Friday, March 30, 2012
My new contract starting in September. (and the lead-up to...)
10:43 PM | 
Posted by
Eric |
Before coming to China, I had a short list of only two cities that I really wanted to live in.
One was Kunming. It is a more relaxed city away from the hustle of eastern China. It's nicknamed, "The Spring City." It is well-known for being about 70F all year long. The draw for me to this city was the amazingly perfect weather.
The other city, Suzhou, was recommended to me by someone I randomly bumped into on the internet. It is nicknamed, "Venice of the East," or, "Heaven on Earth." The city is most famous for it's 2500 years of history. There are so many ancient gardens, buildings, and little bridges over canals running all throughout. It is an amazing city with a mix of ultra-modern and ancient architecture. The city is booming due to it only being a 30 minute train ride away from the mega-city, Shanghai. The weather in Suzhou is nowhere near as perfect as in Kunming, but it is not as bad as someplace like Phoenix, or Harbin. You get all four seasons, with a fairly warm humid summer. The main draw to Suzhou would be the beauty and history.
So, my decision was about 50/50. Kunming for the weather, or Suzhou for the beauty/history? This is where that random internet bump-in comes back into play. That random person turned out to be an absolutely amazing friend named Ye Li. I had been getting to know Li for several months through Facebook. She is so free and transparent with her thoughts and feelings. It was very easy to see that she is exactly the type of people I was hoping to meet here. Kind, sweet, generous, caring, easy-going, intelligent, independent, care-free, and funny, the type of person that I could call a real friend. With my choice for a new city being deadlocked at 50/50, the prospect of having such a great friend around easily tipped the scales to Suzhou.
I started my search for jobs. I got a list of contacts from my lead trainer and blasted out a ton of emails. I searched a bunch of different online resources for job openings. I was in communication with a few different schools, but it is almost impossible to find any useful information online about working at the schools. Ex-teachers go on these online forums under multiple names and bash their former schools to try to get revenge for being let go. School owners use a similar tactic to try to help improve their school's image. All of these review sites are just full of useless, he-said/she-said information. Most of which, is not even legit in any way.
I found a few jobs that sounded OK. One job that I really wanted was with a university. The pay was low, but the hours were too. The benefits were also great. My main concern when trying to find a job was the amount of free time I would have. This job looked to be the perfect place for me. Then, I got the bad news. The hiring manager told me that the public schools absolutely required two years of teaching experience, which I do not have yet. I figured I would now have to go back to my other options and put up with working more hours at a different type of school until I got the experience required to move on to the university.
One of the schools that was very interested in me offered quite a bit more money, but for double the hours. They are a private international boarding school. I read some information online about some of the teaching jobs at these types of schools not being for an ESL teacher, but an actual English teacher just like at an American school. So, I asked the HR manager for a little more information about the position. He told me that the job was for an English teacher, also teaching some History, and some Math. It was like a regular Western curriculum teacher. I told him that I wasn't qualified to do that type of job, and that I would not feel comfortable with it. He said that he appreciated my honesty. Then, he tells me that they are also looking for an ESL teacher and a kindergarten teacher. I asked about the other two positions and discovered that all along I had been talking to the perfect place. He made me a different offer on the other position.
This new job is exactly what I was looking for and more, even better than the university job that I couldn't get. Low hours, amazing benefits, and the monthly salary is decent. The new offer includes a free, fully-furnished, private apartment on campus. All utilities are included for free with no limits. Three meals a day are also provided for free on campus. The hours are normal school times, so no working on evenings or weekends. They also take off all of the national public holidays. There are two major breaks in the school year too. Winter break is about 4-5 weeks paid time off at the beginning of every year. They also give you a small bonus to help you get out of town and travel a bit during the winter break. Summer break is two months, all of July and August. Summer break is not paid time off, but if you are coming back to work the next school year, they give you a bonus worth one of those months. For summer break, the school will also reimburse the cost of a round-trip flight to and from anywhere in the world. All of this for only working up to 16 hours per week. Also, the class times are short and easy to plan for, requiring very minimal time spent working outside of the classroom.
The amount of free time every week, and the long breaks twice a year will allow me to see and learn so many new things. This is exactly my dream, and one of the main reasons for coming here. September 1st can't come soon enough!
I am already planning my visit back to the US. It will be August 2013. Everyone start blocking out your calendar. =)
PS. RSVP for two. My beautiful friend in Suzhou that helped to make this all happen for me should be joining me on this return visit. We will see you then!
