O fair and foul Fish,

From your high podium, you offer Daniel: "But try to take a look at anything that can go wrong and plan for it."

Until I came to China, I thought of myself as a reasonably creative thinker. Oh, how wrong I was! ESL folks, in China, there are surprises at almost every turn -- things/episodes that one could not possibly anticipate! Just when you think you've gotten yourself reasonably prepared for a "worst-case sceanrio"... whammo! ...Another, new installment of "This Is China" splashes across your mental screen.

Fish harps endlessly on about how so much in China, is business, pure and simple, and that "business" in China, is not so different than "business" anywhere else in the world. Phooey!

When you live in your home country, do you need (on a daily/hourly basis) to ask yourself yet another round of CREATIVE, crisis-anticipated, "What if..." questions? I don't think so!

Fish becomes so annoyed and condescending when people attempt to paint the ESL China teaching experience in truer colors. This practice really interferes with his ability to pocket more recruitment fees from his friendly, local education disorganization cronies.