Teachers are but Temporary Friends
Last year was a little hard for me, because I lived in a fairly remote location and couldn’t easily meet up with my friends. This year’s different. I’m closer to the downtown area, but… I have no friends. Well, okay, that’s not true, but when I scroll through my contacts list, I realize many of these people don’t even live here anymore. The problem with staying in the same Chinese city for an additional contract is that most of your friends (other foreign teachers) aren’t dumb enough to do the same. They either go back to their home country or move to another part of China to broaden their experience.
And then you have to start all over. Where’s my annual foreign teachers’ retreat?!
Changzhou does have monthly expat dinners, but most of the foreign teachers here either don’t know about them or don’t care. The majority of expats who show up for these get-togethers are businessmen. I know, some of these guys are good guys, but what helped establish friendships in the past was a common hate for teaching English. Businessmen ride in taxis and take married Chinese women out for dinner (that’s an unfair assumption, but I do hear it a lot) and don’t have the same experiences as a lowly EFL teacher. Plus, they usually come with a group of co-workers. Instant drinking buddies.
This is why, in my ancient Tips for Teaching article, I suggested bringing a friend (or spouse). Now you have someone to stay at home and watch DVDs with! Two people from Utah did come out here to teach with me this semester, but one of them is getting sent home because of visa problems, and the other (my brother) lives so far away, we can only meet up on the weekends. So when my girlfriend is sick, and my other Chinese friends have such inconvenient work schedules, I spend my free time renaming old blog posts. I dare you to read the archives.
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Responses to “Teachers are but Temporary Friends”
Comments RSS Feed – All CommentsHopfrog — 4 November 2009 @ 8:45 am
Funny entry Clark. Look on the bright side man, by staying a year longer your avoiding what is an absolutely dismal job market in the US. By the time you get back here it should be a lot better for you.
Clark — 4 November 2009 @ 8:11 pm
Do you have a date set when you’re going to come take my place?
Hopfrog — 5 November 2009 @ 1:50 am
Oh heck no!! I’m not dealing with the same people you have had to put up with. lol. Seriously though it seems you’ve had a bit worse luck than others.
Its probably gonna be two years. Better to prepare now and hammer at that Mandarin as I learned from one of your blog posts that its exhausting being over there and learning the language tends to take a backseat once your there.
Clark — 6 November 2009 @ 9:35 am
If you go with a training school, though, they will probably offer you 1-2 free Chinese lessons a week. Definitely take ‘em up on it.
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