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Sign up with Google Sign up with FacebookQ: Was China your first choice when you came over?
Most of us came to China for one reason or another but was China your first choice? Would you have gone to Thailand, Vietnam or some other country to teach given the opportunity? Personally, I would have opted for Thailand. What about you?
10 years 6 weeks ago in Teaching & Learning - China
China was absolutely my first choice and I don't regret it. I'm sure Thailand, Vietnam and other places have their lessons to teach, but I've been educated in the most unexpected ways here. The experience has changed my life. I've had more enjoyable stays in other countries, but I'd be hard pressed to beat China in sheer weirdness. Our next adventure will be a couple of years on open water. I don't know if it will compete with living in China.
I came to China, because of my Anshan girl.
I was looking at Taiwan first. I was even applying for T. visa in London, but then Taiwanese told me Chinese cannot enter and stay in Taiwan, so I changed to China.
At my 'Helen no last salary pay' skirmish, I was ready to exit, and talked to few Schools in Hanoi and Ho Shi already.
However, I got my last pay from Helen, and I stayed in China. Split with my GF too.
The first time I went for work in China, I was actually aiming for Singapore : it sounded like a good place to do R&D in Asia with a good pay and carrier opportunities. In my case (looking for a post-doc position), Singapore was a much longer shot : less funds, more applicants. I had some vague opportunity in Singapore, but the offering in China was far better, so I traded Singapore for ... Hefei. My time in Hefei is a good memory, so no regrets at all
I'd already done Korea, and Japan wasn't doing well with the great ekiwa collapse of 2008, and thus ended up here...two to three more years left and then goodbye Mao-land.
I wasn't looking to work in China, let alone teach. I came here to pick up my Chinese wife.
But the Canadian government wouldn't let her in for a few years. So I decided to retire and live in China. After a year I started to get bored. I didn't want a full time job either so I found a teaching position in Sichuan at a college. Turned out I was good at it and really enjoyed teaching. This will be my 5th year teaching. Now that my wife has her Maple Card we may live in Canada next year.
Overall my experience has been a good one.
Each place is just as awful as the next, just in different areas.
so it didn't matter where I went.
I'd love to work in Taiwan but I'm a non-native...so I can't...I'm happy I can visit though, so close from here...
China first...but being a non-native, it took a looooong time before I got here. Vietnam was my next option.
Thanks guys. I suppose most of us came over because we needed to get something done, be it getting away from it all or some personal matter. I find it odd that once here, most of us tend to stay longer than expected for some reason or other. I stayed on because I found it more bearable here than back home, even with all the crap habits.
My first choice was either Bermuda or the Bahamas but got married and wound up married. What the hell happened?
I spent time in Thailand, several years. So. Korea, 1+ year, Japan (Ota, not too far from Tokyo), 1 year, before I moved to El Chino... truth is I preferred all the others and am hashing-out plans to return to TL.
To be honest I had no choice of anywhere else. Manufacturing company I worked for on the Isle of Man opened a factory in GZ but still ran the Design department from there. I was sent here initially on business trips to train Chinese Engineers to do my job. Luckily (for me) they weren't fully up to it so I ended up developing & managing a small engineering team, initially long distance, with more trips each year. Guangzhou was quite a culture shock at first but also intrigued me. At the time I lived in a quiet seaside village of 3,500 people so this huge city, with a language I couldn't understand, & real Chinese food (compared to British style Cantonese food ) was somewhere I enjoyed exploring on my weekends off.
Eventually, in late 2009, I was asked if I wanted an apartment & jumped at the opportunity. Been in GZ since then, changed jobs twice (start new one next week), got married earlier this year & feel at home now in GZ.
Do I get itchy feet sometimes? Yes, but only when I find new places for me in Asia & think "this place is interesting". But at the end of the day GZ has everything I need & my wife settled here many years ago so it is home now.
I wish we could have worked in Thailand or Vietnam (which I'd done before), but MrA melts in the heat, so it had to be a cold place :(
Yeah it was part of my long term plan to study and then work in China as well as learn mandarin Chinese.