China is an amazing country to experience. There are a great many changes that have taken place as China embraces the 21st century which are bringing semblances of Western culture to the major cities.
First things first though, have we mentioned you need to be patient?
Have we mentioned that life here can be a struggle at times?
Learn, explore, smile. Be patient, be open, be nice!
Your experience in China will largely depend on where you are and who you are. Consider the regional differences in your home country, now consider the differences in China, one of the largest countries by land mass in the world with over a billion people... starting to get the idea... the Texas accent to the New Yorker? Brisbane to Adelaide? Vancouver to Halifax? Mandarin to Cantonese and about 100 other dialects... life in China is diverse.
Who you are will make a difference because those people who are able to to let their frustrations go and open themselves to the culture by getting in amongst it are going to have an absolutely fascinating time.
There truly are enough teaching jobs in China for you to first pick where you want to live and then for you to find a job teaching there. Footprints will work with you to make sure they do their best to make this happen.
So now it's up to you... where do you want to live? Or, more to the point, what do you want from China?
The apartment provided by the school is across a main road and down a narrow lane through hundreds of parked bicycles, scooters, street vendors, small open ended shops and loitering people of all ages, to what I can only describe as what looks like an entrance to a cave, then up a flight of solid cement stairs into a kind of open hallway.
I got to China mid-September, I still remember the day, at first “foggy” as my airplane settled onto the ground, which later gave way to a bright, sunny morning. I was a little unsure if anyone was to going to meet me at the airport, but thank god there was. They took me to an apartment where two American foreign English teachers had been living for the past 10 days. And then I experience my first true “Chinese” experience – instead of calling them, or buzzing the apartment (they didn’t know the number) we had to call up to the 5th floor and hope one of the two Americans would hear us.
I got to China mid-September, I still remember the day, at first “foggy” as my airplane settled onto the ground, which later gave way to a bright, sunny morning. I was a little unsure if anyone was to going to meet me at the airport, but thank god there was. They took me to an apartment where two American foreign English teachers had been living for the past 10 days. And then I experience my first true “Chinese” experience – instead of calling them, or buzzing the apartment (they didn’t know the number) we had to call up to the 5th floor and hope one of the two Americans would hear us. After about 10 min (when I was thinking “what is going on…?!”) one of the guys came jogging up – he had been out for his morning run. We introduced ourselves (Mike was his name), and then the first thing he said to me was that his lungs were burning, it was too polluted to run in China and that was the last time he was going to try.
Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan watch out! Mike Eastman is all about KungFu.
Mike has always had a passion for martial arts and he has found his niche in China.
Recently Mike performed in a martial arts exhibition and was the star. The local TV crew captured the even and followed him from his stretches to his solo act with the bar and sword and his class demonstration with the sword.
Let us know about your experience with Footprints.
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