teaching in Chonging: stuff that's not so great but you should know in case you're thinking about doing it

I love being in China. There's so much going on here that makes me happy I'm here. But there's plenty to gripe about as a foreigner. To me, the problems seem minor and they don't get to me much, but I imagine that other people coming to China would feel differently. Several volunteers have left already for various reasons. Almost all of them were placed in my area. I'm helping a friend of mine in the US get a job at my school teaching English. I decided to give her plenty of warning about the crappy conditions here so she could make a more informed decision. I figured I'd copy and paste it here to help anyone coming to China or thinking of coming to China. This mostly applies to my experience in Chongqing. Other areas can be quite different. I've tried to be as objective. But in fact I've probably erred on the side of exaggeration rather than understatement. If you think you can overcome all the obstacles I've mentioned here, then you're going to do just fine in China.

I didn't feel like editing this, so you're going to get it in IM format.

It's really so easy to get a teaching job in China. So many schools are hiring. My school is so desperate for foreign teachers, they'll hire anyone who can speak English. The last guy they hired was an Australian with a lisp. I can't even understand what he's saying. I wonder how his students are doing.

my school is super frustrating, so you know. you can't get anything done
and you're going to be commuting to the new campus almost every day, which is an hour and a half away
and you'll probably stay in the hotel on campus there
and it's really not that bad, but it's just inconvenient
you aren't going to be teaching english majors, because me and my sitemate do that
so the students you get are not going to be that great, but that depends on if you can get their attention and make class interesting for them
there's a bus that goes out to the new campus
teachers ride free
and yeah, you'll have me for a resource. i can help you with lesson planning
hell, you can use my lesson plans
the department you'll be working for is notoriously bad at communicating with you. sometimes you won't know who you're going to teach until you get to the classroom. you won't know your schedule until you start teaching either
Chinese people in general do not plan ahead. at all
and that's frustrating because you can't make plans
you're going to be making more money than you'll know what to do with though, but when you convert it to dollars, it's not enough to save
Where we live, we have super easy access to anywhere in the city because of the metro that just opened just outside my apartment, but you'll be spending several weekdays on the new campus
the new campus is in the middle of nowhere and there's nothing to do around there. on the other hand, it gives you a chance to really get to know the students there.
i'll be spending at least 2 days a week there and spending the night
and i'll probably be doing stuff with students
it would be great if we could work together on some projects
Chongqing city people are rude, pushy, and kinda gross
it won't get to you at first
but after a while it might
you'll be stared at a lot and people will disrespectfully "hello" you. you'll be walking down the street and people will yell "hello!"
if you can't speak any chinese, it will be kind of difficult to get around and do stuff. i'll help you with that, but you should try to learn some basic stuff. you'll probably want to get a tutor
food here is extremely oily. you might gain some weight
but there's not a lot of meat
the air in chongqing is so polluted that you won't see the sun for weeks
in the summer when you get here, it'll be around 100 F almost every day
it rains a lot
except there's not that much showering, just this miserable drizzle for days on end
the winter is worse. air quality is even worse in the winter and the drizzle goes from being uncomfortable to being cold and uncomfortable
also, even when you learn some chinese, it might not help you that much because in chongqing they speak a chongqing dialect that makes no sense to people who speak mandarin
everybody will watch you and know what you're doing all the time because you're white and your hair isn't black or dark brown
that's about all i can think of...
really though, these problems are pretty minor. i think if anything really bothers you it will be the work related stuff
the school is difficult to deal with, but honestly, they really don't care what you do in the classroom
as long as you show up to class and teach English, however you want to do that, you're practically untouchable. job security.
they are so desperate for english teachers
and not even good ones. They have to fulfill a quota given to them by the government
anyway, i really wanted you to know the bad stuff so you can make a good decision. several people in peace corps have left. all of them have been volunteers placed in my area.
but being here is a great opportunity. i've learned a ton about china. chongqing especially is at the forefront of development in china. more growth is happening here than anywhere else in the country and it's really interesting to see the effects of it