Job Discussion Forums

[GeminiTiger]

This year I've seen a couple of really interesting positions that I could not accept because of the accommodation was so terrible that I would not be happy and since many people are looking for jobs I thought I would post a few gems from my past few years working in China as food for thought.

(rejected offers in-part because of)
*school hotel (teachers lived in a hotel room, single room + wc)
*apartment was in the administration building!
*metered internet requiring paid for cards
*gates that lock at 10pm
*cameras on your door
*guards/cleaners requiring your guests to register.
*"knock and enter policy" The school can enter your home anytime after they knock. (no justification provided just written into the contract)

My experiences in the last 7 years:
*room mates (my 1st year, but I got lucky my room mates were cool)
*no sink in bathroom, just a toilet and shower
*chickens in the room below mine -- 5am wake up call
*middle of a construction zone for 12 months
*replacing 30 light bulbs in a single year (electric problems?)
**FAO - tried to store another foreigners motorcycle in my living room until he came back the next term. (it stank and it was huge)
*mold, mice, cockroaches, lizards, huge spiders

Edited Additions:
*Commuting to school 1hour to 2 hours depending on traffic.
*Chickens and Dogs being butchered outside my doorstep.
*Army Ants, giant wasps

Please feel free to share your horror stories.

[7969]

I've never had anything even remotely close to what you've experienced. The only accommodation I had that wasn't great was at my last school. The apartment was just painted and outfitted with all the kit when I moved in but the school really skimped on the furnishings. What they put in there was adequate but sparse. They also failed to include an air con unit so when May rolled around I had to twist a few arms to get them to break down and buy one. Worst thing about this place (and out of the school's control) was developers putting up some new apartment towers right next door and I had to keep my windows closed all the time to keep the dust out. Oh and there was also my bathroom door that was entirely made of clear glass.

My current school-provided apartment is pretty good, we're left alone and things get fixed promptly. Just this week I had my electricity short out. I called another teacher to see if he could get someone to come over and look at it, five minutes later two repairmen were at my door. It was like they were waiting for my call. Only complaint I have here is I'm beside a few basketball courts and a bunch of old farts are out there at 6am every day bouncing balls around aimlessly. Tried to put a stop to that activity but I gave up and solved the problem by purchasing some earplugs. As far as wildlife in my flat goes, the occasional cockroach gets in (I've sealed every opening possible but they still squeeze in once in awhile). Did catch one rather enormous spider in my bathroom one day a few years back. Bit of a surprise when I looked up and saw it. Promptly killed it and put it outside. You can see a photo of this monster here. With legs extended it was the size of a small dinner plate. Apparently their urine is a bit on the caustic side so you need to be careful if you see one nearby. Otherwise they're not too harmful.

[kev7161]

I've had fairly good luck too:

1. The first apartment I had was on school ground property so they closed up the gates at 10:00 or 11:00. Didn't affect me too much as I wasn't a night owl, but other teachers complained and had to scale the gate when they'd come home at 2AM. At some point in the two years I worked there, they started signing in guests. Again, didn't really affect me. The school was FAR out of town and buses stopped at 10PM so that could get problematic on the odd times I would want to stay out later. The apartments were brand new but located on the 6th floor with no elevator. Across the way was an amusement park and every night about 7:00 PM, they'd set off fireworks. Those lasted for about 15 minutes, then it was calm and peaceful the rest of the night. The last six months of my stay, mold started forming in the walls near the kitchen but I was gone soon after that so it didn't affect me all that much.

2. When I came to Suzhou, the school gave me a HUGE apartment about two blocks away. It was obviously intended to be shared, but I had it all to myself. It was a 4th floor walk up and the inside of the apartment was nice, but the outsides looked like a ghetto. I ended up living there for almost 5 years. I left that apartment and then later actually moved back in for 6 months (won't go into details as to why, too boring) and they had remodeled the apartment in the meantime so it was actually much nicer.

3. My current apartment is on the 9th floor directly across from the school, so easy to walk to work. I have an elevator and only 3 neighbors that aren't too noisy - - except on weekends sometimes. It's smaller than my last and I've ended up replacing the furniture that was provided (the old stuff is crammed into the second bedroom), but it's nice enough. I've had to be creative with storage space. No bugs at all except the occasional mosquito or housefly.

