What the hell is with all the "unite" crap on here lately. You sound like grandmothers. I think Im gonna hurl.

How about we do our own jobs, for our own reasons, ask for help when we need it & in the end, support each other by letting everyone bitch on a website instead of at the people closest to us, which Im sure you'de agree would be far more dangerous.

I have to say, this whole board was entertaining enough for me to read all these messages. And, I feel alot better about my own situation here. Freedom of opinion has some value...in my random opinion, anyway.

thanks,
random surfer

> Dear Foreign teachers, EFL employers, and any random surfers who read
> this message:

> I regret choosing such a morbid subject, but indeed, there is none
> best describing what we are really experiencing in today's EFL world.
> Everything we are complaining about is our own fault, and let's just,
> for the argument's sake take a net moment and analyze what's been
> done so far:

> First, someone offers us a nice place to post message and all we come
> up with is a nasty idea to mislead others so they don't come to get
> the job out of your hands.

> Then, someone criticizes you and it leads to subtle geographic
> clashes. Yanks battering Brits, Brits posing as Canadians, Blacks
> rephrasing themselves as non-whites (well if you're black, you're
> black, what is the point of adding a white word to yourself? I swear
> to God, if I were black, I would have preferred to be called a black
> man. So what the hell?)

> We are wasting our internet space, and one day, like water and the
> environment, we could possibly be asked to save this space. Don't get
> me wrong, but I am not misleading you. The internet has grown faster
> than diseases. With this waste, comes the folly: Everyone has misled
> everyone else, insults have taken place and more often than not, and
> incredible amounts of time has been wasted on nothing.

> What am I getting at? We are not united. EFL teachers are not united
> and this is the main reason you get screwed by your employer, be he
> Chinese or not. They know you do not like each other. They know you
> hate my country and I hate your accent. They know it, and are taking
> advantage of it.

> With what is going on, employers hire a foreign middle man to cheat
> another foreigner. I was being had by one American once. Airfare is
> not paid, salary is advertised per hours but not enough hours are
> provided. In another scenario, they offer you one contract and change
> it when you arrive. Likewise, some schools pay different salaries to
> a group of foreign teachers. There are thousands of issues, ranging
> from losing your mobile phone while squatting over the oriental
> toilet, to having spent days without food or money because the school
> vanished into thin air. All sorts of problems. Really.

> But whose fault is it anyway? Ours. As I pointed out, foreigners are
> not united here and they still have their moronic clashes along with
> them. We also do not do our homework correctly and just jump into the
> next available flight to Shanghai. What you see in movies, read in
> books or in forums in this case is never the same as the reality.
> Having been fooled by Jackie Cheung's movies where all you see is
> glittering high rise towers and enough food and wine to spill on
> every scene of action, you forget that the Mainland is still
> producing rice to feed the hungry babies who will be the future
> generation of the PRC. Maybe you read ambitious articles about the 9%
> growth of the Chinese economy, but then America is also world's super
> power and economic Giant. Why then, there are so many hungry people
> over there? We never prepared ourselves for the reality and when we
> arrived, we started bashing at each other.

> I almost laughed to death when everytime I see the dejavuistic
> effects of some African guy (or a white guy posing as one) posting a
> poorly written message on boards looking for jobs and screaming for
> racism, when, some white guys patronizingly support him, other attack
> him, or her, and the story goes on and on from board to board.
> Please, we have to stop this circus. It is getting ridiculous now.

> finally, I am no regular poster to any forum, but I was compelled to
> write about living costs in China, in comparison to salaries. We have
> another issue here. Some of you made it sound like it was not worth
> your efforts while some others "mathed" out a comparison
> with Western salaries and indicated that the one you get in China was
> better.

> Honestly, it depends on what kind of a person you are, what salary
> you get and under what circumstances you live.

> For an average Man Jack, or a woman if I may, 2000 yuan is the
> adequate enough to live on, but not live like a king [sic..] as some
> advertisements post. This does not include clothing, lesson plan
> preparation and hobbies. I'd say, it would fall between a monthly
> 2000-3000 yuan to have a comfortable lifestyle in China, while it
> would take around 6000 yuan/month to live it up like a prince, if not
> a king. WE assume the above costs under the condition that you do not
> live in the South, East or large, expensive cities. For these, add up
> 1500-3000 yuan additionally, provided your accommodation is provided
> for free.

> Now, to clarify the above, I will give you my own example. I don't
> smoke or drink, but I eat a lot. I also don't shop often. My monthly
> expenses fall in the range of 1500 yuan monthly.

> Chinese schools that pay any amount less than 5000 yuan/month per 18
> hours a week are simply not worth your while. What would you do
> teaching your ass off, saving only 10000 yuan/year? Forget about the
> bullshit that they say, ooooh my father only gets 400 yuan per month,
> and then you see them listen to an Mp3, and have KFC- which, I
> confess, I cannot afford to have everyday under my current salary of
> 4500 yuan/month.

> And, yes, Chinese teachers, some of my students who have become now,
> are getting somewhere between 2000-3000 yuan/month for nearly half
> the work I do, plus, they are local, plus, they do not have to deal
> with issues arising by living in a foreign country, plus they are
> allowed to freely moonlight.

> Now, dear friends, let's unite on this forum and truly help each
> other.
> Again, I know my writing may come under verbal threats, which I have
> already anticipated.

> Thanks all,

> The Mad Man