First time I've used this forum so hopefully this will appear as normal in the thread.

Lot of hate against current Huijia foreign teachers (nothing negative to say about our committed and honest Chinese counterparts?) on here. Weird, because usually these Huijia threads are usually just casual criticism of the school with every now and then someone coming along and saying "ehhh, it's a bit rubbish sometimes but not that bad really" (a sensible interpretation of working here, given that most of the staff are former ESL teachers). Maybe a debate about Huijia's laowais is overdue and a casual comment just became a catalyst.

Firstly, those of you complaining about the drinking, please shut up before you embarrass yourselves further, you [very clever and biting insult deleted]. Drinking and smoking are (fully legal) subsets of a group of activities called Enjoying Yourself. You should try it, sometime. Wanna know a famous non-drinker, non-smoker? That's right, ten points for you: Hitler. I hold that a cigarette and a drink from time to time is emotionally healthy rather than constant suppression of emotion in the name of some old book. Hitler didn't mind tolerating that book too, come to think of it. How now, you oblivious fascists? It'd be great if everyone just shut up and did what you think they should do, wouldn't it?

And as long as the teachers are doing their job OK, then so what if he had seven bottles of Tsingtao the night before? Some of us can handle hangovers. We're not exactly being rewarded with the wealth of Midas, or even the basic respect of the administration here are we? Grow up, babies.

None of you hatesayers are talking about the hours these alcoholic drug using smokers give up in their evenings to help the kids 1-to-1 or in small groups for no extra money are you? None of you are talking about the enthusiasm with which these alcoholic drug using smokers talk up their good kids. None of you are talking about how these alcoholic drug using smokers are regularly tested by clever kids - and rise to the challenge. None of you are talking about how these alcoholic drug using smokers are often one of the few trusted adults in the lives of these kids with whom they occasionally talk about their problems and life choices. None of you are talking about the occasional, spontaneous, happy laughter coming from the classrooms of these alcoholic drug using smokers. And none of you are talking about how these alcoholic drug using smokers deal calmly and adultly with the many, shall we say, less-than-attentive kids in the school and are possibly the only semi-discipline they have in their lives, surrounded by submissive Chinese teachers and fellow students and a school out to appease their parents. Get a life.

The most serious allegation here (in fact, the only serious one to a grown-up) was made by Hello Kitty. I'm suspicious of you, Hello Kitty, because there are obviously more than a single decent teacher at this place, although obviously we have our fair share of weirdos. Ask any of the best students and they will always mention a few teachers they like and respect. As for that allegation you made about one of the colleagues and a student, well I've never heard about that and I can't really see any of the guys here with the charm to pick up a rich Chinese girl being stupid enough to think they'd get away with that given the fact that gossip travels freely between Chinese students and teachers here (many students tell me about Chinese teachers casually tossing off opinions about the foreigners) and that fact that it is happening is fairly obvious to the dullest of observers, anyway. Inscrutable, they are definitely not! So, anyway, Hello Kitty, you just look like you're grinding an ax and you should really think a bit more before you make potentially damaging allegations on the Internet as well as blanket generalizations about your teachers. If you are who you say you are, you've had maybe ten to fifteen foreign teachers while at Huijia. Which is about a third of those in the IB, I think. So you aren't really in a position to make that judgement anyway, kiddo

Huijia isn't all bad. It's a launch pad, or a place to just take it easy for a while.

If you've been teaching ESL in Asia and have a degree in science/humanities or something but no legit teaching quals, this is a great place to work - don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Far more interesting than ESL. And after a few years of cutting teeth and learning syllabuses (syllabi?!), many of teachers move on to things closer to "real" schools. The money is better than many ESL gigs. The management, for all their faults, are basically standard for training schools around China, except for the fact that they do always pay on time. (The fact we didn't get paid for our October Holiday before the holiday this year is due to that guy running off to Thailand with his monies.)

I don't understand how people from hagwons in Korea, poorly paid universities in China and sex tourism in South-East Asia manage to sound so vitriolic about this place. Our old ESL gigs weren't that great either, guys!

If you're a qualified teacher with experience of school teaching in the West, then unless you can get a head of department and the backing of the school to shake up the Chinese teachers (unlikely), then you're not going to like it. Unless you just want to coast - or the idea of a big challenge gets you excited. If you're a smart guy who is bored of ESL, but not wanting to go to reality just yet then this is a good idea.

Amanda and Joy will try to get you to work for as little as possible. True, but Chinese companies do that to their Chinese employees too. They make a lot less than we do (one of the ways in which the school keeps us divided). So much so that now it seems migrant workers are on average making about the same as entry level graduates in this crazy country (more when you discount university fees, lost income and the need to maintain your appearance). Ahhh, well that's what happens when you devalue your currency and repress freedom of speech. As foreigners mixed up in this weirdness, we come out ahead. Oh, and remember to talk to one of the foreign teachers, not the foreign affairs office, about your problems.

Changping is boring, BUT Beijing is not. We go there at the weekends (most normal people only get to party at weekends, remember). Holidays are plentiful. The administration is unhelpful and often rude but there is a good group here that, on some level at least, looks out for each other - maybe only due to the fact we are a group of laowais on a campus of literally thousands of Chinese people who are very interested in us and feeling comfortable enough to gawk at us outside the building in which they know we live. Out of all the groups within which I've worked, we are easily the ones who are most tolerant of eccentricities and differences.

The toy soldiers at the gate are horrible to have to walk past, though. They are there for at least a semi-rational reason (China freaked out after three school stabbings were reported a year or two back), and to be fair they leave you alone if you look them in the eye and let them know that you won't take any guff from those swine from them. But we shouldn't have to do that, I agree. And the security cameras are too much. So yeah, I'm leaving, but only 'cause of the stuff in this final paragraph, and for the most part I've actually really enjoyed it here.