No death threats necessary

I got a job! Yay! Remember that time I threatened to throw myself out a window if I didn't get British Council - I got British Council. Yay!

What am I going to be doing for them...? Well, something about teaching kiddies English. For a year. In China. Yes, China is a big place but, no, I don't know where I'm going to be placed yet. I had, in a fit of excitement, chosen Sichuan (commonly know as Szechuan or something) as my preferred location. After realising that I may not be placed in my preferred 'environment' (which, coming from London, is obviously 'city or big town') I soon started to feel apprehensive about my choice. Far from the rapidly developing coastal boom-provinces of Fujian and other places near Shanghai, Sichuan is one of the poorest, most densely populated provinces in China. Having taken away Chongqing (one of the most developed parts), the government has left approximately 1 place where anyone not obsessed with being 'that-foreigner-who's-too-cool-to-hang-out-with-other-foreigners' would possibly want to live - and no, it's not the border of Tibet.

I just wanted to see some pandas man.

Sichuan: Famous for spicy food, not being in North China and, of course,
where the pandas are.

"What about the law stuff, Edi?", I hear you cry. Well, that search isn't over. As this contract only lasts for a year and is hardly gonna provide me with enough savings to fund a master's (apostrophe? No apostrophe?), I will have to return to the UK or some equivalently developed native-English speaking country to find a real job.

I'm hoping that this stint in China will allow me to 'find' myself as it were, but productively - I can't stand doing anything unproductive. Hopefully I'll develop some sort of research interest and improve my Chinese, whilst also having something to put on my CV besides 'extensive travel and deep connection fostered with the Far East'. I'll have something like 20 hours a week teaching time, so that'll give me plenty of time to do other stuff, right? Not that my salary will allow for it, but that's a story for another time I suppose.

Previous teachers of Chinese students: your advice and comments are more than welcome!