You’ve Been To China You Know How Things Work
So yesterday Anderson and I were thrown into the fire. Our placing agency had me demo at 3 schools and Anderson 2…on our second day…of being in China. The first school Anderson and I both interviewed at was pretty intense considering we had both had about 20 minutes of training the day before. After leaving the guy who took us for our interview informed us that they were more interested in me and that I basically had the job if I wanted it.
About 5 minutes later the school called and informed us that even though the teachers liked my demo better the students preferred Anderson. This meant that I had to go next door and demo at another school, while our liaison told Anderson to wait either at the McDonalds or the KFC (apparently that’s the US embassy). I interviewed at the next school which went well and it seemed like they liked me but our contact was pretty vague on if I was going to be working there.
Anderson and I went back to the offices of the recruiting group and they called us in regarding housing (no, we have not found housing yet, and yes, we are still in a little 9×9 hotel room, with a 2 foot separation between our beds). Anyway it seems like our placement company wants us to take their housing based on the stipulation that they help me get a job at the school where Anderson had interviewed the day before (that’s right, in the middle of training they brought Anderson, who had no idea what to do during an interview or a demo for the students to interview with the headmaster of a school on his first day in China). Finally, we agreed to take their housing assuming that I get the job at the same school as Anderson.
All of the things that our agency is doing seems pretty weaselly and when we asked, we were told that it will be fine, and they literally said to me “you’ve been to China you know how things work” (take that as you will). So Anderson and I went to the school to demo with another person who is using the same agency as us, who had never had any training before and was actually chosen by the headmaster to go first. This was my 3rd demo of the day (which is essentially running a class on the spot in front of all authority figures in the school and is very stressful and draining).
After her debacle (which actually wasn’t considering she had no idea what to do, she did fairly well), Anderson and I both seemed to do well. Last night they called Anderson and told him that the school wants him to go down tomorrow and observe the school and assured him that they liked me, but they still don’t if they are going to accept me. Now we are forced to play wait and see and if they don’t accept me we’ll be back where we were yesterday afternoon, assuming they don’t screw us. As our contact told me yesterday I’ve been to China I know how things work, which is to say not very well.
