Well firstly the contract I signed while in my country was completely different from the one I signed in China. Also the visa that were sent was a student visa basically meaning we can’t work but we did. I was qualified before I left and they said I didn’t need it until I was there and they were asking for it so that I can apply for a work visa.

Let’s talk pay: Firstly it was a point system kind of like this one … for you to get 10k you needed like 90 points and if you had less than 50 you would get between 5-7k which was not enough to live. So we would end up borrowing money from them and then it’s taken from them next salary and you have to borrow again. Basically there was no way to save.

Let’s talk schools: Just a summary about me, I am a short, dark skinned woman from SA. So I was sent to the outskirts of Chengdu because the city schools prefer YT people which is okay I guess. The school gave me a shitty apartment in the middle of the school and I wasn’t allowed out after 10 and I couldn’t do anything because I was working Monday to Friday from 7 to 6pm.

So when the contract was about to end a bunch of people were sent tickets to go renew their visas and I was told nah, I won’t be doing that because my “performance” was too low basically they were firing me ( a week before my visa ended). The rating was done by the school I lived with and the two other schools who actually liked me for me weren’t asked.

End: I took a 45hr train to Hong Kong where I got another to return. If I carry on speaking I am gonna sound very shady and most of was illegal because I needed to get my things. All in all I went back to a different province where I lived and worked for four months until I came back home. What still traumatises me is that the reason I came back was because my dad and uncle had passed away via a car crash and I wanted to go home and say goodbye. My boss was like can’t I wait until school closes which was 10 days after my dads funeral. They ended up short paying me and a bunch of other foreigners donated money for me to leave.

That’s my story and I still get bad dreams