Tuesday 18 November 2008

Future Plans

As I have mentioned before, I am going home for Christmas for one month, I can't wait, I am very excited about it. I know that this time spent at home will also be time spent planning on what I will do when I come back to China. Right now, I am quite sure I will not be continuing at Web once my contract has expired in April next year. Recently, things have been much better, and I have been enjoying many of my classes again. But I think English Corner and the terrible hours are two things that won't keep me staying at the company for too long. My big problem is: I don't know what else I can do.

I desperately want to go back to university or college to study something different from my music degree, but I am still unsure exactly what (although I know the field), and also how it can be done considering my position and finances. Also, I don't want to leave Wenzhou just yet, because of my main reason for being here in the first place: Kimi. I hope that in the not too distant future we will be able to leave Wenzhou together, maybe even leave China, but I don't want to put that on Kimi or her mother just yet. I feel that a little more time spent here is the right thing to do. Don't get me wrong, I have never been happier living here, it has been one of the most rewarding times of my life, I just feel like I cannot stay in Wenzhou forever. So, I just need to think about what I can do with my time next year. Do I stay at Web, or do I go?

I had a rare quiet minute in the office this evening. I started playing around with the panoramic function on my phone, and took this picture of my workstation (unfortunately it doesn't quite fit together):

My daily view at Web, with the slowest computer I have ever used

P.S. Wow, I have seven followers on my blog now! Thank you for reading everybody.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dude,

your office space is better than mine!

China is light years ahead!really!

I'm still using a crappy crt monitor in my office. I don't miss those long hours at training centres in China though, those suck!

Why not try for a uni next year?
Alex

mabelp said...

Hey Chris! I know planning the future is not easy sometimes! Many factors must be involved. Therefore, when u back to the UK for X'mas, please discuss it with your family and old friends and think about it carefully.

We were the music students at UNI in the past, I could guess what u're worrying about the future.
For the course u will take in the future, did u try to contact your old tutors to see if they could give u some useful advice? What kind of job do u want to have in the future?

Shawn said...

why not try to be an Overseas Student?
It's easier for a foreigner to enter a good universty which in China
Wow....

Wayne said...

if u'd like to go to college as a teacher in wenzhou,u only get two choices,wenzhou university or wenzhou medical college,and wenzhou university is more possible since they need more english teacher.actully,i don't think it'll be hard to get that job.
ps:the summer time is the best period for applying to it!

大眼睛熊 said...

Hey babe,hope u can figure something out when u go back home!!
Or maybe u can be a medical student in Wenzhou Medical College?..Hehe :D xxxxx

Christopher said...

Wow, thank you for all of the great responses everybody. So much good advice.

I never thought about trying for uni....in China!! That could be brilliant. I will certainly look into it. I think I will speak to my old friends and family to see what they think too. It's definitely a good idea to have a soundboard for these kinds of things.

Teaching at a university could also be interesting. Would I be able to teach and study at the same uni? If that's possible, it could be perfect for me (considering I have no money).

Alex, I'm surprised that you are still using CRT monitors. I don't know why, I expected your school to be paved with gold. I imagine everywhere to be like Dubai around there. So you have had the training centre experience too? The hours and English corner are the killers for me.

Anonymous said...

Chris,

It's very like China, in that they have the money, but it seemingly isn't spent where it should be.

When I mentioned that Israel has no oil or natural gas, but is a rich developed democracy, I didn't half get some shit thrown my way from my students, but the truth hurts sometimes.

China has billions in foreign reserves, yet chooses to launch rockets and probes into space and build high speed trains for the 2010 Shanghai Expo. Meanwhile school buildings collapse when an earthquake strikes, coal mines are unsafe places to work in, healthcare isnt free, rivers flood all the time, a typhoon causes chaos, and people get sick from Cholera in Hainan university...be careful of the cafeteria food!

Every nation has a veneer, with the arabs its flashy palaces and mosques, immaculately clean capital cities, and free education for all. But beneath that coating, you can see things aren't right.

Hell, even england is a mess!! and we are in the G7!!

Cheers
Alex

Christopher said...

I know exactly what you mean Alex. Talking along these lines is always a touchy subject, and I know I have shut my mouth at Web many times, just to prevent any friction in classes. It's tough holding back the frustration sometimes.

Anonymous said...

I always hated being 'educated' about how bad the west was, and how great China is in comparison.

Some nuggets I heard:

"Foreigners are more open than Chinese"

"Foreign men are playboys"

"Chinese I.T. is better than Western I.T."

"Chinese mobile phones are better than nokia and sony ericson"

And on and on....:)