Just finishing up 18 months at Ivy.

It has been great.

Received my salary every month.

Some months I earned 8000¥, other months I earned 14000¥. On average, I earned about 11000¥ per month, plus a free apartment, which is clean and spacious, as well as properly maintained.

I learnt a lot in the past 18 months, as this was my 1st experience of teaching English in China.

Jiamusi is a beautiful city, as far as cities go. The river-front as amazing. We loved spending time on Willow Island, visiting Tsi Fung Mountain and traveling to surrounding towns.

It is easy to get around. 1 ¥ for a bus ride. 6 ¥ for a taxi.

Cost of living is low. If you want Western Food, you're going to pay a little more 130 ¥ for a pizza at Pizza Hut, but our family (7 people) eat out for less than 180 ¥ and that includes our drinks.

We love the markets. Got myself a pair of Tommy Hilfigger Jeans for 100 ¥ the other day and taking a train somewhere is easy.

It is cold in Winter (-25ºC), but apartments and most buildings have heating. It is rainy in Summer, but also green and beautiful.

The school's staff is kind and capable. Like anywhere, we love some and we don't love others. We made some great friends.

If you're just looking for a job, this won't be for you. This school has had its fair shair of dissapointed Americans coming here to make a few bucks, before they are too old.

If you love kids, if you love people, if you love teaching, then this is an amazing opportunity.

At Ivy you teach small classes (6 - 15 students) and they are mostly young (6 -12 years old).

You also teach at Public School in big classes (50 - 80 students), mostly 13 - 15 year olds.

At Ivy (and now at most of the Public Schools) there are smart boards, which makes teaching very easy, if you are willing to take the time, prepare well and offer a good class.

In the past 18 months I've worked alongside different people (mostly Americans). The ones who wanted to teach, who really loved kids and cared enough to prepare for classes flourished. The ones who just came to make a few bucks hated every moment and left with a lot of anger.

Teaching is hard work, if you care to be a good teacher. You take time to make a fishing rod or a telescope for a single class, something you might never use again, because you know it is the best tool to teach the kids what they need to grasp.

If you're not that guy, I wouldn't come to Jiamusi.

The Chinese staff are serious about what they do.

You work legally on a Z Visa.

The director is kind and caring, looking after you as if you are the most precious teacher in the world.

For me and my family (my wife of 20 years, our 4 kids and my sister) it was a good and very safe first experience of China.

We've explored Heilongjiang Province and because Ivy and Jiamusi was good to us, we are now off to the little University Town of Liangxiang, where we hope to see and experience more, while doing our best to be exceptional teachers.

That is why Ivy is recruiting right now.

It could be wonderful for you.

But I imagine if you're just another dissapointed person, you'll be dissapointed here as well. We tend to take our dissapointment or success with us, wherever we go.

If you have more questions, mail me on theunispienaar@gmail.com .... as we were choosing our next job, it was great to speak to teachers who'd been there before, and thinking about it now, 18 months ago, when we were newbys, it would've been great to talk to someone who had some first hand experience of the place.

T