The Job Hunt

Well I went out for my demo class on Monday and managed to land the job, not quite to the par they would have liked but hell they just sprung the class on me. Of course I was a little nervous. I think I will like this job a lot better; I have to go in earlier than I would like but the way it works out I will be making a little more money. More money is always good, if I like this place I may renew for next year. They give funding for flights, and provide a living allowance so I can afford my rent, it sucks that I am going to have to find a new place to live in 6 months when tom comes home, but oh well that is just the way the proverbial cookie crumbles I suppose. I should be able to find a nice two bedroom place for the 1300 Yuan they are providing me; just in case he decides to come back to China as the place I am working for shows some interest in him. Or I could get a room mate later and split the rent, but I think I would rather just live on my own. Other than Tom or Carrie I seem to have a problem living with other people, I am kinda messy and I like being that way. I am ill with a very malicious virus, but it is short lived and I am getting over it. I would rather not start work today with this illness but I don’t really have a choice I have put them off long enough as it is. I have an interview next week for a part time job as well, if I get that one that brings me up to three jobs! Yikes, that really isn’t like me at all, but you never know I may have to furnish my own apartment or something like that, and I would love to be able to afford a flight home. Maybe spend a month at home at some point, anyway guys I need to get around to planning my day; I have no idea how long I will have to be at work today. Prolly just be a bunch of paperwork, getting my schedule together and such.

Just a little update

Hey all, it has been a while since I posted. I feel as though somehow I have burnt too many bridges, Dad won’t reply to my emails, and no one is commenting on my blog. So, I guess I am back to doing this blog as personal notes for my book. For one thing it’s amazing how offensive people seem to find honesty, it’s almost as though my family would prefer for me to lie about things all the time. The moment I am honest about something I become unpopular for weeks. For example, I think it’s a little strange how my Father has become so spiritual all of a sudden, it’s not my thing. That doesn’t mean I don’t love and respect my Father, he’s my Dad I’ll take him any way I can. I wish I would get real answers to my problems at times, “Put your faith in God” or an answer to this effect isn’t tangible to me. Putting your own shoulder to your problems is the only real way to handle them in the end.
I notice that Dad and Tom are still planning on doing the Vegas trip, the trip that I suggested and to some extent arranged. A trip that I will now no longer be able to attend; with the new job comes a new one year contract. I simply won’t be free at that time, I am going to try and take some time off between my contracts but that will be at a different time. I have a feeling that dad isn’t going to be able to come and see me now; I don’t see how he can afford to do so with things as tight as they are. If he can’t that is fine I suppose, I doubt he would like WuHan much anyway. I mean maybe he could still show up with Stoerm but I won’t be counting on it so much any longer.
Yeah I do give Tom a hard time about working, and I do so for several reasons. Tom has always been going on and on about the type of job that he wants, he isn’t really sure for one thing, but pretty much everything he has suggested to me comes with everything he is having to put up with right now. If he wants a high end 5 figure or even 6 figure salary he is going to be under stress, threatened, chewed out, all of those things he has a problem with now. He also talks about his job like a handful of other people don’t have to deal with exactly the same thing he does. I had to deal with those things and I got busted down to part time, and I do believe that if Tom does go home he is going to end up working at the call center and living with Mom and Dad again. He liked it that way, I liked not paying rent too, but that doesn’t mean it was right of me not to do so. Tom’s plans involve not working for a year so he can get financial aid; I know I wouldn’t get away with that. I have decided what I want to do with my life for right now and I am going to work towards continuing to be able to do that. I’m sorry Tom thinks I am being unhelpful but I don’t think he has looked at the reality of the situation. He will be coming home in 7 months, likely I will have nothing to tell about China that you haven’t already heard from him by the time I get back.
The job hunt is going well; I should have some paperwork to do in Hankou today or tomorrow and then a demo class and then a job. I will have earlier hours than Tom, prolly more classes, and busy weekends. We will be back to being equal in the working worlds eyes, I’m not overly excited about working myself. I really wish that I could just let Tom quit his job, or that he could move down to part time or something like that but it would be more work to make the money up otherwise. I still think these jobs are much less work than back at Echostar once you get into the rhythm. I still say being a teacher and accomplishing something in the classroom is very worthwhile. Anyway I am looking at a busy day, perhaps I will update later.

