My Recommendations on Teaching in Rugao...don't do it.

I’m not going to write a lengthy explanation of why I don’t think you should work for Happy Goal or Web in general.  I’m just going to list the things that shocked the hell out of me and pissed me off and you can decide if you want to put yourself through it too. (It kind of turned out a bit lengthier than I meant it to.)

Truths:

-       The pay is incredibly low, even for Rugao.  There are schools down the street that charge 1/3 or even ¼ of the price that Happy Goal charges, and their foreign teachers get WAY more money.

-       They lied to me about where I was teaching.  They said I would be teaching in Nantong, but I’m in Rugao and no one can tell me why Rugao is “a part of Nantong.”  Nantong is ONE HOUR away from Rugao.  And Rugao is just a completely different place.

-       There isn’t much to do here.  There are a few site-seeing areas that can be done in like, two days.  There is a movie theater.  There is shopping.  And there is an Olympic Stadium with exercises to do, but it’s a ways from the school.  The bars kind of suck.

-       If you sign a contract for the kid’s side, YOU WILL work on the adult’s side too.  They offer to pay you extra money per class, but it’s not really worth it.

-       Working on the kid’s side, you will have to attempt to teach American aged 2 and 3 year olds a very specific, very intense (for that age) list of vocabulary.  And if you let them be kids and run around (yeah the two and three year olds) the parents get mad because you aren’t disciplining them.  There was one student in particular that I finally said I refuse to teach him, so I stopped teaching him (he couldn’t speak very much Chinese so…) – that was not a fun experience, but if the parents have money to put there kids here, expect it.

-       Before I started, I asked what age group I was going to be working with.  I prefer 7-10 year olds and I don’t want to teach any younger.  They told me that of course I’d be working with 7-10 year olds, but would it be okay if I had a few younger students.  I stupidly said okay, and now I have one 7 year old, and the rest are younger.  Just know that you will be working with really young kids.

-       MOST IMPORTANTLY!  They said that certain things (like my visa) would be paid for in the contract.  However, that is conveniently, “not what they meant” when they wrote it.  They meant that they would cover my residency fee.  It took a lot of arguing but it is sort of getting paid back (but not in full).  They also make you pay for your doctor’s fees once you get here for the residency permit - which as far as I could find (on the internet), it is the only real expense for a residency permit.  MAKE THEM PAY FOR THAT.  And make sure that when and if they send you off to Nantong for work and stuff a billion times for paperwork, that they PAY for your bus ticket, and make sure that they will do that before you go. 

-       This job is a lot of sitting on your ass (and showcasing your English abilities in front of huge live audiences), but you have to be good with the kids or the parents get upset.  The kids are great, your coworkers will be amazing, but if you want to work in Happy Goal Rugao (because you are crazy or stupid or just want to ‘have a try’), I don’t recommend it.  It’s doable…MISERABLE, but doable.

-       OH AND! This is the most frustrating part about BEING IN ANOTHER COUNTRY.  You really don’t have any opportunity to go ANYWHERE.  Like seriously.  If you are my poor, unfortunate replacement, you will have to work T, TH, FR, SAT, SUN.  Saturday and Sundays are NEVER OFF.  And you only choose between MWF for your days off.  So you don’t get consecutive days off to go anywhere or enjoy anything.  It can be quite miserable and frustrating. 

Maybe a little bit about the job:

- You are required to be here 5 days a week, 32 total hours, Sat & Sun non negotiable.  You have to do AT LEAST one demo every time you work, maybe more.  Which means there is a very specific song and dance sequence you have to do in front of all the different parents.  I'm warning you now, in Rugao some people put their kids through the demo so they can see a foreigner, which if that's your thing, then great.  You can either follow the already written lesson plans, or create your own following the basic guidelines.   I actually have a lot of fun with that, but that is a small drop of water in a lake of "no thank-you."  Your Chinese co-workers are great, and you may or may not have one other foreign teacher that you sit next to.