One was Kunming. It is a more relaxed city away from the hustle of eastern China. It's nicknamed, "The Spring City." It is well-known for being about 70F all year long. The draw for me to this city was the amazingly perfect weather.
The other city, Suzhou, was recommended to me by someone I randomly bumped into on the internet. It is nicknamed, "Venice of the East," or, "Heaven on Earth." The city is most famous for it's 2500 years of history. There are so many ancient gardens, buildings, and little bridges over canals running all throughout. It is an amazing city with a mix of ultra-modern and ancient architecture. The city is booming due to it only being a 30 minute train ride away from the mega-city, Shanghai. The weather in Suzhou is nowhere near as perfect as in Kunming, but it is not as bad as someplace like Phoenix, or Harbin. You get all four seasons, with a fairly warm humid summer. The main draw to Suzhou would be the beauty and history.
So, my decision was about 50/50. Kunming for the weather, or Suzhou for the beauty/history? This is where that random internet bump-in comes back into play. That random person turned out to be an absolutely amazing friend named Ye Li. I had been getting to know Li for several months through Facebook. She is so free and transparent with her thoughts and feelings. It was very easy to see that she is exactly the type of people I was hoping to meet here. Kind, sweet, generous, caring, easy-going, intelligent, independent, care-free, and funny, the type of person that I could call a real friend. With my choice for a new city being deadlocked at 50/50, the prospect of having such a great friend around easily tipped the scales to Suzhou.
I started my search for jobs. I got a list of contacts from my lead trainer and blasted out a ton of emails. I searched a bunch of different online resources for job openings. I was in communication with a few different schools, but it is almost impossible to find any useful information online about working at the schools. Ex-teachers go on these online forums under multiple names and bash their former schools to try to get revenge for being let go. School owners use a similar tactic to try to help improve their school's image. All of these review sites are just full of useless, he-said/she-said information. Most of which, is not even legit in any way.
I found a few jobs that sounded OK. One job that I really wanted was with a university. The pay was low, but the hours were too. The benefits were also great. My main concern when trying to find a job was the amount of free time I would have. This job looked to be the perfect place for me. Then, I got the bad news. The hiring manager told me that the public schools absolutely required two years of teaching experience, which I do not have yet. I figured I would now have to go back to my other options and put up with working more hours at a different type of school until I got the experience required to move on to the university.
One of the schools that was very interested in me offered quite a bit more money, but for double the hours. They are a private international boarding school. I read some information online about some of the teaching jobs at these types of schools not being for an ESL teacher, but an actual English teacher just like at an American school. So, I asked the HR manager for a little more information about the position. He told me that the job was for an English teacher, also teaching some History, and some Math. It was like a regular Western curriculum teacher. I told him that I wasn't qualified to do that type of job, and that I would not feel comfortable with it. He said that he appreciated my honesty. Then, he tells me that they are also looking for an ESL teacher and a kindergarten teacher. I asked about the other two positions and discovered that all along I had been talking to the perfect place. He made me a different offer on the other position.
This new job is exactly what I was looking for and more, even better than the university job that I couldn't get. Low hours, amazing benefits, and the monthly salary is decent. The new offer includes a free, fully-furnished, private apartment on campus. All utilities are included for free with no limits. Three meals a day are also provided for free on campus. The hours are normal school times, so no working on evenings or weekends. They also take off all of the national public holidays. There are two major breaks in the school year too. Winter break is about 4-5 weeks paid time off at the beginning of every year. They also give you a small bonus to help you get out of town and travel a bit during the winter break. Summer break is two months, all of July and August. Summer break is not paid time off, but if you are coming back to work the next school year, they give you a bonus worth one of those months. For summer break, the school will also reimburse the cost of a round-trip flight to and from anywhere in the world. All of this for only working up to 16 hours per week. Also, the class times are short and easy to plan for, requiring very minimal time spent working outside of the classroom.
The amount of free time every week, and the long breaks twice a year will allow me to see and learn so many new things. This is exactly my dream, and one of the main reasons for coming here. September 1st can't come soon enough!
I am already planning my visit back to the US. It will be August 2013. Everyone start blocking out your calendar. =)
PS. RSVP for two. My beautiful friend in Suzhou that helped to make this all happen for me should be joining me on this return visit. We will see you then!
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