Eragon

I noticed that my Father went and saw this movie recently, I thought I would offer my opinion of it as well. First off this movie got a 4.8 out of 10 on the IMDB an average, just ok movie usually gets about a 6.5. I would tend to agree with this estimate and here is why. By the wya there will be some Spoilers:

Edward Speleers, the guy who plays Eragon, is by far one of the worst young actors I have ever seen, almost as bad as hayden christiansen in Episode II. He's wooden, he can't really act, but he does look the part and he does look good waiving a sword around or sitting on a dragon. This and the fact that he was very cheap must be why he got this role. At this point I would have rather seen Hayden cast for this part as His acting has at least become a bit better.

Jeremy Irons is in this movie as well, I have a lot of respect for this guy and I think he is a great actor. He has however been in a lot of shit movies since "man in the iron mask"and "Lolita". He does seem to make the scenes with Edward stink far less as he does bring decent acting to them. However this type of star is a bit expensive for this type of production and he is killed off far early in the film, Then we are left with the main character making a farse of every scene there after.

Robert Carlyle, and John Malkovich are also in this film. I like these guys, especially Robert. However you get the impression from their characters that they know they are in a bad movie. Honestlly if to many people saw this film they could have sullied careers because of it. Luckily they are the bad guys in a fantasy flick, so they are expected to be a little cheesy at times. And they are. Looking at the cast list I don't recognize many of the other actors, again these are prolly actors that they could afford rather than are well known.

The special effects are alright, but there is one fight scene between two drangons that is very good. This is obviously where all of the money went. It certainly didn't go towards hiring decent actors or writing a good script. It's almost like someone took their table top RPG adventure and put it on screen with some drama thrown in. Not to mention the ending kinda sucked

All in all Eragon is indeed a good film for kids, but adults and those seriously into fantasy films should stear clear of this one. You would be better off watching the first D&D movie if you want good dragons and more humor, there is another example of a bad Jeremy Irons flick.

Spirituallity

Side note: My father appears to have become very spiritual as of late, I'm not sure how I feel about this. I read over his Blog entries and it all seems a little bit ... much for lack of a better term right now. He does seem to feel better about himself for the most part, but honestly I believe in these types of things less and less every day. If there is one thing that frightens me it's death and I used to think that there was something after it all. However, the more I dwell on it the more I have come to realize that the light prolly just turns off and that's it, you just cease to be. I have come to feel as though spirituallity and religion are just masks that we put on to keep that fear at arms length, to hold onto the hope that there is more to all of it than this husk of flesh we live in and these awkward lives we lead. Call it what you will but it seems to me that everything that is left in God's hands seems to decline. The planet, the war, my Mother ... it feels like not enough people want to claim responsibility for their own actions in some ways, or they simply don't wish to do anything about a situation that something needs done about because they don't have the right answer, or resourses, or funds to make it happen.
My grandfather said to me once "Son (I kinda like it when he calls me that as I feel we have never been that close) anyhow he said ... Son, I hate to tell you this but if you don't have faith in these kinds of things you never will." I have come to discover that he is a vey wise man and he is exactlly right. You can't force yourself to believe in something that you just don't believe in. I tried very hard for a number of years to believe in it, buy into it, whatever you want to call it ... in the end I simply don't believe in religion and spirituality. Some day my light will turn off and that will be that, I will simply be no more. I am not expectiung anything more when it's all done
I don't have spirit guides telling me where to go, and the only time I have ever witnessed any types of animals doing strange things is when I was under the influence of some narcotic, I am fairly convinced that this is and always has been just a trip and nothing more, let me tell you what I do believe in.
Someone I admire a great deal once said "I don't think about all that stuff I just try and work hard everyday." When she was asked about religion, I think that is really all you can do. Do what you can to be the kind of person you want to be, good or bad. I do believe in Karma to a certain extent, and I can hardly argue that the world seems to have a balance. Bad people tend to get what they deserve, at the same time now and then bad things happen to good people. One thing you can always count on is bad things happening in life. Trying to avoid these things is fruitless and impossible and dealing with them will make you hard as a coffin nail, it will make you a stronger person to go through some hardship and adversity in life, God will have little to do with it, and the only person responsible for you is yourself. Live the best you can everyday, try and have fun and enjoy life as much as you can because it's short. At the end of the day in this age it all tends to be about money anyway, so don't worry about things to much. Usually they all work out.

