Why Did I Move to China?

Why Did I Move to China?  

Higher Education in the United States has died. Administrations and budget cuts killed teacher tenure and schools became reliant on adjunct, or as most people understand it, part-time workers. These workers have no social mobility, and make the same as food service employees, but have master's degrees and the loans that come with them. Just over 50% of teachers in higher education are adjuncts. After seven years of mixing and matching adjunct work with other jobs hoping to grab a full-time position, I finally landed one, and then Covid happened. Frustrated with the American higher education system, and my inability to get a full-time gig anywhere else I tried, I decided to look elsewhere. 

I have awesome friends and family back in Charlotte, NC, and had actually secured affordable rent in the little spot off of Sardis Road, so I could have kept trudging along and searching for opportunities there. I would have-- I miss my bunny and my coffee shop. The only problem is that I wrote a novel. I spent ten years mapping out the story and crafting it. It is the reason I got my MA, however, much like higher education, the publishing industry is on its last legs. So I have a great story, but no way to get it out there. It has received praise from industry professionals, but has also been rejected by over 100 + literary agents over the last year. Agents are only looking for what they know they can sell to publishers, who in turn only sell to the same shrinking audiences, over and over again. My series is a little different - it is not only for current readers, but is meant to attract untapped audiences; ones that want to read, but don't like what is out there. So, I may have to self-publish, and for that I need funds and a marketing plan. 

So, here I am - looking and finding work elsewhere. I applied to a few places, S.Korea I had lived in before - but they don't pay well anymore, so I ended up mostly looking at China. I found an old university in a city I had never heard of, that had a pretty campus: Hebei University of Technology, and that's where I'm writing to you right now. This is why I moved here - to not only experience the culture and people of North-East Asia, but to save up some funds to market my fantasy series. So! Look forward to me pestering you about it in a year or so, and in the meantime please enjoy some of these crazy adventures and mishaps with me. 

~ Benjamin T.