[MSL]

(My) unemployment during COVID-19

from January 2020 till now

 There is a big problem with the unemployment during the COVID-19 pandemic around the world. I'll share my honest experience in this article. I'm a philosopher (Master's degree) and since 2004 I'm living (and working) in PRC. Because of no way to find a philosophy job in the province I live, I started to be a foreign language teacher (I have got a TEFL). Since January 2020, due to the COVID-19 problem the schools were locked. Till now, many of them, including the private schools, are still closed.
 Even in the pre-pandemic time, I wasn't rich. Many years I'm trying to develop some business, to earn more money, but it's not possible, because I lack of initial capital and I can't find people to support me, no matter how hard I'm trying it. Soon after the school closure I realized that the unemployment is going to seriously hurt my life, because if one is rich it's not a big deal, but when you're a comparatively poor person this kind of situation may hurt you and even destroy you. It's every time worse for the poorest people. So, as soon as I realized the problem I posted a note in Reddit (a social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website) in hope to find some help. What I posted was:

The person: A EU foreigner with many years teaching experience (foreign languages) in China (master's in Philosophy), almost middle aged, in good health, sporty, non-smoker, non-drinker, likes to read and learn. THE PROBLEM: Due to the virus outbreak all of the schools are closed and the private students don't want to go out or to accept tutor at home; they're also not willing to try online classes. Plus, most of the cafes, restaurants, shops, etc. are closed too. The streets are almost empty. The situation may remain like this till March or more according to some Chinese persons. No own business, the savings are not enough. Loves China and willing to stay here, but how to avoid the starving and to earn some normal amount of money?

A person nicknamed "marcopoloman" answered: "Try to find various local expat and teaching groups on WeChat. There are lots of video and online positions available as well."
 (This is something I do non-stop, but the problem is that nearly all of them need only "Native English speakers". One of the first questions is "Where are you from?" If you're not from the USA, GB, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland or South Africa, it's practically impossible to get some attention.)
 A person nicknamed "fixerdave4redit" answered: "This is the ticking time-bomb. It's not just the OP... how many millions of people are in the same situation but without even the option of leaving?
How many landlords aren't getting the rent cheque? How many mortgages are going unpaid? How many restaurants aren't opening? How many cooks aren't working? Entire economic chains are fraying.
A lot of people live with very little financial buffer. Even if this thing went away right now, there will be a very large number of people with unraveled lives. It's not going to go away anytime soon."
 (Well, this is what we see all around the world currently, right? It's not only in China. So, he or she, is right, but it wasn't helpful for me to know that it's not just me. I know it, because I'm watching and reading news.)
 Another one nicknamed "cuteshooter" answered it: "Maybe the whole system of monthly rents will crumble!"
 (Something that also isn't helping me.)
 After that there were 2 political comments, which I will skip, because I'm trying to avoid politics as much as I can.
 A person nicknamed "mtb312000" offered me: "send me your wechat id, I can send you a few bucks"
 (I refused, of course, because I'm not willing to be a beggar. It was really touching and I appreciated it, but I answered: "I'm still OK, but THANKS for offering so!")
 A person nicknamed "sleepingbusy" suggested: "Intermittent fasting. You only need to eat once a day. Just eat hot pot.
But if you don't have any way of security, probably should move or sell some stuff."
 (This advice is logical, but in fact, most of the time I eat only 1-2 times a day, so it's nothing new to me. And the selling stuff is a temporarily solution. What I need is a stable, long-term income.)
 A person nicknamed "pocket_banana" posted: "vipkids, duh!" and another one, nicknamed "ChinaBounder" answered "He's not young, not female."
 (These were pretty unclear, so I didn't pay some special attention to them. All I supposed was that probably they're talking about online teaching for native English speakers which are young females. I don't know.)
 A person nicknamed "FeedMeFish" offered: "Which city are you in? I have a WeChat group that might have something, but it’s mostly in Shenzhen. Feel free to DM me if you’d like"
 (And I did, but I'm not in Shenzhen, so for me it wasn't very useful. Just those groups that usually post ads about native English speakers.)
 One (who is already deleted and I don't know his/her username) advised rudely: "Get the fuck out of China. The shit is gonna hit the fan soon"
 (Yes, it was rude and semi-wrong, semi-right. As you can see currently many other countries are in a worse condition than China. I know people who left China and now feel sorry, because over there, in those other countries the COVID-19 pandemic is making the people's life very hard.)
 Another person, nicknamed "hapigood", gave me a similar advice: "Japan. Korea. Get yourself out and ELSing somewhere reliable, it should take less than a month to get a place given the experience/qualification you state. In the meantime, beans and rice."
 (The problems here: 1) I'm not a native English speaker and it's not easy for me to find ELS jobs in Korea or Japan. And, by the way, I don't want to live in Japan, because of their radiation and earthquake problems, no matter how much I like the Japanese culture. 2) As you can see both countries are also having big problem with the coronavirus pandemic currently.)
  A person nicknamed "dopef123" shared a story: "A family friend got fired from his teaching job in China and the embassy for the US flew him home. He had to pay back the ticket cost though eventually.
It sounds like it'll take months for the virus to blow over. And it'll get worse before it gets better. If you don't want to leave china you might have to ask family back home for money or something."
 (First of all, I really don't want to leave China, because it was my childhood dream to live in an Eastern country and because I chose China and I spent here more than 16 years so far. Secondly, well, I'm not a young kid to ask for money and the so-called "family" is already not existing: grandpas, grandmas, mother -- all passed away. There is only an old father currently. He's not asking me for money and I do not ask him too; sounds in fair, right? Also, he's not a rich father. So, this option isn't for an option for me.)
 To be continued...
 