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-       Also looking at this job online – they are advertising for Shanghai…so appliers BEWARE.

I'm baaaaacccck!

A view of Shui Hui Park from outside the entrance.

So for the first time in what feels like forever, I decided to write a blog post today.  Then I stared at the screen for an eternity, browsed Pinterest (‘ve finally figured out the navigations of that), searched this, watched that, then flipped back to my writing.  What do I write about?  It has been almost a year since I wrote any blog, and I feel like I have so much to say (and yet nothing of great import) what do I say?

In April, I moved to teach in China and that has been really interesting.  Honestly, I love the people where I live – they are super friendly, really inclusive and a lot of fun to be around.  Interestingly enough, it’s a lot easier to make friends here than it is in the United States.  My one of a handful of problems, however, is the language barrier.  My friends here definitely have a good grasp on English, but every once in a while you can see their eyes kind of gloss over as their comprehension fails them.  And that’s much more than I can say for my comprehension of Mandarin.  I mean it’s a lot better than when I first arrived here nearly four months ago, but it’s not conversational level by any means.  If the school where I work would have kept their promise, I’m sure my comprehension would be a lot better.  But everything I’ve learned, I’ve taught myself.

Time is sure flying though.  I am almost to the point where I have just two months left, which is kind of a pity because I’m really starting to rock as a teacher (even if the kids can’t see all the hard work and thought that I put into everything).  After months of dilly-dallying, I finally have the SMARTBOARD program installed in my computer.  And let me tell you, my lesson plans have improved significantly.  The kids love learning by games, and I’m kind of able to create mini-computer games that they play.  I mean they’re not super advanced, but they are still a lot of fun and make them think.  Kind of like the super simple, yet thought provoking, computer games like Reading Rabbit – again maybe not quite that advanced, but I think I could come up with something really similar.

However, I am really looking forward to going back home.  I miss my friends and my normal life there.  While I am definitely making the best of this adventure and enjoying the culture, I just miss home.  It’s pretty natural.  And of course with there only being two months left, I’m starting to freak out.  While the pay here isn’t wonderful, it’s good for here, and it is a job.  I’m, once again, starting the process of job hunting and it sucks.  I feel like I will be perpetually in a state of looking for a job, but I am hoping this next one is one that will stick for a while.  Well, I think that was a good re-introducing-myself-back-into-the-world-of-blogging-for-now update, right?

#China #Rugao #adventuresinchina #Mandarin #languagelearning #esl #tefl #tesl #smartboard #teachingabroad

I'm 1 in 2 Million: Are You?

Hi, I’m one in two million and I am looking for the other (approximately) 3,500 people in the world like me.  Now, if we factor in that only about 35% of the world has access to the Internet, I will be lucky if I am able to reach 1,125 of you.  I’m not even going to try and factor in and account for all the different languages out there (the translator button should be in the upper right hand corner).

Anyway, you probably are curious as to whether or not you qualify as one of my special 1,125 people out there.  Well, I am looking for people with rare genes – well, specifically one gene.  I am looking for people who have the awesome ability to say that they have one of the following:  Cleidocranial Dysplasia(CCD), Cleidocranial Dysostosis, CLCD, Dysplasia Cleidocranial (someone thought they were being clever here, I think), or Marie-Sainton Disease.

Basically, these are all terms for a rare genetic bone disorder that I also happen to have.  I am sort of a scientifically minded person, and am very frustrated that there isn’t a lot of literature with regards to this disease.  Surely someone else would like some new and updated information too?  At least for the sake of curiosity!  Now, I get that this isn’t exactly a prevalent world disorder, so it’s not a hot topic to do research on; however, I am SO curious how other people are living and to what degree this effects them (and also to make sure you are taking lots of Vitamin D). 

