Job fairs, and opening my eyes to how big the world really is.

It’s the beginning of May now, which means my adventure in China is now approaching an end. My contract to Shijiazhuang Foreign Language School is almost up.

To be brutally honest, I don’t want to go home.

It’s not because I don’t want to see friends, family and everyone in between. I do, more than ever. But New Zealand is so, so small, and trying to develop any sense of identity and worth is difficult. It is also a relatively poor (yet developed) country especially after the global financial crisis, so earning money becomes a chore and not something to enjoy and develop within a career setting.

China however has proven to be one of the better decisions I have made in my short 22 years of life. Granted there have been unexplainable, almost breakable, points about it. It would take the rest of my life (and then some) to be able to give you a concise and accurate description of China, and even then it would not do it justice. Regardless of all this, I want to stay in China and ‘find myself’ in a more global setting.

Sarah, an expat better versed in the China scene, mentioned a job fair that was happening in Beijing. I had never been to a job fair before, and asked if I could come. Luckily for me she is a gracious individual (and possibly delighted at the thought of some travel company) so she said yes.

Catching the G train (oh NZ, how I wish you had such a magnificent rail system) we arrived in Beijing close to 11am. After navigating the subway using our paper maps and an app I downloaded (Explore Beijing) we arrived at the swissotel Beijing for the job fair relatively on time.

The job fair was specifically designed for foreigners in China and had ~50 stalls spread around the second floor conference room. Most were for teaching jobs through various universities, understandably. Others though were for marketing, finance, engineering and many other areas. I had no idea what to expect from a job fair and found myself quite unprepared for some encounters, especially regarding my outdated and unavailable CV (I managed to break the printer, whoops). I am definitely applying for the marketing and writing opportunities I discovered and left my contact information at, and have been re-designing/updating my CV today for further opportunities. Overall I found the day quite successful, and I now have a wider understanding about jobs, careers, and how to begin finding myself in such a large country like China.

Wish me luck!

E.

Pingyao

From the top.

Pingyao

Hu tong (alley way).

Pingyao

Night time.

Pingyao ready for this?

There was a short holiday from Monday-Wednesday just passed, so to fulfil the travel bug within some of us expats a party of four ventured out of ‘the Shiz’ to a magical ancient realm known as Pingyao.

 

Ollie, Lucy, Alheli and I were that party. On Monday we set off on the G Train to a city called Taiyuan, which would then allow us to connect and continue to Pingyao. Over the course of the whole trip I think we spent ~30 minutes in Taiyuan, and I can say for sure it is one of those places I would never wish upon my worst enemy. Icky, ick, ick.

 

From there we were hoping we’d get lucky and jump on a bus to Pingyao and arrive relatively safe and sound. Unfortunately the bus was a nightmare to find. We settled on bargaining with a taxi driver who took us there relatively safe and sound (I think there were only two cars driving on the wrong side of the road, and one guy dragging a cardboard box in the middle of the road. Overall for China it was quite tame).

 

We came into Pingyao that evening, and walked down the road towards the walled ancient area we would be exploring. It was a nice transitory action, being able to walk from a modern perspective of China, to crossing into a time-warped land of old but unforgotten China.

 

That night we walked up the main street and found what we thought to be a nice quiet bar to relax in. Chinese music is very predictable though and consists of the same ‘doof doof’ beat, which became far too persistent to allow for relaxing, so the relaxing was resumed when we finally hit the hay and called it a night.

 

 

Day two was our only day for a proper exploration. Waking up relatively early we exited our hostel (a nice, cheap place) in search of some better food than what we could find near us. A hostel named ‘Harmony’ was what we found, and if I ever go back to Pingyao I will be staying there. Finding another hostel owner with the English calibre of that lovely lady owner will be nigh impossible. We then set off to the Western part of the city, which held some attractions but none of the main ones. Upon arriving at one of the temples we were informed we must purchase a ticket near one of the biggest attractions.

 

The mentality of China when it comes to waiting in lines to purchase tickets and other various things is a resounding collective ‘NOPE’. The chaos surrounding the ticket office was comparable to a heavy metal rock concert, complete with some young girl sucker-punching a blow up cow wearing individual. Finally, after many elbows in personal spaces, we collected our tickets and promptly booked it from that area to further continue the travels (the tickets were valid for two days so we explored a great deal of ancient Pingyao).

 

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Pingyao. A walking holiday in relatively fresh air, surrounded by old Chinese culture is just what the brain needed. Pingyao used to be a financial hub as well so I enjoyed knowing I was in an area that helped developed the economical infrastructure of a country soon to be the most powerful in the world.

 

Some pictures will be included to describe what my words cannot.

 

 

E.

A simple plan for planning in China.

Step one: Say everything you are going to do.
Step two: Do the complete opposite.
Step three: Don’t tell the foreign teachers.
Step four: Profit. (Somebody always profits).

I work 27 classes a week, spread across a 25 Junior Two/3 Junior One ratio. By this logic I should have most of my work interactions with the Junior Two department. If anything is to change at the school, then a veritable team of teachers and leaders employed alongside me should be able to inform me of said discussions, yes?

Hahaha. Nope.

If you ever work in China, be prepared to redefine the word ‘communication’.

Usually communication means two parties exchanging or imparting information/news/ideas and so forth.

In China communication is….well…it’s…

We’ve recently had our timetable configured to the ‘summer’ plan. The change now means I start classes at 7:45am, and finish my days at 6pm. This started after our short holiday celebrating May Day (of which another post will be about). I know all of this because I was informed of this time change by one teacher from Junior One, not Two, as I would have expected. And I was informed, by China standards, on time.

Now there is such a thing called time in China. I affectionately label it as ‘last minute for everything’ time. Everything you think is important will be told to you. Just at the last possible second of its conception.

So my short lesson here is: when dealing with China, be prepared to have every conceivable Plan A you could possibly make thrown out the window, along with Plan B, Step Five and Preparation H. You must be able to adjust to this new ‘rush’ rather quickly, as China doesn’t care about that evening coffee you wanted with your friends, or your hair appointment, or if your fish needs watering. China wants everything done on its time, whether you can keep up or not is another story.

 

 

E.