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My story begins on fairly cold day, not one I'd normally consider cold, only about -2C ish, but with the added fact that there is no indoor heating anywhere, you definitely begin to feel differently about subzero temperatures.
Some may begin to wonder why there's no indoor heating in this story, well that is because it takes place in Huaihua, Hunan, China. Inside the apartment I was given, there was heating in the form of air conditioning in one room, the rest of the place was just like outdoors, I don't know why I even kept my fridge on. Aside from that, it wasn't too bad, I honestly didn't care that back in Britain a slum lord wouldn't have a shot of renting that out.
For me, if the place has reasonable internet, a bed and a chair, that’s enough. I didn't expect the constant power cuts, occasionally for 30hours+ in the middle of winter, with me ending up being too cold to sleep. Luckily the local internet cafe had power all the time, so I didn't mind that, its 24hours too, so whenever my power did go out, I was there.
I was teaching middle school students here from the second week of September up until about the second week of January. When I first came I was under the impression, formed from the training (bare minimum) I was given that I'd be teaching/helping them with their oral English. That was one crazy assumption, it turned out that the company I was sold to had their own idea of what a native speaker's time should be spent on. Teaching vocabulary to students with zero English. What's more is that I was forbidden from using my laptop/their desktop in class, no colour printouts, and severely limited black and white printouts: roughly 10 for the week, and I taught 900 students in total. This left me with a blackboard and chalk for my lessons.
I just graduated from University and had no experience teaching whatsoever, so leaving me with students that don't understand a word I say and no technology to help me communicate was definitely a wise move by them. They did give me a teaching assistance who would occasionally translate, but spent most of the time just chatting to one or two of the students.
Even with all that in mind, it wasn't a big deal, the people were incredibly friendly, although they did stare like crazy.
So here are the circumstances surrounding the dismissal: I'm feeling pretty damn rotten after one of the days of teaching and its about -2C, I decide to give my boss a text stating that I'm going to take one of paid sick days enshrined in my employment contract tomorrow. Why did I ring them a day early, well to avoid people playing hookie they thought it be a great idea to get us (three foreign teachers in total) to give at least one day notice of being sick, so it wasn't possible to wake up and feel sick, completely not allowed.
What I was met with was threats, lies and abuse. They were incredibly pissed off that I dared to be ill in the 5th month of my employment. I was threatened that my hours would be increased with no additional pay, my holidays docked, that my work visa would be cancelled, followed by made up parts of the contract they started citing at me as if I'd never read it. All over 1 sick day.
I contacted my agency that set up the teaching placement, they were even more annoyed that I did that, they tried to tell the agency a big fat load of bollocks; luckily I had my contract ready to show my agency that they're indeed full of it. At about 8pm, with me feeling like total crap and them still ringing me and texting me informing me that I can’t be sick, I just turned my phone off and got some sleep, I was in no shape to do anything else. I stayed in bed for most of the time the following day feeling pretty bad, but luckily I got a parcel from home a few weeks back with Lempsit Max, I love that stuff.
I came back to work as I told them I would: after 1 day off. 4 days later I got letter stating they're terminating my contract. I was ecstatic, best news I got all year. So now I've got nearly a month to see China.
PS: Can anyone from Shanghai or Guangzhou recommend any internet cafe or anywhere they'd view as a must see?
  
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Wow.... now those are some hard working conditions.
What can I say...? Good luck in the future and hope you find a better job and people who appreciate you more..
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Thx for your post.
Would love to hear more stories from your 1month travel.
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Well, that sucks, but at least try to enjoy your last month in China.
Since you're in Hunan, you should go to Zhangjiajie first. Then Beijing is a must see. Mount Daxia in Gansu is probably one of the most amazing sight in the world. Jiuzhaigou isn't too far from Hunan either and is really nice.
Shanghai is one of the nicest cities to live in for foreigners, but there's not that much to see unless you're a big fan of skyscrapers.
I live in Shanghai, so if you decide to go there anyway I can give you recommendations about stuffs to visit, restaurant, pubs, anything, just PM me.
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Good read.
I am really curious of China, be it mainland or Hong Kong.
Indeed I want to study there and learn chinese, but it is hard to have solid intel on how it happens.
I guess it is not the same for everyone but your experience is incredible, I wonder if it would be the same in bigger cities.
Still, good read. Enjoy your trip !
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If you want to get another job in China it shouldn't be too hard. Just because you lost one job doesn't mean you have to leave if you don't want to. I'm in Qingdao, which is an ok place, but its not really on the list of places to see before you die.
