I think I found my job. :)

So, I've been looking for a job teaching ESL in China. Had some job offers, but nothing that really jumped out at me...

In the last few days, I seem to have stumbled into one of those serendipitous turns of fortune that no student of the way can turn down. All the same, forewarned is forearmed, so please forewarn away if the impulse takes you. :)

So, a few years ago when my uncle was teaching English in Thailand, he met an English teacher from Kunming, who was also teaching abroad that year. They just got married last week.

Well, I just found out three days ago, that my new aunt left her job to start her own private English language school in Kunming.
She just offered me a job a couple of hours ago.

I thought we should both sleep on it, but I anticipate that tomorrow I will accept her offer--just seems like too much happy coincidence to ignore. The Lonely Planet Guide Book calls Kunming, "One of the most laid-back and liveable cities in China." Also I know there is a kung fu school there that I can train at. My brand new fifteen year old cousin-in-law is studying sanda there. :)

So. Kind of funny that after all this resume polishing and interviewing, I end up getting a job just for knowing the right person. Though I guess that's how things usually go. It's been a good experience anyway; working as a cook for the last decade has made me a little rusty in those areas.

Obviously there's a risk to working for a new business and a risk working for a new in-law, but it feels right.

Anyway, any advice is totally welcome...I've got 24 hours to think this through, catalysts appreciated.

Thanks all.

sounds like you got your break and things aligned just right for you. personally, id go for it. congrats, and good luck on your decision!

Very few of us get the chance to do what we want.
If this is what you want, do it.
Opportunities must be taken when they are given.

You'd be surprised how often it's who you know more so than what you know.
You'd be equally surprised by how many cab drivers claim they are doctors and engineers.

I know for a while there that the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corp) had me convinced that every cab driver in Toronto had at least a bachelors of science degree and should be working in a hospital or architectural/engineering shop.

Then I came to learn that the CBC has a tendency to be a sickeningly left winged bleeding heart liberal grab bag of nonsense on a good day. Not to mention, I've taken a few cabs in TO.

Not much different from Jersey....lol

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Originally Posted by David Jamieson

You'd be surprised how often it's who you know more so than what you know.
You'd be equally surprised by how many cab drivers claim they are doctors and engineers.

I know for a while there that the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corp) had me convinced that every cab driver in Toronto had at least a bachelors of science degree and should be working in a hospital or architectural/engineering shop.

Then I came to learn that the CBC has a tendency to be a sickeningly left winged bleeding heart liberal grab bag of nonsense on a good day. Not to mention, I've taken a few cabs in TO.

Not much different from Jersey....lol

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Further investigation showed that many "universities" in certain countries were "handing" out degrees for $$$.

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Originally Posted by David Jamieson

I know for a while there that the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corp) had me convinced that every cab driver in Toronto had at least a bachelors of science degree and should be working in a hospital or architectural/engineering shop.

Then I came to learn that the CBC has a tendency to be a sickeningly left winged bleeding heart liberal grab bag of nonsense on a good day. Not to mention, I've taken a few cabs in TO.

Not much different from Jersey....lol

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I'm not sure I see the connection...? Obviously a warning of some kind. :)

Nuts. Just realized if I go to Kunming, I'm obligated to post pics of midgets for Gene. :o
http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/...ad.php?t=56645

Dan,

Kunming is awesome. Very laid back, and great travels near it...Far different than Henan; that is for sure.

No matter what you decide, make sure to get a Z Visa, proper contract, medicals, and all of that legal stuff. Probably also best to check and see if the school has a license to hire foreigners.

Just important stuff to have if you want to stay in China for a good while. I am sure you have researched all this, just wanted to give a heads up. You don't want to be in any school in China if it is going to get raided by the PSB...not cool.

Cheers

Oh yeah! Tiny people kingdom!

Bring the midgets!!

Kung Fu midgets would only be awesome.

Find them! Find them now! :p

Nothing's ever perfect or simple.
No license to hire foreigners, so no work visa through my aunt

However, after talking to some people and looking around online, I'm pretty sure if I just go to Kunming to look for work then I'll have a better time finding a job there than if I try online.

Now I don't have the savings to spend a few months in China looking for a job...but if I live in my Aunt's duplex and let her feed me in exchange for 'volunteering' my help at her school, then I should be able to afford a few months to look for something 'official.'

