Not what it's cracked up to be

I did get a one week orientation in Shanghai which I really enjoyed but not everybody did because they did not get their visas in time due to issues with their schools. Ciee did place me but the information I got about my school and the city it is in was seriously misleading. The information is about an old location the school was in and hasn't been in for five years. I was also never given the information that in the last five years of ciee placing poeple at my school only one has stayed the whole year. When I contacted ciee about issues with my school they simply tried to scare me into staying by giving me incorrect information about how my visa could be canceled. (After talking to a lot of people in China they all say the same thing, it's next to impossible to cancel a visa). I often didn't even get answers from ciee staff when I sent them questions.

Though I have to say all in all the work at my school isn't bad (I've heard other ciee people who have to deal with much worse) the school they sent me to has forced me to work more than is stipulated in my contract and refuses to pay me money when stipulated in my contract. My living conditions are poor (living alone in a school building where there are classes every day in the classrooms next to me). The school even refuses to do simple things to make life better (such as refusing to turn the bells off in my building when the students aren't in school or have a Chinese person in some of my classes to reprimand students).

Other native speakers in my city get treated much better by their schools, have much better accommodations, and get paid much more than I do. Honestly, if I were to do this again I would come on my own. Going through Ciee is a waist of time and money. It's better to get information on online forums from people living in China and find a job from the internet than it is to use this program. For the money you pay you could easily pay for accommodations and even a plane ticket home if the job you find for yourself isn't good.

I personally work at a public school where the students don't have the ability or want for a foreign teacher. The only reason I'm at the school is to keep their standings high in the community and charge students higher tuition. This is not what I expected to deal with when I came to China especially through ciee.