I've been back in Taiyuan a week now and I have been asking myself, "Has it always been this bad here?" I have often self-cheered under my breath with things like, "Not much longer now," or "Hang in there, Dave," or "This will all soon be just an amusing anecdote," but those placations haven't been very effective this week.
Let's begin at the beginning. I had a flawless flight home. I hung out with Gordon and Jo Jo, (and their charming cat Sochu), for a little bit on Sunday afternoon in Shenyang. We had duck together, the best meal I've had in China so far, then had a few drinks at their apartment. I will probably get a place in the same apartment complex. It was new, modern, clean, well designed, large, and functional. And a lot cheaper than the apartment I'd rented here in Taiyuan. Also, the school offers a housing allowance in the contract AND PAYS IT, so it will be free for me! YEEHAW!
They had Christmas decorations up and everything. It was a nice visit. They put me in a taxi to the airport at dusk and I was home a few hours later. It was 9:40 Sunday night and I had just arrived on campus so I made the stupid mistake of announcing that I just had my first perfect flight. I even said, "I hate to say this," while I made the announcement because I just knew the Fates would hear that and say, "Oh yeah! Forgot about this poor sod for a while." And sure enough...
The lesson I put together was one I'd prepped my Monday class for the previous week. We were learning about cross-cultural awareness so I gave them a few pointers then we watched the Simpsons episode in which they visit Australia. Well, we were supposed to. I wrote on the board some questions for them to answer while watching and while they were copying them out, I flashed up the Simpsons episode on the computer. It had no sound. I remember one other time this computer had no sound and all we did to fix that was press the space bar. So I pressed the space bar. This time it was the pause/play function. I got a student to fiddle around with the computer but we couldn't get sound. So I looked around. There was an empty classroom across the hall. I announced that we were changing classrooms. The students heaved big sighs and rolled their eyes but we got them into the other classroom.
The other classroom had great sound! Yay! Just... no picture. So we fiddled around with the NEW computer too and after a while it finally worked. This wasted at least half an hour of a two-hour class. And I have told everybody I can possibly tell about the shit computers at this school. They all talk to me like we're in a failing marriage. "Your comment is acknowledged. I am hearing your discomfort. I empathise with it and wish I could help you with it. I will talk to some people who don't exist about fixing the problem. Meanwhile why don't you talk to other people who can do nothing about it?"
But, whatever, I managed to get through the Monday after a long weekend. So I felt okay. When I got home I decided to contact Faith, who had paid for my ticket and I needed to pay back. I suggested dinner at a Korean barbecue we had talked about last time we went out. Her husband, Mr. Lee said it was good and it's not too far from my place. I can walk there in about 40 minutes. Plus, last time we met it was to give her something I had bought for her in Korea and I got her such a deal that she and Lee paid. So I said I'd pay next time. Faith checked and the restaurant was not there any more, but there was a new all you can eat BBQ place not far from it. We agreed to meet there at 7ish.
That afternoon I had a meeting with George and David from the university where I work. I had told George earlier and he said we needed to tell David. His Chinese name sounds a tiny bit like "David" so that's what I call him. I had told George I would be leaving the school and let him know how Huasheng had been behaving. They had cheated me into signing with TUST and they had threatened to pull my residence permit, which would screw the school. I wouldn't be able to finish my semester, much less the one-year contract. I did mention to George that I have serious doubts about the contract I have with the school. It was signed between myself and the school while I was still under contract with Huasheng. In my then legal contract is a clause that actually says I cannot sign with or work for any other schools. What we needed to do at the time, and what I was repeatedly telling everybody at Huasheng, was get a three-way contract signed. We never actually all sat down together. I know Huasheng thinks they've tricked both the school and me and they don't care about the legalities.
The upshot of the meeting was that TUST will have speaks with Huasheng and they will NOT transfer the visa to this school. There was a point in the meeting when they were showing me parts of the contract where it says that if I end early without good reason, I have to buy the contract out. I got very upset that they would even bring this up. I was not about to let fucking Huasheng cost me any more money! Here I was telling them that the contract was essentially useless. It was never a legally binding contract. I'm sure I'm right on that point. Yet, I have taught my classes faithfully, even 4-hour long classes of 90, for the lowest salary in China, since August. I don't have to, but I told them I WILL finish out the semester. I had also just informed them that I will be leaving after the semester giving them the maximum amount of time to find a replacement teacher and saving them two months of vacation pay. I could have said nothing, collected vacation pay for January and February, then just gone to Shenyang and left them high and dry. I didn't. And despite all that, they actually brought up this clause about leaving early and having to pay the college! Fucking Chinese business! I got a little angry and immediately David relented and George and he said that, okay, our situation WAS a good reason to leave early. But still... grrrrr.
