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Non Sequitur
Joined: 23 May 2010
Posts: 4724
Location: China
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 Posted: Wed Jul 31, 2013 8:58 pm Post subject: What You’ll Encounter In That First Week |
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Most will have their jobs lined up by now and this thread (Part 1 of 2) is intended to tap into a bit of the accumulated wisdom about what a new teacher will encounter getting to your school and finding your way around. Part 2 will cover the first classes.
Unless stated, my comments are for an Oral English teacher with no previous, in a Chinese state sector university or vocational.
• If you travel from a hub like HK to a provincial city, be prepared to be the only Westerner on the plane. For me in 2004, home to HK was easy. It was that internal leg that made it oh so real.
• If there are other young Westerners on the plane, ask if they are teachers and if so what school? Whatever, you’ve started your contact group.
• Confirm and reconfirm that someone will meet you. In addition, have the address in Chinese characters on paper if you have to get a taxi. In this situation be prepared to be ripped off. Some airports have a taxi rank monitor and you can ask him/her to verify the likely fare to the school.
• Your apartment will be basic with some hard furniture, but not much in the way of bed stuff or utensils. Be prepared to rough it that first night.
• The apartment kitchen will be filthy.
• If the FAO meets you, immediately get a map of the campus, with directions to the campus shop and a dining hall. Dining halls typically don’t take cash, so ask FAO for a temp swipe card.
• The FAO may not have a timetable yet, or because a Teaching Dept person may be handling that. But do ask for the teaching buildings to be identified. Good for a recce later in the day or next morning.
• Be prepared to be stared and giggled at by students (if they’ve arrived) especially freshmen. Make the first move and say hello. You may be teaching them in a day or so.
• At provincial schools, parents will often drive the freshmen that first day, so be prepared for a bit adult interest if you’re around the campus as that group arrives.
• Work out where the ‘best’ toilets are on campus and carry tissues with you. There may be a Western toilet in an admin building for visitors. You will get caught short and the only refuge a squat type. Downtown, the better hotels have clean Western toilets. Remember George Costanza’s ‘i-Toilet’ from Curb Your Enthusiasm? Not such a crazy idea!
• Ask about class text books and get copies. |
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chinatimes
Joined: 27 May 2012
Posts: 478
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| Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 2:42 am Post subject: |
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| Be prepared to rough it that first night. |
Rough it first night? I can understand roughing it the first month if you are low on cash, but the first night is the ONLY night you have to walk around and check out your new digs. I quite like it.
Every time I go to a new place I drop off my luggage, say goodbye to the people who brought me, and then I go to these little shops and figure out which stores have what.
Since they have never seen me, I get mixed reactions from them guarding "their goods" to conversation starters "Where are you from?" and "What is your job?". You can find out which stores have what you want and who you want to frequent in the future.
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| The apartment kitchen will be filthy. |
You'll have a fun time the next day cleaning out the moldy smelly fridge 
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| If the FAO meets you, immediately get a map of the campus, with directions to the campus shop and a dining hall. Dining halls typically don’t take cash, so ask FAO for a temp swipe card. |
If you want to be wined and dined, then go to the "canteen" as they refer to it. The food is actually good, but way too salty for my tastes. I scope out the grocery stores and cook at home (I need a certain balance of vegetables, meat, and spices). You don't know what they do in the process of preparing meals, and the grocery stores sell food much cheaper than the overall costs of going to the canteen. Drinks have too much sugar, so I am always on the hunt for "ling du kele", ling=zero, du=point or in this case calories, kele is their version of "cola". In Chinese it will look like 零度可乐
Depending on your health, the school food might have what you need, it might not. Even with a free meal card, I have to pass.
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| Work out where the ‘best’ toilets are on campus and carry tissues with you. |
Another advantage of eating at home is when you got to go you know where you can go. If you go out, I don't think you would want to sit down on the Western toilets. Not very clean at all. Get used to squatting if you find yourself in a "mess" often. Personally, I plan my trips accordingly. If I know I am going to be 1-2 hours away for the whole day the following day, I know NOT to eat certain foods which will create problems. You can also eat less before you go, have something small midway and then eat at the end of the trip. This way, when you have to go you will probably have returned back home. You can avoid all public toilets this way.
In addition to what was listed already:
1) Look for the banks so you know where to get cash. Sort this out with the school early. Some require you to open a new account.
