The Truth
- 2016-08-22
Paolo moved as they no longer wanted over 70s as teachers.
You all have a very Pollyanna-ish view of goings-on in Yuncheng.
Funny, and oh so very naive.
And no, I won't go into more detail.
I dunno
- 2016-08-09
Ahh yeah. Paulo, not pablo. Yeah he was a great guy. We used to speak spanish to each other from time to time just for kicks. Love that old guy.
moniker
- 2016-08-08
Well, when I first went to Yuncheng, yeah there was only a KFC and Pablo's little joint, but they have a damn Papa John's there now.
I believe an FT who taught for the IELTS outfit by the name of Paulo had opened a small Italian diner in Yuncheng. Paulo was a tall old Italian, I think, who spoke excellent English. He had very good manners. Last I heard, he had wed an Aussie lady. They left Yuncheng for Australia. I never visited Paulo's place, but I heard the grub there was tasty and reasonably priced. Paulo must be at least 75 now, if he's still alive. I only met him once, he was a great bloke. One of my TAs updated me on his whereabouts. Everyone liked him, according to her. I wonder if Pablo's little joint was Paulo's.
I dunno
- 2016-08-08
Geez! Old friend of mine showed me this forum stuff yesterday. Took me over an hour to read this huge wall of text.
Yuncheng EV huh? Brings me back a bit... I worked in Yuncheng for about 3 and a half years... ish. Same school.
I got this real shit-eating grin on my face the first time I saw Helen's name mentioned on this forum. What about Chantelle? Don't remember seeing her name mentioned (and i'm too lazy to check all this text again), but she was worse haha.
Let's see... well, I'm not really a forum guy so I'm not gonna bother quoting people's previous posts and whatnot, I'll just jot down what I can remember. There were some truths mentioned about the agency itself in these posts - like about how they try to withhold passport, recommendation letters, FECs, etc. (Well, they tried to anyway) of the two women there in charge of dealing with the FTs - Helen and Chantelle - They both gave me headaches honestly, but Chantelle was the woooooooorst jesus. I'll never forget that woman haha. Most of the time you'd ask them a question of any kind, they'd generally give you the run around.
The school I was at was alright though. I was the sole FT at that particular school the entire 3 1/2-ish years I was there -- which was awesome for me actually -- and there was indeed a TA with me all throughout. The same one, mind you, for 3 1/2 years. It's been a little over 2 years since i've left EV, but me and her still keep in touch to this day. Love that kid - She's like my lil' sis (who keeps bugging me to get married so she can attend the wedding and see me again) lol. I mention this because I was reading some shit about how the TAs, water guys, etc spy on you and report back to the company. Gotta call bullshit on that. I remember a few times when Chantelle was actually kinda pissed at me because whenever she'd call me and ask where i'd go for holidays, if i was dating anyone or whatever else, i'd just give her these vague ass "iono" answers more or less. The TAs do in fact attend regular meetings at their offices, but my TA never ratted me out (can't speak for the other ones though).
Mmm... that's about the bulk of it i guess. Other small things like western foods not being available there... Well, when I first went to Yuncheng, yeah there was only a KFC and Pablo's little joint, but they have a damn Papa John's there now. It was opened like 4 months before I left, and that place was legit... damn that pizza was good. Andrew's joint was alright too the few times I went, but I didn't go there much. HK it was called, which stood for like Howard's Kitchen? Or Howie? I forget. But yeah the food there was pretty good as well. Andrew was a cool ass guy to talk to as well, so if you go there, go say hi.
Anywho, that's about all I got. If you have any questions, feel free to ask and i'll answer em'. See ya! 
The Truth
- 2016-06-13
Hear hear!
In the USA this manfests via H1b visa gambits that replace local STEM talent with far cheaper immigrant talent.
EIEIO
- 2016-06-12
Even the direct hires now adhere to the agreed upon collusion, as do all recruiters who place in the area.
Yin Xing cut their offer from 7500 to 6000. In line with all other local offers.
Salary still 6000, exchange rate is worse now, still no holiday pay, still the same crappy apartments, but 8+ years of price inflation.
Yin Xing has chosen to source its FTs through an agency, Buckland. That's why the salary paid to FTs has been substantially reduced. That agency is happily gobbling up the difference. Collusion is not taking place.
That school is a private school. In China that is a definite negative. Public schools have higher quality students as a rule. The hardest vacancies to fill are those for kindergarten and junior high school FTs. That school's complement is a mere three FTs, one kindergarten FT, one junior high school FT and one senior high school FT. Most properly credentialed foreigners choose to teach senior high or college or university English in China. That school's county location is also a negative.
Maybe Buckland International will be that school's savior!
PhD teacher
- 2016-06-11
Even the direct hires now adhere to the agreed upon collusion, as do all recruiters who place in the area.
Yin Xing cut their offer from 7500 to 6000. In line with all other local offers.
Salary still 6000, exchange rate is worse now, still no holiday pay, still the same crappy apartments, but 8+ years of price inflation.
Of course this is a knock-on-effect of English speaking countries (mainly UK) being flooded by foreign labour, who will work for a very low wage and also monopolise many job vacancies completely. Many young British people with degrees wouldn't have bothered about teaching at all I dare say if they could have found other work in the country. The result is that they are forced to actually use their degrees teaching in China. There are so many of us taking refuge in China that you can hardly blame the Chinese for cutting the money and providing second-rate accommodation. Don't blame Chinese schools because we have brought it upon ourselves and brought it upon innocent Americans, Australians, etc. The sooner we leave the EU the nearer the day will come when FT wages rise again in China.
The Truth
- 2016-06-11
"Better deal with schools directly instead!"
That puts all of Yuncheng and Shanxi off bounds. Yet another disqualifier.
Due to local customs, politics and entrenched corruption, it is not possible to direct hire except at the universities.
However the apartments are still the same shoddy filthy ones with little or no kit, the salaries are identical to 2007, and the local business customs remain.
-No holiday pay
-Work on short notice for the weekend
-Making up holidays by working the weekend before and after
-No functional reference due to millenium of spite to former employees
Even the direct hires now adhere to the agreed upon collusion, as do all recruiters who place in the area.
Yin Xing cut their offer from 7500 to 6000. In line with all other local offers.
Salary still 6000, exchange rate is worse now, still no holiday pay, still the same crappy apartments, but 8+ years of price inflation.