Mme Thatcher once said something like 'when a 30 year old man is using a Bus then that man is a failure'. Elegantly put, but it can perhaps be extended to say that when a 30 year old man is earning the equivalent of the minimum wage back home but lording it in south-east Asia with nowhere else to turn then that man - or woman! - can also be seen as a failure. None of it worthy of more than a minutes contempt of course but there is something of the energy of failure, of the realisation that all the hopes built up on that first freshers week, all though these dreams of academic achievement and fulfillment have been dashed against the sludgy outfall the south China Sea, there iis something of that defeat in much of the commentary here

Sure EIU was a bit of a racket but no more than other schools or Universities in the region. And yes sure the wonderful brilliant students we were fortunate enough to teach there were being screwed a bit but again no more than elsewhere in the region I am sure. And remember this whiners, you had more than four hours each day to put together a lesson plan tight and energetic enough to defeat any and all the structural problems - of which there were many - in the system. It really was your job to do that and you were paid handsomely for it. Sounds like you didn't quite make it. As for the crying about the manager, well yes definately to be avoided with - literally - two drinks in him but his job was to manage the project, not look after the students the more pastoral stuff was the job of the mentors - or whatever their title was - and the teachers. Your job.

ESL is in itself a dead end. Something to keep the bread on the table while you are getting on with doing what you really want to do. EIU was a peculiar place, the first landing of the jobs tsunami, many of the teachers there clearly posh chaps fallen on difficult times following the financial shakedown. Stranded posh boys and status hungry East-Europeans eager to demonstrate their mastery of the perfect tense. Kiddies, get out of it. Have fun, don't whine put that GBP3000 somewhere more productive than an MA Tesol. Take up stone-carving, or painting or...