I guess I should begin by clarifying… even though you could probably assume that this is a reference to the political structures of the West and the East, I'm actually referencing the adage about one hand knowing what the other is doing. Because in my school's company, two offices can't seem to sort their information out.
Since I've embarked on this whole China adventure, I've run headfirst into a jungle of miscommunication about a variety of things. I think I've mentioned that the school had no idea when I was coming or who I actually was until the day I flew in to Japan. Nor did the school have any way of contacting me leading up to or upon my arrival in China. The Vancouver office or whoever was in charge of the office in China just neglected to let the school know something so simple as an email address for me. So my apartment wasn't really ready, I had no way of communicating with the outside world (no internet, no idea how to use the phone, no access to the school offices) and since everyone was away for holidays, I was more or less on my own when I showed. Again, I'm pretty lucky I had saviours in the form of friends over here.
Now, there's payroll issues. The school is trying to pay me in cash for this month because for some strange reason, the finance office here doesn't have my banking info that I provided to the Vancouver office weeks ago. And they also only want to pay me for less than half the month, even though my contract started on the first day of the new pay period. And although it wasn't payroll related, I tried to talk to my lead teacher (more or less the woman who heads up the Foreign Language Teachers) about marking schemes/rubrics for her assignments that I took over. Not only did she not have such things, she adamantly refused to make some up for me so the marking was fair or reasonable. And THEN I learned (or more accurately realized) that I am under almost no obligation to teach these kids anything of value. Last year, two of the teachers spent the bulk of their teaching time watching episodes of American Idol. Yes, that's right, American Idol. And apparently that was okay! American reality TV was curriculum for some of the people here. I figure if I mention the word "noun" at some point in the next year, I'll received a medal of honour or a special doctorate or something.
Okay… I'm being a bit ridiculous since my frustration is beginning to show. And the non-teachers reading this have probably stopped reading and are checking their hockey pools or their Facebook status, but it's getting a bit ridiculous.
In other news, I discovered the deliciously cheap cafeteria food on campus. For lunch, there's a sort of cafeteria buffet for teachers. And, the best part? It costs the Canadian equivalent of less than 75 cents! That's right folks, 4 Chinese RMB for lunch. There's about 6.2 RMB per Canadian dollar. I might get fat over here, but I'll do it in frugal style!
Oh… remember how I said the lunch hour ends in random music? Right now there's a song on the PA from the high school musical soundtrack. SO RANDOM! On that note, I must run off to class. Until next time…
T
No comments:
Post a Comment