Don't Try to Teach English in China

Why did I only teach English in Shanghai for six months? Because China is a horrible place, and that's pretty much all there is to it. For example, in 2007, I suffered from food poisoning for two straight weeks when I lived in Shanghai. Seems that even at Kentucky Fried Chicken, an American food chain, you still can't make the Chinese workers cook chicken properly!

My guess is that the local Chinese workers smile, nod, bow, and all that, when the American franchisee is there to supervise things, but then, just as soon as the door closes behind him or her on their way out, it's right back to Chinese style chaos and rule breaking for the sake of expediency. Or to cut corners to save money and time. Whatever the case may in fact be, welcome to the wild, wild East, where nobody seems to be able to wait for anything. Not for very damn long anyway.

And rules? From what I've personally witnessed over the years in China, Taiwan, and South Korea, most people in Asia just plain seem to rule-averse. One hates to stereotype, but if you spend any appreciable time in East Asia, you will quickly see that most Asians simply don't abide by any rules, regulations, or standards. Not the way we are taught to obey the law in the west anyway. So you can forget about food safety guidelines too, or any of that fancy stuff we tend to think is so very, very important.