Yes! Hip-hip-Hooray!!! Lets hear it for all the chicken farmers, and fish farmers, and pig farmers, and vegetable and fruit farmers of China who help give us all (Chinese and foreigners alike) a happy and healthy life!

Now, lets hear it for the foreign teachers who come here, often at our own expense, leaving family and friends far behind, who accept salaries and working conditions much lower than those in our home countries. Lets it for the risks we take when we come here with little understanding of the true and real condition of the job. John says that we must ask lots of questions before accepting a position, and he is ABSOLUTELY RIGHT; but if one is coming to China for the first time, he or she doesnt know all of the necessary questions to ask.

I have lived and worked as a teacher in China for three years. With each year, and each frustrating experience, I learn more and more and more and more questions to ask.

The bottom line is that as we become more experienced here we learn we have to venture into new jobs with a deep lack of trust and misgiving.

Transparency (or lack of) seems to be the great new buzz word from foreign corporate and political leaders regarding China. The same holds true for foreign teachers. If Chinese schools and employers would be more forthcoming about the true design and demands of the job, and the living conditions, perhaps we could have more harmonious and trusting (and lasting) relationships.

I love China and teaching here (because of the students and citizens not the employers), but I hate that I have to DEMAND proper answers constantly before agreeing to do something, because if I do not, the situation is often fraught with hidden agendas and various other surprises. When we express our displeasure with these surprises it is usually chalked to misunderstanding. I think I understand what is going on very well.

It is time foreign teachers (the ones who approach their jobs with integrity and good will) were also treated with mutual respect and not just used for exploitation and window dressing by schools in China.

Now, back to my chicken dinner. . .