So if you could, please pass this around so we can find each other.  I want to hear about your life stories, what you’ve had to go through, any “cool tricks” you can do (our shoulders can be pretty freaky), if you’ve had to do extensive orthodontic surgery (which is a bitch and a half).  Also, it would be nice to have someone to compare and contrast the little things that we may experience (random bone pain, anyone?).  It would be much more interesting to get some real life info from people rather than reading case reports (snooze). 

How To Crochet: A Possibly Instructional Follow Along With Pictures For Beginners

Hello friends!

Inspired by my friend who wants to learn how to crochet, I've decided to do a step-by-step instruction of how to get started.  What you are going to learn how to make is a set of potholders.  Potholders are something easy to practice with so you can get the hang of crocheting.  If you really want to make a blanket, I recommend crocheting at least one pair, as I mentioned, to get the hang of it.  The more you crochet, the looser your stitches may become - it just is a part of the practice.

Also, I am going to slightly cheat.  I really want to be approachable for beginners, but I'm bad at describing how to hold a hook and how to hold the yarn, so I've hyperlinked the some directions for your convenience.

You will need yarn and a crochet hook.  Typically for something like a potholder, you will use a G size hook (or 6-4.25mm).  The type of yarn that I normally use for potholders is Red Heart Yarn, which is your basic, bountiful yarn found in most yarn carrying shops.  For potholders, you don't need a nice or expensive yarn, especially if this is your first project and you just want to try your hand at crocheting.

Picture A

First make a slipknot.  Then stick your crochet hook through the loop and tighten it slightly.  You don't want to make it too tight; you want to be able to move the loop up and down the crochet hook.  (Picture A).

Wrap your yarn around your crochet hook and pull through (Picture B).  This first stitch you have done is what is known as a chain (Picture C).  When you find patterns online or in books, etc., it's usually abbreviated as chain.  Chain 26 (Picture D), this is going to be your "base line" from which you will make everything else.

              Picture B                   Picture C                            Picture D                           

 Now take your crochet hook and count back two chains and stick your crochet hook through.  Wrap the yarn around the hook, and pull it through the line.  You should have two loops over your crochet hook (Picture E).  Wrap the yarn around your crochet hook again, and pull it through both loops to make a single loop on your hook (Picture F).  You have just completed your first single stitch (ss) (Picture G). YAY!!

   

Top Left: Picture E, Top Right: Picture F, Bottom Left: Picture G                                                                                

 Continue with your single stitch in a circle until you can fold your potholder over.  Eventually, you will want to flip your potholder inside out so the pretty lines are on the outside (Picture H).  When you fold your potholder over, the two edges should come together seamlessly, you shouldn't have to stretch it to fit (Picture I).  From here you can either stitch it up, or add an embellished top to place store them on hooks.  I have both listed below.

Picture H                                                                                        Picture I

Top to Bottom: Picture J, Picture K                                                                     Top to Bottom: Picture L, Picture M 

Finishing:

From the top, take your yarn down the length of the potholder, up halfway and then cut.  If you have made the embellished top, pull the yarn through the last loop.  Put your crochet hooks through the top two single stitches, wrap your yarn around and pull through.  Zig-zag down, until you have successfully stitched up your potholder.  When you get to the bottom, fasten it off by making a loop, then pulling the stitch through.  It's like you are making a chain or a single stitch, but pulling the yarn all the way through.  Now take your end piece and pull it on the inside of your potholder.

As you can see from the pictures of the final ones I posted, I use these all the time.  They are very durable and long lasting.  I'm fairly sure some of the ones my mom made are around 25 years old.  You can also use more than one color for fun effects, or for holidays.  My orange and brown ones are my Thanksgiving potholders.  They also make great housewarming gifts or stocking stuffers for parents.  Oh, and in case you didn't figure it out, the pink one I used to show you how to crochet a potholder is much smaller than the actual one you will be making.  So, besides the first few photos the photos are not to scale.  Thanks!

Feel free to ask any questions.

-Stay creative!