Job Discussion Forums

[biffinbridge]

I've now met quite a few teachers who have had truly terrible experiences whilst overseas.I myself have been pick pocketed,robbed and most recently incarcerated.Has anybody else got any real horror stories to tell?

[gerard]

I have not been incarcerated as of yet but had a few close calls. My top horror story was a girlfriend reporting me to immigration for illegal teaching work. Not deported but was heavily fined and blacklisted.

[bnix]

Biff,are you SURE you are not "doors"? Only kidding...where is that guy?

My worst...getting mugged by three drunks in broad daylight in Warsaw...they had asked for some spare change and were incensed because they felt my offering was too paltry.After surviving the episode(my leg was bleeding because one guy cut me on the leg when trying to get my moneybelt)...I reported it to the Polish police...who shrugged their shoulders and told me "Be more careful".

[travellingscot]

I think the tale of being reported by a girlfriend for illegal teaching should be remembered by all those reading the "Good women" thread, as some of us will be teaching illegally for various reasons,and letting our hearts rule our heads could have unforseen consequences. Still, we spend a long time dead so might as well take a few risks whilst alive.

[johnslat]

Dear bnix,
Ah, the Lord loveth a cheerful giver - but apparently the Poles loveth a more generous one.
Regards,
John

[Seth]

I had a drunk cab driver in China once. Sober cab drivers are insane enough, add drunk to the list and it's altogether 'wacky' like you hip young kids say. After nearly driving head on into two buildings, the guy finally drives into a ditch and gets stuck. This is in the middle of nowhere outside of town at 11 pm. Then these guys in a little mini-pickup truck that you see all over the place in China started doing the 'oooh, look, a foreigner' thing and I thought they were going to mug us. So myself and my coworker started briskly walking away from the area while scene unfolded. Instead the guys in the truck got into an argument with the cab driver and smacked him in the head a few times until he ran off. Then they gave us a ride to our school. The end.

[Lucy Snow]

I was hanging out the wash on my balcony when I looked down and saw this guy sitting in a van, looking up at me and, how shall I put this, fondling himself. I immediately went back into the apartment, waited about 10 minutes, then went out on the balcony again. Still there.

We didn't have a telephone yet, so I couldn't call my husband at his university. After 20 more minutes I heard the guy drive off, so I ran downstairs, hopped on my bicycle, and rode to my husband's office.

One of his colleagues phoned the police, who showed up the next day. I had the guy's license number and a description, and the police nodded their heads and said, "Oh yes, we know about him. He was recently released from a mental hospital. He likes doing this sort of thing. We're watching him very closely."

My husband wanted to press charges. "Please understand," one cop said, "that is not the way we do things in Japan. We will watch him."

I wasn't that strung out about the pervert, but the response of the police made me furioius. All my of students had told me of incidents in our neighborhood--so many that we started calling our street "Hentai Dori" (Pervert Street), and all of them said the police were less than helpful whenever they reported anything.

[johnslat]

My worst ( but also quite " interesting " ) experience was being caught up in the revolution in Iran in '79. Most people with any sense got out before it happened, but that was my first overseas job, and besides, I didn't have any sense. The scariest part was post-revolution, when all sorts of people, including kids aged 10 or so, were walking around with automatic rifles and grenades. Being an American there then was not easeful. And, worse yet, they closed down all the booze outlets. I mean, what a revoltin' development that was.
Regards,
John

[Celeste]

One day in Taegu, South Korea, my husband and I flagged down a cab to go to the airport. We were headed to Thailand for a vacation, and had a bit of luggage with us. We put the one suitcase in the trunk, one suitcase in the backseat with me, and my husband got in the front with the driver. The cab driver was very chatty, but in a nutty manic kind of way. My husband didn't speak much Korean, so I was translating back and forth. Suddenly, the guy reaches past my husband into the glove compartment and pulls out a taser! He says to us that he has been robbed before, but never again! We are naturally alarmed, but we are travelling at about 100kph, and there is no way to get out of the cab. He saw the terrified expressions on our faces and says, don't worry, it's not for English teachers, only robbers. Then he put it away and continued driving for a bit. We were much relieved, and he continued his insane patter. He had heard of American soldiers beating up cab drivers before. He could tell my husband wasn't a soldier because his hair was too long. Boy, those soldiers better not try anything with him! And then he pulled a HANDGUN out from behind his back! At this point we were about to ditch the luggage, and jump out into traffic, as he'd slowed down to about 20kph, but we were just getting to the airport entrance. He put his gun back in his pants, and asked very politely-which airline? We told him and he drove to the correct entrance, popped the trunk for us, and as soon as my husband had collected the suitcase from the trunk, he sped off. We were too stunned to even get the license number.

[Mosley]

On Feb. 11( a nationalistic holiday in Japan) a few years ago I was assaulted by neo-militarists outside Tokyo's Yasakuni Shrine. Granted, I was tipsy and a tad argumentative with them, but nothing to merit that kind of treatment. Sure enough, the cops show up, and who's in hot water? That's right, the gaijin barbarian....

[Roger]

China's PSB are everybody's darlings!!! I have several endearing episodes to relate, but fore the sake of diplomacy and space I will only relate one and a half.