2) Do a dog check. While you walk around, get an idea of where dogs are and their behavior. The last thing you want is to be preoccupied in thought and almost run into one of these lying on the ground right in a walk space. I usually train my brain to remember where certain dogs are. I am not interested in going to a hospital because of a dog bite. They are surprisingly well trained, but they are never on a leash.
3) In addition to the dirty kitchen, you will have to clean the apartment and check for bugs and critters. You don't want to be woken up by cockroaches your first night. Shake all boxes you see, this is where they like to hide out. Look in the corner ceiling areas for spiders and spider webs. Look at the windows and check how many dead flies there are at the bottom.
4) Water check. Turn the water on. This might be the first thing you want to do while the school is still with you the first night. Check to make sure it gets hot and it doesn't smell funny when it starts getting warm. If the water is cold you might not notice it, but in the morning the heating system might not be working or it might have a terrible smell. Some pipes get rusty and have an egg like smell.
5) BEFORE YOU GO, find out if they have internet. When you return to your new home, what are you going to do? Read a book? Sleep? Check the internet?
6) At wintertime, your heating might work and it might not. If you have those radiator looking heaters, they are usually sufficient. Make sure they will turn them on in winter. Sometimes, they won't to save heating costs. Also, is there a huge window near them? If so, you will have no insulation. Keep this in mind. |
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Banner41
Joined: 04 Jan 2011
Posts: 656
Location: Shanghai
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| Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 3:28 am Post subject: |
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| Adding, sort out how to get your big bottle of water. You certainly are not going to drink the tap water (unless you are very brave or very dumb). Most of the time the FAO will have something set up for you to go get free water bottles, sometimes you have to pay for them (6-10 yuan) for a 5 gallon jug. Check the water dispenser you will put it in. Sometimes they leave it open with no bottle all summer so all sorts of dust and bugs can be in it. I would rinse it out and run hot water through it. |
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kev7161
Joined: 06 Feb 2004
Posts: 5880
Location: Suzhou, China
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| Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 4:09 am Post subject: |
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| Drinks have too much sugar, so I am always on the hunt for "ling du kele", ling=zero, du=point or in this case calories, kele is their version of "cola". In Chinese it will look like 零度可乐 |
You do realize of course that Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Diet Pepsi, and Pepsi Max all say this in English on the outside of their cans and bottles? Just thought I'd throw that out there. China is not quite the barren wasteland that some people make it out to be!
I remember when I first came to China and I was prepared for the worst. I was with a large group of teachers and we were shocked, SHOCKED to find Skippy peanut butter, bread, milk, sodas, Lays potato chips, and all sorts of other regular "real" foods just a few steps from the school's front gates. That was 11 years ago. There are SO many more choices today.
But good advice on checking your apartment thoroughly, checking for internet and making sure you have drinking water. Also, since it's so HOT everywhere these days, make sure your A/C is up and running. You might ask someone how to work your little remote control on its different functions (same goes for TV remote, DVD player remote, washing machine buttons, hot water heater (if not automatic), etc.). They'll all be in Chinese. |
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Toast
Joined: 08 Jun 2013
Posts: 428
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| Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 4:54 am Post subject: |
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If you have a choice when arranging your flight arrival times try to get in early in the day. Gives you time to explore in daylight, work out what is in the neighborhood, get the bedding clean before you have to lie in it etc. I arrived mid winter at 11pm or so and my place was post-apocalyptic grade dirty. Ended up clearing a space on the ground and sleeping on the floor and using my clothes as sheets since the bed was fit to be burned.
| kev7161 wrote: |
| Also, since it's so HOT everywhere these days, make sure your A/C is up and running. |
These concrete buildings really hold the heat in summer (likewise become like ice in winter). For those arriving in 3 weeks or so it'll still probably be quite uncomfortable inside the teacher's apartments.
Check the air con works quickly....then turn it off.
In some cases they won't have been used since last summer and will have accumulated all kinds of mold, dust and dirt in the meantime.
This can make you sick.
Open them up and clean all the black gunk they'll likely be covered with.
Take out the filters and clean them in the shower.
I spray some chlorine bleach into the fan inlet thing (whatever its proper name is) outside to hopefully kill the mold spores inside there and the pipes.
The school will likely give you new sheets and covers also - usually the cheapest they can find.....wash these and check how much dye leaks from them, or a sweaty night will see you waking up covered in green or blue.
