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MisterButtkins
Joined: 03 Oct 2009
Posts: 1221
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 Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2009 2:37 pm Post subject: |
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Honestly I don't understand how someone CAN'T make it on 3.5k a month, unless they are living in a very expensive city.
I make 4k a month. I spend around 1k a month. I get a free apartment with all utilities and free internet. I go to bars and other nightclub-type places occasionally. Generally, if I"m going to a more expensive bar, I will drink a few beers at my apartment with some friends beforehand, then only get 1-2 drinks at the bar. I do not consider this to be 'living like a peasant'. If you are hitting up bars every night and blowing a few hundred kuai on drinks, well, that's called living an extravagant lifestyle, and teachers in the US can't afford to do that either.
Someone saying that 30 kuai can't buy a good meal - really? I'm in Beijing right now, a fairly expensive city, and I can get a huge plate of meat at any number of places for 26 kuai. Throw in a bottle of water and a bowl of rice and I'm up to 29. And it's damn good food. If I want to spend less, there is a noodle place across the street selling large bowls of homeade noodles with beef for 8 kuai.
Also, as people have said, try cooking at home. Did you really eat out for lunch and dinner every day in the US or wherever you were from? I know I didn't, and I don't know anyone who did.
If you have a lot of bills in your home country that you need to pay, I can understand being tight on cash, but don't act like 3.5k/month is an unlivable salary. |
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zootown
Joined: 27 Nov 2009
Posts: 310
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| Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2009 11:08 pm Post subject: |
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| MisterButtkins wrote: |
Honestly I don't understand how someone CAN'T make it on 3.5k a month, unless they are living in a very expensive city.
I make 4k a month. I spend around 1k a month. I get a free apartment with all utilities and free internet. I go to bars and other nightclub-type places occasionally. Generally, if I"m going to a more expensive bar, I will drink a few beers at my apartment with some friends beforehand, then only get 1-2 drinks at the bar. I do not consider this to be 'living like a peasant'. If you are hitting up bars every night and blowing a few hundred kuai on drinks, well, that's called living an extravagant lifestyle, and teachers in the US can't afford to do that either.
Someone saying that 30 kuai can't buy a good meal - really? I'm in Beijing right now, a fairly expensive city, and I can get a huge plate of meat at any number of places for 26 kuai. Throw in a bottle of water and a bowl of rice and I'm up to 29. And it's damn good food. If I want to spend less, there is a noodle place across the street selling large bowls of homeade noodles with beef for 8 kuai.
Also, as people have said, try cooking at home. Did you really eat out for lunch and dinner every day in the US or wherever you were from? I know I didn't, and I don't know anyone who did.
If you have a lot of bills in your home country that you need to pay, I can understand being tight on cash, but don't act like 3.5k/month is an unlivable salary. |
If a huge plate of meat,a bowl of rice and a bottle of water is considered a top notch meal.You need to get out abit more.
I wonder what you where eating back home.Let me guess which country?
My Chinese colleague spent 5 weeks of her summer holidays staying free with friends in Beijing and she said it was real expensive to eat there and she is Chinese.
But I have no doubt you can eat for 5 rmb a day but basically your eating garbage.Certainly not healthy food.No veges in that meal I see. |
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cormac
Joined: 04 Nov 2008
Posts: 768
Location: Xi'an (XTU)
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| Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 12:51 am Post subject: |
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| MisterButtkins wrote: |
| If you have a lot of bills in your home country that you need to pay, I can understand being tight on cash, but don't act like 3.5k/month is an unlivable salary. |
I don't think anyone is suggesting that 3.5k per month is an unlivable salary, rather that for most newbies in China it would be hard to live on it without dipping into savings or other such funds.
I take it you've been in China for a while? Think back to when you spoke at most a dozen words of chinese, were completely confused at every piece of writing, new to the country and the new culture. Now. You're on 4k. I assume you went through your probation period of having less than that for the first month? Did you manage ok without getting loans or dipping into other funds?
The point is that 3.5k is indeed livable. Definitely. The issue though is that you need to have a certain level of experience in China to get by on it. I don't really understand why some posters want to ignore that little tidbit. |
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Zero
Joined: 08 Sep 2004
Posts: 1402
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| Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 1:10 am Post subject: |
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| I too agree that 3.5k in China is livable. But that's day-to-day life. If you're talking about saving up for a house, saving for retirement, saving for a smooth landing when/if you finally go home, 3.5k isn't really enough. |
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norwalkesl
Joined: 22 Oct 2009
Posts: 366
Location: Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-China
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| Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 2:59 am Post subject: |
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| zootown wrote: |
| If a huge plate of meat,a bowl of rice and a bottle of water is considered a top notch meal.You need to get out abit more. |
Interesting that the multi-lingual, well-traveled, educated, cosmopolitan 20-somethings still project Upper Middle Class EU/USA =='Normal' and everything else is unacceptable.
We went out for Christmas Dinner the other FT and the AT and I. 4 people, huge meal at the best restaurant in town, 10 courses, so much unfinished food. Oink.
