I would just like to say a few words on Michael’s 'story'. I am one of those ‘liars and dangerous people’ as I work for the College of International Education of Liaoning Medical University. I have been associated with Liaoning Medical University for over the past 7-8 years (I lost the count, it’s kind of dark in that anus over there), in the first 2.5 years I was employed as a foreign teacher, then I studied a bit of Chinese and since September 2009 I have been working in the International Office, being responsible for the admission and daily handling of foreign students. Ah, and I’m from Belgium and certainly not communist, just thought this was essential to add.

Let’s start from the beginning. I got most of the information from my colleague, Kevin, the Little Communist Henchman, as I’m not responsible for foreign teachers (Thank god!!!).
We signed a 6-month contract with Michael Obrowski, which stipulated that during the winter vacation the salary amounts to RMB5000. Mr. Obrowski knew that the semester was only starting in the last week of February, but still he had to come in the middle of December because ‘his life was a disaster in Cork, Ireland’. I kind of understand him, who wouldn’t want a holiday in China and also getting paid for it? The contract stated also that when the medical courses would start (end of February), his salary would be RMB8000. Unfortunately, he never saw that paycheck as he decided to take off at the end of February (coming back to that later).

About the living conditions: the pictures we send to him ARE of the building where he was going to live, the dormitory where also foreign students live. He was never promised a flat, nor did we send any pictures of other places. I do admit the heating in that building is not super duper, but it certainly is not an iglo. Moreover, every room is equipped with an airco, which can also blow hot air. I myself lived there for 2.5 years, and guess what, I survived it even without frostbite. There are about 50 Kazakh and Russian students living in that dormitory as well (and they are used to super duper heating back in their country), but none of them complains about the heating! Also, the thing about the electricity being turned off from 23.00 until 07.00 is not true. Duh, who would even believe that is true??? How could you keep foreign teachers and students in a building with no electricity at night??

I would also like to say some words about how we treated Michael Obrowski. He was asked twice if he needed to be picked up from the airport in Beijing, which he refused, saying ‘I am a excellent traveler, I can come to Jinzhou by myself’. So he ended up taking the D-train, which takes 3.5 hours, not 6. From the first day after he had arrived, he was taken by the Little Communist Henchman to do the physical examination, have his residence permit issued, was taken shopping and got all the help he needed to adjust in Jinzhou. We even bought him a new microwave oven and a small fridge.
On Christmas Eve we invited him to have dinner. Lucky me was placed next to Michael, and although he had stated ‘Me being a surgeon, I never drink. Did I mention by the way that I am a surgeon?’, he seemed to really like the baijiu. The Head Criminal Communist – Paul – was even not drinking baijiu and certainly he did not say ‘we promised you fake things, so you would come here’. Probably the baijiu got into Michael’s head and he imagined it. I would also like to mention that Michael seemed to have a very good time at dinner and in the KTV afterwards (we even songs some songs together, woohee). Would this be the behavior of somebody who was just told by his employer ‘Haha we lied to you, now you’re here and you can’t run away, hahaha’???? Duh!
Also, Michael didn’t have money to pay for his plane ticket to China, so we paid it for him, although the contract says that plane tickets can only be refunded at the end of the contract. That was pretty criminal of us, as we did breach the contract here …

On February 20th, Michael told my colleague his ex-wife was in the hospital because of cancer and his 17 year old daughter was in London and he had to go there to pick her up and return together with her to the US. He promised he would be back in a week’s time, which we thought was hard to believe. Before he went, he asked us to pay him the salary of February. At this point, there was one week left before he would actually start teaching, his schedule had been made and everything was arranged. By leaving at that time, he would be causing inconvenience and also be violating his contract. But we understand how important family is and we gave him the benefit of the doubt by allowing him to go. However, paying him the salary for February would be a bit outrageous. At that point, we had no insurance he would come back, so we told him we would pay him the February salary when he got back. Fair enough I think. He’s already had a nice holiday in China: free plane ticket, free accommodation and a salary for doing nothing during two months except complaining. And we also had to pay the agency for their services. Bling bling, I guess I won’t see a pay rise this year.

And apparently, we have done the right thing by not giving him his February salary yet. Not only does he run away, but he has to post inappropriate false information and lies about our university, its employees and the agency on the internet. I can assure to everybody that he was treated at our university only with kindness and he was never lied to.
Sorry it got a bit long, but I had to say something, as my workplace, my colleagues and boss had been dragged through the mud. Anyway, for all of you who are looking for a teaching job, there is an opening now at our university!  Drop me a line if you are interested!!!!

Elke De Fauw