First Contact! [May. 9th, 2006|01:52 pm] Mr. Mark Eastman It's finally happened! I've finally had my first contact with my new school in China!



I was just getting ready to go to my mindnumbingly boring data processing job at the Skipton Building Society (I hope for the sake of all Chinese people that this kind of thing doesn't catch on over there. I hate all the boring retards who work there and none of them understand anything about the importance of China) when all of a sudden the phone rang... who could it be?



Or rather "Hu" could it be, because it was none other than my new boss-of-sorts: Mr. Hu! Mr. Hu is in charge of foreign affairs at the No. 4 Huaishi Junior Middle School, or a "waiban" as it is called (literally, "outside affairs") and is my first contact for information and contact with the school. We had a good old chat on the phone and I'm even more excited about going to China than ever now (if that's possible!!)!



Well, I'm going to be teaching 2 and a half days a week at the school, which gives me loads of time to study all the things I'm going to learn. My Chinese is pretty OK due to the month-long course I did at Beijing Laguage and Culture University before, and I hope to be completely fluent by the end of the year. On top of that, I also aim to learn as much as I can about Taiji (known as Tai-chi in English), Gong Fu (known as Kung Fu in English), Ma Jiang (known as Mah-johngg in English) and all the other great things about Chinese culture.

I've even made a friend already!!! I wanted to get in touch with the foreign teacher I'll be replacing, but apparently he doesn't have a contact number. Instead, Mr. Hu has promised to introduce me to his son Lincoln who is more or less the same age as me, and suggested that I teach him English in exchange for Chinese. Sounds like a good deal to me!! Mr. Hu has already given Lincoln the phone number of my new apartment in Huaishi so I'll be able to meet him as soon as I arrive.



Everything about the job sounds great. I'll get my own apartment (complete with security guard - wow, the honour!) and a monthly wage of 3000 Renminbi ("People's Currency" the national currency of China - I like the idea that in China money belongs to the people). I'm not sure how much that is in pounds, I'll have to check later, but it sounds a lot. Hopefully, I'll even be able to save a little every month and keep paying off my student loans. What I really like about Mr. Hu and the new job is that there is no need for excessive paperwork and contracts, I'm just gonna arrive in China on a tourist visa and the school will sort everything out. I asked Mr. Hu if I would need to sign a contract beforehand and he said there was no need and that we can trust each other. He even called me a new friend of China!!

I like the Chinese way of doing business so much more than the Western method. Here in the UK we have so little trust for our fellow man that we demand tons of paperwork so we can sue somebody at the drop of a hat. In China, however, there is still that sense of trust and the honour of a person's word which we in the West lost a long time ago.



Well, better get my head down if I'm to survive another dull day at the office tomorrow. Only four more days before they can kiss my arse goodbye forever. Can't wait!