living in Benxi Hello!
It\'s great to read about an expat experience in Benxi, since I\'m living here now.
I was wondering if you know some foreigns living here right now so I can be in touch with!
Being an oddity & no privacy in the bathrooms I don't think I would have minded the fact that many bathrooms lacked stalls or doors if everyone had treated me normally and just ignored me. I did learn to ignore the extra attention most of the time. Though experiencing food poisoning in the school washroom with an audience of wide eyed little girls and their mothers all giving me advice is not one of my favorite memories...
I agree......... ......it was the constant stares in your most private of moments that made it all the more awkward! At least it leads to an amusing story to tell afterwards!
Sums up teaching at Benxi Future English school perfectly! I taught at Benxi Future English school for a year (2005-2006). The students were wonderful. I was lucky enough to work at the same school for the entire year and have many of the same classes. I'm happy to say I'm still in touch with some of my students!
When I was there, David did not have the relationship with public schools in the city that you've described - instead, he would ship teachers off to a friend/relative's school in Manzhouli. You've described working for David well - he's sexist, disrespectful, and will attempt to take advantage of you just about any way he can.
Living in Benxi is fantastic - I learned a ton of Chinese (though the local accent is notoriously bad - sort of like learning English from someone with a thick US southern accent) and became quite close with the family who owned a restaurant near my apartment. You definitely don't have time for much exploring if you're working there. I spent my free time learning Chinese, reading classical Western literature from one of the big bookstores, and hanging out in parks chatting and listening to people play music.
Wonderful students............ ........but questionable management ethics. It's still one of the best things I've done and I definitely got a lot more positives out of the experience than negatives. But I did find the same things as you difficult to deal with. It's easy to hide behind the 'cultural difference' excuse. Most differences can be classed as this, but I think bringing teachers over and not caring about sacking them if they aren't good (rather than vetting them and interviewing them properly beforehand), is a little suspect to say the least! Have you ever thought about going back to Benxi?
We were traveling I've just read this blog today and am sorry we didn't see it when it came out so we could vote for you.
Hope this turned out in your favor. Love your blogs and looking for more in the future.
Thanks........ ........it did actually turn out in my favour. I managed to win the competition and for the last 14 weeks I've been enjoying Paris marathon training in the extended Winter weather we've been having. The marathon itself is in 2 weeks time, so I'm in the final stages of training. Now come the nerves!
Unfortunately this training has taken up my entire free time for the past 14 weeks, which leaves no time for anything else. I hope once this is over normal writing duty can resume....I'm definitely missing this creative side to my free time!
Awesome! What a great blog! I am British but have lived in Canada for the past 8 years and have travelled the world quite a lot for many more years.. I also have not travelled a whole lot in my native land, but after a recent visit this past Christmas, I too had jokingly suggested to my wife that walking the length of the country would be the best and cheapest way of seeing Britain at its finest! Your blog is an inspiration and a great tribute to this wonderful nation. Thanks for sharing...
The stupidest challenge I've set myself.......... .....but definitely one of the most rewarding. I still look back and can't believe my wife and I did it. As you can probably guess, my writing is well, well behind. With a hectic new job and marathon training, the writing has taken a back seat, which I hope to correct once I've ran the Paris Marathon in 2 weeks time.
My wife and I did complete the walk, taking 14 weeks to walk the 1160 miles. Once the weather started to turn and it got colder, we saw our camping evenings turn in to B&B evenings. It's definitely one of the best things I've ever done and hopefully in the near future, I'll get the chance to catch up with writing about it all!
Maybe suggest it to your wife again if there's any hint of a British summer this year! ;-)
"The first few marathons I ran, I was beaten by athletes dressed as giant condoms, telephone boxes and half the Mr. Men cast." - Ha, I hate that feeling! My marathon running sister has me training for my first half-marathon and I just don't know how you runners do it. Glad to support a fellow Travelblogger. Good luck!
Hi Andras and Stephanie.....it's the most demoralising feeling I've experienced when running. It's a shame it's happened so many times! Very good luck in your first half-marathon and thanks for your vote. Very much appreciated indeed.
Cool little blog Hey Ady, whoa, you are quite the worldwide runner. I liked your epic response to the rather difficult and dumb question 'why should we pick you?' I hope there's no direct connection between Vaseline and Mr. Tickle, btw. Cheers,
Jens
Copious Amounts of Vaseline??? Hmm, the mind boggles..... Great blog Ady! You always make me giggle. I can just picture the look of horror on your face as Mr Bump cruised past you all those years ago. Anyway, you have just received a vote from me matey. Keep up the great work :)
Thanks very much Nick.......very much appreciated. It's worse when you're in a sprint finish with these fancy dress runners in the home straight and when you look at the photos, you just see all the effort you're having to put in to beat Mr. Tickle!
It wasn't a bad place at all.....pretty central to plenty of decent attractions to visit.....not that much going on in the town itself though.......easily enough to keep you occupied for a few hours!
Having spent several years travelling around the world, living in far reaching destinations and sampling differing cultures and lifestyles, I am now planning my next major travel adventure.
Starting on June 25th 2011 my wife and I will walk from Land's End at the south-western tip of England to John O'Groats, located at the north-eastern tip of Scotland. This is a 1200 mile walk and will take approximately three months to complete. This walk will be for charity and we will be raising money for the charity Association for International Cancer Research (AICR) (ht... full info
Evelyn
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living in Benxi
Hello! It\'s great to read about an expat experience in Benxi, since I\'m living here now. I was wondering if you know some foreigns living here right now so I can be in touch with!