Job Discussion Forums

maryknight · Joined: 12 Oct 2005 Posts: 83

i live in portland, oregon. i personally think it has ideal climate. many people don't like the drizzly rain, but i don't normally get tired of it. and it's great here in the summer. not too hot. i don't like extreme cold (we rarely get snow) and i really, really don't like hot humid weather. do you have any city or town you can suggest? i love to hike, snowshoe, walk, do yoga and gigong, ect. i love the outdoors and a greatly prefer a place that is not too poluted.
i have a master's in social work, 20 years professonal experience including working in court systems, social work with all ages, sales jobs in which i had intensive training, ect. and i have a TEFL, so i think i'd meet the requirements for a university job or to teach business english or to teach kids.
thanks so much! i am so nervous about taking the plunge but also so excited. the other country i'm considering is japan.

Yu · Joined: 06 Mar 2003 Posts: 1219 Location: Shanghai

Look into Kunming in Yunnan.

Roger · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 9138

POrtland, ORegon - which one is a country? Where is that??? Never heard of that country!

Anyway, if you live in a "temperate" climate, you have little choice in finding something similar in China:
- Yunnan:
It is bordered in the S by Vietnam and Laos, to the W by Burma
and to the NW by Tibet; the East is contiguous with China.
You may wonder why it is "termperate" here in a country surrounded
by tropical countries.
fThis is due to the high altitude, namely more than 1800 meters above
sea level. In summer, it never gets hotter than 28 degrees, and in
winter you find an occasional film of snow on the ground for one
to two days.

- Guizhou:
A little to the East and South of Yunnan and bordering on Guangxi,
this is still higher than most of the rest of the country, and thus
less extreme in temperature fluctuations.

The problem with both provinces is they are relatively less well-to-do and far fewer jobs are available there than elsehwere.

The whole rest of the country bakes in summer.

acwilliams · Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 8:38 am Post subject:

Mary, your dislike of extreme cold in winter and sticky heat in summer rules out every single coastal province of China. Too cold up north, too sticky in summer down south, with Shanghai combining the worst of both worlds. Too bad, because the coastal provinces have a better standard of living and most of the better-paid jobs.

Yu and Roger are right about Yunnan and Guizhou. There are jobs there, expecially around Kunming and the tourist traps of Lijiang and Dali, but they're badly paid because of the backpacker contingent. You might also need to be on the ground to find these jobs - there'd be less chance of setting something up from abroad.

I'd recommend Xian - dry heat in summer, not far below freezing in winter - except that you want somewhere not-too-polluted where you can go hiking. Unfortunately the air quality in Xian is normal for China (ie bad) and the countryside around the city is flat and unexciting (some mountains a couple of hours' drive away, though).

Think hard about whether climate and air quality are your personal deal-breakers. For me, the excitement of living in Shanghai outweighs the disadvantages of traffic, pollution, climate, overcrowding, etc. But this isn't true for everyone.

Super Mario · Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 9:17 am Post subject:

maryknight · Joined: 12 Oct 2005 Posts: 83

hey, have you heard of seattle? it's in the northwest part of the united states of america. portland is just south. oregon is the state just north of california.
thanks fo the tips! i will be coming to asia to look for jobs in person. i'm just country shopping at this point and i've gotten lots of information from this forum. very helpful.
i'll check on the places mentioned. i had ruled china out becuase i keep hearing of the polution, but as far as walking on the flat city as opposed to hiking is absolutely no big deal to me. i just like to stay active. i was in mexico and had lots of fun just walking around the city.
thanks again for your help.
one problem i had in mexico was no air conditioning and i got paid so little taking a taxi in the middle of a hot day was pretty much out of the question. how about china? i suppose it just depends on where.
any other information would be greatly appreciated.

acwilliams · Posted: Thu Mar 23, 2006 8:14 am Post subject:

There should certainly be air conditioning in summer in the classrooms/staff room at your school and in your apartment. Some buses are air conditioned in bigger cities. Likewise most shops.

You should be more worried about heating in winter. No central heating south of the Changjiang River. At all. Not in your apartment, not in schools, not in restaurants and shops. Your apartment will have space heaters but I've lost count of the number of times I've taught classes in freezing public school classrooms with my fingers too numb to hold the chalk. If you're just south of the Changjiang (southern Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang) temperatures do go down to zero degrees in winter. Thermal underwear shops do good business!

latefordinner · Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Posts: 973

Seattle, isn't that what you put on a horse before you ride it? <duck>

Eastern China has a monsoon climate; wet in spring and early summer, dry in autumn and winter. Other than that it's comparable to equivalent lattitutes in N America. I chose Dalian because it's very similar to my hometown in Canada. Not much snow in winter, but a lot of rain and humidity in early summer. You'd probably adjust well to Qingdao, but anywhere between DL and Shanghai might do you.
acwilliams raises an important point. Central heating in China isn't the same as we know it, especially in the dongbei where I am. Students have to wear their winter coats in school. If you're sensitive to the cold, look further south. And buy a small electric heater for your bedroom.

maryknight · Joined: 12 Oct 2005 Posts: 83

thanks! i did fine with no central heat in spain in december when i got my tefl. had an area heater. locals were dressed in heavy coats and i just wore a sweater or jacket. i think it's how you are climatized. and i do have long underwear, ect. i'm a hiker and i know how to dress for the cold. and i think area heaters work fine.

thepreferrednomenclature · Joined: 13 Jul 2005 Posts: 80 Location: Beijing, Chaoyang

mary, beijing, for example, will be fine for you. i've heard of seattle. plenty of seattlites here. it gets cold, but doesn't snow much. winter heating is better than in provinces to the south that get just as cold. anything outside of the northeast and northwest should be fine for you. lastly, don't expect anything as beautiful as the great northwest in cities though. they don't 'em like that in china. better make sure you don't care.

acwilliams · Posted: Sat Mar 25, 2006 3:21 am Post subject:

acwilliams · Posted: Sat Mar 25, 2006 3:21 am Post subject:

Why can't I make that URL thing work???