[MSL]

 Now I'll continue it. I'm sorry that I can't finish it at once, because it's a story which is 3 months old already and it's not easy to summarize it in few sentences.
 So, the next comments under my topic ("How to earn some money NOW in China? Soon going to starve.") were as follows:
a person nicknamed "drguid" posted that "My heart bleeds for all the CCP sympathisers I used to work with and who chose to stay."
(It wasn't something that helps and probably it was ironic, I am not sure. But, at least, now we saw that CCP dealt with the COVID-19 much better than many other countries around the world; so now the hearts should bleed for those pity people in those many countries like the USA, Spain, Italy, Iran, Turkey, Russia and so on...)
 Another person, nicknamed "cuteshooter" said "PM me, I might be able to help but it would take some time." and I did, but after some time he just said: "Best i can do is send some wechat accounts of agencies: (the names I don't need to quote here, because it's nothing to make ads about)
good luck" (Well, as you know in these agencies currently it's practically/technically impossible to find a teaching job if you're not a native speaker. So, it was useless too.)
 A person nicknamed "LWM_on_RPAN" posted: "Your willing to stay but your going to starve. I would have gotten out of Dodge while the getting was good." (So, in fact, I was right to stay, so far, because as I noticed already, the coronavirus pandemic got worse in most of the other countries around the world. And, also, I don't need to repeat it, but I will: for me China is a motherland; I'd like to be here!)
 A similar, but more polite idea was given by a person nicknamed "stiffpenguin": "Can you afford a flight to Thailand right now? I don’t see things getting back to normal for quite a while. I’m visiting Thailand atm and everything is business as usual so it’s much better quality of life for the time being. On your way back bring some N95 masks to resell at a reasonable price and your vacation is paid for."
(I don't want to comment it, but as far as we can see the Thailand's situation changes; there are thousands of COVID-19 cases there already. About the masks selling, I have no permission to do so and I do avoid this kind of activities.)
 A person nicknamed "GorillaTr0n" suggested this: "Teaching online, Palfish, vipkid, or whales, there’s so many kids at home you can teach to online right now. Most kids are Chinese and you can make good money.
I’m a teacher in Vietnam, all schools shut for feb I’d say so most my friends are doing 30+ hours online now."
(Because I'm not a native English speaker, I didn't try them. Of course, I am thinking about it more and more currently, because the situation is getting hopeless. Even there is a 0.01% chance something like this to hire me, it's worth to try.)
 A guy nicknamed "Sweetguy88" asked "What is the average salary for teaching online?" but there wasn't an answer. (I don't know it too.)
 Another guy nicknamed "iduncan18" added: "The situation is getting worse by the day. I'd get the hell out of dodge.
There's going to be an economic depression as well. It's already begun. People aren't working. Factories aren't producing."
(True, but the problem is that in many other countries this will be harder than in China. And, let's say, even there are some countries where is better or will be better than in China, how a relatively poor person like me can go there, rent a house, find a job? It's not an easy process and later I'll show you what happened when I asked about jobs in Singapore and in the Philippines.)
 A person nicknamed "moqinna" decided that I'm not trying to save money, concretely he or she posted that: "Save more money next time? Emergency funds are supposed to last for about six months. If you’re in China you ought to know things are never really that stable.
You need to save money to save your own ass.
Ask your friends for money, I guess?"
(The truth is that I have some savings, but once you're a poor person and you haven't solid incomes, it's not that easy to save when you haven't what to save that much. I'd like to have emergency funds that can last more than 6 months, but the wishes and the reality are different things. In China the things are never really that stable? And where they are?! In my opinion here many of the things are more stable compared with other countries and usually the changes are not so sudden and so big. Of course, there may be bad surprises when something is changed.
A friend of mine offers me money, but I refuse it, because I have 0 debts already and I don't want to be in a debt anymore. What I need is not a new debt; I need some job, at least a part-time one!)
To be continued...

