What It's Really Like Teaching English as a Foreign Language After College in Anhui, China

Well, I actually majored in Mechanical Engineering. I wouldn't say that Engineering was a bridge to teaching English in rural China. This job took recent graduates from my college and sent them off to teach in China for two years.

I really didn't know what I wanted to do after graduating. Grad school was an option. However, after talking to a few graduate students, I decided that I wouldn't go to grad school unless I knew what I wanted to study and could see myself dedicating several years in that field. I just wasn't ready to give up a vast majority of my time doing something that I wasn't sure I'd be happy with. I did one study abroad program in the past and really enjoyed the experience. It was definitely a highlight of my college life. I am young and not married. Heck! Why not do this now and travel a bunch? Seeing China, learning Chinese, and teaching kids seemed like a worthwhile experience, and it has been.

The more I live here the more I realize that China is a huge place. I guess like any large country different parts of China will seem and look different. Where I live it is quite small compared to other cities in China. What I say about my experiences may differ vastly from other parts of China. I would say that the language/cultural barrier causes a lot of misunderstanding. Although once there is some cultural exchange, I feel quite at home. Most people here recognize me as one of four foreign teachers/ foreigners who live in the area and understand that I am far away from home. I almost feel like family in some ways. My neighbor who I've only known for about a year invited me and the other foreign teachers to her daughter's wedding. We even sang at the wedding. Sometimes I do feel like circus monkeys being paraded around. Mix feelings you know. Overall though, I love it. I think working with my students and seeing everything they have to go through really made me think twice about my life. The students here go through tremendous amounts of pressure. Some of them start school at 6:30 in the morning and end at 10:30 at night, 6 days a week. Despite this I feel like the class as a whole has a pure joy that I haven't seen in a long time. Some people say it's innocence because they aren't exposed to much. Maybe? Despite all that I think this experience has helped me grow as a person.