40 Maos

Every month I walk down to the school office and pick up four brown envelopes. Inside each envelope are 40 red Mao faces staring at me. 

That's how we (the four Oral English teachers) are paid each month. 

A stack of Maos. 

A rubber band. 

A brown envelope. 

Picking up my salary makes me feel like a crystal meth dealer and / or pimp, but it's how we do business here in the Middle Kingdom. 

- mjr -