Job Discussion Forums

[Beyond1984]

"after working hard in China for 6 years I was able to buy an apartment in Shanghai. Its value has now tripled. My mortgage will be paid in a few more years. My utilities bills in January were about $50." -Lobster

I've enjoyed similar success, though the value of my apartment has increased by only around 50% since I bought it in 2008. My monthly maintenance fee is about $20 USD ... my father has a similar apartment in Maryland and his monthly maintenance fee is about $450.

How cool it is that I paid a property tax at the time of purchase, and need pay nothing more for 70 years!

Some FT's may be jumping off balconies here in China; others are happy to be improving their lives here.

-HDT

[Lobster]

You have to love the one-time property tax here. If you want, you can put a lock on the door, forget it and take off for a few years. Back home, they'd be auctioning off your home for unpaid taxes after a few months. Just another reason I don't feel like jumping right now.

I think the reason my property value went up so much is because it's in the suburbs, and they put the subway in a year after we bought the place. Looking back, I could have done much better, as I was offered a place in PuDong that ended up going up about 5 times its price. At that time, I wasn't married or ready to buy. At that time, I was also offered a river-view apartment to rent in PuDong. It was on the 42nd floor, five bedrooms, brand new and the rent was 4,200 per month. I wanted to take it and rent the other bedrooms to FTs, but my wife nixed that plan.

RED

[eslteach]

[Lobster]

So, do you feel that a summary sentence must only refer to the sentence immediately before it? There's nothing wrong with the grammar or construction. There may be a problem with your intermediate-level reading comprehension skills.

Gee, thanks "teacher"! Better luck next time.

RED

[choudoufu]

c'mon, be easy on the teach'r. he's obviously confused, as am i.

jumping? in what sense?

--for joy?

--to conclusions?

--out the window?

--at the chance?

but then i'm still trying to make sense of teach'r's second sentence......

[Lobster]

Aiya! I have to spell it out for you! OK!

1. A foreign teacher is rumoured to have jumped to his death.

2. The one-time property tax is a nice thing. One doesn't have to worry about ongoing property taxes. This makes me happy.

3. Because I am happy about not having to pay ongoing property taxes, I am less suicidal. There are also other reasons I am happy.

4. Because I am happy, I have no desire to jump to my death.

5. Because some people who post here, who are supposedly English teachers, cannot construct or understand a simple sentence or paragraph, the urge to jump to my death may present itself soon. Rest assured that I will fight that urge with every fibre of my being.

RED

[igorG]

If the rumour is true, the ones affected deserve a respect, not a bitterly personal "spell out".

If the one time property tax has anything to do with this topic, i'd be surprised. In any case, how happy could one smart individual be having paid all the money to the system that may come back earlier than expected with little refund and bulldozers in return?

[Lobster]

I was responding to choudofu, not you. That post was not directed at you at all (but may have been helpful to you, I hope), but seeing as how you want to jump onto anything I write, this one is.

You're acting like a troll, and if you're not clear about what that means:

Troll (n.)

From Dictionary.net:

One who "regularly posts specious arguments, flames or personal attacks to a newsgroup, discussion list, or in email for no other purpose than to annoy someone or disrupt a discussion. Trolls are recognizable by the fact that they have no real interest in learning about the topic at hand - they simply want to utter flame bait. Like the ugly creatures they are named after, they exhibit no redeeming characteristics, and as such, they are recognized as a lower form of life on the net."

From forum rules:

...it is absolutely not a place where racism, personal attacks, insults, trolling, demeaning others or flaming will be tolerated...

I know you're a good person and don't want to be seen like this. It's gone too far and has taken control. I've tried to help you with your English, Gollum, but you show little appreciation or gratitude for my earnest efforts and insist on writing like an Orc. I just want you to be happy in this great land, but you rebuff my altruistic attempts. I offer my honest opinions, but you brand them as libelous lies. I urge you to follow the immaculate direct path of logic, but you tread the twisted trail of obsession. Ah, what can be done? All my alliterative aspirations are for naught. I am maligned for having malicious motivations and an aggravating agenda.

And no, I have no respect (note that in this sense it's uncountable) for people who flip out and jump off of buildings. That emotion is called pity. I actually have a lot of that. Nobody's ever accused me of being respectful.

I guess if they bulldoze my new high-rise in a couple of years, you'll have the last cackle as I plummet to my doom.

RED

[igorG]

I truly am overwhelmed by the disturbing and ironic post above.

[Ariadne]

Hey man, give it up. Lobster can write miles (and miles) around you. His writing is clear, unambiguous. No scratching of heads required.

.

[Lobster]

Certainly you are right that for many FTs, life here can be quite stressful. If we look at some of the most common high-stress situations, we can see how many apply.

1. Changing jobs
2. Moving to a new place or new city
3. Difficulty understanding or communicating with people around you
4. Being apart from close friends and family
5. Uncertainty
6. Financial insecurity

For many, if not most FTs, probably most or all these stress-inducing situations are part of our everyday lives. Thinking about this makes me appreciate how resilient you have to be to live and work here. We can pile on strange customs and unfamiliar modes of thinking, the lack of familiar foods, sights and sounds and the normal stress that comes from working as a language teacher. It seems enough to make almost anyone snap, and I suppose it's why many do. Most, however, just give up and go home before they hit the extreme of suicide.

To date, we still seem to have no confirmation of this death. No name, date or reason. At this point, the death remains an unsubstantiated rumor.

RED

[igorG]

[davejw6]

Obviously, you people have too much time on your hands to dribble sht.
I was just in Peizheng for 4 days ONLY....and apparently the guy I was drinking with Friday night died of a heart attack. Is this the same person you are talking about? Why aren't any of the idiots who run Peizhing discussing this?

[Lobster]

No idea. But for one thing the supposed death involved a teacher from Walton, not PZ. There appears to be a number of ex and current PZ teachers who are really out for this place. We've pretty well given up on this rumour until we get more new info: seems like you don't have any. What was your impression of this supposed asylum *beep* mill?

RED

[puzzlebox]