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the_otter
Joined: 02 Aug 2010
Posts: 134
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 Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 6:24 am Post subject: When to say 'I'm with someone else'? |
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I'm a newbie to TEFL - had my umbilical cord cut in June, completed the CELTA course in July etc. - and I've been looking for jobs in China. I've received quite a lot of interest. Which is good. One party - a recruiter for a place in Fujian - has said she'll send me letters of invitation. And this morning a representative of an agency sent me an email contract for a school in Dongying. On Friday I'm supposed to do a Skype interview with someone about working in Xian.
The trouble is, I've been unemployed for the last year, so turning down one job in advance of feeling absolutely certain about another feels counter-intuitive. At what point can I feel secure enough about an offer - in particular about the offer of work in Fujian province - to start letting other parties down? |
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Big Poppa Pump
Joined: 28 May 2010
Posts: 167
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| Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 3:15 pm Post subject: |
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When your letter of invitation is in your hands. Till then string along the recruiters, they are blood sucking vampires that should not be mistaken for being human beings.
Xi'an nice town btw.. Have fun there if you end up going. |
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the_otter
Joined: 02 Aug 2010
Posts: 134
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| Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 4:44 pm Post subject: |
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| Big Poppa Pump wrote: |
When your letter of invitation is in your hands. Till then string along the recruiters, they are blood sucking vampires that should not be mistaken for being human beings.
Xi'an nice town btw.. Have fun there if you end up going. |
Thanks for the reply. I'll start preparing my requests for extra information and sincere expressions of interest now!
I'd like to live in Xi'an but the Fujian job is supposed to involve fewer contact hours - so from five thousand miles away, it looks preferable. |
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MisterButtkins
Joined: 03 Oct 2009
Posts: 1221
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| Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2010 6:21 am Post subject: |
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| the_otter wrote: |
| Big Poppa Pump wrote: |
When your letter of invitation is in your hands. Till then string along the recruiters, they are blood sucking vampires that should not be mistaken for being human beings.
Xi'an nice town btw.. Have fun there if you end up going. |
Thanks for the reply. I'll start preparing my requests for extra information and sincere expressions of interest now!
I'd like to live in Xi'an but the Fujian job is supposed to involve fewer contact hours - so from five thousand miles away, it looks preferable. |
Personally I like Xi'An a lot because of it's great food, friendly people, and abundant history, but it has horrible smog. Did the recruiter tell you where in Fujian you are going, or just 'Fujian'? I mean I suppose if they were sending you to Xiamen or another nice city they would specify, to me just giving the name of the province with no town sounds like you might get shipped to a backwater in the mountains, which some people might like. |
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the_otter
Joined: 02 Aug 2010
Posts: 134
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| Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2010 7:42 am Post subject: |
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| MisterButtkins wrote: |
Personally I like Xi'An a lot because of it's great food, friendly people, and abundant history, but it has horrible smog. Did the recruiter tell you where in Fujian you are going, or just 'Fujian'? I mean I suppose if they were sending you to Xiamen or another nice city they would specify, to me just giving the name of the province with no town sounds like you might get shipped to a backwater in the mountains, which some people might like. |
They did specify the place - Fuzhou. Desperate as I am for work, I'm not so desperate that I'd accept a job without knowing where it is. Fuzhou doesn't seem too bad on paper, even though it isn't as culturally significant as Xi'an. |
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cormac
Joined: 04 Nov 2008
Posts: 768
Location: Xi'an (XTU)
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| Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2010 11:02 am Post subject: |
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The pollution isn't really such a terrible thing. You get used to it rather quickly, and its only really noticeable early in the morning.
Xi'an is a truly great city to live in. One of my favorite places on this earth. Pm me if you want specific questions about the city. I love it, miss it, and plan to return when i can. |
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the_otter
Joined: 02 Aug 2010
Posts: 134
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| Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2010 4:46 pm Post subject: |
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| cormac wrote: |
The pollution isn't really such a terrible thing. You get used to it rather quickly, and its only really noticeable early in the morning.
Xi'an is a truly great city to live in. One of my favorite places on this earth. Pm me if you want specific questions about the city. I love it, miss it, and plan to return when i can. |
Well, if Fuzhou falls through and I'm offered the job in Xi'an, I'll definitely be heading there - everyone who's lived in Xi'an seems to rave about it. |
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Miasaurus
Joined: 05 Aug 2010
Posts: 24
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| Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2010 5:27 pm Post subject: |
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Add me as another Xi'an fan! The salaries there aren't the best, but you have to consider quality of life as well.
