Job Discussion Forums

[Roger]

What's the name of that English band that sings this song? I love this song; in other words I love the philosophy of the saying "c'est la vie" or "carpe diem".

You have to be philosophical, or risk losing your marbles.

It's happened uncounted times, and it has happened again: someone has heard about you from someone else, a kind of rumour commercial that's totally beyond your control. You get a request - usually by email - to make yourself available to someone who is supposedly going to pay you for services rendered to them. It is the dream of all of us TEFLers in China, and it has a real basis in fact.

But this is the Internet epoch, and while getting in touch is the easy part there are many other parts that are decidedly less easy to negotiate.

A Western acquaintance of mine who is not on the best speaking terms with a Chinese person mentioned to her my name; she was in fact looking for some foreign face to please a friend or customer of hers who demands to have a foreign English speaking face to teach him that language. Understand so far?
I agree to make myself available, and I am given the woman go-between's telephone number. I dial and introduce myself and tell her also why I am calling.
She sounds very pleased and says "yes, would you have time on Tuesday evening?"
I have.
So we agree to meet at 6 p.m. - she, me and that mysterious third party that's rumoured to be a very big whig at some major SOE and about to make his first occupational appearance overseas - in an English-speaking country!

Tuesday arrives, and the deal is cancelled - "Mr X is too busy to-night, let's say on coming Thursday, is that alright for you?" For me it is, and I am not at all inconvenienced by the cancellation.
Secretly I am, however, beginning to feel like I am experiencing what is called a "deja vu" incident. I have had this dozens of times over the years, sometimes with a happy ending, often inconclusive ones (when I decided to dodge those late-night calls that I knew came from my contacts whose message, I would assume were to offer me yet another unbelievable excuse for their latest failure to make good on an agreement).

Thursday comes, and yes, the get-together is cancelled again. I am not angry.
Friday, she calls to ask me whether Saturday would be alright. Saturday? "Yes, Saturday afternoon."
It seems like a perfect addition to my already existing appointments for the same day - in the morning a private student and in the early afternoon a happy social call from a newly-arrived but long-acquainted friend of mine.

She promises me to drive her white KIA to the Garden Hotel, and "please, do try to spot me outside... my car number is..." She drives an imported car and her contact or my would-be client is a very important big animal in a government institution... you guess there is a lot of money in it for me, right?

On Saturday, the girl student cancels her class with me because her employer sends her to Nanhai due to complaints from American customers about shoddiness in their products made in Guangdong. I understand.
Then another call towards noon: "Sorry..." (at least she knows the importance of this little word to us English speakers...), "...but my friend has gone to Sanya. Do you know Sanya?" I know Sanya in Hainan, of course, and I understand that he is not going to be back by 5 p.m. sharp... not even by midnight the same day.

This is the stage at which I find myself right now; when is he coming back? Who knows? In point of fact: I don't care much. This is a possible source of income and also a possible source of a lot of frustration, or pleasure as the case may be. Why should I try to force Destiny? If he comes he comes, if he finds other things to do then so be it.
I won't allow his escapades to cloud my judgement or my mind. The important thing is: he needs someone but he is not fully convinced of it himself. He is like most Chinese: he cannot plan ahead, organise his schedule, commit himself. He is the product of a culture that doesn't think the same way we do in the West. C'est la vie, as they say in French.

Should any part-time employment result from a get-together that now seems to be possible in the distant, distant future then so be it. I shall not depend on it.

I have my regular full-time job and my share in frustrations. I don't need this one.

But there are so many naive guys out there that keep mouthing off "make money in China teaching English!" Foolish little boys!
This is especially true of those who are like this guy described above - foreign "native English speakers" who lack cultural sensitivity, professionalism and a legal status! They are very likely to shift their weight from one place to another in search of Manna in a country that leaves them at the mercy of crooks.

[virago]

The more I stay in China the more I become this unorganised, unplanned businessman!

As most important CEO's or so-called important managers their use of people is like the emperor himself, use when needed and discarded when not. Only themselves are important, not yours.

All hail the boss!

[go_ABs]

"Weather with you" is by Crowded House, a New Zealand band from the 1980s. I highly recommend "Four Seasons in One Day" by the same band as a song that works in English class for intermediate students.

[Songbird]

Yeah! Crowded House is my fave band , love their song 'Better Be Home Soon'!

[go_ABs]

Better Be Home Soon

[Antaraaaa]

Crowded House drummer found dead

Paul Hester was last seen alive on Friday evening
The drummer of the Australia-based rock band Crowded House has been found hanged in a park in Melbourne.
Paul Hester, 46, had last been seen alive on Friday night, when he left his home with his dogs.

Ambulance officers said he had "attempted suicide" and died from strangulation. He was already dead when they arrived at the scene.

Hester played with New Zealand group Split Enz before forming Crowded House with Neil Finn in 1985.

Police have said the death was not suspicious.