interview: take three

The Rules

1. If you want to participate, leave me a comment saying, "Interview
me." (And your e-mail address, please.)
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone
else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them
five questions.


The Questions:

3. If you were given the opportunity, would you stay to live in China?

Define "opportunity".

There will always be teaching positions available in China, so me staying is definitely an option, though not a very appealing one for me at this point. Being in China makes sense for me right now: I'm working on my masters degree, I'm getting international experience, I don't have bills to pay or responsibilities to worry about back at home. However, in six months, I'll be done with my masters coursework and soon after that I'll need to start paying back my student loans. Living on an English teacher salary in China isn't a problem if your only expenses are eating and getting a ridiculous amount of clothes made at the fabric market, but if you have bills piling up in the United States, 900 bucks a month just won't cut it.

I was recently offered a teaching assistant position that would begin in Irvine some time in July, so I will for sure be home for that if all goes according to plan. Then I have a cousin who is having her second baby some time in August and another cousin who is getting married in November, two events I'd like to be in America to see. Okay, maybe I don't want to actually SEE the birthing of the child, but maybe after a day or two I'd go check the little dude/lady out.

Ultimately, unless I get a marriage proposal from a very rich and sexy Chinese man, no "opportunity" in China would really seem worth staying longer in Shanghai at this point in my life. But check back with me in six months, I might feel differently then.