u/Down_Growth_2626

Asking for a non-white friend who wants to work in China. He has a TEFL, BA, and is a native English speaker. What are his chances of a job? He is a published & award winning author, and is exceptionally bright. What should he expect for pay & the type of offers? Are there better schools / areas he should target? Thanks.

I (35M) just got back from a date with a girl (28F) which ended really miserably. Looking for some advice about relational investments.

We matched on Bumble, both foreigners in China, her Morocco me UK. The banter + chat on Bumble was very good, she complimented me on my "beautiful voice" saying it was like a podcast voice/really interesting yadayada. So I made a 30-second pretend podcast for her, she loved it and thought it was super funny. But also, "be careful or I will get used to this." I thought it was a strange comment to make, especially since she then backed off a load. And didn't actually reply to the content of my original message. (Retrospectively I think her comment was "come chase me" vibes... even though she had previously initiated date talk and swapping numbers.)

We ended up meeting for the date, only just for me BC of this push-pull, but it started off lovely, a bit touchy feely, v good conversation. 3 hours over dinner, where she was projecting forward about "we will have to do XYZ together." I pay for dinner which she clearly wants me to do (no comments about this but it is the expectation).

We go for a walk afterwards, I'm new to China so she was helping me book a bike with my phone, I joke with her saying "okkk so you're scamming me now" type stuff (I thought this was funny & she was laughing, she had been laughing other parts of the night at my crap humour). Halfway through the walk I ask if she would like to kiss, she says "do you want to kiss me?" "Err, yes" "Why?" "Err, because you're hot" (I'd never been asked this before lol) "not right now if that's ok" "ok sure no problem"

So it's a bit awkward but I make some more jokes and conversation, & on my lead we start walking towards the exit. I try to make it easy with conversation but there is not much anything coming back. So we walk in silence for maybe 10 minutes. I get the sense she is fuuuming, like I am a threat here. My PTSD threat sense is very keen so I know this is the case, as far as I can know anything.

WTF is wrong with her? I think the more important question for me is, how do I avoid dramatic people like this? It was my first date in 18 months, after years dealing with the worlds sh*ttiest people & much related trauma. Maybe I shouldn't have gone on the date in the first place with that red flag, what would you have done? Tia

I've been teaching ESL at a high profile University in China, it's a part time job (20 sessions a week, 16k RMB). V easy work, just conversations with good students. I have been offered to teach my subject instead at the same university, with a significant pay rise - seems they are making a shift to foreign teachers.

How much should I expect/ ask to get paid? I have tonnes of experience teaching this subject in higher education back home (teaching/ research/ publications etc). TIA

I've been teaching ESL at a high profile University in China, it's a part time job (20 sessions a week, 16k RMB). V easy work, just conversations with good students. I have been offered to teach a subject at the same university, with a significant pay rise - seems they are desperate for foreign teachers.

How much should I expect/ ask to get paid? I have tonnes of experience teaching this subject in higher education back home (teaching/ research/ publications etc). TIA

Let's say the US initiates a final short-term round of active fighting, be it boots on the ground or long range attacks. Trump declares a victory, War Is Over, and decides to step back & wash hands.

What would the impact on the Hormuz Strait be (in terms of flow & future insurance), and would Ansar Allah close the BaM Strait, for more weeks/ months?

*Gulf States and Israel would hate this (because they would get hit badly), but it's a possibility IMO, so the US can declare victory & pretend the thing never happened. Then after declaring War Over, any future impact on oil flow is "just the work of enemy actors" etc etc

EDIT: from discussion in the comments, it seems even after everything so far, lots of people are still wedded to the idea of politics as existing as though empirics and rationality were its foundation (rather than interests or, more specifically, imperial brutality + gaslighting). I find this staggering!