Getting lost in China sucks!
Well school is back in full swing again after a long and extremely hot holiday. It seems that since the holiday we have picked up quite a few new faces at the school. A few who are fresh to China and probably have the same lost in a different world feeling I had when I first got here. It weird being here for not quite a year yet and feeling like I’ve got the hang of surviving in China. It’s even stranger for me having to mentor the new teachers in the do’s and don’ts of living in Guangzhou.
Not so long myself I was asking the same questions that I’ve been asked, but it feels like they should be asking someone who has been here a lot longer than I have. Especially since I found out I’m the third most senior teacher since we’ve returned from the holiday. It’s an awkward adjustment for me to take on new responsibilities. So now I find myself giving advice to the new guys and hoping I didn’t lead them down the wrong alley so to speak.
I think the best advice I gave to two of the new female teachers was to avoid the cave bar. For guys I suppose it’s a good place to go if you are looking for a meat market but I figured these girls were not looking for what they would find at the cave bar. The biggest issue with the newest teachers is just their lack of experience with life in general. Many of them couldn’t find their way back home their second night in Guangzhou. I have to admit I faired a bit better in my navigation of both Guangzhou and Hangzhou.
They are all what I would call “kids” from Canada who have never been out of their small town in Alberta. Now, I know I came from a small town myself but I have travelled and I have had to survive on my own. I’m not sure these kids have ever been away from their parents for more than a week. I know it’s like that with everyone to varying degrees when they come to China. I try not to judge too harshly, because I constantly have to ask myself if I did that when I first got here.
The one thing I’ve learned since becoming a teacher in China is that foreigners are best to stick together, and look out for one another because you can bet you won’t get any kind of help from a Chinese policeman or any other public officer out on the street. The most you can hope for there is to not get hassled about your passport or shook down for some hong bao. That sounds a bit harsh and for those who think China is like the old Soviet Union it fits what they’d expect, but of course it’s not bad at all for foreigners. Once in awhile you will find a cop or a bao an, which is a city code enforcer, who wants to make himself feel superior by picking on foreigners. That, however, is another story.
