Outside my square box, Shirley Matthews [romantic love story reading TXT] 📗

and told me they would call for me at 9.30am the next morning. I think I was asleep before my exhausted body hit the bed. It was not until the next night I realized the bed and pillows were rock hard.
VJ arrived early the next morning with his Secretary, Therese and we left to walk to the School. I think every time you step onto a foot path in China you take your life into you own hands; it’s up to you get out of the way of the bikes. I saw two people run down on my first day.
We entered a 20 story building and alighted on the thirteenth floor to be greeted by several Chinese girls who presented me with a bouquet of flowers and welcomed me. I looked at their eager young faces, smiling and happy as they proudly showed me their 3 small classrooms which held 19 children.
I was puzzled. The school I was to go to had about 3000 pupils. Where was I? This is not the school in Suzhou I was supposed to be teaching at. I produced my contract and asked VJ. He went to ring Sang.
Apparently because I was 67, the school could not employ me because the Government would not allow it. I was absolutely stunned. I was at a private school in a place called Nanjing. Evidently, Sang informed VJ that I was a fully qualified English teacher and knew he could get more money: he omitted to inform TESOL. It’s the first time I have ever been ‘sold.’
I was in a real quandary, what should I do? VJ asked me to stay and produced a contract to sign. I called Marie at TESOL; she was as puzzled as me. Many useless frantic phone calls between China and Australia left me in a terrible position.
The next morning decided to sign the contract even though there were some duties beyond my capabilities. My rate of pay was $5000 yuans per month, approximately $1000 AUD dollars for 16 hours work and they were to provide me with an apartment. My roster showed I was to work seven days a week. Complaining to VJ that I was meant to have two days per week off, he again asked the headmaster.
‘The Headmaster has very kindly allowed you to have Monday and Tuesday off.’The new roster showed I work 9-5.30 pm Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and 8 -7.30 pm Saturday and Sunday and be available for school visits, meetings,and a range of other activities. A minimum of 52 hours and paid for 16 hours with no lunch breaks.
The young Chinese girls are really exploited. Most attend University after working six days per week but were happy and proud of their jobs.
The office was freezing; heaters weren’t allowed. Everyone wore jeans, jumpers, scarves, boots and coats.
These lovely young girls became my saviors’. I helped them with their English; it was funny to hear their pronunciations.
My first day there I was taken out to lunch. We rushed along the narrow congested streets passing the numerous rooms set up as restaurants. They appeared dirty and unkempt and full of people. Surely we were not going to eat in one of these dreadful places. VJ entered a small slightly cleaner restaurant and we sat at a long narrow table. He asked me what I liked to eat.
Shrugging replied ‘I can tell you what I do not like, innards, chooks feet or heads.’
They thought this was hilarious as they considered these parts to be a delicacy. I don’t know what I did eat. Chinese people honor you by offering a wide variety of foods. Most were quite nice. The only dish that held a serving spoon was the soup.
Everyone simply dived into each dish with their chopsticks and put food into their bowl. They laughed at my attempt with chopsticks and helped me. They ate with astonishing speed. It seems like eating is an industry in China, something you do and get over with as quick as possible and in silence.
I went to lunch daily with Tracey. She helped me open a bank account and buy a new mobile, and then took me to a two storied supermarket. I asked her about the basics like coffee, tea, yoghurt, margarine, bread. She had never heard of them. Eventually we found some coffee which is sold in packets complete with milk and sugar. The aroma of freshly cooked biscuits was hard to resist. Tracey had never tried anything like this and was intrigued by them. The range of fruit amazed me. Apples and mandarins were really good and became my evening meal.
Next time I went by myself, rode the escalator to the top floor but couldn’t find the way down. No-one could understand my requests for help and as usual laughed.I tried following people, but no one seemed to be going down. Becoming agitated, relieved, out of the blue, found the right escalator. Why hadn’t I seen that before? How come I missed it? Who cared! Down I went.
When I told Tracey she asked me if I would prefer going to the main shop and not something so small. Was she kidding? I was having enough trouble finding my way round two floors, how would I ever cope with eight.
VJ gave me no jobs nor explained what I was meant to do. My computer was in Chinese.Somehow, I fluked the email; at least I could contact home. He gave me a book and told me to start planning some lessons. Children’s ages ranged from 4 to 12 years and were only taught by the chanting system. The opposite of what I had learnt.
