So, the owner of my school also owns a "school" in Tianjin, near TEDA (Tianjin Economic Development Area). I say school in air quotes because there is no physical school or office space. 97% of the business there is contracts with large corporations and the government, so English teachers there go out to the businesses or government organizations to teach. He had mentioned to me earlier this week that maybe in a month or so he might like to have me go out to Tianjin to teach for a bit and try that out. Given my professional background he thought it would be a good fit.
Well on Wednesday, he asked me to go to Tianjin this coming Sunday to try it out for a month and see what I think. I had looked up Tianjin previously, so I knew it was warmer and a much bigger city with many more people, more foreigners and more things to do. It sounded worth giving a try and I got pretty excited about it. I mentioned that I had a lot of luggage and he said I would keep my apartment here too, so I could leave everything in it and just bring one bag.
Pause this storyline momentarily.
Also on Wednesday, the other Midwestern girl in Songyuan and the Filipino (who turns out is actually Mexican, whoever said he was Filipino was messing with him) organized a group of foreigners to go out to dinner, so the Indonesian Canadian, the Chinese American grad student and I went and met them. Aside from the five of us, there was a guy from their school that used to work for US Airways in Phoenix and a Chinese guy that I had met at badminton on Tuesday. Dinner was phenomenal and family style, so I got to try a bunch of different things. The Midwesterner and the Mexican are really the only people I've met here that drink, so we had a couple beers with dinner.
They were going out to a "bar" after dinner to meet some other friends, so I conned the Chinese American into coming, even though he doesn't drink much, and we joined them. Songyuan doesn't really have bars, they have ktv (karaoke) bars and clubs, but not regular bars. We went and met an older British guy that has been teaching in Songyuan for five years and an Aussie that has been here for three. We got after it pretty good there and had a great time. I may or may not have friendly bullied the Chinese American into having a few beers as well.
After that we were hungry again and I mentioned that I was craving Mexican food; the Mexican said he knew of a Mexican place in the area so I got quite excited and we headed there for a bite. It was not Mexican food. At all. It was Chinese food that uses one pepper that is also used in Mexican food, definitely a letdown, but pretty funny.
Then it was about time to go home, but the Midwestern/Mexican couple was telling us about this lake near their apartment that is frozen and you can walk across, so we took our shenanigans onto the frozen lake; good times were had by all. And that is the story of my first night out on the town in Songyuan!
So, I had shown up to dinner quite excited about the Tianjin opportunity and it was a topic of discussion all evening. The other foreigners are much more experienced for the most part, so they brought up a lot of good points for me and gave me a bit of a reality check. I was kind of freaked out by the time I got home. They said I needed to see if I was actually going to be in Tianjin (which they said is an awesome city), or just close, and if not in the city, how close, how near to public transit, etc. They said they had heard of someone from my school that went there and ended up sharing an apartment with their teaching assistant when they weren't expecting to, so I needed to check on that. They told me that the cost of living there is significantly higher, especially if I plan to go out, so I would need a raise. They also said I should leave my things with someone in Songyuan, not in my empty apartment, just in case.
I addressed all of that with my owner yesterday. I will be just outside Tianjin, 20 minutes by bullet train maybe 40 by regular, and my apartment will be within a five yuan taxi ride of the major public transit (all taxi rides in Songyuan are five yuan unless you are going FAR). I will have the option of living alone or sharing my apartment with my TA, I can check out the apartments when I get there. I got a small raise and if I decide to stay there after a month I will ask for more. I also arranged to leave my stuff in the Indonesian Canadian's apartment while I am gone. If I decided to stay I'll figure out how to get it here at that point.
All that settled, I now have a flight to Tianjin for this Sunday night! I'm excited, but it's bittersweet because I am also sad to be leaving Songyuan and the amazing people that I have found this week; we have a great little community here and I have been very happy the past few days (feels so much longer!). We'll see what the month in Tianjin brings!
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