Image Source: The Beijinger
Most teachers living in China live a life that would be considered a little out of the ordinary. They’re usually experiencing things that they couldn’t back home. At times, it can feel like an endless vacation as one is so far removed from the mediocre reality of life back home that every day can seem like an exciting new adventure.
One can often look at their Chinese colleagues and think that they live boring lifestyles where they rarely drink, watch a lot of TV and even consider sleeping to be a hobby. However, many a foreigner teaching in China most likely isn’t currently considering saving up for a car or a down payment on a mortgage. They may plan to teach in China for 1 or 2 years at the most; although they may stick around for longer. Thus, their disposable income is relatively high. Eating out and going to the bar every night can become the norm.
Such differences between them and their local colleagues will cause a split of sorts. When a foreign teacher seeks companionship, they cannot simply hang around with local colleague. Birds of a feather stick together they say, and be it inside the bars or inside WeChat chat groups; foreigners soon discover that the expat world in their cities is small. It can feel like an incestuous little village community at times, but it can also feel like one belongs to an exclusive club of adventurous people that can enjoy a lifestyle that the majority of people around them, for whatever reason it may be relating to money, home life or work simply can’t.
Most foreign teachers stick out like a sore thumb. They’re usually either a lot lighter or darker skinned than the locals, very few lie in-between. Not to mention that a large proportion of the male teachers are quite young and handsome; or at least merely cute in the eyes of people that don’t consider their physical characteristics to be the norm. If you’re female, you’ll stand out even more; even if you don’t consider yourself to be that attractive to the opposite sex, there will most likely be locals that envy you and consider you to be beautiful in some way or another. Expect some stares in your general direction.
For many teachers, unless they were especially talented or weird, they may not be used to be the one at the centre of attention. This can quickly go to people’s heads and give them an inflated sense of self-confidence. The work day where one teaches classes can seem like the equivalent of performing a show; when one finishes work, that’s when they enjoy the fun and games that go on backstage. Like a true Rockstar, access to alcohol and beautiful women will come easily, people will fight for your attention and will naturally want to ask questions about you and your life.
Eventually you will get to a point where one wonders if this vicious cycle is just as dangerous as the one that the most hedonistic of artists find themselves trapped in. Some accept their fate. Others decide to make changes, and take on the different task of re-entering ‘the real world’ back home. Yet some will even decide to create a new reality for themselves, changing jobs in China and trying to behave like a responsible adult for a change.
Many are quick to point the finger at the foreign teachers themselves for living such lifestyles; which lead many Chinese people to believe that all foreigners live very ‘free’ and ‘colourful’ lives. However, please ask yourself, did those foreign teachers really ask to be placed in such a position? Even if the promises of an easy life were offered, bar the exception of a minority of idiots, none of them were expecting or wanting to ever be placed on a pedestal like this.