[MSL]

 Here comes something important: NEVER commit crimes!
 Well, it's reasonable and every normal person knows it. But why I wrote it here? Because of the bad suggestion which was given by some nicknamed "1donteven". He posted this idiotism: "Steal and go to jail. They will feed you. Oh wait. No police will arrive. So you can go on stealing without being punished. Go for it!
Or ask on /r/IllegalLifeProTips".
 I'd like to add why it's idiotism:
1) It's not good to be in jail.
2) It's not right to steal, even if you're poor. You can beg, you can search for jobs, you can commit suicide, by don't do harm to others by stealing or by other crimes.
3) It's a myth that during a pandemic the police are not arriving and one can go on stealing without being punished.
4) It's unbelievable that Reddit allows such subreddits like "illegal life pro tips".
 So, just try to be a good person and do not harm others, even when your life is difficult! Otherwise what is going to happen if everyone starts to steal or do other criminal activities? It'll be the end of society.

[MSL]

 Let me continue it.
 Someone (already "[deleted]") said: "If you were working legally with a permit you would be getting holiday pay.
Look at online teaching gigs with companies outside of China"
(The problem is that the last training school I worked for closed forever. I don't know the exact reason, but probably because it wasn't able to pay its rent because of the COVID-19 pandemic and had to stop its business.
About the teaching online, I'll explain later; the main problem is that it's very hard or even impossible for a non-native English speaker to teach English online.)
 A person nicknamed "CharlieXBravo" suggested: "Dia-gou N95 masks?
Just don't price gouge for ethic purposes."
(As I already said above, about the masks selling, I have no permission to do so and I do avoid this kind of activities.)
 A rude and stupid comment came from somebody nicknamed "China5k" who wrote: "Don't be such a trash ass useless foreigner surviving off the teaching centers bucks?" and 2 others answered it as follows:
1. ChinaBounder: "The teaching centers are legal businesses which also employ Chinese citizens. Are the Chinese who work there "trash ass useless" for surviving off the teaching centers' bucks?"
2. FeedMeFish: "You, sir, are a dick."
(Later I explained why most of the foreigners in China have to work as English teachers. It's posted here, if you want to read about it. Well, it's sad, but there are Chinese and non-Chinese people who really think that to be a teacher isn't a respectful job. I think that there are really better jobs to do, but I do not think that teachers should be so disrespected. The education and the knowledge are very important for the mankind's well-being and progress!)
 To be continued...

[MSL]

 A kind of off-topic: I’m interested to read different points of view about it. If you’re someone who would like to explain his/her opinion, you can take a look and post something in that popular omnilogy topic about the COVID-19: http://www.seo-forum-seo-luntan.com/health/coronavirus-disease-(covid-19)/. (And, of course, you may share your unemployment story here also, if you wish.)

[MSL]

After that I decided to have a try to go (for a short time) to another country (yes, I want to be in China and I hoped to get Chinese citizenship or at least a Chinese green card, but if here is no income and I have to starve, what choice do I have?!), so at first I tried to ask about Singapore. Why Singapore? Well, because it's something like China -- most of the people are Chinese there (their forefathers are from China), the Chinese is one of the official languages and they do use the simplified Chinese characters... also, it's one of the most developed countries around the world and so on. Many reasons, for me, to like it as one of the countries where I can go to work or at least to travel... Well, so I made a try about searching a job in Singapore. I posted in Reddit's r/singapore this:

Hello, dear people! As I said already, I'm living in China since 2004 and I love China. I also bought a flat here and I have some relatives. All these factors make me unwilling to leave China even now when tons of foreigners (and Chinese) are running away from the virus. BUT, as I reported already in that thread ( https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/f0tang/how_to_earn_some_money_now_in_china_soon_going_to/ ) soon I'm going to starve, so I'd like to know if as a non-Native English speaker (but with 16 years teaching experience in China and a Caucasian European + Master's degree /Philosophy/) I have any chance to find a temporary teaching position in Asia (like Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia...)? Do you have at least 1 non-Native speaker colleague (with a legal working permit/visa)? Every suggestion is welcome! Be happy and healthy!