I told them that they might even have a claim against Huasheng for the second half of my contract depending on what agreement they had made with them. Was I sold to the school? They say I wasn't but I have difficulty believing TUST was completely oblivious to what happened. Who signs a teacher who has a work visa from another school and doesn't sign a contract with that other school? I think maybe Huasheng has signed something with TUST that I don't know about. And THIS might be the reason that Huashyte is so hot and bothered to get me to sign the end-of-contract contract, or the "labour dissolve" contract as they call it here, which states that we have no more business together. THEN neither TUST or I have any financial claim against them for cheating us, if this is indeed what has happened. It is a HUGE mess to say the least! But hopefully things will get ironed out.
So I left the meeting with TUST assuring me that they wouldn't allow Huasheng to pull my residence permit or harm my transition to the new job. I don't know if they can actually make that claim... It might have been another failing relationship placation. Don't worry, we'll help. We'll talk to them. I've heard that before and gotten no results. They said they'd meet on Friday and let me know the results of the meeting. Monday is over and I've heard nothing from either of them yet.
So I go back to my apartment and decide to send my lessons for the next day's classes to the class monitor so she could print them out for the students. While I am in the midst of that, BAM, power outage! No power, no computer, no lights, no fridge, no wifi and when I tried to message Faith on WeChat, THAT wouldn't work either! I was chatting with her for a while about the meeting too and we were still sending WeChats back and forth when the power went out. She continued to send messages and I could receive them but I couldn't reply. I'd send the message and the phone would think for a while then give me a message that said something like local network cannot be reached at this time. Meanwhile Faith is asking questions and getting no answers. She's sending me question marks. Probably getting upset that I'm ignoring her.
Then just before 5 PM I was able to send messages to Faith but the power was still not on. It was starting to get dark. I found my trusty security guard flashlight and actually had to use it to put my shoes and coat on, go to the bathroom and whatever. My phone was down to maybe 20% charge and I had no way of charging it so I was trying not to use my phone. Oh, and inexplicably, my toilet stopped filling up. I got one flush after the power outage but it never filled with water afterwards. ???? I had to fill a tub with water and dump it into the toilet if I wanted to flush it. The other water in the bathroom sink and the shower was okay. Just no hot because it's electrically heated.
At around 6 PM I put my phone charger and flashlight in my pockets and left. I went to the front of the school where I always caught taxis and tried for a while. The whole campus was dark. It looked kinda cool. But I guess all the students couldn't use electronics so they all decided to go out too. By taxi. There was no catching a cab! So at 6:30 I messaged Faith, (WeChat was working outside my apt), and told her I'd walk to the restaurant and I'd probably be late. It would take me 40-50 minutes I guessed. I was right. I got there and Faith and Lee were waiting in line. The place was JAM packed! They'd been waiting for a while too. I normally wouldn't even bother but they'd waited for so long I figured I'd wait too. I had gotten up at 5:30 AM so I was getting tired but by the time we got into the restaurant to eat it was at least 8 PM and I had only had one meal that day. I ate a LOT! And it was really good! The second best meal I've had in China!
It's really a good idea! They have a heated grill but there's no fire or anything like in Korea. It's a plate and over top they put this paper to protect it from the impossible to clean charring. I always feel sorry for the people at Korean BBQ places who have to wash the grills! We had all kinds of meat! Not Korean, but similar. You grill the meat and veggies and then put them in a lettuce leaf. There were sauces too. Not sam jjang but not bad. AND... all you can DRINK too! I only had two beer though cuz I had to teach next day. It cost us 60 something quai. That's about 10 or 11 bucks. Macdonald's costs that! I then understood why there were a thousand people waiting to get into this place!
So not ALL bad news. I got WAAAY more than my money's worth lemme tell ya! They give you two hours then kick you out. At that point we were all still eating. Not as fast but still going. I had to laugh at Faith. She's not much of a meat eater so she didn't feel like she got her money's worth eating noodles and veggies. But she took a dessert to go. lol
When I got back to the campus the power was still off. I used my flashlight to get to the door of my apartment block but it was beeping wildly and my electronic key would not open it. I think what happened was the lock switched to battery back-up when the power went out. Then since the power was out for so long the battery had only enough power to make the beeping noise, not open the lock. I'd seen this before and I know that security guards, REAL security guards, will have spare batteries they can use when something like this happens. But how could I communicate this to the guards?
