Richard Annin:  

Life After high school, I went to UC Berkeley. I also took a wide variety of classes at Laney college in Oakland. My second time at Berkeley was as a Chinese language major, with some Korean on the side. The next years were spent doing professional woodwork and metalwork. I ran my own shop for 20 years. My projects included custom bicycles, furniture, and sculpture. I have worked on motorcycles, cars, boats, aircraft, and trains at different times. Over the years I have had an interesting collection of friends, many of them artists and musicians. I have worked as a stage hand for many bands; you probably have CDs of a few of them. I have played around with many instruments, but am working at becoming a reasonable electric bass player. In February, 2003 I decided to do something different. I bought a one-way ticket to Shanghai, China. Within a few weeks I had found a good job as an English taecher. Shortly after that, I met the woman who I am now married to. Anna and I moved to Beijing together in June, 2003 and got married in August. She wished to be in Beijing to be near her family. Since coming to Beijing, I have taught at several different schools. At one company, I managed 14 schools and about 150 teachers, half foreign, the rest Chinese. It was hell, so I went back to teaching. I am currently teaching at two of the best high schools in Beijing. At one, there are 12 classes a week, ten at the other. Each class has 50+ students, so I "get" to deal with over 1,100 high school students each week. Classes are only 40-45 minutes each, so I really have to try to pack a lot into each session. Sometimes it's great, sometimes I hate it. It usually takes some time to get a class to respond well. They tend to be shy, but I need to make them speak. I'm getting pretty good, or I wouldn't be allowed to teach at these two schools. Since they are top schools in Beijing, they are some of the best in China. I am also teaching at an American construction eng...Expand for more