Bureaucracy isn't bureaucracy if it doesn't defeat the goal.

Dan and I had a discussion about bureaucracy, and I began arguing that China was a lot like France in the way that you have to do paperwork and ask a million different people for every little thing, nobody really seems to know what's going on, etc. Dan pointed out, however, that in France bureaucracy is intended to be a pain in your arse. In China, on the other hand, it's intended to prevent you from doing whatever it was you wanted to do in the first place. Unfortunately, this is not limited to the government here.

On Monday, I got my schedule of classes and was presented with the desk and computer that I am supposed to clean twice a day (all of this gets even better when I start to factor in favoritism, so just wait). Frankly, at that point, everything looked fine. I knew I was going to be teaching kindergarten and 1st grade and I had a Chinese teacher with me in every classroom. I was only slightly disappointed that the book we were supposed to use for the majority of my classes was taught by the Chinese English teachers, and that my job was actually to come up with some supplemental materials and topics. Here is where I need to mention that the school told me I wouldn't need to bring any books or anything with me. So, it was up to me to pull something out of my arse for Tuesday.

I slept away most of Monday afternoon and evening and woke up at about 4 a.m. Tuesday. Prepared for the day, had another delicious breakfast and hustled off to school. My first class was a disaster. In spite of the fact that my co-teacher had warned me, I simply thought that Chinese kids could not be as rowdy as the French ones. Let's just say I have a new appreciation for order. Unfortunately, my schedule is set up for me to have that class twice in a row Tuesday mornings, so when class one was over, I took a ten minute break, regrouped my thoughts and decided not to do anything I had planned. The class went slightly better. Stepping ahead a couple of days, I broke all the rules my co-teachers had (about not punishing kids because it's not really useful) and laid the smack down on that class. Let's just say my co-teachers weren't exactly right. I have been putting children in corners ever since.

So, classes got progressively better, but my opinion of the job stayed sort of luke warm (when not boiling with contempt), because I have been treated differently than the other teachers. The problem is, I am the only westerner who teaches primary that did not come with ELI a religious group who "volunteers" here. As to why they volunteer at the most expensive private school in China, nobody seems sure. Regardless, they have their own supplies and their own advisors, their own, lighter schedules and office hours. So, my work advisor seems to think she can treat me like a Chinese teacher. I'm supposed to wipe off my spectacularly empty desk twice a day but was not provided a rag to do so (the ELI teachers informed me that they had been given two each), I have to be in the office by 7:45 and I can leave at 5 (which is fine, but originally my advisor told me that I was to stay till 5:50 and then return in the evening again! I politely informed her that I worked until 5), and I have 22 class periods (she tried to make it 25, but I refused) while all of the other foreign teachers have 16. Oh, and they have their own supply cupboard, but I was told that I couldn't be provided markers because the Chinese teachers didn't get them. The Chinese teachers are also paid about a quarter of what I am and work more hours. Maybe I need to remind them that I am not Chinese.

Needless to say, I'm not sure how it will all work out, but it's got to get better than this. So far, we've gotten very little of what we were promised.