Houston, we have a problem...

Hello all,

I'm writing from San Diego, CA at Alexa's apartment. I've been here for nearly a week now preparing to leave for China. We've been running errands, packing and repacking and catching up with as many people as we can. We were originally planning on leaving tomorrow (July 31) but Alexa's employer encountered some delays with her paperwork and it looks like we'll be here in the States for at least another week or two. Oh well, San Diego is certainly a nice place to be stranded. We've been toughing it out at the beach lately. Rough life, I know. Luckily, we've found a great site to get cheap tickets to China (www.zuji.com) and we'll be able to book a last minute flight for less than an arm and a leg.

So that brings us to today. Just a couple hours ago, my future employer emailed me. He informed me that I no longer have a job because he has decided to shut down the school in the month of August. He cited personal economic difficulties as the reason but I'm not very inclined to believe it. During our negotiations several months ago, he raved about the expansion he was planning and how there's so much demand for English schools. He made it sound as if I could be managing other teachers within a year if I was interested.

Needless to say, the email I wrote back to him was fierce. I reminded him that moving to China was not a casual decision on my part. I quit my job, said goodbye to family and friends and committed to this adventure abroad, all on this promise of a job. I reprimanded him for his lack of transparency and reinforced how much I've invested in this commitment. I told him that he ought to pay for at least my one-way ticket and a month's salary so I have money to both set up an apartment and look for a job. I'm not expecting all of that, but I'm hoping to at least be reimbursed for the airline ticket.

Luckily, I still have some contacts interested in interviewing me over there and I'm reasonably assured that I'll land a job after a while. Unfortunately, with the tourist visa I have, I'm required to leave the country in 30 days from my arrival. So, as soon as I land, the clock will be ticking. I need to find a job and start the visa conversion process. Honestly though, if I had to, I could simply renew my visa by exiting and reentering the country. Regardless, it's going to be a big mess...

One could say that I was naive to commit to moving overseas without a signed contract, but I feel that the opposite would be true. Had I signed my year away site-unseen, I could have been in for a huge shock. I didn't want to be shackled to something I really knew nothing about. Besides, this is common practice with overseas job recruitment. Alexa hasn't physically signed a contract either. We've both had explicit agreements both through email and on the phone/Skype though, and that is about as much as you get when moving to China.

No one said that moving to China was going to be easy, but I certainly didn't expect to lose my job before I had it. I'll be sure to update the blog again with any developments.

Miffed,

Ryan