Frank Sun and F & S Education

[leawitkowski]

On my very first day in Dongyang, they brought me to one such banquet. During it they got so drunk that I was tempted to jump behind the wheel as they drove me back to the hotel I was staying at (I did not have an apartment at this time). Once we arrived (and I breathed a deep sigh of relief), Mr. Li invited himself up to my hotel room to rest. During this time, the drunk man lain on my bed while I was reading a book on the same bed. Needless to say, this made me very uncomfortable. I was not sure why the situation happened or what to do during it. My only comfort was that I was completely sober. Eventually, he decided that it was time to go to the school to see my classroom. When we arrived, we found that Mr. Zhou was sitting in a pool of his own vomit in the school cafeteria. Mr. Zhou was the "principal" figure at this school.

In addition, my living conditions in Dongyang were very different from what was described when I applied for the program. I was left in an apartment (after living in a hotel from August 2 to August 6 ) with a bathroom, a bed, a desk, and a makeshift closet. There was no "sitting area, kitchen..., TV, telephone..., fridge, washing machine..." as is described in both the application flyer and the contract that I signed. (Quoted from the contract, leaving out accommodations that were provided.) I complained to Frank Sun, who said it was temporary for one month.

In Dongyang, I was not teaching classes, but a camp. The camp consisted of one class with anywhere between 4-8 students during the course of three weeks. Their ages ranged from 11 to 18. I had four classes with the same students each day. I was told to sing English songs and play English games with them, which I attempted to do. I had no book, no further instructions, no teaching assistant, and no clue how to deal with students who ranged so greatly in age and English abilities (some of them didn't speak English at all).

After this camp, on August 23, I went to Dalian, China, for orientation where I met the other teachers in the internship program. The orientation began on August 27, and to my surprise, many of the other teachers had just arrived and several hadn't taught at all. I was told that I had to be in China for the 1st of August, but that was apparently not true. Further, I was the only one who had a working visa. I was told that I had to get a working visa before coming to China. This involved two trips to Houston (a five hour drive) before 9 am to get the visa application completed in one day. It was two trips because I was given paperwork to get a business visa before the working visa paperwork was completed. After getting the business visa ($80), I was told that I had to get a working visa (another $80).

I was never reimbursed for these visas even though my contract says that the company will pay for the working visas ("Party A [F & S Education] will take care of Party B's [me] working visa, process and pay for the working visa for the employee and get employee a Foreign Teaching Expert if party B is qualified [ sic.]” [quoted from the contract with F & S Education]).

The orientation included a tour of Dalian and an explanation of what was expected of us. During this time, I was told that I would be moving to another school because the people in Dongyang were dissatisfied with me. This was very hard for me to believe as they didn't speak English, they didn't sit in on any of my classes, and they gave me absolutely no instructions on what I was supposed to do with the students. I was told I would be moving to another city in the same province and that my moving expenses would be paid. By the end of the week of orientation, I was moving to Beijing (literally across the country) to teach at a university.

Perhaps, this was the best and most inconvenient experience of my whole experience in China. I did move shortly after returning to Dongyang and was picked up at the airport by a woman who spoke no English. She brought me directly to the university where I witnessed a heated conversation (in Chinese) about why my visa expired the next day. I was whisked to my new boss's office to explain the situation. Wei Ping (my boss) was extremely worried about the visa situation. I tried to explain that I had emailed and spoken to Frank Sun several times asking to have it updated since I had arrived in China, but it was all greeted with a happily dismissive, we still have time.

Wei Ping said that having an expired visa in China is a very bad thing and that there was no way the school could have it updated in time. I was in Beijing less than 12 hours before I was on another flight to Dalian.

In Dalian, I endured the medical exam (which I was told had to be completed before I left the States costing me over $100).

I began teaching in Beijing and realized that I'm much more suited to teach at the university level. Completely content with my situation, I was finally starting to settle down in China. Before my visa was updated, however, I was told that I could no longer live in my apartment because it was connected with the police system, and I was technically an illegal alien. I was forced to move all of my belongings into another apartment further from campus until my visa was complete. I was told I would be there two or three days. The apartment did not have hot water. Extremely perturbed, I agreed to move until the weekend when I could go back to Dalian and have this entire mess completed.

As the weekend passed, I contacted Frank Sun via cell phone text messages to find out why I wasn't given flight details. He said that the visa wasn't complete and that I wouldn't be able to move until the next week. I tried to explain that this situation was not acceptable and that it should have been done well before this happened, but there was nothing that could be done at this point.

The next week, I missed my classes to go back to Dalian by train (it’s not possible to fly with an expired visa). This time I was brought straight from the train station to the visa office to finish the paperwork. I was told that the visa laws had changed and that F & S wasn't aware that it had to be done in 30 days. Frank Sun contacted someone he knew in the visa office to have it fixed for a fee instead of my having to go to Hong Kong to reenter mainland China. I was later told by a third party that the visa laws in China have NOT, in fact, changed; it's always been a 30 day deadline with a working visa. In addition, there was a note stapled in my passport by the Chinese consulate in Houston explaining in Chinese and English that the visa had to be updated with 30 days of arrival (this is how I knew). The paper was ripped out and thrown away by Jonah Chang, Frank Sun's assistant at F & S Education, while were in the process of getting it updated on my first return trip to Dalian. I returned to Beijing sans my passport (the visa office had to hold it to put in my new visa), but with a foreign expert certificate, which allowed me to fly within the country.

After all of this was complete, I was finally a legal citizen of China and could move back to my much more suitable apartment. Another teacher visited me from Dalian about two weeks after this and brought me my passport. I thought I was done with the difficulties of working with Frank Sun. I was wrong.

