I got a new job! Two more years in China!

Well; the title of this post says it all. I just signed a new contract and have begun work with a new job. China owns me for another two years.

Here is some history into that decision:

A few months ago there was a new girl that started coming to church with us. She had just moved from Singapore and is working here as an English teacher. I didn't think much of it at the time because I wasn't planning on staying in China anyhow, but as time progressed and as she talked more and more about her job, I realized that she had a great job that I would really enjoy. She works with a company from Singapore called Smart Learners and teaches English to first graders.

I have always thought I would enjoy teaching elementary school and Asian kids are totally the cutest, so I thought that this would be a fun job. After talking to her about the job, I decided that I would at least apply for it to see if I was interested and if I could even get the job.

The interview process was interesting enough. I was told when and where to meet. Google maps told me it would take two hours to get there, so I went a bit earlier than that just to be on the safe side. Turns out that the place only took about an hour to get to. I decided to just chill nearby and read a book for about an hour. When it came time for me to go in for the interview, I realized that none of the buildings were actually numbered and I really didn't know which building I was supposed to go into. So I called the guy who would be interviewing me only to find out that he gave me the wrong number. Yikes.

Luckily, I eventually did make it to the interview. I was really quite impressed with everything. The company seemed to have organization and structure that I have missed since being here in China. Up until now, I have been teaching at a university and have found that very little of what goes on seems to make sense; disorganization is something that you learn to deal with very quick.

The interview went well; I even did a part of it in Chinese, which really didn't go that well, but apparently was good enough. A few weeks after the interview, I was asked to go to the school to teach a trial lesson to the students. I was instructed that the students only knew very basic English and that I would be teaching a lesson on the words "go straight," "turn left," and "turn right." I must admit that I was quite nervous because I was given 20 minutes to teach just a few words. I figured they must not know how to say much, so I planned very basic things for my lesson.

When I walked into the classroom I was happy to see all the excited faces. I was nervous to teach, but was to observe the actual teacher for 20 minutes before it would be my turn. When the teacher taught, he didn't use a single word of Chinese. Nothing. Not a word. Not only that, but he put up paragraphs for the students to read and they were reading it without a problem. Most of the students could read better than some of my college students. I was blown away. Their English was great! Now the problem was that I had planned a lesson for a class with a much more basic level. The lesson went well enough and I had a great time! I had been so used to teaching university students that it became odd for me when the kids would raise their hands to answer a question, or offer to volunteer to help me (in fact, I usually got too many students to volunteer). The kids were incredibly cute and I was smiling the entire time. It was great to see how good their English is and how eager they were to participate.

Well; earlier this week, I signed the contract. This means that....

• I am going to be staying in China for two more years. The company does however offer to help fly me home twice a year. 
• I will be teaching less hours, but earning about four times as much. My salary will be a decent salary (possibly even comparable to the starting salary of elementary teachers in Utah, but I am not really sure how much they make). 
• I get to teach kids! I will be teaching the second grade. I found out that I will actually end up teaching the class I did the trial teaching for.
• The company I work for will provide me with free housing, phone costs and insurance. This means that the only thing I am really going to be paying for is food. Food is cheap. I will be able to save up or invest almost all of the money I make here.
• I will be having a roommate from Singapore. Hopefully that should help out my Chinese significantly. Just found out he is 54 years old. Interesting. It has been a long time since I was the younger roommate (long time as in I don't know if I have ever been the younger roommate). 

While I am very much missing home and family and mountains and not pollution, I am happy and excited to stay in China a bit longer. I have been having a wonderful time here and been meeting great people. China is full of great people and I am happy that I will now be able to work with kids. I have already started doing some projects with the kids and have really enjoyed it. 

I am excited for my new job.