Wow! My post has gotten lots of feedback. I am back in the States and I can finally put this behind me...after one more parting comment..

First I want to say that I wouldn't trade my Chinese experience for anything. It has definitely enriched my life and, I hope, I have enriched the lives of my students. To quote Chaucer, "...and gladly would he learn and gladly teach." I did; I have.

For the novitiate, rookie, newbie, etc. The central point I was trying to make was simple: be sure and ask "these people" some tough questions. Choatle has 27 questions he has put together and I think they should be framed with a gold border for anyone who is contemplating a China (teaching) experience.

That said, a final shot at Messrs. Curry, Van De Mark, and the school's recruiter. These three folks are "tight as tics" on a hound dog. They are founding members of what I generously refer to as the "super club." Their primary goal is to (a) eat, (b) drink, (c) and smoke cheap cigarettes and sleep to noon. Sounds like a pathetic life, no? Well that has been the main the main of ingredient or the experience de jur for Mr. Van De Mark ("Harry V") for the last 5 years! Wow! Ms. Chen the recruiter (and I do hope you get to talk to her on the telephone and struggle with her "command" of the Chinglish language...) orders the food and they leisurely dine...night after night after night. Curry who has a "wife-beater" tatoo that stretches from his neck to his wrist (and he has the chutzpah to call me "immature") is simply pleased as punch to be in China...Well, hell, after West-by-God-Virginia the kid has stars in his eyes and a new stamp in his new passport. Can you keep 'em down in the hollows when they have see have seen the big tourist hub of Shenyang?enyang?

Now, why would these three gourmand amigos pile on my post? Any other reason that to "set the record straight" for the reader? Well, yes there is and you dear reader are part of it. You see if someone (Foreign Teacher)"bails out" in mid-year or mid-semester, YOU WILL have to "pick up the slack" and that means more work for all the remaining teachers. Oops. And if you think everything is hunky dory at S.I.E. be sure and ask the recruiter and her fractured English if any one has just up and walked out on the school? Ever been consideration given by the teaching faculty to resigning over accomodation issues specifically the heat (or lack thereof) in your apartment? Choatle is rigtht: ask for references from people have been ther Abeen there and LEFT. Boy you'll make Ms. Chen work for her "supper" on that one as she goes through her roladex picking out the "safe" names for you to call.

At least now the recruiter can't give you the "Harry and Jerry" show because you already know those two super club members are less than neutral about your "visit" to the S.I.E. experience. They want you to come...they want you help further the lifestyle of the "three amigos." Oh, and for a kicker...ask yourself why the hell a retired "school principal" has been at the same location for 5 years and a kid without a teaching license (even from West-by God-Virginia) are so interested in YOU coming to S.I.E. As the Church Lady would say..."How conveeenient." Zye jee-en.

P.S.
Oh, yes, I got the powers-that-be to change the locks on the apartment doors over Ms. Chen's assurances that everyone was "safe." I made them an offer they couldn't refuse: I told them if they locks weren't changed I'd file for breach of contract and an immediate payoff of my contract with a penalty.