My plans for Spring Semester

So, long story short, as you may know, I decided to come back for spring semester—well most of it—here in Hangzhou. Don’t worry, I’ll fill you in on what happened while I was away from China in January and February. Those are the fun bits after all. But before I do so, here’s a recap of my plans for the year and my decision to come back.

Back in the spring of 2016, when I signed my fall contract, I already was planning for my Indian adventure, which started at the end of December. Our school semester in Hangzhou runs until the Chinese New Year, typically in late January. So instead of signing on for the duration of the semester I only committed to work until the end of 2016. My initial plan for the spring was no plan at all; I’d wait and see how things went in Hangzhou, while searching for spring positions in the meantime.

In terms of spring options, one was South America—ever since my study abroad trip to Ecuador, in 2009, I’ve made it a long term goal to further explore the continent. Periodically I also search for jobs in the region, but well-paying gigs are hard to come by. For someone like me with limited work experience, teaching English is the most likely option, but most of those jobs barely cover your cost of living. I still considered positions in Colombia and Chile, but scraping by without saving any money didn’t seem worth it.

This was when I visited the equator during my study abroad in
Ecuador; I hope I can make it back to S America one day.

A second option, had I been willing to dip into my limited savings, was to simply travel around South America for several months. While in country I might have better luck finding jobs, or even volunteer work which covered my lodging and/or meals. Had ‘vagabond for life’ been my long term career goal, this option might have won out. But, as I mentioned in the last post, starting fall 2017 I hope to be in graduate school, and it ain’t exactly cheap…ludicrously expensive is more like it. For the US schools, we’re talking close to $50,000 a year in tuition, not to mention living expenses. The international ones I’m considering are pricey too. So that means I have to think more about saving money—which effectively scotched a Latin American wanderlust.

I've been accepted into both George Washington and Johns Hopkins,
both of which charge nearly $50k a year in tuition.

Another option was to teach somewhere else in Asia. Most positions require a one-year minimum commitment, but I did find a company in Japan that hired on a semester by semester basis. The best part was that these were university positions—or so I thought. The company, called Westgate, advertises their university jobs aggressively on several English teaching job sites. They do have some employees teaching courses at Japanese universities, but the majority of their teachers actually work at Westgate’s private teaching centers. The students are still university age, which appealed to me, but it wasn’t nearly as cool as teaching on campus.

In early fall I filled out an application for Westgate, and they responded to me in October, asking that I proceed to the next step, which involved uploading original documents and nominating three references to fill out an evaluation. It was a lengthy process, and much more official than China. Finally, in mid-November I had an interview with HR. We talked for over an hour, discussing my education, prior teaching experiences, and job preferences, as well as role-playing, where I had to explain vocabulary and correct a student’s grammar mistakes (my interviewer played the Japanese student).

Tokyo is a great city...but is it the job worth it? If you want to check
out Westgate their website is here.

During the course of the interview I learned that Westgate employees have an average one-way commute of an hour to their job site. Most positions are in the Tokyo area, and apartments anywhere near the inner city are simply unaffordable for teachers. I would love to live in Tokyo, but at what cost? I’d be at work 9 hours a day, which would bump up to 11 if I factored in the commute. Some teachers lived closer than an hour but I couldn’t count on it—others lived up to 1.5 hours away!

When I say at what cost, I should really be saying, at what opportunity cost? Researching teaching positions reminded me that I have it good here in China. Compared with Westgate, I now work fewer hours and my apartment is a 20 minute walk from school (10 minutes max on my motorbike). Also, Westgate employees have to pay for their own apartments. Accommodation is arranged by the company, but they take over $700 out of your monthly paycheck to cover it (after tax, mind you). $700 for a place in the Tokyo area is very reasonable, but that bites into your $2500 monthly pre-tax salary.

Saving is a priority with grad school approaching.

So basically with my apartment factored in I’d be making less money and working/commuting an extra 3 hours a day if I took the job in Japan. The cost of living in Tokyo is also higher than Hangzhou, so my money goes farther here in China too. As much as I wanted to experience living in Japan, it just didn't seem worth it.

I try to keep this blog light, but personal details are bound to crop up from time to time. Truth is, money and job conditions are only half the story. I’ve mentioned Joanna, one of my co-teachers, several times before. If you recall I traveled with her in England and Ireland over the summer, and we had become more than just friends.

If you’re reading this Joanna, don’t worry, I won’t drone on too long! Our ride up to this point has had its bumps; I mean when you consider the situation last school year, being apart over much of the summer, uncertainty about next semester and beyond, and the fact that I’ve been single basically my whole life, I would be shocked if it’d been smooth sailing. But the main point I want to make here is that I have really enjoyed our time together and looked forward to coming back spring semester.

With Joanna on our trip to Myanmar; more on that soon!

I came back to Hangzhou in part because of her, and I wanted to give it a chance to work. Add in those other reasons—the hours, pay, and familiarity—and it seemed logical to stay the rest of the school year. Who knows what will happen next year…I sure don’t. But for the time being I should enjoy the here and now. Okay, then, that’s enough of that. Until next time!