I have stood at every end of the spectrum on this debate. There were times where I definitely wanted to leave (the entire month of January, everytime I set foot into my 11th grade math class) and also times I was set on staying (when I first arrived, during some of my Chinese classes, when students say "thank you", while enjoying my baked pasta in the park this weekend). So my personal answer whether I should stay or go depends on the week.
If I stay (there will be trouble)...
I would only want to work at Jin Cai. I am not interested in getting acclimated at another school or moving my things to another city (exception: Hong Kong- although I haven't applied for a single teaching job there). I don't fit the mold of someone meant to be a career teacher but I know that I can do it. I have most of my materials saved and I know next year I WILL be a better teacher with putting in much less effort. I feel like I need to stay just to show how much I can improve. I would get a raise, more of a say in what classes I teach and the luxury of a planned curriculum thanks to my awesome note saving organizational skills. On the downside, the hours and most of my students suck. B level. The most enjoyable ones are the seniors and they will be long gone (actually many are staying in Shanghai and already asked to hang out- haha).
If I go.... go where?
Should I start a new life (again)? The entire lesser developed world awaits me. I say lesser developed because they are much more likely to give a visa to someone based on the fact that they speak English since the developed world improved second language education long before- thus my need to apply for an Italian passport. It seems like Japan, South Korea, and the Middle East offer the best pay for foreign teachers. I will not be going there. It's not that I am not interested in living there its just that my primary objective has always been to learn the language. That said, I would like to go somewhere Spanish speaking. Ideally, I'd be in Buenos Aires eating steak and maybe even salsa dancing. I am fairly sure I could reach near native level Spanish if I lived in Latin America for six or more months... in a place not over populated with English speakers (goodbye cosmopolitan oasis Buenos Aires). So when I happened to see a job posting for a school in southern (the safer part of) Mexico I decided to apply. Fear not, the flight home from Mexico is a quarter the length and half the price of flying from Shanghai!
However...
Mommy and friends want me in the USA. My mom has settled for anywhere in the USA (she rightly assumes I will want to stay on the east coast) while my friends are each trying to lure me to their new hometowns.
In a way a lot of my friends here cannot relate, I feel like I have been away from home for five years, not one. When I left, my puppy was, well, a puppy. He was younger than me... and now he is my daddy's age. He grew a generation! In the time I've been gone my brother graduated two (almost three) schools, my cousins became teenagers, dad's neared his retirement and mom learned to use and iPhone. This is all kind of crazy to me. The good news is it seems life has gotten better for everyone (except maybe pup, I mean he got castrated) but I still wish I was there for all the birthdays, snowstorms and CHRISTMASES. In other good news, the majority of Mexicans believe in God and have a long Christmas holiday.
So the current breakdown is: 30% New York, 30% Miami 30% Mexico and 10% tossup.
| My best friend Mickey the Maltese says "why have you abandoned me? woof!". No seriously he said that. He emails me. |
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