These are the rantings of a very tired mind, take them for what you will and what they are worth

World Tax

Unfortunately the good ol’ U.S. of A. enacts a world tax. This means that any American working in a foreign country not only has to pay taxes to the country we work in but also to the US, this has to be the dumbest thing I have ever heard of. It’s like the US has allowed me to leave and work in another country, so I owe them something for that. There is one saving grace, from what I understand most of us don’t really make enough to have to pay this anyhow. Really it’s just another example of blood from a stone if you ask me.
Job hunt is going all right, I was planning on starting the process on Tuesday but it may have to wait until the 25th or 26th because I have to go all the way to Hankou for some of it and I am expected to cover the taxi. Being that I have zero money right now and apparently I have burnt bridges on borrowing from Tom I will have to wait until I get my salary from before and all the part time work I have done since then. I hate to do this but the fact is I have no real choice, I wasn’t supposed to loose the job in the first place. I was unprepared to say the least. I will need cash to get around for all these job interviews as all the main offices are usually in Hankou but where I am working will be in Wuchang. Hanyang, Hankou, and Wuchang are the three former cities that make up WuHan. Look up Wuhan on Wikipedia and it will explain it for you.
However, I do keep getting job offers. After the 25th everything will be much easier, I find the effects of depression setting in. Exhausted all the time, any effort only makes me more tired. Insomnia, I can’t sleep or I’m only able to get sleep for a couple hours at a time. It’s getting to the point where I would rather do noting than anything at all, I’ve been here before and I’ll get out of it. These are the times I really miss Carrie; she would always encourage me when I was at this point. I could use some of that now, I need to go, have lots of work to do I gave a test at EF today and progress reports have to be done. Need some sleep … can’t believe I am going to have two jobs, it’s been a long time. Love you guys, goodnight

Violent Students

You may also want to talk to some teachers that are already in the country, there are many reasons for doing this. However one very important thing to ask is the general attitude of the students. My boss worked in poland for a couple years and he was threatened with a knife by a student on more than one occasion, Chinese students won't do anything unless you threaten them and they will make you pay for that later. And yes teaching is a very stressful job, drinking to much can be a problem especially in asia because it's usually cheap, save for in Japan. Also make sure the school or institute you are working at is in a bigger city or at least a well populated area. Foreign english teachers get found dead all over the world, it's much easier to get someone out of a contract with no hassles if they are dead. This of course is something rare and most people avoid it by being in big cities. The culture you will be living around is going to be very different, I still don't get certain things about China, and it's likely I never will. You will need to get used to this, I hate the hard time I have communicating with some of my co workers for example, but they are Chinese I am lucky they are speaking english at all.

The money tree

If I knew anything about it I surley wouldn't be just telling anyone about it, If you consider $580 a month a lot of money then that's cool. Honestly I am making enough to get by and afford what I want here in China but I wouldn't be doing well back home, sometimes it's even hard here. The point of coming here was never really to make money, if I play my cards right I could save some but I like spending it for right now. That said I might add that it is comments like that that really don't make me feel very bad about not being back in the states at all. I feel as though speaking my mind is a bad thing, I am starting to get the feeling of how people in general feel about me and even how my family feels to some extent, it's fortunate that I have taken this oportunity for myself and therefore I want to give other people a chance as well. Here is what you need to do to attain a job in a foreign country and make an alright living for a while.

1. You need to get some kind of TESOL or TEFL cert. If you already have a teaching cert or a bachelors in anything you are good to go. If you need to get the cert consider ponying up the money to take a course at a local college. Institutes appreciate this a lot more than an online cert but it can be pricy, the online cert is amost as good and it's a lot cheaper I would reccomend ICAL for this. m Include any kind of teaching or group training experience you may have on your resume

2. Get this idea about working in Europe out of your head, yes it would be nice but the fact is they aren't going to pay you anything worthwhile. You would be considered poor by even their standards. The places you want to work are places with really worthless currency, remember the idea isn't necissarilly to bring home tons of cash (We will get to that later) but to live like a king while your there. Places like Russia, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Central and southern Mexico. Basically anywhere that you can get 6-10 of their dollars for one of yours, research the prices of goods before you go. Anywhere that is almost a 1 to 1 trade to the dolalr or less is gonig to require a lot more than a tesol cert, Japan although they have crappy currency is very expensive and very picky when it comes to teachers, unless you have an actual degree and have an idea of what your costs are going to be I wouldn't make it your first choice, or even at all really.

