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for Old Codger

 

After a bit of a tour of the new campus, I realized that some of my fears of being stuck out in the middle of nowhere were somewhat exaggerated.  There is a complete shopping area complete with restaurants and what not (not sure what all the "what not" comprises of as many of the shops were closed) but I did see a couple of beer advertisements.  By complete shopping area, I mean shoe stores, a large grocery store, restaurants, laundry, DVD rentals, post office, etc. etc.  In short, the University is a mini-city that is supported by all of the essential conveniences - right out there in the middle of nowhere.  Needless to say, I was feeling a bit better about things - and having been lied to. 

Lie number two:  They had told me that I was going to be teaching 16 hours a week.  Let's change that to teaching 16 classes a week - but for the first month it is only 12 classes a week.  Their idea of an "hour" is actually only 40 minutes.  So, that means that I am going to be working only about 10.5 hours a week rather than 16 hours a week.  That is going to be hard to take, but I guess that I can live with it.  Don't really have much choice in the matter. 

The teaching isn't going to be all that difficult from what I can figure out so far.  All of the class rooms are computer equipped and have every teaching aid that is known to man.  Hell, I am going to have a bit of a learning curve - OK - a big learning curve on that since in Thailand we had absolutely nothing to help us with teaching - other than the ability to roll up some papers to swat unruly students with. 

Unfortunately, as I kind of expected since I couldn't get a definitive answer from them before, they don't really have any text books for teaching English.  It is up to the teacher to develop his or her own materials.  Upon hearing that, I was quite happy that I had saved all of my teaching materials from Thailand - and spent hours scanning much of the materials into my computer for future use.  I had also collected a fairly large amount of books and such - about 24 kg (52 lbs) and spent 8,000 Baht to ship those to China via UPS.  So, with all that I have, I am going to be going in quite prepared.

Lie number three:  The salary that they said that they were going to be paying me turned out to be wrong.  It is actually a bit more than what I was quoted.  Not going to complain about that lie too much.  The taxes are going to kill me on that increase though!  Going to have to pay about 50 Yuan per month for income taxes from what they told me. 

The campus is huge - spread out quite a bit.  But the school told me that they would provide me with a bicycle to get around with.  Might nice of them - should be quite a sight to see a person my size riding around on some little Chinese bicycle.  Last time that I tried to ride a bicycle was in Thailand and kept on hitting my chin with my knees on that one.  Before that was about a decade ago when some friends and I took a bicycle ride around Amsterdam.  That trip about killed me.  Only thing that I could find to cure the muscle aches and strains was copious pints of Guinness. 

After giving it all some thought and consideration, I think that I will instead invest in an electric scooter - practically everyone around here has some form or variation of one.  Price isn't too bad for one that should be big enough to haul me around - 2,800 Yuan - about $350.  That should allow me to "escape" the "Campus City" once in awhile and partake of Western food and companionship down at the Captain's and a few other places that I have discovered. I can also claim that I am doing something for the environment and doing my best to stop global warming. 

One nice thing is that the level of English of those that I have had contact with so far is quite good.  The Dean of the Foreign Studies Department - my boss I reckon - speaks very good English - for the most part.  We had only one minor misunderstanding when I asked if there was a dress code for teachers (me thinking that I might be forced to wear a tie and all that crap) and he started digging around in his desk to give me his business card.  Turns out that there is no dress code for teachers, to which I breathed a sigh of relief.

They couldn't tell me how big the campus actually is - nor how many students are on this one campus.  On all three campuses here - it is something like 30,000 students according to them.  Given the infrastructure of the campus, plus all of the stores and what not, I would estimate that the campus population will be in the neighborhood of 10,000.  Not sure what the boy - girl ratio is, but I suspect that there may be more girls there than boys.  At least I saw more girls today than I did boys. 

Of course - it must be added that in at least one way - China is no different than Thailand.  My initial appointment was made on Thursday last week.  It was initially to be on Friday morning at 11:00.  Then they called back and said that Friday was not good, so it would have to be on Monday at 11:00.  So, this morning, already having reached the conclusion that there are similarities to Thailand, I called to confirm the appointment for this morning at 11:00.  After a bit of stuttering, my contact advised me that 11:00 was too late.  I'm thinking that it would all be put off until tomorrow - but she then asked if 2:30 today would be OK.  In Thailand to explain things like this we would simply say - "TIT" - This Is Thailand.  For here, the phrase will be "TIC" - This Is China.  Phrases like that do make things bearable and even, almost, understandable. 

So, bearing in mind that this is China, I might be able to move into my new apartment by Friday or Saturday.  That will give me about a week to explore the new campus and get orientated.  The school is giving me my very own assistant - young and cute at that - that will help me with every aspect of living here. 

So, despite the lies, things should be quite good.  :-)  Can't really complain about the way things have turned out. 

Next letter will be out in a day or two.