Worldtour in China

Teaching English in China is often challenging. The students can be great or some disinterested, depending on where you are teaching. The day to day chores that you now take for granted, assuming you are in the West, take forever and a day. Some banks don't have anyone that can speak any English so you must have a friend or someone from your job give you a hand with basic tasks. You will pick up some Chinese as you teach but mostly the familiar questions like where are you from. For sending packages, telephones, paying utilities and the like, you probably will need some help. Many people choose to live in apartments at the schools they teach at. This can simplify things if you don't mind living near your workspace. For instance if you are working at a university, you will usually receive the same apartments that the Chinese instructors do. I choose to live in my own place as I want to live like everyone else does. Just remember even the shopping and many other tasks will be complicated with the language problem. Many choose to just eat out, or at the dining halls that all schools have.

Harbin is in the northeast of China. If you look at a map of China, Harbin is the eye of the Chicken. It seems to be known for several things. This area was the homeland of the last Emperor. It was also where the Japanese experimented with chemical warfare. It was the end of the Trans-Siberian railroad. It is quite unique as it has lots of Russian architecture. The cobblestones were set by the Japanese on the popular Center Street. However, the International Snow and Ice festival is probably the biggest draw in Harbin. It is also known as Icelights. The town has many such areas that have ice scuptures and roadside columns glowing with colored lights. The main festival is near the river. It is quite spectacular in that some of the displays are huge, two or three stories high. I had to move a long way back to get most of this dragon in the shot. Look for more photos from Icelights.

The main qualities that one needs to teach and work in China are flexibility, be adaptive, patient, and positive and everything will work out fine. There are tons of resources online to supply you with all kinds of ideas and techniques. You may as well start with the best: http://www.daveseslcafe.com
You can get most any information there that pertains to teaching English. I'm going to give you more personal information that might help you ascertain if this is something that you want to do. If you're dreading your work and want a change and can actually put a plan into action you can spend a year teaching English in China. In many ways the foreign teachers are like the hit of the parade. If you don't like being looked at perhaps this is not for you. In many places in China you will think that you must have two heads because of the way people are staring at you. In those places, I would just shoot back a little stare with a big smile and that should snap them out of their amazement. Many Chinese people are curious about you and why you are in China. Most will be right if they guess you are a teacher. Be patient and gracious with the attention and you will find many new friends. I have found the Chinese people to be quite friendly, warm, and quite generous, irregardless of social or economic status.

Okay, I thought I would start giving you some examples of cost of living at the end of some of theses posts. Dinner for five or six with beer and juice less than 100 yuan = $12, one beer 2.5 yuan=less than $.30, rent 4 rooms 40 square meters, 600 yuan=$72.00, nice bike like a Giant, 100 to 200 dollars, a regular bike 30 dollars or less. Of course you can always pay premium prices by going to the department stores and buy name brand western goods. All the top brands for the women in makeup and accessories, like jewelry. You can also get any world branded products such as Nike or anything else. This applies to the cities. Sometimes with all the chaos and the crazy driving its hard to believe it all gets done. Believe me the goods are moving and the Chinese are shopping. You see plenty of Audi, Lexus, Bmw, and other fine cars. You know trade and commerce have a long tradition in China and it's always been there. The consumers of China are very active. Worldtour

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posted by worldtour @ 5:42 PM