Be sure to start at the beginning with "The 7-Year Laowai: Part 1 – Introduction", or see all posts in the series here.
After Tom, that was it for me. I decided not to "renew the contract". I applied for math-teaching jobs at international schools in many different cities, but come September, I was across Wuhan. In another university.
Teaching oral English.
I never cut down on my drinking. In this place, h…
Be sure to start at the beginning with "The 7-Year Laowai: Part 1 – Introduction", or see all posts in the series here.
I had an English class once where this girl interrupted me to ask what I thought of Japan, and without waiting for an answer, proceeded to tell me that Japan had killed many Chinese people, that they hated China, they were jealous of China. Then she went into Korea. Korea "stole our culture". You…
Be sure to start at the beginning with "The 7-Year Laowai: Part 1 – Introduction", or see all posts in the series here.
With Matt gone, nobody really did anything. They bitched. We all avoided Keith like the walking kindergarten plague he was...but none of us did anything. I won't say that I tried but had no support, but really, what were we to do? We were English teachers in China, lucky enough to have these jobs…
Be sure to start at the beginning with "The 7-Year Laowai: Part 1 – Introduction", or see all posts in the series here.
Paul left in June, and that August brought us Keith. Within a year he had transformed our university into his own private playhouse.
Keith was at first unassuming. From somewhere in the Midwest, he said he had done career counseling, and after an early retirement, had decided to come see China…
Be sure to start at the beginning with "The 7-Year Laowai: Part 1 – Introduction", or see all posts in the series here.
A foreign affairs officer once said that to renew the contract "the teaching must be really excellent".
If they wish to sing that particular song, then I'll let them, as long as we understand something: your position here is not based on teaching ability, hiring you wasn't based on it, and th…
Be sure to start at the beginning with "The 7-Year Laowai: Part 1 – Introduction", or see all posts in the series here.
Seven years of my life are gone. Looking back, it doesn't seem that long, but I guess it was a long time. I always find myself nagged by a single, ugly feeling: that I wasted my time. That no matter what I did, I never used it wisely enough. For all the stress my rebirth in China brought, there w…
Missed the first post? Catch up with "The 7-Year Laowai: Part 1 – Introduction", or see all posts in the series here.
Those first few years were the worst. You enter a period in your life where you can't say for sure what you're doing or even who you are. Each day the same as the last, they blur together like a flipbook. You can only see flashes of what you did, what you were. Little isolated fragments that do not…
I was a foreign teacher in China for seven years.
They say life is too short. Well, then they ought to come to Wuhan, China. Life here is not short. It drags on; on through the scorching summers, on through the wet, freezing winters, on through the smog and the sun lying concealed beyond it like something peeking at us through mesh. On through the nights in bars, in KTVs, or alone in your apartment as you visit wh…
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Travis