Job Discussion Forums

[Kirkpatrick]

Hello All, I have been in China about a year and a half. I used to just hate my bosses and co-workers. Now I am begining to hate everything about the country... I feel trapped in an endless cycle of go nowhere B.S. I have lived in other Asian countries prior to my coming here... China definately doesn't do it for me...I am open to suggestions... Not interested in going back to Korea or Taiwan.. Japan is always an option , but it is expensive as all hell and takes forever to find work..

[Sinko]

My suggestion...

GO HOME!!!

Man, looking at your posts recently, you have done nothing but whinge and B*tch about everything that confronts you. You are obviously NOT SUITED here. You seem to be deficient in the english language (especially spelling) which might be a reason why schools don't want you. I really suggest going back to your home country as you cannot obviously fit in here. To travel and teach in Asia (China in particular), you need patience, understanding, appreciation of culture and a willingness to adapt. All of which you have none. As I mentioned, I think the best thing ...

GO HOME!!!

[Kirkpatrick]

Your spelling isn't anything to brag about either...Maybe you should go home and find a real job too... not only that I get a sad feeling that you are one of my former employers trying to yet still control people over daves service... Very very sad... karma my friend....

[Sinko]

Kirky, I am not trying to put you down, nor am I trying to discourage you from your ambitions. But seriously, do you really suit China?? No, really, do you? I really doubt it. When I say you should go home, I mean that is probably your best option.

The rest of SE Asia will probably be much the same for you. I don't know for certain, as I have not worked elsewhere in the region. Maybe I could be wrong. But there are many similarities between the countries in this area. In all sincerity, I believe going back home could be the spark that re-ignites your future ambitions.

That's my advice; just my advice, Kirky.

[Kirkpatrick]

i have worked 5 years in Korea and 2 in japan and never had shit like this.... I will go back there.. Oh and yes I speak all 3 damn languages... So if I get along else where ,,, why the hell stay in this pit hole....??????

[Mister Al]

See ya, then.

[Hansen]

Japan, at least Kyoto, is certainly a nice place. If you can make a decent living there, do it. Have you been to Yunnan? Great place to relax and even enjoy China. I feel in a large degree as you do. Taiji is what keeps allows me to face each day after day. Possibly a hobby might help you find some pleasure in life.

[kev7161]

Sometimes it's just not easy to GO HOME! at the drop of a hat. Right now I am making a really good income here in China. If I go home, I would need to renew my teaching certificate if I wanted to go back to teaching there (uhm, not really). I could easily step into substitute teaching or temp. jobs while I searched and found something that may satisfy me. At 47 as well as the current economic situation in the USA (and elsewhere), the advice to GO HOME! is not very inviting these days.

My advice to the OP is, if he can, return to an Asian country that he is comfortable with. He tried China, it didn't suit him, go back to where you were happier. But another factor with the GO HOME! advice is the logistics of just packing up and leaving. I have now been in China for 5 1/2 years (!!). I don't know how it happened as that wasn't my plan and I too don't enjoy daily life in China all that much, but now I have 5 1/2 years worth of "stuff" in my life, some I'm happy to leave behind, some I'd like to keep. Shipping things home is do-able, but the costs can build up. Plus, relocating back home and coming up with rent deposits along with all the utilities (cable, phone, electric, gas, etc.), buying a car, and numerous other start-up costs.

Then there are friends you are leaving behind. I have managed to make a handful of really close friends here in China. Simply saying "good-bye, nice to know ya!" is not all that easy either. Going back to friends that you have lost contact with and reestablishing yourself in their lives may be difficult as well.

So, yeah, China is not the best country to live in (for some of us), but sometimes you put up with the crap due to the other non-crap things in your life. Granted, I don't walk around with a chip on my shoulder every day (although some posters here think that's exactly what I do!), but overall, it's just not a happy place to live. Good luck to the OP in whatever decision he makes.

