round much quicker.
Though I have nearly six years personal experience in this business, I credit many posters here, present and in the past (especially and want to tip my hat to them), for much of what I have learned to enjoy and avoid about China and EFL. There is so much more to learn I perceive. |
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ChadwickKent
Joined: 30 Jan 2004
Posts: 55
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| Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2004 5:25 am Post subject: |
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Kimo:
Wisdom is often realizing and admitting how much we do not know rather than bragging about how much we do know.
The longer I am in a foreign country, the more I realize how much i do not know, and probably will never know about the country, its people and culture.
It is the overnight whiz kids who scare the heck out of me. They are in country for a very short time but have already become experts on everything. Whew! Send em home, please! |
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Wolf
Joined: 10 May 2003
Posts: 1245
Location: Middle Earth
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| Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2004 6:02 am Post subject: |
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| ChadwickKent wrote: |
China has a way of separating the wheat from the chaff, the men from the boys, the real teachers from the backpackers.
Yes, the rants can appear to get out of hand but remember, every lie has a kernal of truth as foundation. Every complaint has some factual basis, even if just a misunderstanding.
If you want a positive example of what China can do for a person, go back almost one year and read the old posts of Wolf and Kimo. Compare them with recent posts of theirs. Their personal growth and maturity is stunning.
China can be a real educational experience, even for the foreign teacher. |
I just finished posting on another thread why I don't regret coming to China. The personal tests I've gone through have taught me about what is (and isn't) truly important to me.
Kimo, I've been an EFL teacher for 4 years now (1 year in China as of next month), so I've been taking my time about it as well.
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| It is the overnight whiz kids who scare the heck out of me. They are in country for a very short time but have already become experts on everything. Whew! Send em home, please! |
I'd like to address this for a moment. On the job information journal, you can read a lot of posts that say something like: "I've been in Korea for 8 months now and I've got it all figured out." After I had lived in Japan for 8 months, I was 23. I felt that I had learned volumes about my new life, and in a way I had. But, well, when I started posting here, I was 26. And I most definately don't have Japan, China, EFL, or any version of "it" figured out. It can feel that way after a few months in a new country. Being able to order at a restaurant in a different language, being able to decipther a subway map, and being able to help other, even greener expats leads to a sense of empowerment.
It doesn't help that we often don't have a guage by which to check our egos. I remeber one time I was sitting in a coffee shop in Kyoto, and I watched a North American mother and daughter walk in (recongized the accent.) The daughter proceeded to haltingly order in Japanese, while the mother beamed with pride. Well, that's certainly a step in the right direction, but only one of many. Being able to read the leaflet that tells you where to go in the event of an earthquake is another step. Being able to write reasearch papers in the language of the land is another still. And that's just linguistics as an example. Adjusting to life in a new country is a lifelong challange to a first generation immigrant.
From experience I'd say that living in another place for a year or three will certainly change you, if you allow it. It can also give you a good idea about how people in other cultures live. But, having admittedly gone through that stage myself, I'd take any whiz kid post with a grain of salt. |
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Kapt. Krunch
Joined: 01 Apr 2003
Posts: 163
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| Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2004 5:42 pm Post subject: |
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| I'm a little lost. I tried to find that "hell in Haikou" thread...as I do live here but I couldn't find it. Where??What were the people complaining about?? Did it sound like your idea of a good time?? Show me. |
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