Guys, the Shark just reached his 6 month mark now in country. So many things have happened in such a short period of time. For those guys on the fence about living and teaching here, there is so much opportunity for English teachers here. A brand new International school just opened up a new chain in and around Shenzhen. In fact my supervisor and one of the teachers I work with are jumping ship to this school called Pattison, company has all the standard perks yet is restrictive in the sense they monopolize your time so you can't freelance at other places. I don't even worry about work anymore because my skills as a teacher have improved dramatically. I can pick and choose jobs now because of experience in teaching as well as performing really well in my demostration classes for the clients. Now I teach an intermediate BEC Business English Class once a week for 5 hours, an intermediate BEC Business English Class Tues and Thurs from 7:00 - 9:30 pm. I teach a beginner adult English class for 4 days a week, ten hours total. I also teach a beginner adult class for twice a week for two hours for another small training center. For one week I make 2,300 rmbs for 22 hours work. $360. which is plenty of cash to live on here. When my regular job starts back I'll double my salary easy, $700. a week was more than I was taking back home in America $45,000. So it is viable for the resourcefull and street smart guys. Never coming back is the way I see it. My students buy my dinners all the time, get personal rides home as well as taxi rides. They view me like I'm the greatest teacher alive, and I really love doing it, best gig ever had. Even have toyed with going back to school to complete my Masters in Education possibly. Shenzhen University is a really respectable university, one of my friends attends there. I have opportunities here that I never could have imagined back home. Kind of surprised that how many guys are considering doing this now. When I started this there were one or two guys on the official forum that might have just mentioned teaching and living as an option. Damm, I think I started some kind of tread here. I know Rob and Josh are doing it after discussing things with them. I've actually been toying with the idea of eventually opening up a school one day with a fellow expatriot from America. Also, a matchmaking/translating service is also on the back burner. Not to mention exporting business of some kind or another. No, exporting out of China has never been attempted what I am talking about. There are so many Chinese brands of clothing here that I can buy for next to nothing and resale for at least twice what I would pay for it. Right now the world is my oyster, funny thing I was with my exgirlfriend the other night and she is really into palm reading and claims I will be very wealthy as well as live a really long life. Must be why shy is begging and pleading to come back even after I stated I'm not going back to America to live.
Sorry, guys I hijacked my own thread yet will digress back to the original line of thought. Mods don't screw around and omit anything because it will make it disjointed and unreadable if you do so. I'm an artist don't desecrate my work. Enough rant for one day. If nothing else I'm an amusing distraction, right?
China Shark Mike