Might want to wash them 3 or 4 more times. |
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Denim-Maniac
Joined: 31 Jan 2012
Posts: 1238
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| Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 5:34 am Post subject: |
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| Dont underestimate the jetlag ... (this is less of a problem if you fly west from the US I believe). Flying from the UK has always posed jetlag problems for me and I need 5 - 7 days to recover ... dont underestimate how bad the disorientation can be. |
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chinatimes
Joined: 27 May 2012
Posts: 478
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| Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 5:58 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| You do realize of course that Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Diet Pepsi, and Pepsi Max all say this in English on the outside of their cans and bottles? |
When I look at the fridge, they have regular cokes with the red labels. They don't sell as many of the diet drinks so those are usually in the back somewhere covered with boxes. I am lucky if there are 2 or 3 places which sell diet drinks. I stock up and put them in the fridge at home to chill.
This has NOTHING to do with being a wasteland, it has to do with business. They prefer to put regular drinks with the sugar in the fridge because that is what the Chinese usually buy.
If you go to a bigger shopping area, like the first floor of a mall, you can always get them but they are usually further away. In this heat, I am not carrying drinks all the way from those places. One store near me specifically ordered extra diet cokes because they knew I would buy them. Now when I enter, they point to where they are.
Plus, on a side note, what is wrong with learning and using a bit of Chinese while you are over here? I don't want to walk in like a bull in a China shop. |
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Non Sequitur
Joined: 23 May 2010
Posts: 4724
Location: China
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| Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 7:17 am Post subject: |
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Can we keep this to a newbie 'Week 1 Survival Checklist'?
Comments on getting A/C working and availability of clean water are good.
Availability of sugar-free soft drinks and peanut butter less so.
Maybe add 'Bed will be a lot harder than you are used to'.
Also good comment about A/C needing a clean of the filters. They slide out on Hitachi and similar and are invariably clogged.
A brush and some dishwasher liquid soon fixes. |
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muffintop
Joined: 07 Jan 2013
Posts: 803
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| Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 7:32 am Post subject: |
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Not really for first week in country but for packing I'd say bring a few extra of...
Your favorite deodorant.
Pain reliever (advil, tylenol, etc)
Visine if you have sensitive eyes.
Sunscreen (most readily available here have whitening agents)
OP, I'll delete this if you want I know it's off topic a bit. Most things can be found online anyway but for the first few weeks/months in country not having to worry about small things like this can be helpful. |
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chinatimes
Joined: 27 May 2012
Posts: 478
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| Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 8:09 am Post subject: |
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I honestly don't think a newbie will seek out this thread or benefit much. If I saw a list of what I just wrote or what I have seen in other posts, I would just pay for a hotel the first week and then go from there and get support from my school.
Survival means you have already taken the "challenge" to go to a new city and will not handicap yourself with hotels, fancy restaurants, or tourist spots.
You can easily pay 100 USD and get a tour guide.
Let's make this a thread for rookies who are ready to explore ESL teaching without a recruiter or school holding their hand along the way? I would never advise a complete newbie to "wing it" first night. I have been here 10 years, recruiters refuse to send me photos of the apartments which I know will have some kind of problem when I arrive.
The best apartment had mosquito problems.
The 2nd best had insulation problems in winter.
The worst I recently left after 3 months of working, it only had a clear glass wall separating the bathroom from living area (no kitchen and no entrance way, it was above a gymnasium where they played basketball all day long).  |
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chinatimes
Joined: 27 May 2012
Posts: 478
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| Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 8:26 am Post subject: |
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Survival 101:
1) You are hired because you know English.
2) You are hired because you speak English fluently.
3) You are hired because you have a degree as second best.
4) See 1-2 and ignore 3.
Use your English:
5) English exchange with a Chinese person with a car can move your belongings to your new school.
6) English exchange can help you meet new people who can help you find what you need.
7) English exchange can get you free meals and if you are truly a newbie, you will learn about hot pot very quickly.
If you want to survive, use your English to your advantage. |
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Non Sequitur
Joined: 23 May 2010
Posts: 4724
Location: China
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| Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 8:11 pm Post subject: |
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| muffintop wrote: |
Not really for first week in country but for packing I'd say bring a few extra of...
Your favorite deodorant.
Pain reliever (advil, tylenol, etc)
Visine if you have sensitive eyes.
