L2: Where do I go from here?

I signed it yesterday.

Starting September 1, 2008, and running through June 30, 2009, I am contracted to teach business and conversational English to students on the Longquan campus of the Chengdu University of Information Technology (CUIT) in China.

Founded in 1956, CUIT is considered a key university in China’s Sichuan Province. It has approximately 25,000 students enrolled at three campuses. Although its main specialties are in science and engineering, it also offers programs in economics, liberal arts, management, law and philosophy.

According to my preliminary discussions with the university, I’ll be teaching three or four classes of business and economics undergraduates who wish to improve their English language skills. I’m told that they will be able to read English, and know the grammar, but will find speaking and listening a challenge. The description of their skill level reminds me of my own French-language skills after six years of instruction in middle school and high school. I hope they were more diligent language students than I was.

At this point, my feelings about my adventure are equal parts anticipation and anxiety.

The classes I’ll be teaching are “optional,” which means I’ll have to “impress” in the first few days, or my classroom for the rest of the term may be very lonely. On the plus side, I’m assured that Chinese students are very respectful of their teachers and honour their elders, so I feel there IS hope. I’ve also been doing a bit of research about the differences in learning styles between China and “the West,” and I’m going to do my best to adapt.

I’m also experiencing some “there but for the grace of God,” thinking. Chengdu is very close (about 60 miles) to the centre of where a very severe earthquake struck at 2:30 p.m. on Monday, May 12. I admit to relief that it struck in May rather than October. Having lived my entire life until now in the geographically stable centre of North America, I’m not sure how well I’d cope with earthquakes and aftershocks. I sincerely hope the tectonic plates of the region have finished their shifting and quaking by the time I arrive in late August.   

However, whatever happens, I have faith that I’ll survive.

That deals with my anxieties.

As for anticipation, I’M GOING TO THE MIDDLE KINGDOM!

I’m going to live in a city once called the “brocade city,” a city known as the capital of “Heavenly State,” the city where the Southern Silk Road began. I’m going to live nearby to the natural habitat of the giant panda. I’m going to experience a culture that was home to an emperor’s capital when my own ancestors were still hunting and gathering in the British Isles.  

WOW!

My initial email to friends and family to announce this blog and invite them to visit acknowledged I was a bit “shy” because its content is geared to my “personal” comments and feelings rather than taking a “professional” approach.

I’m feeling better about that now.

Part of that is just because I’ve launched. I’ve always preferred reality to anticipation. However, I’ve also been able to think about it more, and I realize that being aware of “feelings”… and being able to articulate them is a valuable part of who I am as a communicator.

I believe an essential part of being a good professional (in any field) is being passionate about what you do. You have to CARE, What you do has to MATTER. To me, that means somewhere at your core, even when it doesn’t “show,” you take what you do… and how others respond to it… personally.

To survive as a professional, you develop a shield between your core and the inevitable criticism and opposition you encounter. To be a successful professional, you even learn how to sift through the criticism and opposition for “learning experiences” that add to your skills and abilities. Depending on the source of the criticism and opposition, depending on your self-confidence, depending on your experience and maturity, some of it gets easier to dismiss… some of it gets easier to accept.

However, never be fooled by the shield, even the most ”professional” of us DOES take it “personally.” 

BECAUSE WE CARE! 

Since my retirement became imminent, I’ve discovered that there are three aspects to retirement. Not all of them were anticipated.

Aspect #1 - Financial

I did anticipate this aspect and, basically, I expect to find it simple to deal with. 

I’ve always been a chronic keeper of a budget. You probably know someone who is “my kind” of person: one who records cheques when they’re written, and balances her chequebook at least once a month. My week seldom goes by without at least one on-line visit to my account to see what monies have gone in, and gone out. I also regularly monitor the ups and down of the mutual funds in my self-directed RRSP account and keep track of the results.

I accept that not everyone is like me. I spent more than 20 years married to a man who saw no reason why he shouldn’t write cheques until they started to bounce. However, in my world, you either have the money… or you don’t. Before it was imminent, I summarized my financial plan for retirement as, “When my investments do well, I’ll travel and buy new books; when they do poorly, I’ll stay home and re-read the old ones.” My plans to go to China and teach grew out of a wish to make my desire to travel pay for itself.

For me, dealing with the financial aspects of retirement is a comfort zone… even “fun.”

Aspect #2 - Professional/Business/Activity

One of the “needs” of retirement that’s been fairly well documented is the need for organized, planned, appealing activities to keep your mind and body moving. When you’re a chronic couch potato like myself, the “appealing” element is particularly important. I am NOT one of these people who enjoys going to the gym or taking a daily walk.

My China plans grew out of a recognition that I needed planned activity that would entice me out of my house to “do” rather than enable me to sit back and “observe” others. I love to work with language; I’m proud of how I’ve learned to do it well; I’ve discovered great satisfaction in sharing what I’ve learned with others. Teaching in China offers an opportunity to share my love of language while at the same time experiencing a part of the world that has always fascinated me.

It will also require that I “get off my duff.”

Aspect #3 - Emotional

This aspect snuck up on me a few months ago when a woman I work with asked, “How do you FEEL about retiring?” I realized that I didn’t have an answer to her question. I’d been so busy doing my financial calculations, and planning what I was going to DO to keep my brain and body challenged, that I hadn’t considered that there were “feelings” involved as well.

As of end of day, July 4th… for the first time in my adult life… I will not need to work for my living. I’ll have a steady, reliable, long-term income without any effort or commitment required on my part.

I’m still trying to determine how I “feel” about that… 

The main impetus for this blog grew out of my plan to go to China and teach English for a year after I retire. My friends and family insist that I have to keep in touch, and a blog seemed the logical method to use. When IABC came along with this great offer of Xchange, I decided to use it… and to start early because there would probably be a few “glitches” during the “get acquainted” stage. I thought it would be desirable to have relatively easy access to “help” of various kinds, particularly since I’ve also purchased a new MacBook as my primary computer for my travels (after a decade of using PCs at work and at home).  

So far, as anticipated, the blogging experience and the MacBook are both offering the expected (and unexpected) challenges… as is the paperwork required for both retirement and travel:

1. Paperwork to do with pensions (and a divorce) - As I worked my way through the application for my company pension, I discovered that, by law, my estranged spouse has what are called “survivor rights” IF we’re still “legally married” when I retire.

I’m familiar with the origins of the law. Thirty-some years ago, I was active in several of the women’s rights groups that worked to get it passed The intent was to recognize the contribution made to a family’s worth by stay-at-home spouses. The consequence that I didn’t anticipate was that the spouse from whom I’ve been separated for 13 years still has a claim on pension credits I’ve accumulated since we split… unless we’re no longer legally married. Hence, the divorce that wasn’t a issue before IS an issue now… 

2. Paperwork to work in China - My prospective employer requires documentation before they can send me a contract (proof of my qualifications; proof of my physical health). The latter requires a physical… which required a doctor’s appointment.., not something you can arrange in a day. Once all the paperwork is provided, the university in China will send me the contract. Once that’s signed, I assume there will be more paperwork to get a visa. Since my existing passport will expire while I’m out of the country, there’s paperwork needed to renew that before I leave. Since I need health insurance to cover me while I’m out of the country, there’s more paperwork involved to get that. 

Like I said, paperless society, HA! 

It makes sense that visitors should be able to view the blogger.