I am an outdoors man and I explore every new city on foot. That's what I was doing outside of Shenzhen when I was nabbed by the PLA. I was jogging along a mountain road on the border with HK's New Territories when these young soldiers materialised out of nowhere. They had guns, but were careful not to aim them at me. "Passport?" one of them said in English. "Meiyou!" I said, not expecting to have to produce my passport while running in my shorts and a pair of racing shoes.
They marched me to a lone tree to wait for the arrival of an officer. This was to take more than one hour because the poor chaps had no walkie-talkie, no telephone and were out of their barracks. Thus one of them had to make a telephone call, which he could do only from a public booth, which meant he had to march for quite some time. Meanwhile I was being asked if I was hungry, and before the officer arrived another soldier had fetched a styrofoam food container for me, paying for it from his own money, I suppose!
The PLA actually treated me fabulously just like they are supposed to according to Edgar Snow! My crime had been to accidentally penetrate into an off-limit patch of land along the then-international boundary next to HK. The officer interrogated me, which was rather perfunctory (in Mandarin, which I spoke so poorly that he eventually had no problems accepting that i was no spy).
However, the regulations required him to get in touch with the PSB in Shenzhen. The police sent an English-speaking officer. His manners were harsh and arrogant, the very opposite of the treatment meted out to me by the PLA men. After another perfunctory interview he instructed the PLA to keep me over-night.
So I spent a night in a PLA military barracks, under guard of two armed soldiers and within reach of a telephone in a cosy room. I was not allowed to call my girlfriend or anybody ("he is a foreigner...").
After breakfast next day, the same PSB man arrived with another colleague, looked at me coldly, ordered me, in CHinese now, to follow him.
They drove me in a police car from the Shattoujiao PLA barracks to Shenzhen, and on the way there contacted my boss. My flat was right in the middle between these two towns, so they demanded to see my home. My girlfriend was gone. After a short search of my flat they drove me straight to the PSB HQ's. A staff member of my training centre was there too. I had to write an "apology", which I did. Then they demanded a fine of 1000 RMB, and took a mug shot of me as well as taking my fingerprints.
"If we catch you in similar circumstances again, we will cancel your visa!" they told me!

And the other half of the story:
Half a year on, I had to apply for a new work visa. My boss dawdled, and finally we had to apply for a visa extension with a view of obtaining a new one-year visa later.
I knew a former PSB girl, and she said she could coax her former superiors into granting me an extension. You see, I knew it was not going to be a straitforward case...
And it was not!
When the PSB girl, my boss and myself showed up at the PSB office, the very same police officer who had fined me some time earlier was scowling at me! My heart sank.
But the former PSB girl worked her charm on him, and to my absolute amazement he finally uttered, in English, "of course, I will give you an extension. After all, we are FRIENDS NOW!"

[denise]

Overall, I've been quite lucky, but I did have one nasty experience in Prague a few years back. I was hiking through a park on the outskirts of the city by myself, when I noticed a man following me down the path. Doing my best to calm my American paranoia (the CR is a relatively safe place, after all...), I kept going. Hmmm... he's still there... He's gaining on me... Um, what's this he's saying? Trying to get me to leave the path with him to see a nice view of the city? OK, now my American paranoia is really telling me that I should just leave, so I start running back down the path. Oh, sh*t, he's following me. Wait, what's this? Ewwwww!!!! He's unzipping his pants?!?!? Thankfully, by this time we are back at a crossroads, not too far from the park entrance, and I just start yelling and swearing at him as he j**ks off in front of me. NASTY!!!!

[Ben Round de Bloc]

It happened in the middle of the afternoon on a city bus. I was sitting there minding my own business, when a guy sat down next to me and then commented that he liked my "case." Since I hadn't had time to look for a briefcase or bookbag, I was using my laptop carrying case to carry my books and materials back and forth to school. The next thing I knew, he grabbed me by my neck with both hands and tried to choke me. A short, stocky cabr�n with strong hands. Left red marks on my neck and throat for two days! This happened about a month after I arrived here. During my almost 8 years in this city, that's the only physical altercation that I've experienced.

Best wishes!

[johnslat]

Dear Ben Round de Bloc,
Ah, you materialistic, insensitive, show-offy North Americanos. Riding on a city bus when you could easily afford to buy a Mercedes, flaunting your ill-gotten wealth in the face of the honestly indigent. Who can blame the poor man, driven insane by the sight of your expensive laptop carrying case, a luxury he and hs 27 children would never be able to afford, for striking out at you - the symbol of economic colonization. NAFTA this, gringo.
Regards,
John

[Ben Round de Bloc]

johnslat,

Actually, all three of my Mercedes were in the shop at the same time. Don't you just hate when that happens? I'd given the day off to my chauffeur, whom I pay one USD per day -- but, of course, I didn't give him a dollar on his day off -- so that he could spend some time in his village with his wife and 12 children.

The guy on the bus was dressed a whole lot better than I dress, and by the glassy look to his eyes, I suspect he spends more on drugs per month than I earn as an EFL teacher during that same amount of time.

Now that I think about it, without the beard (which could've been fake) and the fancy clothes, the guy who attacked me had a strong resemblance to my chauffeur. Hmmm...

Interesting concept, this public transportation. I've met a few people here of the more affluent class who are proud to let it be known that they've never seen the inside of a city bus and can't fathom why I, a rich gringo as all gringos are, would ever use city buses. To their advantage, they can also boast that they've never had someone try to strangle them on public transportation. They probably never give their chauffeurs days off either.

Best wishes!


P.S. Seriously, my laptop was stolen out of my house one day while I was at work. I've never replaced it.