Job Perks

I know I haven't posted much about my job recently but seriously, who wants to write about their job when they could be searching online for wedding dresses?!?! I do want to let you all know, though, that I'm very happy with the school change I made this year and I sometimes wonder why I didn't do it sooner! Sure, this job has more hours and I have to work on Saturday and Sunday but it turns out that I don't miss out on that much anyways so it's not much of a loss! Also, my weekend falls on Wednesday and Thursday which makes it the opportune time to go shopping or out to eat because I miss all of the weekend crowds. Although my contract says that I have to teach 5 hours per day the average is usually about 3 hours per day because of an abundance of foreign teachers. So, for the remaining hours that I have to be at work, I get to finish other work that I would normally be doing at home like writing recommendations, editing stuff or just chatting with students. The preparation time for classes takes no more than an hour a day and LONG GONE are the days of grading journals and essays late into the night, only to wake up the next morning with the remaining piles staring me in the face.

The new job also comes with some other perks. For example, the students are great and I've started to become friends with several of them, even going to one's house for homemade dumplings! Also, each month, if the company's sales are good (ie, if more students are signing up to learn English here) the company takes all of the employees out for a big dinner as a reward. This month, however, the company bought 140 tickets to Avatar in 3-D. The teachers were given tickets (and they even gave one to Tony) so that we would be sure to show up - it's good advertisement for the school! I don't mind, though, because I get to see the movie and I've been wanting to see it for a while now. I don't know about in the U.S., but in China it's a type of slow torture to try to get the tickets because everyone wants to go so bad. I heard of one person who waited in line for 3 hours (from 7-10 am) just to get tickets.

So, anyways, for all of you who have asked....the new job is quite satisfactory. :)