As mentioned I came to China for various reasons and completed them in one huge swoop! But the main one I haven't been able to snag JUST YET is the overseas English teaching job.

My original plan was to work full time at Heidi English School in the city (Dandong), and live with whatever free accommodations/ +benefits they had. But I should've gone with the gut feeling I had about that school; especially during the interview when the headmaster and one of the senior Chinese assistants were busy interviewing my friend (who's been getting me all these scheduled interviews with THE headmasters) instead of me. Because I don't speak mainland Chinese/Mandarin. -.-;; And they were kinda ragging on me about the no teaching experience despite their website saying the lack of teaching experience would not be a problem. But why were they giving us a problem and mostly speaking to my friend about it. If I remember, I'M the one applying for the job.

Actually most of the foreign teachers, the kids (especially the 13-so kids I first taught twice) were really great to meet! It's just a shame that in the end I was only given a part time position, although okay, might clash too much with my stay in China; already the part time position doesn't include the free room and board, so I declined.

Plus I didn't like that senior Chinese assistant much. One of the British teachers and I agreed that he was a dick. XD She was so cool and really helped me out!! I hope I can visit her for a proper thanks or something!

There was also another school, UPIC and I had a more positive feeling with this school. It looked so much nicer because it was recently built. Even the headmaster only spoke to me as an applicant, not some "oh wait, we had another person in the room I forgot" thingie sitting around. I liked him, but again, we weren't sure about his policy on room and board and other stuffs since it's not on his site. So it'd sound like I had to commute back and forth from the town to the city which is like an hour. I've done this before, but for some reason, it seems tons longer in China. Eitherway, UPIC is still in my plans because the headmaster's really nice.

It was during a walk around Fengcheng that my friend Xinhua and I came across another school, Open Door English. o.O Turned out that this is an American Engilsh school (Heidi is Australian English, and UPIC is Brittish English), so that did perk my interest. The school, although smaller in comparison, was very inviting and friendly when we scheduled a meeting. The people in charge were really nice and spoke to me also as an applicant. What was really interesting though was that they saw my current position as someone with no teaching experience most suitable for their school o.O?! I mean WAAAAAAT?! That was the same thing discouraging me at the last 2 places! But they believed that it would help me become more flexicble with the teaching materials and the different levels of students.

... now why didn't the last 2 schools see this as an advantage?! XDDDDD GRRRRRRR ANYWAY IGNORE KTHNXBAI. XD

I had a few lunch meetings with Open Door, and had half day introduction sections this past weekend with one of the people in charge, Ruth. I really like her and we would just keep talking and talking so it's not like she's always the one talking, which is good. Not bad considering she's 70. XD But actually, I tend to talk better with older people? Even people my age and younger... it's such a struggle and even a PAIN to talk anything to without a stupid "WHO'S THE MOST SARCASTIC YET FUNNY AND COOL ASSHOLE" fight, in a sense. I know not everyone my age and younger are like this (that's why some of those few I managed to find are still my friends to this day ) but god, can you go somewhere and SHUT UP?! So damn annoying.

Anyway! :loved: This Wednesday I'm going to another meeting, then continue with the intro lessons the next weekend and I think Ruth, Gillian (another in charge), and will most like break down what kind of contract will work best for all of us.

So hey, some good came out of this after all!

I also stumbled upon Cheese and Lobster flavored Lays Potato chips. TIME TO MARRY j000oOoooooo00ooo~