[Brian Hugh]

Always get your own place because if for some reason the job doesn't work out you have a place to live. If you get sick you can stay home. NO boss will come to your home and force you to work.
Don't be a slave in a prison.

[TexasHighway]

I have lived on and off-campus and, all things being equal, I would much rather live on campus. A place can be a hell-hole with noisy neighbors and snoopy guards whether on campus or off. Now I live on campus and it is great. I have no curefew, nobody watches my guests come and go, if something needs fixing, a repairman will come out the same day, and all my utilities are paid for. I like not having to deal with a landlord and not having the PSB coming around at all hours of the day checking up on me. I am very happy living on campus now.

[Lobster]

I've lived in school-supplied housing a few times.

First place (on campus):

Curfew at 10 p.m., all gates locked
Workers going through our trash
Workers entering our apartments
Workers writing reports on FTs
Heat out in the middle of winter for a month
Construction next door 24/7 for months
Additional noise from the courtyard
Cafeteria food guaranteed to make you sick
Insulting visitors and in one case assaulting them
Locked fire exits

Second place (off campus)

Inadequate heating and AC
Frequent power and water outages
Otherwise not bad

Third place (off campus)

Really far from the school (1.5 hr)
Rapid rotation of nutty room mates
Reports on FTs to school
Not good

Glad I don't have to worry about this any more. I'd never live in school-supplied housing again.

RED

[xiguagua]

My first place was a 2BR apartment that was nice.....but I had to share with another guy. It was my first year so it really wasn't bad, we both got along great and we could hang out, but also knew when to keep out of each others hair. I got lucky.

In Guizhou I had a modified "hotel" accommodation, except they didn't give me one room, they gave me the entire top floor which was 3 HUGE rooms. The problem was the kitchen was outside, and not connected to hot water plumbing, so cooking and doing dishes in winter was a nightmare. The rooms weren't connected by the inside either, so if I wanted to go from one to the other, I had to walk outside and go to the next room just like you see in hotel rooms. The apartment was amazing and safe, and gave me a key to the gate that was always closed so it was ok. The problems was the kitchen like I said, the water pressure was dismal, hot water lasted literally 5 minutes, but most importantly......the city was a complete craphole, the locals were complete dbags, and the students were horrific. So I left.

3rd housing was very very old and the interior was starting to fall apart, but had great AC, great internet, great water pressure, all things that are important were good and I stayed there for 2+ years. Of course that's not the only reason I stayed tho.

Now I pay for my own apartment which is great......the only thing that sucks about it is.......I have to pay for it myself.

[choudoufu]

[Denim-Maniac]

My house in Hainan took a little getting used to. It was on-campus, a 4 bed which I shared with one guy and I was there for 18 months. Overall, it was OK, except for the following -

Rats. Walk outside your bedroom at night to go to the toilet and it was a given that you'd see rats scuttling away from you in the darkness.

Mould. Not sure I can blame the house, its Hainans humidity but plaster would fall off the wall as it was so damp, and after 6 weeks away in Spring Festival I had to buy new bedding as it was full of mould.

Ants. We would get the occasional troop of ants ..... tiny little things that had a bite to them.

BTW - I have never had private accomodation in the 3 jobs in China, and when Ive looked at jobs that dont provide housing, Im really put off. Maybe Ive been lucky, but Ive always had great roomies and I would dread putting up with a regular landlord. Ive always had the type of service that allowed me to tell my employer a light bulb needs replacing and have them send a man to do it on the same day.

[mieze]

[GeminiTiger]

This year I had a huge spider in my room too. Not as big as that yellow *beep* in the photo but still quite OMG. Strangely I killed it and left it on the floor for a couple hours. Before 3 hours past his corpse disappeared, same thing happened to a cockroach I killed in the bathroom. Missing corpses..

[Steinmann]

[choudoufu]

they're out there, and they want in.

i've got a photo of the one in my guangxi apartment, as big as the
tv remote it was hogging.

my girlfriend noticed it. that's when i learned what it meant to
'scream like a girl.'

[Lobster]

The way to rid yourself of these little guys is to place a glass or bowl over them and then slowly slide a piece of paper under them, giving them time to move their legs so you don't hurt them. Then you can chuck them into the garden. Spiders are beneficial creatures and should be treated with kindness and respect.

RED

[johntpartee]