Job Discussion Forums

[lpm100]

This is a fairly long post, so please bear with me when reading it. There are questions at the end of it.

There have been no end of problems at this university, which is situated in the middle of nowhere. Every time I am promised something, it always becomes "tomorrow." There are all the problems typical of Chinese organization that you would expect. So, when I went to apply for a visa, the application packet was not complete and I had to come back across the border and wait at a hotel for three days while the appropriate documentation was sent to me via express post. The same thing happened to the other teacher (from Cameroon) that works here, and he couldn't even get into HK to get his Chinese visa, because he needed a visa to get into HK, which the FAO didn't know. Nor did they give him complete paperwork. It seems like we have three people working in the FAO to create maximum inconvenience/ shine the seats. Even after I came back and showed them their error (which they knew that they had made), they were only willing to reimburse me 1/2 of the costs of the hotel, and NONE of the expenses for the unnecessary visa that I needed to go back into the Mainland. (They didn't even know that once you use a visa, it is FINISHED, and that you must reapply for another one all over again if you want it.) So, a week late, I made it back and started work-- and so did the other teacher. He is working here illegally now.

The heater in my apartment was broken, and it took them so long to get it, I went out and bought a new heater myself and sold the old one-- learning all the vocabulary necessary to do this because of their unreliability. So, they couldn't get me a new one/ repair the old one, but once I sold university property to pay for a new one-- a *procedure* had been breached. Then everyone showed up and started asking questions. This sets the scene of the degree of ghetto-fabulousness what I work with.

There has also been a problem involving a bimbette that I met on campus that snowballed into an odd melodrama: We met at the gate of the school and were in bed about an hour later.

I was tired of her, like, three minutes after we got finished having sex. So, that was the end of that relationship.

This was two weeks ago, and I haven't thought about inviting her again for fun because of the aggravation factor. We talked via text message for the week that I was gone and decided to not continue the relationship. OK, fine. When I get back from HK, she gives me a call out of the blue and tells me that she wants to come to my apartment. When she does, she comes with her "uncle" (which can mean anything, since everyone in China calls friends "sisters" or "uncles" or "brothers"). These two came in and I told them to sit down. She introduces the uncle as a businessman from Tianjin and he refuses to sit down. (This is bad manners in China.)

She tells me: "In China, it is bad if people have sexual relationships, so you shouldn't tell anyone about this. Or you may have some bad results!" I don't know if this is Chinese English or a genuine threat. So, I asked her: "What is wrong with you? How many people do you know that take out a notice in the local paper when they have had sex with another person? What reason did you have to think that I was going to talk to someone else about this?"

Ok, so we decided to drop it. She gets up and she and her uncle go out and slam the door behind them. Huh? Huh? Huh?

So, I wandered on to the police sub-station and told them all of this, and asked them how was I to know if this was a real uncle or a mobster? (This girl had obviously been around the block. My distinct impression was: This is not the first time she has met and had sex with someone within a short span of time.) The police said: It is not likely, but here is our number just in case. I contemplated having the uncle and the girl brought to the office by the police just to see who was who, but when I called her on the phone and asked her if I needed to do that, she got really nervous.

I'm not sure if this nervousness was attributable to her not wanting to know that she had had MOD EDIT by courtesy of a black foreigner. Or if this "uncle" was someone that she did not want brought in front of the police. In either case, she did not get belligerent, but said: "Let's just forget about each other." (What the *beep*? I had forgotten about you no less than an hour after you left the first time.) If she had wanted to keep it a secret, I can't imagine why she would not just let it lie in the first place. (Keep in mind that I've heard / experienced all sorts of strange things happening with Chinese girls

But the next day, the Foreign Affairs flunky comes to my apartment and tells me that the vice president had gotten wind of my incident and wanted to tell me: "If we have this problem out of you again, we'll have to reconsider the length of your contract." Huh?

I'm not sure how to get across that this problem was not something that I sought out. It just so happens that I successfully sought out this girl for sex and picked a nutbag.

The questions:

1. How often do you hear about FAOs making threats of this type? I don't know if I should take it with a grain of salt, or set up a contract with a university elsewhere--which may or may not be the easiest thing.

2. In your collective experiences, if a FAO is totally inept and unwilling to do things the right way, are they likely to leave a foreign teacher alone provided he teaches his classes? (I'm not making any guarantees about keeping my hands off the general student population--but can keep them off of my students-- because much of the best thing about China is the Chinese women.) As it is, the flunky that they sent here has made so many mistakes and cost the school so much money by rights, he shouldn't have a job here.

3. What are the unforgivable sins for a foreign teacher? I have heard that being rude to leaders and making them lose face is one of them-- and I have not done this. (At another school that I worked at, some teachers yelled at administrators and had their contract cancelled in a New York minute.) Technically, the other teachers were not supposed to date out of the student population--but did it anyway. We even had one teacher who didn't try to hide it. Female students would answer his phone at his apartment-- and it would be a different one every time. So, I am wondering if my sexual liaisons are forbidden in principle, but not in practice.

4. My ultimate goal here is to just have a university job, which I have by dint of taking it in a place that no one else wants to come. I've been quiet about the fact that half of their English staff is working here illegally. I'm not sure how to strike an equilibrium whereby we agree to leave each other alone. (I don't visit the FAO more than necessary, or ask them for help in any way other than administratively.)

[7969]

i'll address your apartment issues. i also have a lot of difficulty getting a repairman in or, initially having something bought for the apartment that i am supposed to have in here. the problem i had was in the beginning i was talking to more than one person, and not the right people. messages were getting lost, not returned, not passed on, and i got fed up with it. finally i just started addressing my problems to one individual, keeping a record of every message, email or phone call made or sent. and i made sure the individual i was dealing with knew this. eventually, after four months, things seem to move a bit more fluidly here.

just remember, dont lose your cool, keep insisting in getting things done if they're needed, phone them 4-5 times a day if you have to. if they dont answer the phone, do what my kenyan colleague does and phone them from a payphone. chinese cannot stand to let a phone call go and you will always get them on the line somehow.

7969

[dajiang]

Yeah, good advice that. Just remember that if you want anything done, you best do it yourself. So make sure you get to know the guy directly, and get on his good side.

As for the bimbette issue; that seems to be a story for englishteacherX.

You reckon there'll be a follow up to this story? I mean, you did tell the cops, and 'uncle' might pay another visit?

Dajiang

[7969]

if it makes you feel a bit better OP, my toilet developed a huge crack along the bottom of the fixture while i was away on holiday. when i used the toilet the contents nicely poured out onto my feet. my first day back a chinese teacher handed me a bag of plaster, told me to mix it in some water and fix it myself. i laughed, walked out and got back on the phone. replacement of my toilet was (eventually) done.