3. At this point you have secured all the documents you will need, including a passport, and hopefully you have decided where you want to go and have reasearched the general cost of stuff in that country. Now you need to get on the ESL sites like www.davesesl.com and see if you can find any jobs. Generally you want to start looking around Feb or March, you may be able to find jobs into July but often all the good ones are taken by then. Once you have found a nice place send off an email and let them know you are interested, they will send an email back letting you know if the position is still open and some general things about it. There are a few things you want to ask
a. What are the general ages of your students?
Teaching kids with no real language other than their own can be very frustrating, many people find teaching Adults 16 and up to be far more comfortable
b. Are you a private institution or are you an actual school funded by the government?
This may sound odd, but it makes a big difference. A private language institute and a school have very different goals in the end, the private institue will be far more interested in just making students come to the school, not necissarilly that they learn anything. It will always come down to money in the end with these places and if your students quit coming you will be swiftly blamed for that and potentially have your probation extended or termed, or both. You will find that many of the young children in these places have no wish to be there and have been forced to come by their parents. Althoug hthe idea is that you do very little speaking and the students so a lot, it has to be in english and ot can be very hard to make this happen with students that have no wish to learn. Schools of course are going to be far more centered on education, but you have huge class sizes Vs. the 16 or so in a prvt institute, once you loose the student's attention in this situation it's almost impossible to get them back. So what is the trade off? A prvt institute is going to pay far more than an actual school and have smaller class sizes usually.
c. How much are you going to pay me, do you cover living, do you cover my flights there and back, how long is the contract, how many teaching hours must I do?
So you have already done your research on costs, that is apartments, utilities, electronics, musical instruments, food, anything you may be interested in. So the proposed salary is very important. Are these people going to supply you with an apartment or will you have to cover that out of your check? a big chunk of change coming out of your check every month can ruin your fun, a good job will at least give you a housing allowance to ease the cost. Who is going to get you there and back? Will you at least be reimbursed for your flights? It would take me over 3 months to be able to afford to fly home one way so this is a big deal. You don't want to work hard all year and then spend your last remaining cash to get home, usually they will only cover 2 flights for you, the one there and the one back at the end of your contract, if you want to go home for a visit you will most likely have to cover this flight. How long will you be under contract? usually it's a year, sometimes they do have six month contracts but you won't be supplied with housing or anything like that. Part time work is also available but then you get very little out of it other than a better hourly rate. How many teaching hours are you going to haev a week, and remember for each teaching hour there is generally an hour of lesson plan and prep at the very least, you will find yourself doing a lot fo work at home especially if you have a PC. Again the point is to have lots of free time and have fun, not work all the time for less than a grand a month. Do also keep in mind that there is usually a 3 month probation period as well

Those three steps are the hard part, once you accept the position your employer will send you an invitation to work in the country, you will need to take this and your passport and any other docs they send to a local consolate, or use a visa service to get your work visa. Once that is done it's a matter of getting on the plane. Now here are some tips if you want to make a good bit of money. Most countries will only allow you to convert a certain percentage of your salary to foreign currency, they want to keep their money in the country if they can. However if you do prvt tutoring and keep that money off the books you can send all of that home you want, if you charge a resonable rate you could have a lot of students. You will be busy but in the end it could be worth it. You can use western union to transfer this back to someone in the states and have them set up a savings account and start drawing interest. Keep in mind that the local government will frown upon this so do your best not to get caught. Also don't get to attatched to the items that you buy because you will most likely not bring them back with you, the idea would be to sell these before you come back home. You will take a loss most likely but it is cash in hand, you can ship items home but it can get expensive and they may be damaged, also some of the single voltage items may nto work in the states or whatever country you come from. The smart thing to do would be to take this money and do some traveling on your vacation time, in asia at least it's very cheap to do so usually. Just keep in mind you may need a tourist visa to enter other countries. If you could manage to send 300 or so dollars home a month, that would be 3600 dollars by years end, generally most people are going to teach in other countries for several years at a time. Anyway I hope this has been usefull

I am not coming home for a long time

I never said anyone was wrong, I simply said that there is a Cancer in the system. The system is what is flawed not us! The big difference between the way I see it and the way everyone else sees it is that I actually seem to care that I have to give up my right to have a job. I don't have to be a good man to hold a job I have to be an evil one, a wrong doer. The hurts me more than anything, it's one of the things that lets me know I am still human, that I haven't sold myself and let it get a hold of me. If the fact that much of the world has bought into the system doesn't bother you, then I am sorry you have lost a piece of yourselves. I want things to be different for everyone, not just me. So the world can take it's therapy and shove it up it's big round ass because I am just fine. You guys need to see a film called "The Assasination of Richard Nixon." Although I am far more mentally stable than the main character, I see everything about the working world almost the same way he does. Very worth a watch.
The job interview went well, however it will involve signing another year contract so I will be here well into 2008, it's likely I will just renew at that point. I had other plans but I am starting to see more and more that there is little point to coming home right now, I have decided on a business venture for myself to make a little cash on the side when I get home so I will be sending inventory home here and there. The next time you guys see me may be some time in 2009, this will most likely be when I move to Mexico if I can secure a position there. I hope to work a few hundred miles south of the border so I can just drive home on weekends if I wish to. I t won't happen all the time buyt now and then.
And no I didn't expect full salary when I was 6 but I viewed working then much like I do now is the point. I go into an employer stating my iuntentions and what I am looking for and go from there. If they would have told me today that I would have had to work 40 hours a week, I would have told him to walk out his office window.

