Peering into the Precipice

The end of the school year is a few days away and there is a palpable feeling in the air… the end of a era, as short as it may have been. Many teachers will be returning to their home countries, many others will remain in China for another stint, another decade, or, for some, a lifetime (if they can get away with it, the bums). Personally, I’m planning a move to Beijing in August for one more year in China, one with a larger focus on studying Chinese. The thought of returning home is still distant and quite frightening. Over the past few months I’ve seen friends here go through the process of applying for jobs or graduate programs via the Internet, and the thought of taking a stab at that next year seems daunting and frustrating. But that day will surely come, and a recent prompt by The China Expat on the subject got me thinking that its never too early to contemplate the inevitable return.

[I think] I’m lucky in the respect that I’m young and relatively inexperienced. For pretty much any 20-something the return home will be similar to the hard landing that was skipped after graduation - a entry level position in a career or a return to graduate studies. I see the problem as being much, much more frightening for many of the 30+ year old foreign vagabonds I’ve met out here - they’ve been abroad for the better part of a decade and most of their skills are finely honed to the life of a foreign teacher - low hours, speaking English with few responsibilities and smiling to an adoring mass of locals. For them returning would be horribly shocking and its understandable why many of these folks have resigned themselves to a lifetime of bouncing around China and other TEFL friendly countries. The trick for myself and other younger teachers is ensuring we don’t fall into the same trap.

After one year here I can confidently say that my mental agility remains where it was when I graduated - that is, I don’t think the long slide has begun yet. I’ve tried to keep myself stimulated, via Internet sources for economics or Chinese studies in general. But ultimately the longer I stay out here as a teacher the more my academic and professional credentials will lose their luster. Another fact is I’m definitely not a career English teacher - it has been a fun and novel experience this year, and next year I’ll use it as a means to support my Chinese studies, but I already see the light at the end of the TEFL tunnel - it just isn’t an industry I can stomach for long without giving up a lot of the academic drive, ambition, and idealism I had all throughout university. And I still feel way too young to sacrifice those characteristics for an easy paycheck.

So, how to prepare for the return? First, I’ve thought about what I’d like to do when I go stateside. Graduate school is the most obvious choice for me, as economics continues to captivate me and any worthwhile career in that field will require a masters degree or more. As painful as returning to a formal education may be, paying your dues is an increasingly apparent requirement for a worthwhile career in any field. The other option that I’ve considered is trying to become involved in a consultancy or research organization as some form of researcher, as I was at the Alaska Ocean Observing System as a means to gain experience before returning to school. My time there showed me that doing research and going to conferences and writing academic-esque papers can be really enjoyable, especially when its paid. Ultimately that work convinced me that a masters degree or higher would be a requirement to get me into a position I’d like at that sort of organization (or elsewhere, such as academia), and I think spending more time in a similar position could be beneficial to honing my academic desires before taking the plunge.

The problem is doing all that is easier said than done. Applying for positions in China, where white faces are in extremely high demand, was a perplexing task from across the ocean. Applying for skilled positions back home, after a year or two of essentially eating noodles and meeting lots of friends, could be much harder. Thus it seems anyone who is contemplating a return home should waste no time in figuring how to make their time in China worthwhile, career wise. My conclusions: Polish up that Mandarin as much as possible, it will likely look good on a CV even if its a useless skill back home. Try to become involved in some work besides teaching English… although in my short search there doesn’t seem to be much use for unskilled white graduates besides being well paid English monkeys or as underpaid bartenders. There are some options out there, but for the time being in continues to be an uphill battle to get where you want to be in this world, just like its always been. At times I envy those rich Chinese friends of mine who have a mound of cash and businesses to inherent once their training and education is done… but then again, the freedom produces my anxiety is exactly what they envy too. Here’s to the eventual return to the real world…

To read more about this group blogging project: The China Expat » Group writing project: What comes after China?

And expect another post soon regarding the other aspect of going home: Adjusting to the Social Life of a Normal Citizen (i.e. A Soft Landing for a Foreign God?).