The Circle of Life

There is a belief that life works in cycles. Circles. Goes round and round. The Chinese claim the round Yin and Yang symbol as their illustration of this. And it's not just about reincarnation. It is said that when they fall on hard times, the Chinese believe things are bound to turn around and become opposite. So they are steadfast in times of poverty. I have found this to be true of the Chinese folks I have known.

The Chinese say that as the man who goes farther and farther East will end up in the West, so the man who accumulates more and more money to increase his wealth will eventually end up poor. So it is also said that the Chinese are cautious and modest in times of success. I don't know where THESE Chinese folks are but I haven't met them.

The main character of Pearl S. Buck's The Good Earth, Wang Lung, (before you ask, NO he didn't also sing Get it On, Bang a Gong), was constantly striving to better his financial situation. His pride, or as we literary type like to call it, hubris, caused him to leave his family land in pursuit of riches and when he got to the city he hit the bottom of the cycle. He knew that in his village people starved when there was no food. He also knew that in the city there was plenty of food. What he didn't know, or understand when he found out, was in the city there were still many people starving. And there were many people who had far too much food. He wanted to be one of the latter. The seeds of Capitalism were sown.

In the book Wang Lung is an honest man who works his ass off but it is only a piece of unbelievably good luck, (combined with true capitalistic action), that allows the cycle to swing back around to the rich side of life for him and his family. During the confusion of the Boxer Rebellion in the city where he lived he runs into a rich man who begs for his life. Wang Lung instantly abandons his lifetime of honesty and demands money from the rich, fat man and threatens to kill him like a worm if he holds out. He gives Wang Lung a pile of gold and, being a new capitalist but a quick learner, Wang Lung demands more, which he gets. He uses it to return to his abandoned land and become a wealthy man in his old neighbourhood.

In my life it seemed that I wandered so far from the West that I ended up in the East. That, in remarkable similarity to Wang Lung, is where I started dealing with true capitalists and making good money. I was almost never worried about money or where my next meal was coming from while I was in Asia. If I wanted something I bought it. My plan was to return to my old neighbourhood, like Wang Lung, with the riches I earned in the East and maintain the enjoyment of riding the rich side of the circle of life. Unfortunately, I never met that rich man begging for his life. So for better or worse, I never abandoned my honest ways for capitalism. Had I met that fateful fat man who I could have cheated for a pile of gold, who's to say what I would have done? I like to believe I would have done the right thing, heck, for all I know I DID have the begging fat man, but just missed the opportunity because of my wretched integrity. DANG!

Whatever. I'm back in the West and back at the penniless, ugly side of the circle. Funny how that works. But, try to learn from the Asians, I'm doing my best to remain positive in my poverty. It's nice to be living with family. For more than the fact that if I get a bit behind on rent there's less chance of being out on the street. I AM in a mosquitoless area where the days are warm, sunny and not humid, and the nights are cool. The weather is just great here! Best summer in a long time! I AM making a little bit of money at a program called Worklink where they pay you to go to a course an learn job-hunting skills. It has really helped my resume and I am learning all kinds of ways to check out the hidden job market. Maybe the next job I get will be a good one.

However cyclical the world and life may be, there are still some universal constants. Singing in a voice that sounds like you're taking a dump SELLS; in Canada, you probably need to have three different certificates to qualify to TAKE that dump; We Will Rock You should never be followed by any song but We Are The Champions; The ESL industry is lousy with liars, cheaters and thieves; and the Canucks don't win Stanley Cups. Those are just a few but I've chosen to concentrate on one: the ESL thing. I had an interview with a dude named Matthew who has a tutoring business here in Victoria. It was like 6 weeks ago. He told me I'd make 25 bucks and hour and that he'd get 5 of that for finding me clients. I agreed.

The first thing I did was work on my online profile. Some of you may have sent personal references or whatever they're called. I also had to do paragraphs on several things like teaching style, personality, education and all that. Then I went to get a photo, paid 9 bucks for it too, for the online profile. I gave my address, number, availability and all that stuff. To this day I have no online profile.

But that was okay. Matthew had arranged a meet-and-greet with "between 60 and 90" students who are all studying at a Korean school here in Victoria called Kim Okran school. For those of you who know what this means, it's a hagwon. 3 days before the thing is supposed to happen I get a copy of these very DETAILED English evaluation forms we as tutors are supposed to use to level test students at this meet and greet. I had no idea this would be work. And it was work for free. Not the 20 bucks an hour we had agreed upon. So I asked Matthew who was getting the money for the interviews. He says to me that nobody is being charged admission to the meeting. I'm pretty sure he knew what I meant but I decided to give him another try. I wrote back and said that if I were to be paid 80 bucks for the 4 hours of level testing I would be doing I'd be there with bells on. He reiterated that nobody was paying admission for the event. So I KNEW then he was either too stupid to work with or he was being purposely evasive. He was getting paid by the hagwon for level testing their students and not sharing any of it with the people who did the interviewing. So I decided not to go.

When I told him this he was laying on the guilt trip really heavy. He even told me that one of his other tutors got injured. Either the tutor was smart like me and decided not to work for nothing and used that as an excuse, or Matthew fabricated it to make me feel even more guilty about not going. I felt no guilt whatsoever though unfortunately for him. He starts telling me that he's extremely disappointed that I would be so inconsiderate and I should in the future try to "commit to my commitments." I couldn't let that go could I? Of course not!

Two days before I was supposed to do the level testing Matthew sends me an email saying he urgently needs my address and phone number. Now, I gave him a resume at our interview; I GOT the interview after he read my resume and was impressed; and I had been giving him all kinds of information for my profile including my contact info. He lost it all. I don't think he had any intention of making me an online profile. Then he tried to rope me into working 4 hours for nothing even after we "committed" to a 80-20 split of 25 bucks for every hour I work for him. I did everything he asked for, put ALL the effort into our working relationship and he figures I'M the one who needs to honour his commitments. I told him with a warped sense of entitlement like that he'd better get used to people cancelling at the last minute or getting injured.

Anyway, I'm glad I didn't sign a one-year contract with that jackwagon before I found out he was exactly like every boss I've had in the ESL industry. But back to our original topic, I think I am just about at the bottom of the bad part of the cycle. That was it. I lucked into an interview for Corix to be a smartmeter installer around Victoria. It's better than any ESL job I could get. I'm hoping for that job. Also, I finally, (been waiting a month), write my security guard licence test on Friday after which I'll be working security. And the best news is, a lady is coming over Monday from a major school, (one of very few REAL ESL schools), to look at the house because I might get a homestay student. So this week will be my last week of unemployment and likely my last week at the bottom of the cycle. But I will try to be humble and frugal as I work my way up to the good part of the cycle. Maybe I'll start giving more money to the poor. Volunteering. Or something like that.

That's all for this entry. See you AROUND. ar ar ar