random
- 2014-08-25
You clearly don't know how we are/were raised,
because your assessment is way off base.
Most Asians knowledge of Westerners culture are: Movies, music, arts, sports, celebrities.
Most Westerners knowledge of Asian culture is Chinese food.
cb-104
- 2014-08-25
This has a lot to do with many Westerners raised to see other non Westerners races inferior
Not to be ad hominem but obviously you did not grow up in the "West." And what you're doing is called projecting. You clearly don't know how we are/were raised, because your assessment is way off base.
Only after living in Asia for so long do I have an acutely racialized, quantified view of every human being I encounter. It is sad. I wish I could go back to the innocent state of just seeing everyone the same. Everyone was just a person. *That* is how I was raised. But Asia has resocialized me. These societies are the ones with strictly hierarchical ways of perceiving and relating to people. These societies are the ones so preoccupied with notions of 'inferior' and 'superior' as concrete concepts, quantifying with supposed objectivity the value of each human as if we were farm animals. You simply don't know what you're talking about, ranter.
random
- 2014-08-25
Why...
Adventure time = NO
Learning a new foreign language = NO
Bored with life = NO
Helping others = NO
Financial difficulties = YES
dan
- 2014-08-25
Get used to poor instructions.
Learn to swear for pain relief.
Have an exit strategy.
truester
- 2014-08-25
After the big step forward, backward your old life is not waiting for you somewhere for you to go back to.
martin Hainan
- 2014-08-25
Everyone is an 'other' in some aspect of their life. Almost all foreign teachers from Western developed countries are accustomed to living and working in a culture with diverse races, multiple languages, and complex interaction of cultural norms.
China, in its evolution to a developed country with global relationships, is particularly burdened in its international development process by an overwhelming uniformity of race, a powerful historic established culture, and a long-term initiative for common language and unitary government administration. For mainland Chinese nationals, almost all the world is the 'other'. Citizens of Europe, Canada and the United States represent almost every country of the world, including many Chinese. Chinese traveling overseas will seldom experience the racial stares that are commonplace in China and understandably surprising and sometimes disturbing to many Westerners traveling in China.
Adapting to life in China is surely difficult for many foreign teachers. There are several countries in the world (Japan, Israel, Saudi Arabia, ...) that possess a distinct unitary racial, cultural and religious heritage. Adapting to life in these countries is particularly difficult for foreigners that do not share these traits.
Blaming foreign guests for their difficulty in adapting to this situation is neither gracious nor accurate.
dan
- 2014-08-25
A bad school may turn you into a bad teacher.
Working for them will wear you down and depress you.
Rex
- 2014-08-24
Get used to being stared at by young and old people. You are the outsider and they are curious about you.
truester
- 2014-08-24
If you are not sure what to expect, stay home.
It seems to adapt to life abroad is too hard for many teachers. Having a boss that speaks another language, looks different.
This has a lot to do with many Westerners raised to see other non Westerners races inferior (no pun intended to all Westerners). Granted, many school bosses are crooks and take advantage of the teachers. Also, many under developed countries in Asia do not have or enforce laws to protect the teachers contracts and fair paid salaries. Being a foreigner in any country is not easy, it not matter how hard you try to assimilate into your host culture, you will forever be an "other".