Job Discussion Forums

[luceluceluce]

Hi
I need your advice. I'm due to start at a private language school on 19th May.

However, I've been reading about cover-ups of the number of SARS cases in Shanghai:

http://www.time.com/time/asia/news/daily/0,9754,446260,00.html

Also, if the situation gets worse and there is a travel advisory placed on Shanghai, it will be impossible to get any sort of SARS-related health insurance.

Because it's only a short-term contract, the company will only pay about half of the airfare (which they will give me on completion of my contract). Also they offer no healthcare support.

I have contacted the academic director but he is very blase.

What is the real deal in Shanghai? How is efl recruitment there? Are teachers leaving their jobs? What do you advise: I've signed teh contract but I haven't bought the ticket. Also, are any visa problems anticipated?

I'm not a hyperchondriac - I just can't really afford to throw money and time down the toilet.

Cheers
Luce x

[Echo]

From the WHO website 26/4/03:

(In Shanghai) "the team found no evidence of systematic underreporting of cases, and concluded that the level of preparedness and response was good. Reporting of cases appeared to be open, frank, and accurate. Over the past 3�4 weeks, authorities designated two hospitals as dedicated to the treatment of SARS patients and set up cough and fever clinics. The team also found a very high level of government commitment to tackle the SARS problem."

See http://www.who.int/csr/sarsarchive/2003_04_26/en/

[MyTurnNow]

Luce,

I am writing from the Shanghai area but my advice is the same as it would be for someone considering coming to any part of China...

DON'T COME RIGHT NOW.

Things are just getting too weird here, especially in schools. You may arrive only to find that your classes have all been cancelled, or you may be forbidden to leave your school once you've entered it. It's getting stranger here on a daily basis, and the fat lady hasn't sung yet...we don't know if this is as bad as it will get. Nobody knows what will happen...you could come here and find that due to quarantine you can't get back out? Speculation, guessing...but not outside the realm of possibility in the current insanity. I also assume that you want to see some of China; you aren't just coming here to teach. Well, any traveling you might want to do may well be neither possible nor adviseable.

Shanghai and the surrounding area have not had serious problems yet, but I think the potential is there for a repeat of Beijing. Good information is hard to come by, but there are rumblings that cases have also been underreported in Shanghai, and that the true picture is worse than previously thought. This in turn could lead to wider exposure to the disease and a larger outbreak. Beijing is rapidly unravelling, if the news reports are true, and the same could be awaiting Shanghai. Developments with all this happen very, very quickly.

China is a wonderful place, and IMHO the Shanghai area is the jewel of China. But it'll all still be here for you if and when things get back to normal. Jobs for Western teachers are amazingly easy to find, even in normal times. Dont put your tuchus on the line for this moment, especially for a short-term contract.

Oh, and do NOT count on your employers to level with you regarding conditions here. School owners in China, foreign and domestic, all too often rate among the lowest forms of weasel on the face of the planet. Covering their nut and making their money will take precedence over your safety and well-being. That, at least, you can count on.

MT

[MyTurnNow]

Echo,
I think you posted as I was writing...

Only yesterday I came across reports that Shanghai possibly had the same problem that started things off in Beijing...failure to report cases in military hospitals. The report stated that instead of the 2 active cases reported, the actual number was more like 90.

Unfortunately I don't recall the source of this report. All my news comes from Yahoo or from the BBC on my shortwave so it had to be one of those 2. I'll try to find it again.

MT

[gerard]

myturn---very good post. I think though that the authorities have come clean and are co-operating with WHO. Cancelling (part of) the May holiday was a big step... A bigger worry might be people who are infected but carry on anyway because they can't afford to take 10 days off work. This is an issue in Canada where the gov't wont give benefits to people who are sick on the grounds there would be a lot of fraud. I agree I would't move to PRC at this time. I am not overly worried but at the same time if I was in Korea (my last port of call) I would not come here even for a holiday. Having said that I am not afraid of Toronto which is the 4th hardest hit.

To the initial poster don't let airfare be a deal-breaker. My school have a flat rate for Canadians for US$600 each term. Combined with a travel allowance that would be almost enough to fly home with. I don't know too much about Shanghai except it is one hell of an exciting place to visit. Very cool.

[MyTurnNow]

Thanks, Gerard.

I tried to find the story I saw or heard yesterday and could not. Perhaps heard it on BBC radio? I did see a lot of official assurance that the count in Shanghai was complete, and a fair bit of accusation that it was not. I saw reports still holding to the only-2-cases claim, and reports that 7 _foreigners_ in Shanghai have it. There's so much contradictory information it's really hard to see a convincing drift...definitely hard to find anyone to trust. There was an AP video from today reporting expectations that Shanghai will see an increase in cases...and it seems reasonable.

I agree that the facts are coming out better but fear it will take time for everything to be revealed...the impulse to save face and cover things over is awfully strong here. I think China is doing a better job of its containment measures but fear that this thing is far from contained yet.

MT