Back to Work

Once I got back to Beijing in April, after going home for my brothers wedding, I had to start job hunting seriously again. I've been back for 6 weeks now, and I am pretty busy. I got a few different jobs, like I did in Dalian. I work a few hours a week at each of them. They all have different pros and cons, so its nice to be able to switch it up.

I work at a Japanese kindergarten just 3 hours a week, but the pay is great. I teach one 45 minute class on Tues, Wed and Thurs. The kids are really well behaved and overall it is a much better experience than the kindergarten I started working at in Dalian just before we moved. Its hard to keep their attention for that long of a class, so I get to play a lot of games. The Japanese teachers are also really helpful and make it a lot easier on me.

I work about 12-14 hours a week at an English school close to my home. The pay isn't as high, but I can walk there in 10 minutes, and I can get hours in the morning and early afternoons there. Most English schools wanted me to work nights and weekends, or the only times Nick is home. This school does one-on-one tutoring. So I basically talk about whatever the student wants. Sometimes they bring materials, and sometimes we just talk for awhile. It is really flexible. They are always trying to give me more classes than I really want, but I can always say no, which is super nice.

I'm tutoring another woman at my house 6 hours a week. Her English is pretty good and we can have good conversations as long as I keep a dictionary close by. She has already taught me to make some traditional Chinese food for one of our classes. It was awesome! She brought all the ingredients, showed me how to make everything, and then paid me for my time. I will definitely post pictures of it soon. It is nothing like cooking American food. I wish I could find more students like her. I don't want to invite just anyone to our house though, she is a friend of one of Nick's coworkers so I felt ok inviting her over. When she comes to our house it leaves me more time to do other things so I'm not traveling 30-45 minutes each way to her home.

Last but not least, I am tutoring just once a week right now for some older Japanese students. It is in the same building as the preschool and starts right after my classes there so I don't spend any extra time traveling. This is a pretty crazy class. It is 3 ten year old Japanese boys and they talk non-stop the whole time. The problem is getting them to talk in English. One of them is focused, but the other 2 are always quick to get distracted. I try to keep it fun with games and word searches for them to practice new words with, but it doesn't always work. I'm hoping I will be able to get a few more hours tutoring here since the pay is good and I go there 3 days a week anyway.

In just a few weeks I have managed to fill up my schedule pretty well. I have a few classes everyday, but I also have time to go grocery shopping and do other errands during the week. Most of my classes also don't require too much preparation so I don't have to spend a lot of time worrying about them except when I'm actually there teaching.

So far I am still happy at all my jobs, but the good thing about having so many is I can drop one and I don't have to start completely over job hunting. Life in Beijing is pretty good right now!