My contract states that I would be paid on the 10th of the following month of service. When the morning of November 10th (a Saturday) rolled around and I hadn't been paid for October, I contacted Frank Sun via cell phone text messages to find out why. He said that I should have been paid on Friday, but if I hadn't I would be paid the following Monday since it was the weekend. I told him that I couldn't wait until Monday, to which he responded that if I needed money I should have told him. I responded that I was unaware that I had to ask to be paid on time. After this incident, I consulted my contract. There is nothing in the contract that explains that if the 10th is on a weekend payment will be received the following Monday. "Party B's monthly salary will be Y4500-Y5000 Yuan RMB, the pay day is 10th day of next month. If not a full month, the salary will be prorated (days times salary/30). [ sic.]" Further, F & S Education and all banks in China are opened on the weekends. The payment was received around 7 pm that night after many text messages to Frank Sun.

Also concerning my contract, it states clearly that "each class has no more than 24 students, normally less than 20 students". I have five classes that I see four times a week for 45 minutes, which is completely within the terms of the contract. However, each class is in excess of 30 students, many are closer to 40. Dealing with this many students is difficult in any situation, but as I was teaching spoken English, the difficulties were exacerbated. Further, the contract says that I would be receiving free Chinese lessons for the duration of the contract (In the "Benefits" section it states, "Twice free Chinese classes per week".). These never materialized. I spoke with a colleague at the university who suggested a Chinese text, and I met a Chinese girl who is attempting to help me learn the language. But I have yet to have a formal class arranged.

The final bit of drama that Frank Sun threw my way involved my leaving the company. My boss at Beijing University of Technology, Wei Ping, offered me a direct contract with the university instead of through Frank. This contract would have basically the same terms, but would pay me Y6000 instead of Y4500 and offer me Y5000 in the form of an airfare bonus instead of the additional $300 (Y2250) that Frank Sun offered. Further, signing with the university insured that I would not be reassigned to another location, which could be anywhere in China. In other words, the BJUT contract was better in every regard. I received an email from Frank Sun reminding me that it was time to resign the contract with F & S Education.
Email dated November 22, 2007
Frank Sun wrote, “It is the time to decide to stay or leave. If you want to stay and teach in the University in Beijing, we can talk with the university, increase your int'l airfare bonus plus extension of your international insurance. If you prefer to sign contract with the school directly, that would be fine but we have to terminate your working visa first and you have to responsible for your international insurance. Chinese universities won't provide any international insurances. Pls let me know your decision in your earliest convenience.”
Email dated November 23, 2007
Lea Witkowski wrote, “I talked to Wei Ping today, and I have decided to sign a contract directly with the university. He called someone while I was in his office to sort out the visa situation and was told that it's not a problem. I don't understand all the details of the Chinese visas, but he did mention that it would not have to be canceled, only transferred to Beijing. If you have more questions about it, you should talk to Wei Ping as, again, I do not understand the entire process. He did mention, however, that I would need a letter with a stamp from F & S Education saying that my contract with you will be finished on January 16 and that's why we're transferring the visa. As soon as you can get this to me the better. He doesn't want to have to go through what I already dealt with with my visa expiring.”
Email dated November 24, 2007
Frank Sun wrote, “Hi Lea, Weiping called me and asked if it was possible to transfer you to work in his university and sign contract directly. Normally we request our intern teachers return back to US upon completion of the internship. I will talk with Weipint to sort it out...It is not a big problem but not that easy either. We have to do much paper work for your transfer and visa issue.”
Email dated November 24, 2007
Lea Witkowski wrote, “Thanks for the heads up. However, I wanted to remind you that there is nothing in my contract that prevents me from changing companies or asks me to return to the United States once I have completed my contract with F & S Education. No where in any paperwork I have is this stated, nor did you say anything to this effect in any email or face to face conversation I have had with you. The opportunity at the university is much better for my situation (they are paying me more and giving me more money in the form of an airfare bonus). In addition, it's much easier to work with people who are in the same city as I am. Further, Wei Ping told me that transferring the visa was NOT a big deal. He did not mention an excessive amount of paperwork, only one letter from you with a stamp stating that my contract with you will be complete on January 16th. Finally in you last email you said, "If you prefer to sign contract with the school directly, that would be fine..." I'm unsure as to how it went from "fine" to "not that easy". Please let me know if there is anything I can do to speed up this process. Again, I do not want to be in a situation in which my visa expires again. As it is now November, I do not see a reason that this cannot be completed long before January.”

I emailed Frank Sun three additional times asking for the letter. It was not received until January 5, 2008. This was just in time for the semester to be over and my holiday to begin. I waited in limbo for my visa to be updated (which took two weeks) to get my passport back before I could begin traveling for the holiday break.

All in all, it seems that Frank Sun is unaware of how to operate a company that invites foreigners into China to teach. Not only did my visa expire, but one of the first stories I heard from another teacher was about her visa expiring. Further, almost everyone who came into China with me experienced a similar dilemma. The process of getting a new visa was not pleasant and made me very uncomfortable. Further, Frank Sun does not provide any information about procedures without being asked and only provides partial information when asked. It is very frustrating to try to live independently in a country (not to mention a different city from your company) where you aren't given the details of any procedure you’re expected to comply with or any decision that is made.

I have paid over $260 (Y1872) for things that were absolutely not necessary in addition to the expenses incurred from traveling to and from Dalian so many times (even though my transportation was paid). None of this money was reimbursed nor was it explained why I was required to do these things and none of the other interns were. Frank Sun did reimburse costs that I incurred from moving to Beijing.