While I was on my holiday a friend (or possibly mortal enemy, Adam) contacted me and was quite worried. It seems China has a law that foreigners cannot stay in the country longer than 5 years. Both of us are in our fifth year. I basically dismissed it. This is China, things change daily and are enforced seemingly randomly.
However as time went on it became clear that this was actually a rule, at least to some degree. I started to ask around a lot including speaking to Chinese people who should really know what's going on. To absolutely no one's surprise, I received different answers from every person I asked. They ranged from being assured no such rule exists so it'll be fine to being told that I'd have to leave the country for at least 2 years.
The day I got back to Dongying I sent my boss a message to ask him what's going on. He said he'd look into it. A week ago I was told that the rule is being enforced in my province so I wouldn't be able to stay. When he told me this he was clearly quite distraught about it and even visibly angry about the whole situation as the college really wanted to keep me.
I like being in Dongying, I have friends here now and have made a life for myself. But, if I was ever going to leave this is a perfect time as a good chunk of my friends are also leaving and my relationship ended so it's about as good as it could be.
Fortunately, most other provinces seem to just ignore the rule and I had about 10 job interviews last week with schools who assured me there'd be no issue with me moving there.
From all these schools, there were 3 that really interested me. 1 is a major university in Beijing teaching PhD medical students so it'd be quite a challenge but also quite prestigious. The second is a university in Sanya which is a city at the very south of the island at the south of China. The 3rd is a university in Xiamen, my favourite city in China. Last week I did interviews with the 1st and 3rd. Monday I received responses from all 3. The 1st wanted me to come see the school to talk further, the 2nd wanted an interview and the 3rd offered me the job. I've been halfheartedly trying to move there for years but didn't because of my relationship (and I never got an offer) so I immediately accepted the offer.
So I'm moving to Xiamen (pronounced 'she ah men)!
I've been to Xiamen twice before and loved it. The weather is great. In the winter it can get slightly cool, where maybe you wouldn't want to be swimming but a light coat would be plenty and, even in January, there are plenty of t-shirt days. The air quality is also much better than where I am now.
It's a large city but somehow doesn't feel like it. There are lots of foreigners around but not so much that it's overrun like Beijing or Shanghai.
Xiamen has a smallish airport that has somehow become a fairly major hub that has direct flights all over southeast Asia. Hong Kong is about a $40 fast train ride away and Taiwan is an overnight ferry trip. Basically, it's where I've wanted to live for a long time.
So, I've been trying to move here for awhile. What happened this time? I applied to the university last year and heard nothing back. I tried again this year and received a generic "we have received your resume" kind of reply.
I'm in several chat groups on a Chinese program and a girl I don't know posted a message saying "I work at Xiamen University and we need a teacher immediately", I added her and said I can't start now but I'm seriously interested in working there in the fall. She gave me the contact info for people and sent them a message to tell them I'd be contacting them. A day later I was contacted for an interview. I did the interview Friday afternoon. When it was over I received a message from a friend I met while doing the CELTA last year. He's studying Chinese in Xiamen at a different university. His message said "good job on the interview". I was quite surprised and asked him how he knew. Apparently he happened to be there about the position that they need to fill immediately. He talked to them about me and he seemed pretty sure I could get the job. Monday morning I got the email and I accepted it.
The name of the school is Xiamen University of Technology. The campus looks quite nice from pictures and my friend is going to be working there next year as well so I'm quite excited.
Now comes the process of changing my visa and figuring out how to move 5 years worth of stuff to a new city 1,800 kms away.
The visa process is a bit of a pain as I need to get a bunch of documents from home (sorry mom and dad). I'll also need to go to Xiamen before my visa expires July 15 and get it renewed which could take 3 weeks. So the whole process will be annoying, but I'll just let the people who know this stuff tell me what to do and I'll do it.
Hope lots of you want to come visit me in my new tropical home! Also, this is your last chance to come see me in a city in the north that I know really well, so come to Dongying now!
Josh
However as time went on it became clear that this was actually a rule, at least to some degree. I started to ask around a lot including speaking to Chinese people who should really know what's going on. To absolutely no one's surprise, I received different answers from every person I asked. They ranged from being assured no such rule exists so it'll be fine to being told that I'd have to leave the country for at least 2 years.
The day I got back to Dongying I sent my boss a message to ask him what's going on. He said he'd look into it. A week ago I was told that the rule is being enforced in my province so I wouldn't be able to stay. When he told me this he was clearly quite distraught about it and even visibly angry about the whole situation as the college really wanted to keep me.
I like being in Dongying, I have friends here now and have made a life for myself. But, if I was ever going to leave this is a perfect time as a good chunk of my friends are also leaving and my relationship ended so it's about as good as it could be.
Fortunately, most other provinces seem to just ignore the rule and I had about 10 job interviews last week with schools who assured me there'd be no issue with me moving there.
From all these schools, there were 3 that really interested me. 1 is a major university in Beijing teaching PhD medical students so it'd be quite a challenge but also quite prestigious. The second is a university in Sanya which is a city at the very south of the island at the south of China. The 3rd is a university in Xiamen, my favourite city in China. Last week I did interviews with the 1st and 3rd. Monday I received responses from all 3. The 1st wanted me to come see the school to talk further, the 2nd wanted an interview and the 3rd offered me the job. I've been halfheartedly trying to move there for years but didn't because of my relationship (and I never got an offer) so I immediately accepted the offer.
So I'm moving to Xiamen (pronounced 'she ah men)!
It's a large city but somehow doesn't feel like it. There are lots of foreigners around but not so much that it's overrun like Beijing or Shanghai.
Xiamen has a smallish airport that has somehow become a fairly major hub that has direct flights all over southeast Asia. Hong Kong is about a $40 fast train ride away and Taiwan is an overnight ferry trip. Basically, it's where I've wanted to live for a long time.
So, I've been trying to move here for awhile. What happened this time? I applied to the university last year and heard nothing back. I tried again this year and received a generic "we have received your resume" kind of reply.
I'm in several chat groups on a Chinese program and a girl I don't know posted a message saying "I work at Xiamen University and we need a teacher immediately", I added her and said I can't start now but I'm seriously interested in working there in the fall. She gave me the contact info for people and sent them a message to tell them I'd be contacting them. A day later I was contacted for an interview. I did the interview Friday afternoon. When it was over I received a message from a friend I met while doing the CELTA last year. He's studying Chinese in Xiamen at a different university. His message said "good job on the interview". I was quite surprised and asked him how he knew. Apparently he happened to be there about the position that they need to fill immediately. He talked to them about me and he seemed pretty sure I could get the job. Monday morning I got the email and I accepted it.
The name of the school is Xiamen University of Technology. The campus looks quite nice from pictures and my friend is going to be working there next year as well so I'm quite excited.
Now comes the process of changing my visa and figuring out how to move 5 years worth of stuff to a new city 1,800 kms away.
The visa process is a bit of a pain as I need to get a bunch of documents from home (sorry mom and dad). I'll also need to go to Xiamen before my visa expires July 15 and get it renewed which could take 3 weeks. So the whole process will be annoying, but I'll just let the people who know this stuff tell me what to do and I'll do it.
Hope lots of you want to come visit me in my new tropical home! Also, this is your last chance to come see me in a city in the north that I know really well, so come to Dongying now!
Josh
I love how this job has come together for you Josh. It feels like God is working through a wonderful series of events! Congratulations- sounds like a beautiful place to work. Jonathan
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