I went to the gate where there were two guards and tried to message Faith. WeChat wasn't working. So I called her. Luckily the restaurant had an outlet and I'd been able to charge my phone to about 50% while eating dinner. Faith didn't answer. Then I called George. He answered immediately and told me he would translate. So I gave the phone to the security guard. She handed it back to me and George was gone. She just shrugged and said something in Chinese. I signalled to the other guard, who was not in the booth, to come with me. He refused. I was starting to think I was going to have to spend a cold night sleeping outside. Then two things happened: George called back and the power went back on. So while talking to George I walked to my door and it opened. WHEW!!!
Alas, my troubles were not over. I didn't need to email anything to my students for my Tuesday classes. That was lucky because the internet did not come back on with the power. I taught my Tuesday classes in a room with no power. I always bring water to class. With large classes I have to talk more than I would like so I need it sometimes. I couldn't get water because the electric water machines weren't working. But the dry class went okay. No internet for the entire day Tuesday. I think all that was required was someone to just hit the reset button on the server for my building. David's office is two floors above me. I talked to him that day and he said he hadn't noticed the wifi being off. He checked on his phone and confirmed it was off. I told him how important wifi is for my classes and how I had already had to altar several lessons without it. He said something like, "I am hearing your sadness and I can relate and sympathize. It is making you uncomfortable and I acknowledge this. I will endeavor to rectify the situation in any way that I can't."
I had lessons planned for the next day, but they required technology. I wasn't going to chance it. I copied about a hundred emergency lessons for Wednesday's classes. Sure enough the power was out in the buildings I taught until the fourth and final hour of teaching that day. I ended up using the same lessons for four hours the next day too because I still had no wifi and couldn't have sent anything else. The wifi finally DID return Wednesday night when it was too late to send lessons. When was the last time you went a few days without internet? It was a nightmare!
One good thing that the power outage caused was a confrontation with an asshole teacher I've been trying to meet up with. This guy teaches some sort of math or science and EVERY time he leaves class just before I get there with scrawlings all over the board, chalk dust all over the lectern and computer, the screen down, the projector on and the computer locked into his lesson. EVERY time. I showed up for this class on Wednesday and, because of the power outage, he was STILL teaching. And just to be even a bigger shithead, he went right up to the hour. He's supposed to quit at ten to the hour. All my students and I waited politely outside. I walked into the class and met him near the computer. As always the board was a mess, and everything else was too. The computer wasn't on and the screen wasn't down but I said in English, (which is the language he is supposed to be teaching in, but like all the Chinese teachers, doesn't), "Please clean off the board or at least get a student to do it for you." I even picked up a board eraser and demonstrated. He nodded, said nothing, then pushed past me. I watched myself from outside my body turn around and yell, "HEY!" The guy stopped and turned around. I then approached him. Meanwhile his students were almost all gone and mine were coming into the classroom. They'd all heard me complain about this teacher's lack of common courtesy before. I think they enjoyed the confrontation. I again used the eraser and said, "PLEASE, erase the blackboard or get one of your students to do so." He was about to say something, (NOT do something), when his LAST student grabbed the eraser and wiped the boards. I'll be curious to see the state of the classroom THIS Wednesday. What do you guys think? I am expecting the same mess. Even though China needs it more than any other place I've lived due to its huge population, they don't practice common courtesy here and actually BLAME it on the huge population. I've seen Korea's common courtesy improve over the years and I am positive the foreign influence had a lot to do with it. I think it can happen in China too. But people have to do what I did. Not just for wiping off chalkboards either. People have to demand better behaviour from selfish assholes like this in many areas. I think it can happen.
So pretty much a week was ruined by the power outage. I am still feeling the effects THIS week. My toilet hasn't worked properly since. Today it is at its worst. I am still pouring water down the toilet sometimes. This brings up another hardship and another amusing anecdote. I have no kitchen sink so I have to wash my dishes in the bathroom. This weekend I cleaned up the house because I didn't clean the previous weekend since I was in Shenyang. So I had two weeks of dust on the floor and two weeks of dishes. The latter is not so bad for me. I'd re-use paper plates if I had them. But the dust build-up is something to behold! I have no doubt this too is adversely affecting my health. The dust is just ridiculous here. And while sweeping up on the weekend I breathe in so much of it, the next day I feel like I have a hangover/cold. It's disgusting! But, not much longer...
