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From Magic City Morning Star R.P. BenDedek R.P. BenDedek (pseudonym) is a conversational English Teacher from Brisbane Australia, currently in China (Hubei Radio and TV University Wuhan), and writes for Magic City Morning Star News. In addition to his 'Stories from China', he is the author of 'The King's Calendar:The Secret of Qumran' at www.kingscalendar.com. Summer 2005 I have from time to time, had people send me emails telling me that they like my stories about China. More often than not however, when I receive emails, it is to complain about something that I have written. The best was from the guy in the United Nations who called me a racist for my remarks about the Chinese. Well, if you are touchy about this type of thing, don't read any further. Be Warned! One of the things I like to do occasionally, is to find other people's comments and stories about their experiences in China. I usually have a wonderful laugh, because better than you arm chair tourists, I know the 'gut feelings and reactions' when one experiences some of the stranger things (actually the normal things) that happen in China. I have several pet peeves about living here, and one is about the organisational skills or lack thereof, that are so ever constantly present, and this Summer I have once again been the victim. Before going on however, I do wish to point out that I have in fact learned to 'go with flow' here in China, and take everything 'with a grain of salt'. I never accept anything at face value, and no matter how dear to me a person is, or how much I trust and respect them, I never for a minute put my hope in anything said to me, because I know that I am living in a culture where nothing is really what it seems, not the least reason for which is because I as a westerner, see everything through a different mindset. I also take my hat off to Nan S. Russell for her articles published at Magic City. They are real gems that remind me of what I have learned here. Last Summer (August 26th 2004 Article 9) I wrote a story about my Summer Camp experiences http://magic-city-news.com/article_1877.shtml This summer however, I am still waiting to do a Summer Camp. Murphy's Law as usual, has been following close on my heels, and I'm still waiting to see what the outcome will be. Let me start my story, by showing you the email I just sent out to a host of friends. All of my friends had been under the impression that I would be in GuangDong, and all are waiting for me to return so that they can see me, stay with me, have me stay with them, and in MingXing's case, to see if I will be at his place for the Rice Harvest. The email goes like this:
I came to China through Global Access (Remember this name). This company (or a part thereof), finds me my positions in China. Some six weeks ago they asked me if I want to do a camp, and I said 'yes'. Three weeks later, I was approached at Wuhan Daxue and asked if I would work a camp in JingZhou (Remember this name). I told Khaled that I would not do disservice to my organisation in Beijing, but given that I hadn't heard any more about working, that I would send them an email and find out the situation. This I did. The next day, Miss Guo phoned me from Beijing and told me that she had a position for me in GuangDong, and would soon forward me the details. I told Khaled the situation and we left it at that. A week later I received the contract for the Guangdong summer camp, but it had no details. I didn't know exactly the location of the school, the age group I would teach, whether or not I would teach from their materials or my own, or what activities were required of me. You see it did say I would have 6 assigned classes each day AND ACTIVITIES. Miss Guo once again phoned me from Beijing to tell me that she would do everything she could to get me the details. Camp was just now one week away. Khaled sent me an email to check on my progress, and reminded me that his offer in JingZhou was still a 'goer'. In the meantime, Judy who is staying with me till she leaves China at the end of the month, went away for a holiday, and had I not had to hang around waiting for information, I could have gone with her. I was due to be in GuangDong in Shantou, to start teaching on the 8th of July. One the 7th, I sent Khaled an email telling him I was now free to teach at his camp. On the morning of the 8th, Miss Guo phoned to say that the School in GuangDong was very disorganised, as it was their first camp, and that she still had not received any information from them. 'Not to worry' she said, 'I have a place for you in the SouthEast'. I then had to tell her that I couldn't accept, as I had now sent off an email to Khaled to advise him that I would teach in JingZhou. Four Days later however, I had still not received an acknowledgment from Khaled. Judy came home wondering why I was still here. (Now we will have to go through all the goodbyes again. We did that before she went away, because we would not have been seeing each other again). So, I didn't go to GuangDong, didn't go on holiday with Judy and Jessica, turned down another job in the South East, (had previously turned down an offer to teach in Hong Hu), and Khaled had not contacted me about JingZhou. On Monday 11th, Judy and I went to WuHan University to do two things. The first was to have lunch in a great restaurant that turned out to be closed for the summer, and the second, was to collect some money she was owed by a friend, who, we were informed, had already gone back to Germany for the Summer. Exhausted and hungry, we set off for the little Muslim Restaurant out front of WuDa, and were in the middle of eating lunch, when both Nicole and Khaled turned up (although separately). Khaled informed me that the JingZhou school, in addition to hiring teachers currently in China, flew some New Zealanders over for the camp, but by the time all the teachers arrived, there were only 100 enrollments for the camp. (Chinese like to count eggs!) He informed me that he had sent my email to an associate and was surprised that I had not received a reply. He jumped on the phone and called John (Wuhan Link China Consulting), and we arranged to meet at the Blue Sky Cafe (Next to the Lotus Supercenter in WuChang) that evening. From our discussions, John promised to phone me today in relation to a job in Xi'An, and so today while waiting for his call, I packed my bags. This afternoon he called me to say that his friend from Global Access (told you to remember that name) was desperate to find a serious teacher to help some students with the oral assessments that they need to pass, in order to study in England. So here I sit, (with packed bags to go nowhere), killing time until tomorrow 3:30pm, when I will meet with the WuHan representative of Global Access, to see whether or not I have a Summer Job here in Wuhan. So now you understand the meaning of my email today. Qin Yan wanted me to go visit him in Beijing, but I couldn't, but was in the middle of planning the trip to Beijing with Judy (to see her off) when this latest offer arose. It would be so nice to be able to just make a plan and then carry it out, but here in China, it is almost impossible. My university, when they discovered that I was going away for the Summer, asked me for all my contact details, but I could not even get those for myself. They informed me that I MUST BE BACK before the start of the Next Semester, but couldn't tell me when the Next Semester starts. They have told me that I will not be teaching at DongHu, but can't tell me where I WILL be teaching. They have informed me that I will be teaching a whole new batch of first year students this next semester, but they don't know how many I will teach because they haven't got any applications from those students yet. So like I said in my email, I will definitely stay in Wuhan unless I don't, and anyone can call me at home, unless I am not there. This is perfectly logical!!! To whet your appetite in case I end up in Beijing with Judy, I've added at the end of this article a few photos taken in the last couple of years in Beijing. Hope you enjoy them. Best Wishes from Luo Laoshi (My teaching name). P.S. From time to time I get job application emails from people wanting to teach in China. These I have to forward on to relevant organisations. The following details are for the two organisations mentioned in this article, and people wanting employment should contact them directly. Miss Guo: China Tesol Teacher Registry (information) www.china-tesol.org/ John Deegan (deeganj2003@yahoo.com) PHOTOGRAPHS FROM BEIJING
R.P.Bendedek Email: rpbendedek@hotmail.com Note: Because of the recent Server change, some links may not work. This file was amended September 2007.
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