So...I guess I'm going to go to Kunming on a tourist visa, be my aunt's 'guest,' and check things out. It's not perfect, but at least this saves me from signing a 12-month contract for a job in a place I've never seen.

Shaolin Dan,

I feel like a part pooper, but...

You might want to check to see if you can get a Z visa from Hong Kong once you get a contract as hardly any schools have the connections to have tourist visas changed to work visas on the mainland. In the past almost all schools sent their teachers to Hong Kong to change their visas, that is if the teachers showed up on tourist visas to find work.

Even so, they had stopped issuing them a couple of years ago for people who went to China the looking for work, got contracts, then went to Hong Kong to change. Those people had to fly back to their home countries and head to consulates there, get their medicals and finally their Z visas, then fly back to China. Expensive...

Years ago, a person could go to a Chinese Consulate basically anywhere, and get their visas after providing contracts. As far as I know that isn't the case anymore. I think the days of showing up for work over there are dwindling down. The government is trying to do what it can to keep the undesirables out of the country. Nowadays, most people get all of it set up from overseas, get med checks, get their visas, then go to China, then get their med checks again, and get their passport stamped with a work validation because the work visa itself expires 30 days after in country.

Check out www.eslcafe.com. Go to the China jobs forums, and make your plan from there. You probably already know about that site, but you can get some good China info their under the China jobs forums.

Again not to be a pooper, just trying to help. I lived in China for a good while, and little by little I saw far too many get screwed by employers. Plan it out detailed.

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Originally Posted by TAO YIN

Shaolin Dan,

I feel like a part pooper, but...

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I suggest more fruits and vegetable, plenty of fiber, and make sure you're drinking enough water... :D

Sorry, had to do it. Actually, thank you very much. Most people I've talked to have thought it sounds good, but I have the same reservations you have.

My own research has also shown me that this kind of visa change is not so easy as it used to be. Nevertheless, a lot of people still seem to do it and I want to travel in Asia anyway, so I don't mind going somewhere other than Hong Kong...though, yes having to fly back to the States would be very frustrating.

It comes down to the risk between going to Kunming on a tourist visa and not knowing if I'll get a working visa vs. the risk of agreeing to work for a year at a place I've never seen. Either way it's risky...but it beats the risk of being a cook for the rest of my life.

I think I'm gonna go for it...I'm still waiting to hear back from the school in Nanyang, and the two job offers I have gotten really don't appeal to me. I don't think anyone's going to hire me from here to work in Kunming--too many westerners want to end up there.

But please, poop on my party :)--at least it alerts me of the risks I'm taking.

Years ago I watched the making of the SI Swimsuit Issue video. In the video, there was a guy that held up a towel in front of one of the models to allow her a bit of modesty from the camera while she changed. I thought - wow, he's getting paid to do that... that's his job.

Just got back from a meeting with a major PBS station... I might be producing something that will have national distribution. They're definitely interested!!!

One step closer to creating my dream job!!!

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Originally Posted by MightyB

Just got back from a meeting with a major PBS station... I might be producing something that will have national distribution. They're definitely interested!!!

One step closer to creating my dream job!!!

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can i have 5 bucks?

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Originally Posted by MightyB

Just got back from a meeting with a major PBS station... I might be producing something that will have national distribution. They're definitely interested!!!

One step closer to creating my dream job!!!

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that's awesome. Good luck MB. Let us know if you get it.

Just got back from a kind of artist's conference I go to every year. Was talking with a professor who's done a lot of teaching in China. Mentioned the work vs. tourist visa thing and he told me he just found out the job he's taking for two months in China this year is paying him on a tourist visa...guess I figure if a sixty year old married professor and the university that hired him can do it, then so can I. Still need to get a ticket and a visa, but it looks like I'm going to Kunming in a couple months. :)

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Originally Posted by ShaolinDan

that's awesome. Good luck MB. Let us know if you get it.

Just got back from a kind of artist's conference I go to every year. Was talking with a professor who's done a lot of teaching in China. Mentioned the work vs. tourist visa thing and he told me he just found out the job he's taking for two months in China this year is paying him on a tourist visa...guess I figure if a sixty year old married professor and the university that hired him can do it, then so can I. Still need to get a ticket and a visa, but it looks like I'm going to Kunming in a couple months. :)

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Sounds like an adventure! You definitely got something cool in the works going on. They have that funny economics system where laws only kind've sorta apply so you most likely won't end up in some Chinese gulag never to be heard from again.