Living in China

Accommodation is generally of a high standard with most expenses covered by your school. The accommodation is within or close to the school premises. This ensures teacher safety and ease of access to classrooms and facilities.

It is usually a modern one-, two-, or three-bedroom apartment which is fully self-contained.

Features include:

Kitchen (All kitchen utensils,Microwave oven,Sterilizer unit,All cookersand gas stove)

Bathroom with western toilet (in most cases)(washing machine)

Computer room
(Stereo,ComputerPhone)

Lounge/sitting room
(A TV, DVD player,Air conditioning for summer and reverse cycle heating in winter)

Dining room

The foreign teacher generally enjoys free electricity and water.

It must be noted that this is a guide and should not be used as a checklist.

Thus, everything in china is very cheap, here are a few examples:

The current exchange rate for the USA dollar (USD) to the Reminbi (RMB) is $1.00 USD=￥8.27 RMB. For an update to the exchange rate you can visit www.xe.com
Intra city bus fare	￥1-￥3	Packet of cigarettes	￥2-￥10
Bottle of beer (600ml)	￥2	Average breakfast	￥1-￥2
Average lunch	￥1-￥2	Average dinner	￥5-￥8
1/ 2 Kg pork	￥12	1/ 2 Kg beef	￥15
Weekly supply of vegetables	￥10-￥15>	Bottle of coke or sprite (600ml)	￥12.5
KFC Zinger burger	￥10	DVD disc of the latest movies	￥5-￥7
CD’s/Tapes	￥5-￥15>	DVD players from	￥500

Clothes and shoes are extremely cheap. As China is primarily a market based economy, items such as gold, silver, diamond, jade, Chinese artefacts etc, are extremely cheap. Also the provision for bargaining is excessively high.

	For example, it is a generally accepted rule of thumb when buying clothes and shoes to begin bargaining at 66% off the marked price. On most items, a discount of 50% is acceptable to the customer and the merchant alike.
	Chinese cities now have western-style supermarket chains. In some of the larger cities one can find foreign “hypermarket” stores, notably Carrefour and Walmart. These places stock imported products, so access to cheese, butter, bacon, barbeque sauce, cereals and other foodstuffs not used on the Chinese dinner table are now readily available.

There are some western-style restaurants that serve steak, fries, salads and pizzas. These are becoming increasingly popular. There are many McDonalds, KFCs, Pizza Huts, Starbucks and such stores scattered around China .

	The internet and the use of a computer is just as popular here as in western countries. Internet cafes are widespread and very cheap (usually about ￥2-￥3 an hour). As English newspapers are rare in China , one can keep up to date with news back home on the net.
	There is one English-speaking channel on Chinese TV (CCTV 9). This channel provides regular world news bulletins as well as informative and interesting programs. It costs a little extra to view this channel but it is well worth the extra expense.

Mobile phones are very handy and cheap to use. You may bring your own with you or purchase one in China at a very cheap price. Many phones are available in street stalls and shops. Some shops have IDD where you can make calls to home conveniently.

If you teach in China, School and College holidays occur at the end of each of the two semesters. Summer holidays, during which a foreign teacher can travel or, alternatively, do summer classes to make extra money, last for about two months. There are two other holiday breaks during the year: May 1st (Labour Day) and October 1st (National day) which are both week-long breaks. Traveling during these periods, however, may be difficult as many forms of transport are booked out, and hotels, places of interest, etc are usually crowded with tourists.

Traveling around town can be easy when you know the ropes. Buses are popular and cheap. Buses come very regularly although they tend to get very crowded at peak hour. Bikes are still prevalent and are a healthier way of getting around. Taxis are more common in China now, and they are generally cheap. A minimum fare is ￥ 5 in smaller cities and towns. One can usually travel for 3-4 kilometers before the meter commences ticking over.

If a Foreign Teacher needs further help, he or she may approach a Waiban (Chinese short hand for Waishi Banchu which literally translated means 'Foreign Affairs Office'). The Waiban’s job is to take care of you. They ensure you have what you need, keep a good eye on you, and generally try to keep you out of 'trouble'. Waiban is also the term used to describe the person at the school who has the job of looking after you.

And don't forget we are here too!