Pictures From the Poop Cam

What do you know! The poop phone continues to get better! If you don't know the story, I got a phone when I first came to China to work at Renmin University in Beijing. Two days after I got it I went to the toilet at the Renmin foreign language gulag, (a squatter), and the phone fell in. It didn't work at all afterwards but I dried it out and got it to work a bit. It has some odd habits like taking pictures in my pocket, turning itself on, flipping to sideways view, not turning off with the off button, losing volume control and once in HK it dialed somebody and I heard a recorded message when I got back to my hotel. I don't think I have to pay for that call thank goodness. But the worst effect of squatter splashdown was that it hasn't been readable by any computer since. I could always hook up to the USB and charge it if I wanted, but I couldn't put anything onto my computer like pics. And since this phone takes better pics than my Kindle, that was a bummer. Well I mistakenly plugged it into my computer the other day, (thinking it was plugged into the charging block but it was actually in the USB of my computer), and VOILA, it read it! So now, the very belated history of my Chinese experience in pictures. First the gulag. Pretty scary lookin' eh?

Just inside the freezer doors and to the right is the offending squatter. It wasn't quite as bad as it looks. Worked with a great bunch of blokes there anyway. Just not FOR anyone worth mentioning.

Well this is interesting. The pic function on this blog used to allow for more than one pic per line but I guess that's been taken out. UPgrades that are really downgrades. They're everywhere. I'm also typing from the middle of the page now too. Very interesting... Anyhoo, these are all pics of the campus at Renmin U. It's not overwhelming having worked at some nice places in Korea, but I think this was a pretty nice campus as campuses go in China.

 

This is the hostel I lived in while working at Renmin. It does look pretty cool from the outside but it was the most expensive place I've ever lived in. I paid different amounts on different months, but it worked out to about 1200 bucks a month. I just stayed there last week before I went to Korea and they charged me almost 80 bucks! That is outrageous! Not for Canada, but for China it's highway robbery! And I'm a preferred customer, I got a discount! I could stay at a much better place in Korea for 30 bucks. But I never wanna live in a hostel again. No cooking, no fridge. I didn't like it much. But speaking of good blokes, here's a pic of two of the guys who made life in BJ bearable. On the left is Allan. He's a Scotsman and he stayed in the same hostel just across the hall. We'd go on food runs or out for beers together sometimes. On the left is Heinrich. He's a South African former rugby player. I still remember a few Afrikaans swearwords he taught me and Allan. Just not how to spell them. Dooes and kak and fok and muffie. Ha ha ha. Also oxygen thief which we used for the boss. Hein was a barrel of laughs. Allan was my intellectual refuge. It was awesome having a beer and debating the best boxers of all time or politics or something far more abstract with Allan. Great guy. 

 

Here's one of the classes I taught at Renmin. Now that I'm in a much less, uh, prestigious school, I realize that the facilities, (computers that worked though internet was slow), and especially the students were very good! They were blasted with a book to read every week and 10 or 20 vocabulary words a day, writing every day PLUS all the regular teaching we did. It was a ridiculous workload and all for IELTS preparation. We did IELTS tests too and although this is ranked as one of the better English ability tests, there were things I hated about it. Like the fact that they literally tried to trick the test takers in several places on every test. IELTS tests are made purposely difficult and in many ways unrealistic and unnatural language is required to get a good score. But nothing's perfect eh? Poor kids...

Still, I could have toughed it out for years if not for the shitty accommodations and the absolutely useless administration. So I went on a trip to Taiyuan to take a look at an offer from some place called #5 High School. They talked to me twice before I signed contracts. I met a guy named Joshua and a girl named Faith and they told me I'd be close to the school, I'd have 2 days in a row off, I'd only teach the high school kids and I'd have complete autonomy. Nobody micromanaging me. I hated the subway in BJ and the stupid rules and useless things we were forced to do. Marking codes for correcting the kids' writing. Why? They told us these would be used in England where they all hoped to go, but we all knew they had lost the contract with Middlesex Uni or wherever so I just used whatever I was comfortable with. (and my marking "codes" are far easier to understand for the student and better for me).  They also had rules about how to teach kids how to take IELTS exams. Make sure they know how to skim and scan. Okay, that's fine. But the oxygen thief we worked for cared more about the students knowing the difference between the meanings of the two words. He went into one class and asked students what those words meant. The students didn't know so he said at a meeting, "Obviously they don't know how to skim and scan." Just one of many ludicrously militant rules we were suffering under at Renmin. These would be gone in Taiyuan.

 

This, at long last, is the illustrious Faith. This was taken in the main courtyard of #5 High School during one of my interviews. She later showed me around the city a bit. After the second interview she squired me about the city looking for an apartment. She was, and still is, very helpful. She was spectacular at her job and Huasheng were absolutely stupid to let her go. But they just can't see the value of being honest and treating people fairly so that good workers will stay with them. That's why Faith left and that's why I am leaving. That's also why they lost the contract with #5 school.

 

Here are the students of #5 school doing their daily exercises and shouting and Tai Chi during the 10:00-10:30 break. They all have matching track suits they wear all day long. It's quite something to see! A bit of The Party! But I see nothing wrong with some mid morning calisthenics. Go kids go!

 

 

Taiyuan. Not the most happening place in China. The coal capital of the country, which puts it high in the running for coal capital of the world. You can see, (as the picture illustrates), about a block before the pollution and coal dust hazes out the view. And this is not on an extraordinarily bad day. I think this day was around the 100 mark on the Air Quality Index. Around Christmas of 2016 Beijing was over 500! It was like sucking on an exhaust pipe every time you drew a breath! I'm not sure cardio-vascular exercise does any good here. Which is fine. I'm still on doctor's orders to take it easy because of the old brain bomb waiting to explode at any time. So I walk. A lot. That's good enough for me. There ARE some pretty nice things to see in Taiyuan if you look hard enough and walk.

