Entry #2 - Jobs That Weren't Quite What You Were Looking For, But Close Enough

So I've been in Shanghai for nearly a week now. On my second day here, I got a job offer from Sinomedia, Ltd. A publishing company in China that handles magazines, translations, and an assortment of other things paper-media related. Originally, as you may recall, I came to China in hopes of getting a job teaching English. Well, after realizing that people here would rather hire a retarded penguin than a Chinese guy to teach them English, I gave up. (Not to say, of course, that there is anything inherently wrong with penguins, not even the retarded ones.) I began looking for freelance work for a couple of English magazines here, but after realizing that they either couldn't pay me enough or couldn't offer me enough work, I bailed on that idea as well. So as I write to you, I am sitting in the office of Sinomedia's translation dept, getting ready to start my day. I'm one of the first people to get here - 9 AM - because I refuse to come in at 10 AM like everyone else and leave at the ungodly hour of 7 PM.

Oh, perhaps I should clear things up a bit. A week before I left for China, I took on a couple jobs as a Chinese to English translator for this company. I continued to translate for them after arriving in China. Apparently, they had been missing someone in their dept (other than the CEO) who was fluent in both Chinese and English. Now, I can see that your initial reaction is clearly identical to mine. How a translation company can manage to exist in China under such conditions is beyond me, and likely the scope of rationality.

So I've been working here for about a week for 8000 RMB a month, which is a little more than a thousand US dollars. My cousin tells me that I make more than most of the people in China, but that doesn't exactly comfort me as most people I know here live with their parents. Which, I imagine, must significantly cut down on their living expenses. I, on the other hand, must move out of my grandmother's place soon. No one has lived here for a while and it really shows. Everything is broken, from the toilet to the fridge to the electrical outlets. My accidental death is no longer a matter of chance or fate, but merely of time itself. I've been looking around for a while, but any place decent is going to cost me half my salary. Therefore, I've decided to ask for a raise. That's right, I've worked here a week and am leaving a 5 months and I'm asking for a raise at the end of this year. I'm pretty sure I'm doing more work than I'm getting paid for, anyways. I translate 3000 words a day and am one of two English consults in the office, of which the other guy doesn't understand a lick of Chinese. I also have to proofread all C-E translations coming into our dept.

On the bright side, China is an amazing country and it feels great getting back in touch with my roots.