My mood has just changed

I am not depressed, I am disappointed
Antidepressants seldom help anyone
My mood changes because I don’t really appreciate being lectured about things that are painfully obvious to me, I have worked in two different countries with similar results, believe me I know. However I was very happy to see snow for my fourth time this morning

You guys want me to be a good little automaton and do as I am told, I’m sorry to be the square peg trying to get in your round hole but it is unlikely that I am ever going to be mister gung ho 3 piece suit ever again. It doesn’t pay off. For my taste it has taken way to long and I grow weary and tired of trying to feel good about myself and what I do. I could put up with it in the states because I had other methods of dealing with things, I don’t always have those same options here so I am subject to my own moral code a little more often.
Oh and I would appreciate it if you guys would refrain from suggesting I be on some type of pharmaceutical, some of you guys pop more pills than anyone I know. I can’t say that your better for it, I prefer to try and handle my problems on my own. Also don’t try and put off on me that it was a joke, it was offensive none the less. I have to go to this job interview now, will update later.

Good morning starshine, the earth says hello!

So I got up to go get us some breakfast this morning and found that it was snowing, like really snowing. It’s about 34 degrees so it’s not really cold enough for the snow to stay firm, it’s kinda slushy once it hits the ground but man, was it ever snowing. So I ventured out only to find that the price on my favorite breakfast food had gone up half a Yuan. Economics are sure changing here I tell ya, everyone makes fun of my boots here but from the amount of people I saw falling down today they won’t laugh anymore. Even now the tops of buildings and plants are still coated with slushy white snow, quite beautiful really. When this all melts it’s going to be a mess, I have a job interview in a few hours and I know I am going to be soaked by the time I get there, hope they understand. I find it more professional not to jump at a job right away these days, Regardless of how good this sounds I am going to give it a day or two and go on a couple more interviews. I have to do a demo class for this job if I want it, so that means these people are serious. I need them to understand that I am serious as well; I also want to ask plenty of questions about how the place is run and what is expected of me. I see no harm in being thorough; I mean hell thinking about this has kept me up all night. There is one more place I would like to try but I am just waiting on an interview, a friend of a friend works there and she likes it quite a bit. Anyhow I will update tonight about how everything went, wish me luck guys.