Is that gorgeous or what?

It's a little temple Faith and I went to in the middle of Taiyuan. It was January of 2017. I went back to BJ pretty sure I would take the job if offered. It was offered and I took it. So now I had to go back and find an apartment. Faith to the rescue again! We spent a long, cold day looking at high-rise apartments I didn't like until finally we checked out this one.

 

That's my place with the bars on the windows. Not exactly first floor. Sorta 1 1/2 floor. But I liked it. Other than the mosquitoes. Good kitchen, decent fridge, lots of room, about 5 minutes from the school, it was perfect! And Huasheng paid me for 5 months to work at #5 school. They made me pay 100% for visa runs, dragged their ASSES on getting my a work visa and did a few other unscrupulous things, but nothing I haven't learned to accept. You're gonna get screwed a little no matter what. Nature of the beast. HEY, I'm back to normal typing, not centered! Great!

This was the huge bedroom with the massive wardrobe, desk, through the doors the attached laundry room with crank hanging and in the corner you can see the air conditioner. It was luxury! And at less than half the price of the BJ hostel. 500 a month. Unfortunately, with the mosquito problem, (not to mention the lack of mattress), I slept all of my days in this apartment in this room:

A LOT smaller and adjoining the kitchen. You can see the real estate agent talking to Faith in the kitchen there. But it was fine. I was still happy. Until Huasheng lost the contract with #5 school. I had students tell me their parents were really angry because Huasheng ripped them off; the other teachers, (all Chinese but they taught in English), told me to quit and every single one of them did; Faith quit, all of the HR people I knew quit; the only people who remained were me and these two, the dynamic duo of Huasheng misdeeds, Mr. Liu and Diana. Diana is the owner and she tells people she has had many businesses but I dunno. Liu, as the story goes, was working in an embassy in the U.S. somewhere and his English is very good so maybe it's true. I have trouble believing anything they say now.

Because they are untrustworthy, they don't trust anybody. I tell you it took some coaxing for them to let me take this pic. And they didn't totally let me. They, obviously, were caught off guard. They just allowed me to keep it on my phone. What do you think? Do they look like the crooks they are? I actually enjoyed this day with them whacking golf balls and drinking tea. I think they believe it is part of their culture to lie, cheat and steal. Little do they know, it is the reason Huasheng is in the toilet. I probably would have quit if they hadn't strung me along for so long with false promises of the elusive Z visa. It took 7 months for them to finally get me my work visa. But we got it! Then they COMPLETELY SHATTERED my contract!

I was no longer working at #5 school, I work now at Taiyuan University of Science and Technology. Also a very nice campus. Here are a couple of pics.

That's the library. The centerpiece of the campus. The courtyard in front is MASSIVE! I've never been in the library. heh heh.

Here's a view of it at dusk from the roof of my apartment. There's lots of greenery and relatively fresh air on campus so that's nice. And there are places where I can get some of the things I need. I now teach in classrooms that are shitty and the computers have Windows '85, can't read a pdf and screw up my usb flashdrives, so this is the result:

I spend a lot of time improvising by drawing on the board and I spend an even longer amount of time creating handouts for my classes. This is one of the lessons I taught to my sluggos in the culture class. I'm sure they won't remember any of it. You can't see but on the far right of the board I drew a map of the world and I asked individuals to show me where the major English speaking countries were. They found China. That's it. One girl used her phone to find the U.S. Had to use her PHONE! And she correctly pointed it out. But nobody knew the country, the flag or anything about any of the countries. Oh, and ONE girl was able to draw the American flag you see and one, after checking her phone, drew the Canadian flag. The others were drawn by me. It was an early class, but I realized then what I'd gotten myself into. Ha ha ha. I can't remember why I drew the lollipop. I think it was "ice lolly" and "popsicle." God, I realize now they would have no clue what I was talking about. And care even less. But learn as you go.

So anyway, we're about caught up picture wise. The Huasheng annoyance of the week has been to transfer my visa. I told them that's totally unnecessary but I shouldn't have. I told them they need to do nothing. See, they do the opposite of what I suggest so now they are working like banshees to do SOMETHING. I told them to leave me alone and do the visa transfer from Huasheng to TUST on their own. It's up to the employers, not me. And with my lack of Chinese, what the hell can I do to help? But they continue to hound me. Today they said they need me to sign an end of contract contract. To verify that I am no longer working for them. I already gave them my letter of resignation, they don't need that. But they told me, (in all likelihood a lie), that they need it to transfer the visa. So between good old Faith and I, we hatched a plan. See I don't think they'll pay me my last month's pay. They've already deducted for days missed due to illness, not working on holidays and classes THEY cancelled with no notice, so I stand to make 3000 instead of the 8000 they owe me already. Yeah, they managed to screw me out of more than half a month's pay for largely legitimate absence. I am SOOO glad I quit!

But on the 31st I had a class to teach. Two hours. Out in the sticks. So really 5 hours including driving. I like the kids but I hate the class. So I said to Huasheng if they want me to teach, they need to pay me on the 30th. They didn't pay, I didn't teach. They said that they have a set way of payment that they can't change. Certainly they can't change it just because I want them to. Why do I think I'm so special? That's one of the classes I was docked for. Now they want me to sign this superfluous contract and my answer was, "Okay. I'll sign it." But then I added, "...if you pay me the proper amount you owe me. And since there is no way you can change the way you pay, just for me, we'll have to wait till the 15th or the 16th or the 17th or the 18th, which is when you normally pay me." I am awaiting their answer. Hooo hooo haaah haaaah! They wanna play games eh?