So I have to fill a tub of water in the shower for washing dishes. I put soap in and put the showerhead into the tub. When it fills up I wash the dishes in the tub then rinse them in the bathroom sink. I was changing the dirty dish water and pouring it down the toilet, you know, to kill two birds with one stone, and at the end of the pour I head a clank. Then I remembered I had put a sugar spoon in the wash. I never did see that spoon but I'm sure it's not helping the already backed up toilet.
Then today I go to class and teach last week's lesson to my culture class. Because it involves video and a PDF, which the computer in that class can't read, I couldn't use it last class. I downloaded a PDF reader, put it on my flashdrive, put the video and the PDF file on the flashdrive too and everything worked! Today, miraculously, the SOUND was working too! I had chosen this video, (about the Great Barrier Reef), because it just had music and words printed on the screen. Didn't need sound. But sound there was! Of course! But then I noticed something that has happened to me before. I had put some other videos onto my flashdrive for other classes. The ones illustrating cross-cultural understanding. Like a guy golfing in Japan who gets a hole in one and has to buy expensive gifts for his Japanese business partners who are golfing with him. Next time he aims for the woods at the same hole and says, "Oh darn, I missed. Oh well." But his ball gets a nice bounce off a tree and goes into the hole again. I have several good examples of things like this. So it takes up space on my flashdrive. Today they're gone. Oh they're still ON the drive, they're just hiding and I can't figure out how to read them. So they still take up space but are useless. Like some of my students. lol. So now I have to put those same files onto my flashdrive AGAIN so I can use them. I WOULD have used them last week when they were still useable, but, power outage. Hopefully I'll be able to have them on the drive long enough to use them before they disappear.
I think this happens because of all the computers having incompatible software. I don't know or care that much, I just wish it wouldn't happen. I have told the proper people about this too and received solid psychological support but no technical support.
And finally, this morning, when I went to take a shower, I had no COLD water. Hot was fine but cold wasn't. And yet the toilet remains unflushable.
And just to add a little more drama to this week, we have government inspectors coming to random classes. I've already had a couple of people inspecting my classes from the school. Now I have to perform for the government. I think they are probably trying to judge whether this place actually IS a school or isn't just some fumpee for profit business, (which it is). This has happened many times before to me. My credibility and honesty is used to make a crook look like an educator. And some of the other teachers were talking about this to me. Make sure you don't use the computers. Make sure you are entertaining. Make sure you make the students laugh. Sigh. Not for much longer...
So now you see a little better what I mean when I say I want to be a real teacher in a real school. Or when I say that everything in China is a little harder than it really should be. I saw a driver this morning turn a corner on campus and drive for half a block on the wrong side of the road. The driver didn't change sides of the road until an oncoming vehicle was forced to slow down or stop. It almost seems to me like the people here are purposely inconveniencing each other and making the lives of their fellow man more difficult or at least less convenient. Maybe they have some kind of belief that it builds patience or character in others and they are doing something noble. Do you buy that?
All I DO know is I'll be slightly more ignoble but tremendously more comfortable come March. So like a really good massage, this story will have a happy ending.
*** Wednesday update: That annoying teacher stayed late again today. But not AS late. Only half the class was waiting for him in the hallway. He didn't wipe the boards but the same student who wiped them last time, was wiping them when I got into class. The computer was still dusty but not AS dusty. And the computer, screen, OHP were all off and closed. There was only one cigarette butt under the chair. Yes, I forgot to tell you, he usually smokes a few cigs and just leaves the butts under the chair. (who SMOKES while they teach?!?!) But at least things were a little better.
BUT... (come on, this is ME here), the computer case was locked. LOCKED! This dude has used the computer for every class except the time when there was no power. He must have used it this class too and then just to be a colossal dick, locked it as if to say, "You want me to clean up, there ya go, Round Eye!"
One of my students called a maintenance worker and we got it opened. Only 10 or 15 minutes were wasted.
The classroom before that had no sound. AGAIN! The same maintenance worker was called. She comes in and takes a panel off the computer case that I didn't even know could be taken off. This exposes a whole equalizer/sound system that I was unaware of. She presses a few things and the sound comes on. I ask her to show me and AS ALWAYS I get a hand waved at several buttons in explanation. Nobody ever tells me how to do these things. Is it this inconveniencing thing? Do they WANT to do things the least convenient way? I have never seen these computer cases locked. Why today? Why ever? Why not give me a key? Why not tell teachers about the sound system?
I swear it boggles the mind!
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