After that someone nicknamed "sayamemangdemikian" answered: "I just read your post in r/china. Seems urgent.
Go back to your home country, stay with parent/sibling temporarily and teach chinese instead.
No country except one's own home country accepting anyone from china right now."
 (I never wanted to go back to the so-called "home country". Even in situations like this. I don't want to describe here the details, but once I left it and never came back since 2004, obviously I'm not going to go there. Everyone has the right to choose to live or not to live in the country he or she was born.)
 After that one nicknamed "InternalRide8" posted: "How good is your English?
As almost everyone here in Singapore is a native English speaker, if your English is not as good as native speakers then you will have little to no luck here.
You might have better luck in other Asian countries where the predominant language is not English" and then we started a "long" correspondence with him. I'll try to reproduce it here:

 Me: "Hello, sir! Well, my English is nearly native leveled already. I heard how most of the Singaporeans speak it. Often they use Chinese particles like "I came 啦"， "Good 啊"... and the pronunciation usually has strong accent. I'm speaking standard English with nearly no accent (also I'm an European, so it was easier for me to get that another European language) + I'm teaching already 16 years English in different levels, so... I do believe I can be at least an average teacher. So, do you have some concrete school or kindergarten, college where I can apply?"

 He: "Friendly native English speaker here to correct your language:
"also I'm an European" It's not "an European", its "a European". http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/1521_gramchallenge27/
"get that another European language" There is no such thing as "get that another language". It should be "learn another language". You don't "get" a language, you learn it
"I'm teaching already 16 years English" This sentence is ordered wrongly and therefore sounds awkward. Additionally, you forgot a particle in the middle of the sentence. It should be "16 years OF English" A better way of phrasing this sentence would be "I have already been teaching 16 years of English"
"English in different levels" You don't teach IN different levels, you teach AT different levels. A level is not something you can go in and out of; therefore the use of the word "in" is inappropriate. "At" would be the correct particle
Please improve your English if you want to teach in the country that's ranked #5 in English proficiency (https://www.ef.sg/epi/regions/asia/singapore/)"

Me: "OK, but you said you're a Chinese person... Chinese person, native English speaker? （又是华人，又是英语母语的？好吧。）... OK, but: 1) Usually I use "A European" -- check my early posts here. It was just a typo. I know this simple grammar rule. (At the same time many of the native speakers even can't spell right "elephant" or "giraffe", so they need "Grammarly" or something like that.) 2) "Get that another language" -- yes, it's not right, IF you see it in a formal way, but I used it as an enthymeme, because I wanted shortly to say what I needed to. Of course, if I'm in a classroom, I should be more careful. 3) Most of the time I'm teaching simple Oral English in kindergartens, tutoring schools (3-15 y. old) and English corners. Of course, I'm not 100% good at grammar, but trust me, according to what I see in Singapore's videos, it's not English, it's some sort of Chinglish; and I'm just much better than it, as pronunciation and fluency at least. 4) Yes, it's "at". Got it. Just forgot to use it right, because we use "in" and it's kind of habit, which I have to control more. I sweat to god, it's something that I knew and learned.
5) Ranked #5, but when one speaks with too strong Chinese accent + too many Chinese particles, there is no serious native English speaker who can accept it. Even for me -- a fan of the Chinese culture and a non-racist person, it sounds very funny and inappropriate.

Now I'm soon going to starve, so my brain is searching real job alternatives. It's not the right time to be that "friendly" to me and to point to my errors in a nearly "grammar nazi style" (especially when I honestly said that I'm from a pity East-European region and I never said I'm 100% native.) I'm learning new English words and knowledge every day, so I am responsible (I may ensure you, if you worry really about my quality as a teacher). But now I need real help. Imagine a person who is going to die and instead of helping him to survive, you're getting to notice his hairstyle problem or his grammar...

AND NOW THE FUNNY PART: Let's see your "native English proficiency" now: a) "The caption in the bottom left says that its Yiren though" -- Do you know that "it's" is not "its"? They're different. And there is comma (at the end of the sentences). So, as you see 1 sentence, 2 errors.
b) "Its the year of the pig though" -- Should be "It's the year of the Pig though." (1. It's, 2. comma, 3. capital "P"...)
c) “get lost, bye bye” -- "Get lost, bye-bye!" (1. Capital letter, 2. hyphen in "bye-bye", 3. Exclamation mark.)
And so on... So, even with Grammarly (you suggested it to another guy as I saw), you're not 100% native. I know Singapore is a former GB's colony and I do respect the right of Chinese guys like you to think they're native English speakers, but it's not that easy for non-natives as you and me. Peace!"
 The next answer in that thread was from somebody nicknamed "Boogie_p0p". He posted: "Actually they need to be better than native speaker. Being on par means people will more likely pick the actual angmoh or even local english grad for English tuition."
(At first I didn't get it. Then I saw that" ang-moh"'s definition is a noun (with plural "ang mohs") which in Singapore means "a white person" and it's origin is from the Min Nan's "紅毛" ("红毛")/âng-mo, which meaning "red hair"... Something with ancient origin. Well, whatever. This comment wasn't very useful anyway, except that it's good to be "a better than a native speaker", but it's a kind of platitude and a truism. Yes, it's better to be better. "

 To be continued...