Teachers’ Retreat and Spontaneous Favors

Every year, Changzhou holds a retreat for all the foreign teachers. Last year, it was in November and was a great way to finally meet some fellow foreigners who I would otherwise never know existed. This year, Changzhou was a little late organizing the event. It’s already mid-December, and the semester’s almost over. It’s frustrating to finally talk to new people when I’ll be going home in a month.

This retreat was a little unfocused, as well. We were given an extensive tour of a middle school nobody had heard of before, subjected to a 30-minute investment opportunity pitch for a solar energy company, and sent through an art museum where everything was readily available for purchase. Look, guys, we’re foreign teachers. We’re not made of money. Besides, wasn’t this supposed to be honoring teachers instead of soliciting them?

Another common occurrence when foreigners are invited to a party in China is to spontaneously ask them to give a performance. I was recently invited by my school to attend a banquet on Friday. After I accepted, the teacher then added, “We also want you to sing a song or do a dance.” And this happens all the time! At the retreat, we were watching a series of musical numbers when the next item on the program called for “classic foreign songs.” Guess who they wanted to sing them? Yep. Classic foreign teachers.

It pays to read the program before you sit down. Seriously, though, am I being invited as a guest or as a performer? Get it right before you extend an invitation.

16 December 2009 | Teaching | Comments | Home
tags: expat life, manners

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