It's been a long time since I did my one year contract at Huijia back in 2004 to 2005.

I'm Canadian born Chinese, back then I just got my teaching degree & certification specialized in grade 7-12 biology/science.

I must admit I didn't do enough research online, got sucked into a contract at Huijia, and overall I did not really enjoy that year of my life.

It did not help me gain any real professional teaching experience, they really are not a school but a money scamming system to cheat rich Chinese parents of their money while the teachers and students suffer. I had to beg my sister to ship me some textbooks from back home, which the school actually took and made copies for all my students to learn from. They had no curriculum, no material, nothing.

My goal was to do some traveling after graduating, learn about my roots, learn some Chinese, get some teaching experience all in one shot.
The biggest regret was how little I grew professionally while teaching there.

Yes, most kids in the middle school were challenged, lacked motivation, and lost. But I was lucky and had the pleasure of teaching two out of my many classes where more than 3/4 of the kids genuinely cared about their future, and they really respected their teachers. I tried to do the best I could with what I had, I was heart broken at the end of the year when I found out that their assessment results from my tests didn't count for anything.

Especially when I put in so much effort through-out the year teaching, and the students really studied hard. Even though I hated the lack of resources, the administration, how the school operated, I fell in love with all my students, I even went back to visit them summer of 2006, they were so surprised and touched, it was very rewarding.

Living conditions. I lived on the first floor of the teacher's dorm. Not sure where the foreign teachers live now, but I was okay with my bachelor apt w/ washroom.

Rent was included in the contract, I was only getting paid 4,925rmb back then (I was pretty pissed when I found out other foreign teachers, some that were not trained/certified, got higher pay than me, but then I found out some got even less than me), when my contract was up they offered me 7,000rmb if I stayed, but of course, I just wanted to go home.

Power was included as long as I didn't go over the monthly allowance, and water was free. We all had little hot water tanks in the washroom ceiling so we could take a warm shower whenever. The room did get very dusty everyday and I only found out later in the year it was because of nearby coal burning stacks. Under-floor heating worked fine in the winter but it sucked up too much power so I bought a portable oil heating unit instead. The apartment was not fancy but it was ok, downstairs there was a kitchen only meant for foreign teachers and I always felt so guilty using it because there were some Chinese teachers that lived upstairs but could not use it. I was also ok with the cafeteria food, growing up eating my mom's Chinese (Cantonese style) home cooking, I easily adapted to the Northern Chinese food, but my fellow Canadian & American colleages did have a hard time.

We would crave western food so bad, often on weekends, we would go into the City for burgers and drinks. I remember on the second floor of the cafeteria they had chicken sandwiches.. sometimes it did the trick when I was just too sick of the usual Chinese food. Sometimes for lunch we would walk to the village nearby and get noodles. Sometimes we would take the black cabs to ChangPing for dinner.

Back then there was only 3 black cabs that waited at the gate, we got to know them very well, two of them were brothers, we could even call them to pick us up from ChangPing, it was only 10 rmb/trip.

We also got to know the guards at our gate, we gave them little gifts like snacks etc, and then eventually we didn't have to sign in/out or carry our pass. One thing that really made living conditions bearable was the dorm lady and her assistant. they weren't too involved with admin and all the drama, they really took care us like family. I remember one time I got extremely bad diarrhea, I thought it would go away but it lasted for a week, when I told the dorm lady, she helped me book a couple days off from work, took me a hospital to get IV antibiotics, then made me rice porridge three times a day for the next few days until I was better. By the end of the year I treated her like she was my mother and her assistant my sister, if it wasn't for them, living on campus would have been much more difficult.

They were still there when I went to visit in 2006, but not sure how much longer they stayed.

After about half a year the isolation of the campus gets to you. It's literally in the middle of nowhere, some hills nearby and a stream. There was a village nearby but we got to know it like the back of our hand after the first couple months. Back then the village was only one street, with a few blocks, and nothing much to offer. ChangPing the nearby town wasn't too far either, but on weekdays it was a hassle to go just for dinner, it would also burn up 20rmb each roundtrip. Going to the city was a must on the weekend, otherwise you would get cabin fever. We used to go as a big group or just a few buddies, eat, drink, hangout at the bars, vent about the school, and then stay in hostels. Eventually though we figured out the price to stay at a hostel (~100rmb/person) was more than sharing a black cab back to the school (~100rmb/car = ~25rmb/person), plus we would get to sleep in our own beds, and not deal with checking-out on a Sunday morning hangover. It was almost a ritual Sunday afternoon to go into changping and get some McDicks to fend off the hangover. I can admit I never drank as much in my life as that year in China. I think the alcohol helped all of us cope with a lot of things, not just frustration of the school, but also isolation, culture shock, boredom, everyone's own personal issues, etc.. and of course for fun! Most of us foreign teachers were still between 20-30 yrs old.

The best part of of that year for me was the friendships that I developed with a few of the foreign teachers. Like a team of soldiers on a life threatening mission, they bond and grow close. We survived together from the support we offered to each other. Even though at the end of the year when we farewell patted each other's backs, I knew we would each go our separate ways, but those memories would be cherished for a long time. I know this sounds so cheesy, but that's how horrible it felt sometimes living and working at huijia and that's how important those friendships were to make the year go by ok.

Not only friendships with fellow foreign teachers, but also Chinese teachers, dorm lady & assistant, students, black cabbies, gate guards, restaurant & bar owners, village restaurant owner who gave us oranges when we had our last dinner as a big group there.. I can actually say, for me, these were worth living and working at huijia for a whole year.

So, advice for teachers that have not signed up with huijia yet but are considering, don't do it. won't help your career, you won't gain much professional experience. It sucks to live & work there.

Advice for teachers that are already signed up, ignore the drama, stop fighting the system, you can't win anyways. Focus on your students, what difference can you make for them with the little that you have been provided with? Make friends, try to have fun!, it will be the only thing that can keep you sane. Learn Chinese.. you might as well, you are in the perfect environment to practice it.

The more positive you are, the less miserable you will be, and the faster your contract will expire. Then you will be free.. but cherish the good memories.. I'm sure you will have at least some.