My sentiments exactly. So much so, in fact, I feel as though your post echoes my own thoughts. I came here in 2003 with the hope that the burn out I was experiencing with teaching ESL in America would change -that somehow my interest in helping others in this way would be rekindled by the opportunities before me. Unfortunately, though there have been a few bright spots, my optimism, too, has been replaced by cynicism. My choice, then, is to watch from afar as this whole thing reaches critical mass and implodes. I'm not ready to return permanently to America, but I'm thinking Costa Rica or someplace like that. The money is not what's important. Appreciation is what counts, and, well, that ain't happenin' here.

The next ad you see for EFL teachers in China might very well read something like this: If you can walk erect and have opposing thumbs, come to exotic China for the opportunity of a lifetime.

Bozo and Bobo are alive and well in China.