Things I Already Know

You know, so many of people have told me the same thing. “Doug you just need to accept things they way they are.” “The employee doesn’t dictate the rules.” It strikes me that most people that see things this way are very unhappy in what they do in life. My father said that to me for years, he was miserable at his job, I don’t blame him for leaving when he did. This is why people hang themselves in their front yard, or blow their own heads off, because they are unhappy and bored of the mundane, they don’t feel like they are making the kind of difference in the world that they want to, and they are sick and tired of it. Or they feel like some ones Servant/Bitch, now I have accepted to a certain extent that I seem to be one of the few people that gets this, and that puts me in a minority, even more so because I don’t seem to be able to let it go. I think it is one of the greater evils that human beings have to endure. That may sound severe but that is the way I feel about it, I don’t think anyone should have to feel shallow or useless, or even like they have their hands tied all the time. Some of the biggest companies in the world were started by people that feel exactly the same way I do about this so it pays off eventually. As far as this job went, the focus was not on education at all. The focus is about putting asses in the seats so the school makes money. All they need us there for is entertainment, to keep kids happy and maybe they will learn a little English out of it if they are lucky. I was asked to change my student’s grades for my last class, just flat out change the grades to grades that the students didn’t deserve, apparently they have a ratio of letter grades and my class didn’t meet that ratio. So now a bunch of students are going to pass that don’t deserve to and some other teacher is going to have a very hard time with them. It’s not my fault, I did everything I was expected to do with that class and more, if the students decide not to pay attention it’s no skin off my neck.
As far as doing what this employer wanted … I would like to believe I did but it wouldn’t have mattered because an example needed to be made to the foreign staff, I was statistically the lowest performer at the time, so regardless of my current numbers I was done well before I ever really started. You could say I didn’t have a chance when I stepped off the plane, again I am the least attractive by far and easily one of the more serious when it comes to this job so I am not popular with the staff. There is a lot more that went into my departure than sheer numbers, the people here are some of the most shallow I have ever seen when it comes to looks and attitude.
As far as having the right attitude when I was little … I guess I just didn’t know any better back then. The only thing I knew about a working environment was my grandparents, I had no real idea what my Dad’s job was like other than he hated it, my mother didn’t really work, and frankly I knew what Grandma and Grandpa wanted in an employee, and honestly I guess I thought they would get a kick out of the three piece suit. Honestly I doubt I was a very good employee, and I damn sure didn’t do more than was expected of me for 5 bucks a week, even back then it wasn’t much money. I just wanted to be able to see a movie once a week, for that I was willing to take out some trash. In fact I even remember asking Grandma for my salary early in 1991 to go see “Ninja turtles 2 Secret of the Ooze” because mom and dad had taken us to the wrong theatre and I decided to use my 5 bucks on video games instead. I was able to save up and buy my first multi speed bike, a 12 speed I believe, worst bike I have ever owned, but it was mine lock stock and barrel. So even my attitude about work was not the best back then, I mean what was a kid like me gonna get paid for taking out the trash in the morning, not much.
Guys I have to be happy in what I do, or I just can’t do it. I have tried my best to change this, but I don’t think it’s going to. Kevin for example isn’t happy, the only reason he endures it is because of Kat, admirable I will admit. Perhaps if I had a family or even a girlfriend life would be worth enduring. Alas, this is not a reality for me, at least not yet. I very much tried to do what this Employer expected of me. I simply didn’t have a chance once I was told I had a month, the decision had been made. Are there teachers at the school that are as bad as me? Of course, most people that teach there really don’t seem to care much about education, I do. Any of the other teachers the put education of financial growth are not appreciated.
I am having the interview tomorrow rather than last Thursday, the company has been very hard to contact even though I find that they are just right down the road from us. I am hoping to just work part time for right now and perhaps sign up for a year contract this next time around, otherwise I may not be coming home as planned. There is a small possibility of a warrant being out for my arrest so I want to take care of that before I come home for sure.
I only have one class because I co teach that class with someone else. I have an assistant, she has a degree in teaching English, even though her English isn’t very good it is about as good as can be expected from a Chinese English education. They want me to continue with this class because the students like me, they were sad to hear about me going and requested that I stay on as one of their teachers. I have also mentioned that I would be happy to teach all the classes I can on the weekend or sub whatever classes need subbed, our DOS (Director Of Studies) Peter isn’t happy about how this all went down. I was assured that everything would be alright, I made a very expensive purchase for myself and things have been far from alright. I think if I can work something out with this job I will take it, but I want to be assured about certain things first. I will also have to do a demo class for them. If I have to sign a year contract, you guys will see Tom before you see me; in fact it may be several years before you guys see me. You may have to visit China if you really wish to see me. I think I have prolly offended enough people; I’d rather not discuss this type of thing anymore. I know what all you guys think and I don’t agree, as usual, so let’s leave it at that.

