So I’ve narrowed it down to two possible jobs.
One job is Singapore Academy, with small classes, teenage students, all the things I want, but they weren’t able to meet my salary expectation, and between losing our double housing bonus and moving to a more expensive area, it’ll mean a loss in our monthly income. They’re closer to the center of town, in a nice international area.
The second job is a same-old same-old oral English class for adult, typical ESL in China, but they are willing to pay me more than double my current salary, give me free (Chinese) food and free housing in the hotel where the classes are held. Unfortunately, it’s in the boonies of Fengtai, where it’s actually considered Fengtai Town and not a district of Beijing.
Both jobs are 34 hours/week, both can do my visa, both interviewers called me a gifted teacher, both jobs do not involve dealing with FUB (that would be a certain Fairly Useless Boss) and both employers are waiting for me to make up my mind.
We’ve been hoping that I’ll find a new job close by, so we can keep this apartment, and stay in a nice neighborhood near Manfred and Xuemei, but the hot water saga has changed that. Going through the balcony to get into the kitchen to pick up the dishes to go back on the balcony to carry the dishes into the bathroom to wash them in shower isn’t working out.
Stick also wants to jump ship, and Singapore Academy is in a great neighborhood where he can find work nearby, while Oral English pays more than our combined salaries so he can take a long time looking for a new job.
It’s very hard to turn down a job where I’d be making double my salary. But, If I’m going to take a job just based on the pinkies (what we call a 100 RMB note), I should just go home and make an American salary. Then again, I also don’t want to be worried about money or not be able to have cool Chinese experiences because we can’t afford it.
