One Year Anniversary Since Teaching in China!

It's been a year since I came back from China, and I have a very different perspective now from then. At that time I was ready for my time to end and return to the people I loved. Now that I've settled in, I can look back and reflect more. It really was an awesome, transformative experience. I think I gained more patience and confidence.  

I really wanted to have a fun, super social year. In reality, I had a more of a introverted experience which isn't necessarily a bad thing. There was a nice balance of alone time and social time. I hung out with the same small group of friends and had such a great time with them. I talk to most of these people to this day. Thank you WeChat! lol 

The Three Musketeers! Remus, Dean, and I^^

I'll be honest, initially I was upset that I didn't have the opportunity to do a lot of activities. Dongying didn't have much to offer. We really didn't go to the movies because it was super expensive. There was no way to take any kinds of classes, not even Mandarin which I wanted to study. No martial arts, no clubs, no sports, nothing. In a lot of ways it was actually better for me to have less distractions. I really got my stuff together and made some life choices. I think I was afraid to be with alone my thoughts before that point and didn't want to think about my future. I really hoped that I would go abroad and things would click and I would stay for awhile and have it all figured out. And honestly that wasn't what happened and it made me stronger.

My Living Situation in China

When you teach in China the majority of schools offer you a free apartment (you may pay the utilities) pretty close to school either by walking or public transit. Some schools will offer you free on-campus housing which can be nice. My boss (a fellow foreigner) blatantly lied about our living arrangements. I wanted to share my experience and offer advice to those that were going to be living abroad.

My ideal living situation would be the first option: my own apartment. Seriously, I have had SO many bad living experiences these past two years before I left (most New Yorkers do) that I really wanted my own space. Like if I had my own apartment I seriously would have just ran around that ish in a circle for two minutes before I unpacked. So, when I had my interview and found out that the school had free on-campus housing I had a few reservations. Well, turns out I should have.

So the way the housing was explained to me was we had our own apartment. So, I’m thinking we are in an apartment building on campus. I decided to accept the job because the housing was free. Naturally, I still asked for pictures. I was told by my now boss that he lost the cord to his camera. In retrospect I know this to be a lie upon talking to my friend Britni shortly after my arrival. So, he finally sent me one picture, but it was of the flat screen tv on the wall. Ummmm my dude, this really doesn't show me anything. He also promised the room would be cleaned when I get there. When I arrived I learned that things were very different from the picture my boss painted. My room was super duper nasty; it hadn’t been cleaned since the last teacher left. I also didn’t have a desk and my toilet didn’t work upon arrival. My boss later claimed to me and my co-workers that our rooms were clean by "Chinese standards".

Review of Footprints Recruiting

I finally have time to write a review about Footprints Recruiting. This company is one of the well known recruiting agencies for ESL jobs. My experiences with them were in 2012, but I figured I might as well right a review because it may aid others.

When I began my ESL journey in I remember one thing I continually read on message boards: be wary with recruiting companies, especially big ones. I'm glad I kept that advice in mine. I was accepted by Footprints in July 2012. They were very prompt with their responses in the beginning and setting up an interview with me.

The interview went fine, and I found out shortly after that I was accepted. I worked with a woman named Katrin for documentation, and then my application was forwarded to Luna for placement. I emailed her a few jobs that I was interested in. I had a few questions about the process which I emailed her. I never heard back from her on those questions. I even waited a week, but still no response. I tried calling as well, no one picked up anytime I called. So, I emailed another woman named Tamara. I got an out of office response, but she didn't even email when she came back from being out. 

At that point one of my good friends advised me to find a job on my own and go through another agency to have different options. So, I did both. I scoured the China job board on Dave's ESL Cafe and found the job that I would later take in Shandong Province. 

Tamara emailed me back a few days after I landed my new job with a separate email that didn't address my original email. I sent her an email basically stating that I wouldn't ever recommend anyone to work with them due to their extreme lack of communication. Luckily, I didn't rely on them and didn't allow them to waste my time. I would recommend going with another recruiter and looking for jobs on your own. And if you do decide to still go with them (or any recruiter for that matter) don't fully rely on them especially if you have a specific departure time in mind.