The children were gorgeous.So polite and well mannered, they were going to be a pleasure to teach. They were very shy and loved to gently touch my hair and run away giggling.
My third day there I was taken to my ‘new apartment.’ We had trouble finding our way through the maze of buildings but eventually came to a long, dismal, grey, drab block of units. We negotiated the five floors of dark concrete stairs, stepped over the old Chinese people sitting on the steps amongst piles rubbish and entered the ‘apartment.’
Dilapidated broken furniture filled the rooms with an old black and white TV. The smell was overpowering. This was a luxurious flat having a shower and toilet.
‘Well what do you think? Would you be happy here?’
Stunned I answered VJ, ‘Would your wife be able to live here?’
‘No!’
‘And neither would I!’ ‘Well don’t worry we’ll keep on looking.’
Dumfounded I thought does everyone live in such squalid places?
Later that day he said, ‘Good news! The agent has found another apartment; it’s brand new and only two bus stops away. We go after work.’
We found the bus stop and went to meet the real estate agent who escorted us to the thirteenth floor guarded by a security guard. This is better, much safer.
We rode up the elevator in silence; I wondered what it would be like living here. Would I be able to cope with the bus ride in the dark? How would I be able to buy a ticket by myself? Could I get off the bus at the right stop in the dark? My mind was racing. I had now become so unsure of myself.
It was a lovely unit although sparsely furnished. A heated debate began between VJ and the agent. Janet, his assistant explained to me that VJ said the rent was too high. Half an hour later we left, saying the school would not pay such a high rent.
‘That is it! Nothing is going right. I can’t handle living in this city. I am going home.’
I saw VJ next morning and told him I was going home. He consulted with the Headmaster who said I would have to pay equivalent of $500 to break my contract. No problem, I just wanted out.
I emailed the travel agency in Australia to arrange flights. I could fly from Nanjing to Singapore by Singapore Airlines and then change to Emirates for the flight to Brisbane. As it was school holidays the cost would be an extra $990 and I would leave Nanjing on Sunday at 2.30pm.
Feeling lost, I decided to go to school on Saturday and wait for Tracey’s friend who had very kindly offered to show me round Nanjing. The girls were sad to see me leave. I would always remember their kindness.
I gave my new mobile phone to Tracey. Well! You would have thought I had given her a million dollars.
‘No! No! Can’t take it,’ she stammered, ‘it too much. It cost lot money.’
I placed the phone in her hands saying, ‘It's yours now, a small price to pay for all the thoughtfulness you have shown me. I will never forget you,’ and left with Jamie to explore the shops.
Jamie was a lovely person who was majoring in English and hoped to travel.
We visited the largest department store I have ever seen. The ground floor stocked shoes. I have never seen so many different boots, all styles, lengths and colors. I never ventured any further into this store, too big for me.
Inside a local market, we wandered through approximately 1000 small shops selling bright, glittering jewellery and very small sized clothing.
Outside, I was amazed to see the most gorgeous, stunning temple in brilliant gold, beautifully decorated in red. It certainly brightened up the dreary streets. Chinese people love red and even young brides wear this striking color. The Yantzee River flowed through the city and its banks were adorned by the most amazing statures of gold dragons.In a city of so much poverty it seemed absurd to see such flagrant waste.
I bought two battery toys for my grandsons. After haggling with the shopkeeper Jamie succeeded in getting the price reduced by about two thirds, only trouble was he gave me a counterfeit $20 note as change. Jamie demanded it be replaced stating he was not honorable man. She was so embarrassed.
We found a cab to take us back to the hotel; for her a special treat. Jamie came into the hotel with me and instructed the staff to call a taxi for me the next morning. She wrote the address of terminal in Chinese and told me to give it to the driver, then left to catch her bus.
Next morning, I was stunned to see it snowing. Fear took hold of me. Would I get to the Airport? I had better leave immediately, Fortunately I had packed; hurriedly dressed, grabbed my bags and hoped the staff would remember I needed a taxi.
It was snowing heavily and the footpath was very slippery. The hotel porter guided me outside where he frantically tried to get a cab to stop. He argued with the first driver saying the price was too high.
The dreary street looked different. Snow covered the road in a dirty sludgy mess, making walking treacherous. Being minus 7 degrees it was