Hello from China ... 你好 (pron. ni’ hao) Things I do not miss in China .. Since I moved here and started teaching on Sept 1st I have not seen (not even one time): 1) A girl’s bra strap 2) A boy’s underwear 3) A pregnant 15 year old (or any age) walking the halls 4) Student drinking, drugging, and smoking 5) Disrespectful student and parents In addition I do not miss … aggressive driving The roads here are crazy town; red lights are just kind of a suggestion. You will see car, bus, truck, bike, scooter, and people all going in all four different directions at the same time on the same road. There is LOTS of beeping but ... it is not aggressive. It is cooperative. Everyone knows everyone else is in just as big of a hurry and they all respect each other. There is no sense of “my lawyer will sue your ass” on the road and NO ONE has a gun - so basically if you are in an accident, you are kinda screwed. It is AMAZING how nice people are to each other when you take away their sense of entitlement. I have always thought it was the kids. It is not. American society suffers from a sense of entitlement driven by aggressive (and stupid) litigious proceedings that have taught people that they don’t have to be responsible for their own actions as long as there is someone else they can blame and sue. If you manufacture a screwdriver in the US you have make sure you print “do not insert in eye” on the side of it or you may get sued! When did we become the country where stupidity was everyone else’s fault? When did we become the country where personal liberty was defined as a lack of personal responsibility for our choices? People here in China beep all the time but it means “look out, I’m here” not “get out of my way you dumb piece of crap who is not as important as me”. I knew before I left America that our society was seriously ill. It was not until I got over here and saw the lack of “normal” (not to be confused with healthy) American behavior that I was able to see WHAT is was so clearly. So let me add to the above list of things I do not miss: 6) Aggressive drivers 7) People otherwise being dicks to each other BTW - I get about an hour of planning for every hour I teach. There are 9 periods a day and you are expected to teach 5 of them (teacher teach 24 periods a week out of 45 total periods) They actually realize it takes time to prepare and process your classes. I am NOT expected to give up my personal live entirely to do my job. In fact, I am expected to have a life outside of school. I am much MUCH less stressed teaching here and that is good. Now to be fair, there are thing that I really DO miss. I very much miss is all my friends, my family, and my home (MCSD and the keys). I miss being close to my fold, taking care of all “my” kids. I especially miss being there to see Zach Engler growing up. In the end, it is pretty balanced in my gut. All the good things and the hand full of bad ones feel equal. Well … that’s all for now.
Posted on: Sun, 09 Nov 2014 12:45:32 +0000
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