Job Discussion Forums

[deezy]

Roger...I should correct myself...

They don't seem to mind if 'they' are late for a meeting...but if 'you' (meaning the NT) are late, then they mind.

True.

And you may be right that they plan but don't tell us. I've just been told that I have to prepare a 5 minute speech which will be televised shortly and they swore blind they'd told me weeks ago but of course all they said then was I would have to 'introduce' myself...just say Ni hao, wo jiao Bide, wo shi Audaliaren, bla bla, much like the kids say "Hello, my name is ....., I'm nine years old, I go to English school, I like english". Now they say 5 minutes!

Stuff that.

Oh, and another thing, which no longer irritates but amuses me. I'll come up with an idea. They say no not possible. A few minutes later (not even a day or week...minutes!), they will come up with the same idea as if it was original. Of course, this is not unique to China, it happens all over the world.

[Long ai gu]

When something goes wrong I'm told it's the Chinese way. This is their excuse for certain stupidities they will reign upon you. When I left for my vacation in October, I asked many times when it began and ended, I didn't get a straight answer. I overstayed my holiday because I didn't know when my next classes were, I was just going by my schedule. When I got back they informed me that they booked classes for me while I was away and didn't tell me. They said I would have to make them up and they docked my pay--so I went on strike, refusing to teach asking them for my leave. Remember, this is the biggest employees market in the world, you are in control. In the end they gave me my proper pay and when I asked about making the classes up, I was told by my Chinese communicator and friend not to worry about it. We'll see if the pay is docked at the end of this month, if so I go on strike again. When I arrived I found out they have an 11:00pm curfew on the front gate of my apartment. I battled them and they changed my contract saying I could come and go as I please, much to the disliking of the bulldog that tends the front gate. Don't be afraid to battle them when you see necessary, don't let them get away with thier CHINESE WAY--In the end I think they appreciated a taste of my battle for freedom culture, it's not something they do, they do what they're told, they are all good little soldiers--effects of communism and MSG.

[kev7161]

In 2002, I was in China for the first time with a group of teachers. We were coming to an English summer camp. But, first things first, we were going to get a tour of Beijing and Shanghai. At the Forbidden City, we had our Chinese tour guide with his yellow flag for us to follow. He was trying to tell us all sorts of interesting historical stories about this place, but it was hot and everyone wanted to go their own way. Our question was, why couldn't we just meet at "X" o'clock at the end of the city? That was my first exposure to the "Chinese Way". We were told later that we rattled the tour guide because he wasn't used to dealing with people that didn't have the same mind set - - - his, apparently. Most westerners are used to living with independent thought and (sometimes) compromising with others to achieve a common goal. Living in China for a couple of years is not going to make me change my way of doing things. I can understand how the Chinese approach things and I can try to work with them to a certain degree, but just shrug and say "this is china!" everytime? It's not going to happen.