Dancing in the dark, walking through the park and reminiscing

Bailey and Nemo, Just how I want to remember them. Anyway guys I thought I would make a lengthy post today. I find that leaving my job poses a series of problems, one of which being I will prolly be in China 5 months longer than I really wanted to be. I was hoping to spend the Holidays with you guys, but it looks like that may not happen. The only way in which it might is if I can get the Time off and afford to come home before I really come home. I have no way of really knowing if my new job will cover flights until I get it, but a lot of these places just don’t do that. Having some time off to reflect has been nice, but I must find work soon, I won’t be able to get by on what I am making now. Most likely I will have to sign another one year contract, which will put me here into January of 2008, although I wanted to be here I was hoping it wouldn’t be that long a stint. Some time at home is necessary now and then.
I find I was working a little too much at EF, I would almost be happier making a little less money, this I am afraid will happen as EF pays very well. I had several things planned while being here but simply have not had the time, and I do still work at EF just one class a week. I feel they will be quite sorry when they need me to teach a little more and I can’t because I have other employment, oh well, in the end it’s their loss right.
Stoerm told me recently that he wished Chinese people would just “Speak their mind more often.” Personally I wish they would cut this out, it seems to me that is all they do. Perhaps not with each other, but with foreigners they never stop insulting you at times. I find I grow a bit tired of it really, but you get used to it and just chuckle a little. I get thanked all the time for “Helping with the Japanese.” During the war, as I have mentioned the Chinese tend to hold grudges longer than they really should. I don’t think it likely they will ever forgive them really, many Taxi drivers won’t even take a Japanese passenger anywhere; they just make them get out of the Taxi. It’s not really unfounded but it’s decades old. I make the point that the Japanese attacked my country too and in the end they paid for that, and that I have many Japanese friends. I usually get told “Ho w could you be friends with a Japanese person?” Or the subject just changes quickly. I know that there are Chinese women married to Japanese men here, but most of the time their husbands don’t live in the country. The woman that owns Giano’s for example is married to a Japanese guy, one of the nicest people I have ever met. I do have a Japanese friend here in WuHan but he is kinda hard to find and I don’t see him much.
I want to be with Carrie, badly. She is all I can think about at times, I am surrounded by beautiful women here that want to have nothing to do with me. It’s frustrating to think about at times, I have ceased my pursuit of a relationship. Ola seemed like a good find, but you just can’t count on the first one working out. It’s doubtful that Carrie will come see me at this point; I am not sure why I ever expected her too. :( Oh well I guess we just have to move on at times whether we want to or not. It’s funny really I’m pushing 30 and I am beginning to think about having a family a lot now, if I want to it will need to be soon I don’t want to have to work to long. Anyhow guys I have much to say but I think I will leave it for another time. Love you all

Update

It has been a while since I posted anything; I just wanted to keep you guys updated on what is going on. Tom and I appear to have some form of the flu in all honesty we haven't been feeling very well so I haven't been venturing out in the cold all day to find work. I do however have a few leads and some Chinese friends looking into those for me, it can take 5 minutes to ask some of the staff one question in English so it's best to have Chinese people do it. I do still work at EF 1 night a week, it's just one class but at least it's some extra money. You know I saw a movie by Mike Judge recently called Idiocracy. The premise of the film was that people of lesser intelligence tend to reproduce faster because of several factors.
1. They just don't use protection, or take any precautions at all (I.E. the good ole pull out) when they do have intercourse. The guy almost always blames the girl when she does get prego. I know plenty of these people, my last girlfriend is exactly like this. They want pleasure without consequence
2. They are often unfaithful and sleep around with other not so intelligent people there by spreading their genes even further. People of greater intelligence tend to realize that having Kids is a huge decision and shouldn't be taken lightly, they Tend to be older parents, but is there really anything wrong with that.
3. The unintelligent people who sire the unintelligent children are going to keep them unintelligent because they always feel they don't need any more education than they had.
4. these type of people just don't seem to care about responsibility at all.

So in the film by the year 2505 the united states was populated by people with an average IQ of ... I dunno 50 or so. Like big dumb kids really, therefore someone of average intelligence (I.E. people like you and me, although some of you may be in the upper intelligence bracket. Hell i never put much faith in IQ's anyhow). Anyway so someone of average intelligence, if they were say in cryogenic storage for 500 years could potentially be the most intelligent person on the planet, a very interesting premise. Which brings up another good question, did Einstein feel like he was walking around with a bunch of idiots? After seeing this film I would be willing to bet he did, but simply had to let it go and learn to explain things in as laymen’s terms as possible, however if you listen to some of his recordings he is still way over our heads. I am not sure if this movie is out in the states, but it's pretty funny and worth a watch.

The Job hunt will go well; I should have new work by next week some time

Interview

well it appears that I have some sort of job interview on thursday, although I am thinking of switching it to friday. It's with another private language institute, but what are you going to do ya know. I really am starting to dislike some things about the working world here, or rather am I starting to dislike more things about working in the world? Who knows, one thing I do know is that I am living in China, not many people can say they have done that.

