Introductions

G'day Reawake and welcome to the forum. All the best for your move to Shanghai and for your new job. I really look forward to hearing about your experiences in China.   Just as a matter of interest, on 9th of this month was the 100yrs anniversary of my Paternal Grandmother's arrival by ship to Australia, from England and her marriage on the same day. My Grandfather had arrived here a bit earlier. She was a milliner from Brixton and he was a barber from Manchester. On my Mum's side, we started with two Convict brothers who were transported from England. May I ask where you lived in England?

Thank you Granny Mae!
A significant anniversary for you, no doubt.
Oh the country of convicts! In theory it'll have bred a smart race of people, of course I mean lefties, most common thieves, gays, and GENIUSES! 
You may! I'm from a smallish town between Cambridge and London, but I spent my university time in Liverpool. Manchester is actually the better city, I ended up wishing I'd studied there instead!

Reawake, you mentioned that you had studied film and you know that we have a thread here on films. As a matter of interest, Angelina Jolie is here in Oz producing a film. You may also be interested in seeing the film "Red Dog" which I watched again last night. It is based on a true story and it shows the types of blokes who lived in the mining camps in Western Australia about fifty years ago. The main "character" is the red dog who died in November 1979. You would probably appreciate what went into making a film about a dog.

Hi Guys, I'm Stephanie, nice to meet you all. I currently live in France but I got a teaching position in Changchun. I'm leaving early next year. I always dreamed to go to China but never had the opportunity to get there before. I'm quite excited and a bit nervous at the same time.
The Saloon was really helpful to gather info about schools. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences.

Hi Si Mao, congrats and good luck. I lived 3½ years there. I totally loved it. I am now somewhere else because my wife had a promotion here. If there's anything you want to know about the 'choon, let me know. There are a few others who did time worked there too. Our beloved leader Raoul (RIP) was stuck there as well

Thank you Day Dreamer. I'm happy I got a position there, I was looking for a smaller city than Beijing or Shanghai but still good for a newbie like me. Even through I already been living abroad I'm asking myself so many questions haha, thanks to the internet to make this kind of forums happening.  Thank you for your offer, I have indeed some questions to ask later.  
And I'm sorry for the loss, Raoul truly seemed like a great person.

Welcome Si Mao! Keep us up to date on what you are doing.

Hi everyone!  My name's Edwin and I just booked my ticket to China--Jinan in particular.  I'm 26, from New York, and am heading out in January (the morning after my best friend's wedding!) to work with Best Learning as--you guessed it--an English teacher.  15 month contract, whew boy!  Leaving it all behind and heading West...to the East, but I have to go West to get there...globes are weird.

A little extra about myself: I'm a former professional circus performer (specializing in unicycles and fire eating/breathing) and magician, published writer (not terribly much, but it's a start), and eager adventurer.  I've spent the years since high school bouncing around the world, not getting much done, so I'm hoping to use the next however long in China to get my self figured out.  The only downside to all this moving to China business is that I have an incredible 1,500 volume book collection that I'm rather sad to be selling off/giving away as I head off into the future--but it's all for the best.

Anyway, I suppose that's enough of an introduction.  Glad to be here

Leaving it all behind and heading West...to the East, but I have to go West to get there...globes are weird.

I blame Christopher Columbus. East was East and West was West until he invented America.



xkcd knows these things.
http://xkcd.com/503/



 

Welcome... Working in China is, actually, much like working in a circus, except the Sprechstallmeister has been koshed and tied up behind the elephant pen and the clowns got into the fireeater's brandy and are now running the show  I hope your stay in the Big Silly will be enjoyable. Please, please, eat fire in front of your students...I can assure you that, if you do, you will, hands down, win the Coolest Teacher of the Millenia Award at the school. 

Welcome jomteon! Sounds like you have had a lot of fun. Keep posting at the Saloon and you will get a lot of help and good advice from people who know what they are talking about and who will freely offer you that help and advice which is vital to your living in China. Sorry to hear about your books.

Welcome... Working in China is, actually, much like working in a circus, except the Sprechstallmeister has been koshed and tied up behind the elephant pen and the clowns got into the fireeater's brandy and are now running the show  I hope your stay in the Big Silly will be enjoyable. Please, please, eat fire in front of your students...I can assure you that, if you do, you will, hands down, win the Coolest Teacher of the Millenia Award at the school. 

OMG this. If you eat fire in front of your students the other jokers might as well just pack up and leave. There will be no topping it and you'll go down in school lore for at least the next 5 years or so.

Welcome to the Saloon!

Don't worry jomteon, it'll all come back to you in no time. Before you know it, you'll be saying:

- "Hey! Who's running this circus?"

- "What are you, a fricken clown?"

- "Where's my whip?"

- "Damn, I don't want to do this but the show must go on"


And that's just from home! Wait until you start working 

Hello everyone,

Bahamoth here. The name is a pun, kinda. It's like 'behemoth', but I'm from The Bahamas.
Someone called Fox sent me a PM to spur me on to post an intro, I suppose. I couldn't response to the PM for some reason so here's the next best thing.

A little background: I taught ESL in Yongzhou, Hunan for 3 months a few years ago. I was employed by Buckland International Language Group (or some such name) who operate out of Yangshuo, Guangxi.

I'm now applying across the board at IB schools.

Very excited to face the prospect of returning to China with a job that might actually pay...

Welcome Bahamoth and welcome back to the land of silliness. Good luck on your search. The "Teacher's Board" has a wealth of knowledge.

BTW, I've been to Bahamas a few years back. I have a thing for island nations, that's where I seem to go most of the time I travel