Sunscreen (most readily available here have whitening agents)
OP, I'll delete this if you want I know it's off topic a bit. Most things can be found online anyway but for the first few weeks/months in country not having to worry about small things like this can be helpful. |
All good mate.
Just wanted to deter a few of the self absorbed types who use any thread to put forward their meaning of life.
This thread is a 'take' on a lot of info that's come up in other threads.
If you need to ventilate on diet and stuff start a thread. Although you'd be hard pressed to justify it appearing on 'job related'. |
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teachingld2004
Joined: 17 Feb 2012
Posts: 389
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| Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 12:05 am Post subject: newbies |
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Good advise on my part:
Be positive. You are not home.
You came here for an experience (or perhaps to run away from something
) Do not expect all the comforts of home.
Bring with you things you can not live with out.
Check these forums. You may find your questions answered.
If you are not in a major city you will surely not find what you are looking for. And even you may not in a major city.
Do not believe everything you read on this site. Most people are great, but some (and we know usually who they are) are trolls.
Look at the people who seem nice here. PM them. We are friendly. They will answer your questions as best as they can.
Even if your apartment looks clean (and I am sure it will not be) clean it with bleach from top to bottom. You will not regret it.
Last but not least, be happy. Do not think about leaving as soon as you get here. Stay another year. If your first job is not a good one, while you are here, you can find another one. |
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Non Sequitur
Joined: 23 May 2010
Posts: 4724
Location: China
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| Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 2:01 am Post subject: |
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| chinatimes wrote: |
I honestly don't think a newbie will seek out this thread or benefit much. If I saw a list of what I just wrote or what I have seen in other posts, I would just pay for a hotel the first week and then go from there and get support from my school.
Survival means you have already taken the "challenge" to go to a new city and will not handicap yourself with hotels, fancy restaurants, or tourist spots.
You can easily pay 100 USD and get a tour guide.
Let's make this a thread for rookies who are ready to explore ESL teaching without a recruiter or school holding their hand along the way? I would never advise a complete newbie to "wing it" first night. I have been here 10 years, recruiters refuse to send me photos of the apartments which I know will have some kind of problem when I arrive.
The best apartment had mosquito problems.
The 2nd best had insulation problems in winter.
The worst I recently left after 3 months of working, it only had a clear glass wall separating the bathroom from living area (no kitchen and no entrance way, it was above a gymnasium where they played basketball all day long). |
'Explore teaching without school or recruiter to hold hand'
That school or recruiter has gotten you a job - remember.
This thread is for the majority of first timers. |
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chinatimes
Joined: 27 May 2012
Posts: 478
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| Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 8:13 am Post subject: |
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| That school or recruiter has gotten you a job - remember. |
Yea? What's the point? Because they "got" me the job, then what?
They don't work for us actually. They work for the school. If there were no recruiters, the school would be advertising.
A store got me coke, noodles, meat, and vegetables. It doesn't mean the store has to cook the meal for me when I get home. That's my responsibility.
| Quote: |
| This thread is for the majority of first timers. |
I understand the intent, and I am sure first timers might not be aware of what we are suggesting. When I talk to my family and friends back home, they don't quite realize things like we do because we have been here.
A first timer might as well get a hotel the first week, that's actually what I did in Korea. I was able to bypass all these apartment problems and find a decent school which got me a new apartment with new furnishings (I had to peel the plastic off everything).
What we are talking about is like hunters going out to get meat instead of shopping at a supermarket. It's secrets of the trade talk.
This thread might be something I would seek out after 1.5 months after going to a new city or shortly before ending a 1 year contract where I wanted to find my own apartment. I would want to know what to look out for.
Again, your heart is in the right place, I am just not sure how effective it will be for a new teacher. Sharing tips though is always good for those who are moving to a new city.
One thing I would like to know is what should someone who is used to the north prepare for when they decide to move south? I have only taken job offers in the north and I am getting a lot of south offers. I don't really want to go to the south, partly because of the heat, but also because I am very ignorant of the south.
Even though I am not new to ESL teaching, I am completely new to southern living in China. I am not asking which city to go to, just what to expect. Are there more bugs? More homeless people sleeping on the streets? More food that goes bad quicker? Is it more dangerous? Do I need to stick within certain areas of a town?
These are the type of concerns I would have if I were to make the plunge. |
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