Timing

Since moving back to China, I have missed one day of work do to illness. I missed a lot of work due to stabbing, but, again, injury and sickness are different. So now that I'm freelancing and have no sick days, i came down with the worst flu I've had in ages. The last time I was this sick was wehn I had the whooping cough.
The good news is that my schedule is relatively light, so I've been able to make every lesson. i think I've even done an adequate job of teaching, though they were far from my best classes. The bad news is that I've been too ill to hound people about more hours. This could be an expensive illness.

For those who have never heard my frequent complaint, most conversations i have with schools follow a similar pattern.. they ooh and ahh at finding out I'm experienced. When they see I'm a certified teacher, they're in rapture. They say they're thrilled, as i'm the most qualified applicant they've ever had. Then they offer me the same salary they'd offer a high school grad who has never taught a class in his life. When questioned, they explain that this is the starting salary they pay everyone.

The two exceptions so far are the Radio and TV College (no connection to the one in GZ) and Capital, both of which seem willing to pay more for someone who seems a good teacher. So they are my priority. Th downside with Capital is that they charge the same rate to students irregardless of what the teacher is paid. So if i am paid more then someone else, it makes sense for them to use the cheaper guy.

It's the first month doing this, and Iexpected it to be slow. That I'm spending most of my time on the sofa coughing and drifting in and out is making it worse. but it seems my fever has broken and i should be able to resume talking to schools today. More to come...
T