A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step

千里之行，始於足下

I've packed, I've visa'd, I've exchanged money, I've bought a VPN so I can use Facebook, I've said my goodbyes, I've even re-vamped my China blog in preparation for the switch-over. I'm officially going to China. Again. People are angry (more people than I was expecting actually), but they'll get over it. I've had to make several promises that I'll never leave the country again, so at least I can avoid being detained against my will for the time being. By Saturday I'll be 6,000 miles away, fully prepared for my endeavor but wholly irritated.

Irritated? Why? How could anyone going to spend a year in China possibly be irritated by that prospect (LOL jk, there are bare reasons). But, on a serious note, because, putting the considerable faff and panic aside, this job acquisition has been a nightmare for my personal finances. Bearing in mind that for the past 4 years I've been a student in full-time education, with nothing but the occasional part time job and un-paid internship to recommend me, it is only by virtue of my naturally frugal nature that I've been able to cough up enough money to go on this excursion, the majority of which will not be refunded. I don't maths, but let's calculate, hm? For the sake of my rant.

We'll forget the flights (which will be reimbursed) and the visa (£93, but everyone going to China has to get one, so I'll let it slide), personal expenses are as follows:

• Sign-up fee: £80 (that's right, I had to pay to get a job)
• Full medical check: £10 (now, this was only by grace of my doctor, it could have been upwards of £200, like my first visit)
• Criminal Records check: £69
• Insurance: £130
• Various photocopies: At least £1.50
• Beijing-Sichuan transfer: £170 (we were initially told to bring £50, yeah, right.)
• UK-China adaptor: £11.97
• Initial living expenses cover: £350
• VPN: £47.50

So the moral of the story is, unless you have a spare £500 floating around (+ up to £1000 you'll have to fork out for your flights, not reimbursed till the end of the year) or extremely loving parents, or very rich relatives, or a loan (good luck in this economic climate) you can't be an English Language Assistant for the British Council in China.

However, this post is not having a go at the British Council itself nor the China programme and its set up. I haven't actually started working/training, in fact, I haven't even left the bloody country yet, so I'm not really in a position to comment on that. What I do know is that it's a very competitive programme to get on and I've heard many a good thing (in other words, very few negative reviews). Everything's gone smoothly so far for the majority of people, and I must admit so far the organisers have been very on the ball and willing to help with the most ridiculous of worries. So if by chance you have stumbled across this post looking for an answer as to whether or not you should sign up for ELA China, please do not take this a deterrent. Unless of course you're making your decision solely based on financial incentive. In which case, this is not the job for you.

All I'm saying is that unless you are willing to scrimp, save, keep off the bottle, beg, borrow, steal, or get a job for at least 3 months before signing up, don't sign up. I'll reserve my judgement of the programme for now. But don't worry, there will be judgement.

Just so you know, I will be switching to my other blog - Stories About China - from now on!