Some people without experience are having a tough time getting the working permit. I know of two people who signed with a school, relaxed, and then were told that the school couldn't get the working permit and good luck next time. I'd string along recruiters (but not actual schools) until you actually have the invitation letter - but after that point, it would be unethical to consider jumping ship. |
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the_otter
Joined: 02 Aug 2010
Posts: 134
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| Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2010 7:07 pm Post subject: |
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| Miasaurus wrote: |
Some people without experience are having a tough time getting the working permit. I know of two people who signed with a school, relaxed, and then were told that the school couldn't get the working permit and good luck next time. |
That's what I'm worried about. At the moment I'm waiting for the results of the Xi'an Skype interview. If I get a firm offer, I'll contact the Fujian agent to ask how the work permit is proceeding. Time's pressing, and I can't afford to wait long for a letter of invitation - but I don't feel I can say 'yes' to Xi'an if someone in Fujian is genuinely spending time and money trying to get me into China. Of course, that's all hypothetical - I'll very probably get turned down by Xi'an. I don't interview well.
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| Add me as another Xi'an fan! The salaries there aren't the best, but you have to consider quality of life as well. |
Is there anyone here who doesn't like Xi'an? :p |
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Niederbom
Joined: 13 Feb 2010
Posts: 66
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| Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 10:51 am Post subject: |
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I also would like to know the answer to this question.
I am currently stringing along three recruiters for universities and one school (Aston in Xuzhou). I do this because I had a bad experience previously of a job offer that fell through because of the visa problem.
I've already sent two of them "scanned" signed contracts while I wait to see if a better offer I have received produces an invitation letter. When I back out, can they "get" me for breaking a contract with a scanned signature?
The two I'm likely to back out of are in provinces I'm not likely to ever want to work in anyway (Hubei and Hebei, in Qinhuangdao), so I don't care as long as they can't put me on some sort of SAFEA blacklist. |
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MisterButtkins
Joined: 03 Oct 2009
Posts: 1221
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| Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 5:58 pm Post subject: |
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| cormac wrote: |
The pollution isn't really such a terrible thing. You get used to it rather quickly, and its only really noticeable early in the morning.
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It's not such a terrible thing if you don't like exercising, being able to see the sun regularly, or not having black snot. Sorry but I've been to a lot of different places in China and the smog in Xi'An horrified me. I remember being able to look directly at the sun at 3pm in the afternoon and it was just this dull orange glow poking through the smoke, it didn't hurt my eyes at all. Even in the country side you can't see more than a few hundred meters some days because it's all covered in smoke. I realize this doesn't bother some people, but I'd never consider living in such a place. It reminds me of Mordor. |
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cormac
Joined: 04 Nov 2008
Posts: 768
Location: Xi'an (XTU)
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| Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 10:34 pm Post subject: |
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| MisterButtkins wrote: |
| It reminds me of Mordor. |
I'm from a small town in the middle of Ireland. So no pollution at all. Clear skies, and the ability to see the stars easily. Awesome. Its strange how rare that is these days. I've also lived in various other "green" towns/cities worldwide, but then I've also lived in a number of Chinese cities and a few European Industrial cities as well.
Xi'an wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Yes, there is smog. Yes, my throat took a while to get used to things. Yes, there aren't really any sunny sunny days. But then I didn't really see any of that in other chinese cities either. And I don't tend to look into the sun all that often.
The pollution is easily ignored if you're that way inclined. Describing it as Mordor is going way beyond reality though. I'd describe it as reasonable for a decent sized Chinese city. TBH I have to wonder why anyone that is concerned with pollution would consider any Chinese city, with the exception of a very few.
I must admit though I was more concerned with nice people, good looking girls, great food, fun nightlife, and the sense of China while having some western facilities. Being in the center of the country provides the chance to sample so much diversity without sacrificing the comforts of a city. |
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macroidtoe
Joined: 27 Jul 2010
Posts: 128
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| Posted: Thu Aug 12, 2010 4:40 am Post subject: |
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| Huh, I really didn't notice the smog when I visited Xi'an. Out of Guangzhou, Xi'an, and Beijing, it was really only Beijing where the air quality gave me problems. |
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