Dear Foreign teachers, EFL employers, and any random surfers who read this message:

I regret choosing such a morbid subject, but indeed, there is none best describing what we are really experiencing in today's EFL world. Everything we are complaining about is our own fault, and let's just, for the argument's sake take a net moment and analyze what's been done so far:

First, someone offers us a nice place to post message and all we come up with is a nasty idea to mislead others so they don't come to get the job out of your hands.

Then, someone criticizes you and it leads to subtle geographic clashes. Yanks battering Brits, Brits posing as Canadians, Blacks rephrasing themselves as non-whites (well if you're black, you're black, what is the point of adding a white word to yourself? I swear to God, if I were black, I would have preferred to be called a black man. So what the hell?)

We are wasting our internet space, and one day, like water and the environment, we could possibly be asked to save this space. Don't get me wrong, but I am not misleading you. The internet has grown faster than diseases. With this waste, comes the folly: Everyone has misled everyone else, insults have taken place and more often than not, and incredible amounts of time has been wasted on nothing.

What am I getting at? We are not united. EFL teachers are not united and this is the main reason you get screwed by your employer, be he Chinese or not. They know you do not like each other. They know you hate my country and I hate your accent. They know it, and are taking advantage of it.

With what is going on, employers hire a foreign middle man to cheat another foreigner. I was being had by one American once. Airfare is not paid, salary is advertised per hours but not enough hours are provided. In another scenario, they offer you one contract and change it when you arrive. Likewise, some schools pay different salaries to a group of foreign teachers. There are thousands of issues, ranging from losing your mobile phone while squatting over the oriental toilet, to having spent days without food or money because the school vanished into thin air. All sorts of problems. Really.

But whose fault is it anyway? Ours. As I pointed out, foreigners are not united here and they still have their moronic clashes along with them. We also do not do our homework correctly and just jump into the next available flight to Shanghai. What you see in movies, read in books or in forums in this case is never the same as the reality. Having been fooled by Jackie Cheung's movies where all you see is glittering high rise towers and enough food and wine to spill on every scene of action, you forget that the Mainland is still producing rice to feed the hungry babies who will be the future generation of the PRC. Maybe you read ambitious articles about the 9% growth of the Chinese economy, but then America is also world's super power and economic Giant. Why then, there are so many hungry people over there? We never prepared ourselves for the reality and when we arrived, we started bashing at each other.

I almost laughed to death when everytime I see the dejavuistic effects of some African guy (or a white guy posing as one) posting a poorly written message on boards looking for jobs and screaming for racism, when, some white guys patronizingly support him, other attack him, or her, and the story goes on and on from board to board. Please, we have to stop this circus. It is getting ridiculous now.

finally, I am no regular poster to any forum, but I was compelled to write about living costs in China, in comparison to salaries. We have another issue here. Some of you made it sound like it was not worth your efforts while some others "mathed" out a comparison with Western salaries and indicated that the one you get in China was better.

Honestly, it depends on what kind of a person you are, what salary you get and under what circumstances you live.

For an average Man Jack, or a woman if I may, 2000 yuan is the adequate enough to live on, but not live like a king [sic..] as some advertisements post. This does not include clothing, lesson plan preparation and hobbies. I'd say, it would fall between a monthly 2000-3000 yuan to have a comfortable lifestyle in China, while it would take around 6000 yuan/month to live it up like a prince, if not a king. WE assume the above costs under the condition that you do not live in the South, East or large, expensive cities. For these, add up 1500-3000 yuan additionally, provided your accommodation is provided for free.

Now, to clarify the above, I will give you my own example. I don't smoke or drink, but I eat a lot. I also don't shop often. My monthly expenses fall in the range of 1500 yuan monthly.

Chinese schools that pay any amount less than 5000 yuan/month per 18 hours a week are simply not worth your while. What would you do teaching your ass off, saving only 10000 yuan/year? Forget about the bullshit that they say, ooooh my father only gets 400 yuan per month, and then you see them listen to an Mp3, and have KFC- which, I confess, I cannot afford to have everyday under my current salary of 4500 yuan/month.

And, yes, Chinese teachers, some of my students who have become now, are getting somewhere between 2000-3000 yuan/month for nearly half the work I do, plus, they are local, plus, they do not have to deal with issues arising by living in a foreign country, plus they are allowed to freely moonlight.

Now, dear friends, let's unite on this forum and truly help each other.
Again, I know my writing may come under verbal threats, which I have already anticipated.

Thanks all,

The Mad Man