Fuddland

So it’s 2008 and I’m still in China. This year-long stay is now almost two-years long. Recently it’s again been time to decide what to do next, as my current work contract [and hence my residence visa] expire at the beginning of February.

Since I got back to Sūzhōu (苏州) in September, you may have noticed a distinct drop-off in the regularity of my postings. There’s no particular reason for this, I’ve just been going about a pretty normal day-to-day life: teaching; meeting friends for drinks or having them round for dinner; dating; finding lovely new hang-outs; generally, just having a grand old time, but nothing spectacularly worth writing home about.

Although it’s been a long time since I studied Chinese in earnest, I’ve been picking up more and more of the language here and there — I can now recognise a pretty fair smattering of characters, useful for reading streetsigns and bus timetables, and have been making more of an effort to send text messages in Chinese to my Chinese-speaking friends. So I think I’m going to be enrolling at Sūzhōu University for a semester after the Chinese New Year. They have a well-recommended programme for learning different aspects of Chinese: you can focus on spoken Mandarin, reading, writing, or a combination of these. Most of the classes take place in the morning, which means I can do enough part-time teaching in the afternoons and evenings to keep me solvent, as long as I’m careful not to wear myself out nor not leave enough time for homework.

The company I currently work for has offered to keep me on as a part-time teacher, so that will provide at least some of my employment, but perhaps more importantly, they will arrange to renew my visa, which from past experience, is not something to be sniffed at. I’ll give the course and the working part-time a semester and see how it goes from there.

#1

Hannah | 2008 / 01 / 06 – 15:55

If you’re not careful you’ll end up spending more time in China teaching than you did on your degree. Happy New Year David!

#2

David | 2008 / 01 / 06 – 21:39

Re #1: Thanks Hannah, 新年快乐 to you too! But fret not, I’ve got another good couple of years before I match the duration of my degree. ;)

#3

Helena | 2008 / 01 / 09 – 19:51

A very good friend of mine - also a David - teaches in China, too. He has decided to remain there but he has a very good reason to. His girlfriend, Yan. From what I hear and read, he’s really happy and will remain there.

I wish you luck in your future decision. It’s a great job that you do!

Commenting on this post is closed. Thanks to all those who left comments. If you'd still like to say something about this entry, feel free to email me.