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United States24483 Posts
If that happened in my home area there would be tremendous amounts of recourse, but this is China and you are not from there so it's easier just to take the hint lol. Man, those sounds like some nutjobs you were working for. If I needed to take a sick day after a few months and they started harassing me on the phone like that, I would refuse to work for them anymore... who needs that crap.
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On January 29 2013 01:04 micronesia wrote:
If that happened in my home area there would be tremendous amounts of recourse, but this is China and you are not from there so it's easier just to take the hint lol. Man, those sounds like some nutjobs you were working for. If I needed to take a sick day after a few months and they started harassing me on the phone like that, I would refuse to work for them anymore... who needs that crap.
Exactly what i would do. So i guess getting fired was a gift after all!
Good luck and enjoy the last month there. Hopefully you'll get a better place to work in the future.
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Ugh sounds like awful management, if that happened where I live you could sue ; ) definitely enjoy the last month man.
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Have you thought about doing cram tutoring? Its legality is kinda in a gray area but its usually more lucrative and you can't get pushed around by administrator types as easily.
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grats on getting fired? lol o-o;;
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You deserve better than this. Sounds like you will do well when you find another job. People will notice you if you are hard working.
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I am just asking, shouldnt you have known somehow that those kids wouldnt know any english? And also, how you deal with living there when you cant speak chinese (I am guessing that Huaihua is not a City where you will find alot of english speakers)?
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Having lived in Hunan for several years already myself I can definitely understand where you're coming from. Hunan, and especially a place like Huaihua, is not somewhere I'd recommend for someone new to China. It can be pretty rough in Hunan and take some serious adjusting, although if you're serious about really experiencing China and learning about the language and culture it's a great place to be, but the journey is never an easy one. Even lasting as long as you did is something to be proud of, because 5 months as a newcomer in Hunan is quite a bit harder than spending even a year in cities like Beijing or Shanghai, so you can take that away at least.
As far as things to see, Endy had some good recommendations (especially Zhangjiajie, pretty close) but it also really depends on what you're interested in. If you want more modern stuff, check out Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong (all of which can be reached in under 4 hours if you take the high-speed train) in the south, or Shanghai and Beijing further north. If you want more natural scenery, or ancient things, check out Fenghuang (also relatively close), Yangshuo (HUGE tourist area for foreigners), or one of the various mountains China has.
Specifically for Guangzhou though, it depends again on what you're looking for. Shamian Island has some interesting buildings to look at as it's where foreigners were first allowed to stay and conduct business in Guangzhou. 上下九 (shang xia jiu) was also a pretty neat area, lots of shops and food, both Western and local food. Beijing Street has a lot of stores and stuff too if you're into shopping but personally I didn't see it as anything too special. The Tianhe district has a lot of newer things around it too, such as malls and sports-related things, it's a pretty decent area. There's also Baiyun Mountain in Guangzhou if you're into that. Anyway, my biggest recommendation for Guangzhou would be to find and enjoy the local food, it's really quite different (and better in my opinion) than the food in Hunan.
Unfortunately you'll be traveling during the Spring Festival which means traveling is going to be a headache and a lot of things are more expensive, but I guess you don't have a choice so, good luck. On the bright side though, if you have any knowledge of Chinese at all you'll be delighted to know that after 5 months of trying to understand the garble that people from Hunan call Chinese, you'll probably never have a problem understanding anyone in China again (as long as you know the vocabulary of course).
Good luck and enjoy your last bit of time in China, and sorry you had a rough time in Hunan, but there is an upside to all of it 
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China is like the wild west for English teaching. You can get a good job or crap job.
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God damn, reading that just made me so mad 
Glad you got your ass out of there--sounds like a good thing that you're leaving. I hope the morons who employed you regret firing you, because it really seemed like you did a good job. Shame that you ended up there in the first place. May your next job be much better~!
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was the management Chinese? and what happened to the other 2 English teachers??
is it easy for them to get a replacement? If not then it sounds like it might be a setup lol, they realized the contract wasn't working well for them and they've been waiting for an excuse to terminate for weeks.
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when I read the title, I thought you were the guy who outsourced his job to China and spent all day on reddit and finally got fired
Meh, that still sucks though
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Without trying to sound bad,
Things like this are why I suggest people who want to teach in China, to get to a big city first to open up to the culture. It makes it easier later on when you go to a less developed area to show them you'll do well.
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EPT
