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| Reflecting about China | ||
| I’m no Hemmingway or Dickens, nor do I claim to be, but I’m simply appalled at the bad English I see in many of these postings. It also seems the folks bitching the most are the ones whose English is the worst. I’ve been here in China for more than two years now and I think I’ve had all the bad experiences others have described. And quite a number of good ones, too. My take on all of this is that only certain people willingly give up the relative comfort of their “Western” lives to come here to China and teach English. Because I’m too stupid to put much thought into this, I broadly divide them into two categories: “adventurers” and “escapers.” The former group doesn’t care all that much about what they’re getting paid or how horrible their working and living conditions are because it’s all an adventure to them. Something they see themselves laughing at when they’re back home and comfortable again. The members of the latter group are here for other reasons. Maybe they’re men who can’t seem to get much attention from the ladies at home. (Not an altogether bad description of me, by the way.) Maybe they earned a completely useless degree in their home country and can’t do anything with it. Maybe they’re 19, fresh out of high school with no skills. Ultimately, they’re not coming TO China, they’re going AWAY from something else. Many of them are actually running away from themselves in the hope that maybe just being somewhere else will solve their problems. They’re angry at the whole world because their own life didn’t quite work out the way they hoped it would. So everything in China pisses them off. But it’s not China they’re REALLY mad at. It’s the man or woman in the mirror. I get absolutely furious with China at times. But when I calm down I realize that China has been here 5000 years and I ain’t gonna change it. (The bad English is intentional.) I can only change myself. Chris Shantou, Guangdong Cdav531@asia.com |