Beggars and BMWs

I have money on my mind today. There are a number of reasons for this.

One, my ‘to do’ list tells me that I need to go to the bank soon and wire some more money home if I want to be able to pay my student loans at the end of the month.  This is a fun activity, involving a trip to the bank, a long wait (because there is always a long wait at the bank), a long form, a couple more forms, repeated assurances to the teller that you know your bank doesn't have a swift code and yes, you know it's entirely your own fault if the money disappears in transit, and finally, the fun on knowing you get to do it again, because you're only allowed to transfer 500 USD per day.

Two, I’ve been asked four or five times what my plans are for after my contract ends, and I haven’t really decided yet. It honestly depends on whether I have a job lined up for next year (and what that job is). If I do, then I might feel comfortable blowing some savings on traveling. If I don’t, then I want to find the cheapest route home as soon as possible and get cracking on the job hunt. So I was idly looking at plane ticket prices last night. Then, I saw that Cathay Pacific is having a summer sale on business class fares. So I checked out the price of a Hong Kong to New York ticket, just out of curiosity, and perhaps because it’s been a life dream to someday find out what it’s like to fly business class [because let’s face it: first class is a myth, like Atlantis. You “know” it’s up there in the front of the plane somewhere, but you’ve never seen it, and you don’t know anyone who’s ever been there]. Well, it was the cheapest business class fare I’ve ever seen, only about three times the price of economy, but still somewhere in the neighborhood of ridiculous. Then, I read all about the amenities of business class. Lay-flat seat, normal plug-in for your laptop, an “amenity kit” full of helpful things, like lotion to combat airplane dry skin and a toothbrush and toothpaste, creatively described food, a storage cupboard for your book, glasses, mp3 player, etc, a privacy screen in case you want to pretend you’re alone on the plane, and (best part) a sticker you can stick to your privacy screen that says “please don’t wake me” if you just want to sleep and not be bothered by offers of hot towels or champagne. Seriously (well ok, I made that last bit up. Not any of the component pieces – the Do Not Disturb sticker, hot towel, and champagne all exist in business class, but I don’t think they really occur as in my scenario). So, while the price is still ridiculous, I can’t help but sigh like the protagonist in a dime-store romance at the thought of 15 hours of that, instead of the glowingly described ‘six inches of recline and four-way tilt headrest’ of economy class (disclaimer: I flew Cathay Pacific to get here, and of my five flights between the US and China, I think it was the most comfortable. And the personal TV screen with choose-your-own viewing options is nice). Oh, and for the frugal traveler out there, I found the cheapest business class fare on Turkish Airlines. Yes, you have to change planes in Istanbul.

Three, I tried to help a new coworker get internet set up at her apartment yesterday (alas, it was not successful. My Chinese was enough to figure out the problem, but not enough to solve the problem. She needs someone who can argue with pushy salespeople. That’s not really in my English skillset). While we were in China Telecom waiting for a free salesperson, I glanced at the display of smartphones. Several of my coworkers have recently bought the Galaxy tablet phone, or whatever it’s called, and part of me is a little jealous. It’s so slick and shiny and multi-functional and twenty-first century.  On the other hand, it costs upwards of 3,000 yuan, which is about what I just spent on a week’s vacation to Hainan. Also, I’m not sure it would work back home, which would make it a really bad deal. Part of me is seriously considering a tablet computer or a smart phone. I would like the convenience of extremely portable computing. On the other hand, I fear the brain-rotting effects of touch-screen stupid games. Also, I don’t want to compose long written works with my fingertip or a touch-screen keypad, nor do I want to carry around an external keyboard (rather defeats the purpose, doesn’t it). So I remain indecisive. I predict I’ll make a decision sometime in 2014 (if the world doesn’t end first).

Four, and this is what my brain keeps coming back to whenever I take out my wallet or think about the ridiculously expensive things that I could buy, easily or with a little saving effort, a couple weeks ago, local coworker friend of mine was telling me about a friend of hers who manages a Subway. During our conversation, she happened to mention that the employees at the Subway make 5 yuan per hour, and that this is a pretty standard wage for fast-food workers. Let’s put this in perspective, shall we? At 5 yuan/hour, working 40 hours/week, your weekly paycheck (ignoring all taxes) would come to 200 yuan. Assuming you work year round with no vacations, you will make 10,400 yuan per year, or, put another way, about 1645 USD. That’s less than I make in a month. Now, I realize that there is a wage gap between the income of a fast food worker and a teacher in the US, but let’s compare. A fast food worker making minimum wage in Maine ($7.50/hr), working the same amount of time and also ignoring any taxes, would make 15600 USD.  Google tells me that the average salary of a teacher in Maine is 45110 USD. This means, where a Subway worker in Guangzhou makes about 8% of a teacher’s salary, a Subway worker in Maine makes 35% of a teacher’s salary. It’s a much smaller gap. Of course, this data is skewed, because I’m not just a teacher. Local teachers make much, much less than I do. I’m a “foreign expert,” employed by an international private company which caters to an extremely wealthy clientele. I don’t have any definite data on local teacher salaries, but based on estimates from my local coworkers, I’d imagine we’d we looking at a fast food worker:teacher ratio of about 15-25%. And fast-food workers are hardly the low point of the scale, just as teachers are hardly the high point. What is the significance of this extreme income range? I don’t know. But, it’s very interesting to think about, isn’t it?

My new coworker (I actually have four new coworkers this week, but only one has the desk next to mine) is from England. We were chatting about our homes, and when I mentioned I was from small town New England, she asked if it was really like it was in the movies and on TV. So while I was telling her about the beautiful lakes and lighthouses and pretentious ivy-covered colleges, I also told her about rural poverty and heat assistance and the free and reduced price lunch program. You know, the parts of daily life in Maine that don’t make it into the quaint New England towns of television. I’ve never been poor. I’ve never not had something I’ve needed. I’ve rarely not had something I wanted. Still, I’ve grown up close to it, and while I wouldn’t say I’ve been entirely successful, I feel like I have something of an appreciation of the value of money. My students here are from wealthy families. They see beggars in the street and eat hamburgers that represent half a day’s pay to the person who made it. I wonder if they will someday know what money is worth.