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5/15/2012 9:26:18 PM
The dreaded Canton Fair just ended here in Guangzhou, and good riddance for a few months until the next one rolls around in October. For those of you who haven’t heard of Canton Fair. It’s an import and export convention that brings people from all over the world to Guangzhou looking for Chinese products to import from China or to find buyers in China for their own products. Needless to say it turns Guangzhou into hell on earth twice a year. The Canton fair runs from about April to the beginning of May in the spring and from October to November in the fall.
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5/2/2012 9:36:29 PM
I only had to wait 7 days to get my work visa after the long process of getting the paperwork together. My passport and papers only spent a few hours at the Chinese consulate, which means it spent more time in transit back and forth than it took for the Chinese government to look at it and give me my work visa page. Ironic when you think about how long things take when you deal with the U.S. government. I’d almost go as far as to say the government here is much more efficient than the U.S. but I’m sure I just haven’t run into the horror stories that others have encountered here.
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5/2/2012 8:51:22 PM
When I left off I had just returned from Hong Kong and nearly didn’t make it back because of a “passport malfunction” aka washed twice in the wash. I decided that it was time to get serious about getting my paperwork straight just so I didn’t have to go to Hong Kong so much because once in a while is ok but when you have to go all the time, it gets old fast. So I put in all my paperwork and prayed for the best, because I had been advised by many foreigners online and in person in China that it would be a long shot for me to get my work visa.
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2/11/2012 7:52:10 PM
Wow, where do I start catching up on what’s been going on in my life in China? It’s been a crazy 6 month sabbatical filled with some personal losses on the home front back in the states and with some successes here in China. Even though I’ve been a bit overwhelmed with everything going on, it’s not really an excuse for going MIA on you guys on here at CLM and I hope that by starting by filling in the blanks for everyone I can make sense of my descent into isolation.
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9/2/2011 1:02:18 PM
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.
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8/9/2011 9:30:59 PM
Often our dreams become nightmares if we don’t cultivate them in the right way. If we expect our dream to be just handed to us or that it will just happen on its own we risk spinning our wheels and getting nowhere. Then there is the scenario we’ve all been warned about. “Be careful what you ask for, you might actually get it.” That is personally the worst thing anyone has ever said to me because if you aren’t willing to work hard to get what you asked for in the first place then not only do you not deserve it. You deserve any ill that befalls you for not being prepared for whatever you were wanting.
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8/6/2011 1:52:06 PM
My daddy once told me there is nothing sadder than watching a fat man cry, so I’m sure the people of Guangzhou think I’m the saddest man around. As Gareth pointed out it’s the dog days of summer all over China but for those of us in the south it’s especially miserable. The tropical humidity is a torment upon the senses as I sweat from one air conditioned building to another. You really have to pace yourself or you will look like you’ve been out in the rain instead of just going out for a quick bite to eat.
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7/13/2011 12:16:16 PM
I should probably let you guys know something about the kids I teach and about what makes this job so rewarding and yet so stressful at the same time. I have six classes that I teach. Five of those classes are with young children who range from 4-9 years old, and I have one class of older students who are 13 and 14. That class is nice because it’s relief from the craziness that comes with teaching small kids.
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7/13/2011 12:12:28 PM
The evaluation from the owner of the company went well, and I got a pat on the back for the job I did teaching that class, even though that class is my trouble making class. It felt good to get through that and to get the praise that I did, but then they dropped the bombshell that my open classes were coming up and that is even more important than the evaluation.
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6/7/2011 9:32:52 PM
As there are in any part of life there are ups and down that make you question your resolve in any venture you take. So it’s not surprising that the past couple of weeks my resolve has been tested to its limits. You find stress no matter where you go, so if you plan to come to China to find a stress free Utopia, be warned, that is a pipe dream. The profession of teaching is no less stressful than my past jobs. The difference has been that this job actually gives me satisfaction at the end of the day.
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