Why you may loose your job in China

The reasons aren't as simple as you may think. The first thing they look at before they hire you is your photo, not your qualifications, or your background, just your photo. The reason they do this is because they want someone appealing to work at their place of business, if your Ugly your going to have a rough time. This isn't kept a secret or anything like that, it's right out in the open. Secondly are you thin or fat, this also goes along with being ugly or beautiful. So as long as your not to ugly and not to fat you might get the job. Then your qualifications, you don't necissarilly have to be qualified for anything as long as your getting qualified. As long as your working on your certification for whatever you wish to do then you stand a good chance as well. There are things you will have to put up with, preferential treatment is really big here. In a teaching situation you may have a teacher that is part time, and has nothing that counts towards their teaching hours on their schedual, yet they are still making good money. these are things you just don't ask about. The students could also say something like "We want this person to be our teacher because she is beautiful.", if they say that, especially at a private language institute, you at least just lost your class. Also if the staff doesn;t really like you they could simply have management fire you. Now the big question is ... is it really any different in the states? Comments welcome I wanna hear what you guys think. Internet is still slow but I am taking vids to put up, don;t worry

Fired

Well, it happened. As of last night at about 8:30 PM I no longer have a position with EF. It sucks that I get fired based on a a finacial decision, and the fact that almost all of my students passed on their own has nothing to do with it. Liyun will most likely line up some interviews for me on monday and tuesday and I should have another job soon. We are going to have to move out of here so I will be looking for another apartment as well. I really like Zhong Nan Lu, hope I can still live on or at least near it, there is a music store nto far from here that I really like. I am hoping to work for a school or a university rather than a private language institute because you wind up with the same problem. If I do work for one I just want to teach adults, the babysitting concept of working with kids as these places is simply something I don't wish to deal with. More later today guys, net is having trouble today so you prolly won't see youtube vids for a while

Snow

Saw my first snow in WuHan yesterday. It wasn't anything that big, it was that stuff that is all in the air and kinda melts when it hits the ground. It was nice, everyone felt really different during the whole thing.
My boss tells me today is the day the decision will be made, I have a feeling it is going to be put off further, and this is simply something I won't except. I have waited the required time and I'll wait no more. Furthermore, I am going to be taking a day off as soon as I am done with probation, make that a day and a half. Everyoen else gets these holidays off because they fall on a work day, they have all fell on normal days off for Tom and I, although with all the classes finishing there isn't going to be to much to do. And the winter holiday is coming up so that means a week off. However, that also means several weeks of only one day off. I tell you, teaching is rough sometimes. Well I'll try and keep you guys posted on what is happening.

Happy new year

Went to the new years bash at vox bar, a few bands played. Two chinese ones and a western band. The western band has a guy I know as their guitarist, he never tunes his instruments and they sound like garbage because of it. I got some video of the other two but they are to big to get on youtube right now. ASF's are very hard files to work with, i need to try to find a way to convert them to AVI's. The internet is working a little better but not up to full capcity yet. The day is coming close that there may not be a job, but I have a better feeling about things so far, if not I have a few other things lined up so I am not to worried. I am broke though, hopefully I can get an advance on my next check. I was very generous with myself and a few other things during christmas.
I find myself thinking about Carrie a lot lately. We may have done some bad things to each other, but at the same time it seems as though we should be together. It's a very confusing mess of feelings for me, I am not sure how to desipher them yet. At the same time there is a staggering lack of communication between us that I find uncomfortable. The internet isn't that hard to get use of for a short time, even if you don't have it. I feel as though she is reading my emails and simply not responding to them, I could be wrong, but I know her pretty well and she just doesn't go that long without at least checking her email. I would really want her to come here and see me for months at a time, thsi really isn't something she can easily do, but we haven't even discussed it really. I feel like it's something we can work out, I'm willing to put equal effort and cost into it if need be. I am just tired of being alone and women here don't seem to give me a second look. Besides Carrie understands me ... well she used to.
I foudn myself looking out over the city today and realized a couple of things. It was new years day and I saw another year that I really never thought I would see, it's amazing that it's 2007. Secondly I was suprised at how china has evolved as a culture, I say it again, as hard as they are trying to be westernized, they are way ... way off. You may wonder if I like these people, and the only answer I can muster is ... Sorta. There is an incredible lack of courtesy in this country, these people are seldom curteous to each other, much less me or lesser forms of life. Then I began to wonder why, there has to be a reason for it right? Hope may very well be the answer, most of the people here have little hope of doing anything more than they are already doing, especially if your 35 or older. It is hard to look forward to the next day when all you really have to look foward to is the same damn thing ... working 6 days a week for very little cash. Having to haggle with people like me that don't want to pay full price all the time. Lots of people that come here say they like the people the most, I wouldn't agree really. I find in many ways they frustrate me to no end. Perhaps it's because I understand them so well, before I left home I was in a very similar situation. The more I am here the more I am finding locals that i really enjoy being around. After another year or two though I think I will be happy to leave here and go elsewhere. Perhaps only time will tell.