[Jati]

I think that Kirkpatrick raises a very important issue even though it may not have been his intent with the OP: where are you going to retire?

I enjoyed my one-year experiment with China, but I knew that I could not live there long-term, and I certainly did not (and still do not) consider it a valid place to retire. Perhaps if I had lived in the south (e.g., Yunnan or just north of Vietnam, I forget the name of the province) I would feel differently, but northern China is like Canada, without the amenities.

Teaching overseas is not the highest-income occupation, and the longer one stays overseas, the more hopeless plans become for retirement in the USA (or Canada, or the UK, or wherever you come from). If you haven't checked lately, the cost of living in the nicer places (e.g., Florida, Arizona, and Hawaii) are being driven higher by retirees who have more money than we will ever have. The second-tier retirement places (e.g., Utah, southern Colorado, South Carolina) are also going up in price, despite the recent meltdown in housing prices. I ask friends in those places: what can $100k buy me? Not much. I don't even want to spend that much; was hoping to find something for $60k or $70k.

So...that leaves overseas retirement as the option. And guess what? The rich boomers are moving into the nicer places (again) and driving prices up (e.g., Costa Rica, Panama, southern Mexico).

I think that anyone who wants to remain in Asia as an ESL teacher and perhaps retire someday needs to look at places like the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Malaysia (where I am). There are some that think that Laos and Cambodia are stable enough now, but I would give those countries a few more regime changes to see if they are going the way of democracy or not. Housing here is so much cheaper (nice houses for $30-50k), and of course the general cost-of-living is lower in comparison.

I would recommend Kirkpatrick look at SE Asia if he is tired of China. I have Korean friends here in Malaysia, younger folk, who are looking at doing the retirement thing here also. Got to move in before the masses do!

[KidfromBrooklyn]

OP I can understand you feelings. One constructive thing you can do is to write about your experiences.

What specifically is it that you hate. What do the bosses a co-workers do that push your nuke launch button?

At my last school I was told that Chinese teachers and Foreign teachers could not work together in the same office. There was real bad vibes coming from the admin. We were all told that we must stay in our rooms and work.

When the Holidays came and the working days were changed we all got an email from the lawyer that represents the school threatening us with legal action to the fullest extent of the law if we did not adhere to the sched.

The school, well not the school itself, but the people with the big "C" stamped on their forehead that were the problem. Really fanatical. It was a setup to extort a high tuition from innocent Chinese parents who had great hopes of sending their kids overseas. It still goes on and they have all non degree holding slughead teachers that can't see the truth. Also one of the "BEST" schools in my city. Smoke and mirriors. They really don't want us here. We may have a lasting effect on a students life.

What is happening to you that you feel this way?

[vikuk]

To be able to live here many of have to have an agenda that's much more important than any crappy EFL job - which must account for at least 95% of the teaching jobs found in China
If you're really lucky that agenda may take form in one of the few good jobs - but even with these building any sort of reliable long-term career is near-enough impossible, since good China job usually = finding yourself doing the same thing year after year after year (with always that nasty thought in back of your head - I wonder if they'll swap me out for a cheaper/fresher teacher this year - after all there are no real regulations to protect the rights of the employee).
The alternative is to just move from one school to another a sort of EFL nomad - a kind of surviving in China game. Lots do this - just ask the average China vet how many jobs they've had.
A few of us here make our agenda marriage and family - but even here it can be difficult to face up to a future that may include years of China EFL BS.

[theincredibleegg]

I don't think "culture shock" explains it. I'm convinced that most people who experience a "culture shock" have a "culture shock" because they're unsatisfied at work. When work sucks, we take it out on the culture. It's not China itself that people don't like, it's their relation to China and what they do in China. People who are unsatisfied with their jobs here take notice of negative things. People who do well in China emphasize the positive.

I'm pretty sure that if you love your job, you can live just about anywhere and like it.

My suggestion: Start looking for another job. If you can't find a good teaching job - Plan for your return home.

[therock]

[vikuk]

[kev7161]