150 qwai for the 4 of us. 75 was my half. 75! This is not a meal I could eat but once a week it is simply too large and too much. I had a huge bowl of stew with potatoes, carrots, tofu, clear noodles and other veggies with 1/2 a round of delicious bread for 6 CNY for lunch yesterday.
Frankly I think the critics on this thread are spoiled and want too much.
I have tasted a '79 CLR and whilst it is yummy I have the common sense to not expect that for every meal. |
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danielb
Joined: 08 Aug 2003
Posts: 490
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| Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 11:18 am Post subject: |
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| norwalkesl wrote: |
| zootown wrote: |
| If a huge plate of meat,a bowl of rice and a bottle of water is considered a top notch meal.You need to get out abit more. |
Interesting that the multi-lingual, well-traveled, educated, cosmopolitan 20-somethings still project Upper Middle Class EU/USA =='Normal' and everything else is unacceptable.
We went out for Christmas Dinner the other FT and the AT and I. 4 people, huge meal at the best restaurant in town, 10 courses, so much unfinished food. Oink.
150 qwai for the 4 of us. 75 was my half. 75! This is not a meal I could eat but once a week it is simply too large and too much. I had a huge bowl of stew with potatoes, carrots, tofu, clear noodles and other veggies with 1/2 a round of delicious bread for 6 CNY for lunch yesterday.
Frankly I think the critics on this thread are spoiled and want too much.
I have tasted a '79 CLR and whilst it is yummy I have the common sense to not expect that for every meal. |
Best restaurant in town? Try that one at the best restaurant in Beijing or Shanghai and see how you go. I don't understand how anyone could survive on 3500 a week in Beijing. |
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Zero
Joined: 08 Sep 2004
Posts: 1402
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| Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 12:52 pm Post subject: |
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[/quote]Best restaurant in town? Try that one at the best restaurant in Beijing or Shanghai and see how you go. I don't understand how anyone could survive on 3500 a week in Beijing.[/quote]
By not eating at the best restaurant in town, maybe. But that has nothing to do with survival. |
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danielb
Joined: 08 Aug 2003
Posts: 490
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| Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 2:06 pm Post subject: |
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Okay, sorry, survival was the wrong word.
I don't know how anyone could meet the same standard of living that they would in their home country for the same job on 3500 per month. |
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norwalkesl
Joined: 22 Oct 2009
Posts: 366
Location: Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-China
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| Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 3:31 pm Post subject: |
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| danielb wrote: |
Okay, sorry, survival was the wrong word.
I don't know how anyone could meet the same standard of living that they would in their home country for the same job on 3500 per month. |
I do. My house is free. To rent a 5 room 800-1,000 sq ft house in L.A is $2000 a month or more. I eat healthy, non-processed food every meal. The USA food supply is so corrupted with GMO and such that it is now impossible to eat 'real food' in America at any cost. The last pricey restaurant meal at a top notch steakhouse I had was this fat fest with no flavour. Once you get used to food outside the USA it is difficult to eat food from there again. I do not have a car or auto insurance as I do not need it - my commute is measured in yards. A taxi to the major city 28 kms away is 50 CNY - $7. Another $500 to $1000 a month saved. Internet $60, Electricity $40, Cable $ 50, Gas and other $50. I do not pay these here. Cellphone: $80 USD/mo, 2.5CNY/mo in China. I make few calls, skype globally and text for o.10 CNY per SMS from my ChinaMobile Sim card.
Free House: +$2,000
No Auto: +$1,000
Free Utilities: +$275
Total free benefits I receive at Socal market rates: $3,275 per month. Divide by o.70 for taxes and we get a pre tax income benefit of $4,678 per month or $56,142 per year. Not my prior salary, but a good deal none the less.
No US taxes and almost no China taxes.
I work 14 hours a week at 98.2 CNY or $14.38 an hour. Not my prior wage or hours, but not horrible. Some p/t temp jobs I was being offered were $16-$20. Almost the same hourly wage if not the same hours per week. I only spend 600CNY of this 5500 per month. The rest is for travel and god knows what else - I haven't decided what to do with it all.
Whilst the weather is not L.A., the lifestyle benefits are quite ample. |
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Zero
Joined: 08 Sep 2004
Posts: 1402
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| Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 7:04 pm Post subject: |
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Norwalk, I fear that you may have let me down. After hearing you rave about how great it is to live in China on 3,500 a month, and how that is all anyone should need, I went out and got just such a job. I decided to put down stakes here in rural China and live the simple life. So far I�m adjusting, but I have to admit, I may have had one too many of these 3-yuan bowls of noodles, because my Mao suit is fitting a lot tighter than it used to ...
Anyway, just as I was starting to like the idea of living like the local farmers, I read that you, my beacon in this whole thing, may not be as committed to the peasant life as it had seemed! Imagine my confusion and dismay when I peeked into the General Discussion forum and learned the details of your long-term plan. Imagine my horror when I saw you citing ambitions of making 20,000 yuan a month or more. Now, I would never use the phrase �capitalist running dog� to describe a fellow lover of low-cost rural Chinese life, but I think a little more truth in advertising would be in order! I�m thinking about suing you here in about 14 years or so, when I get enough money saved up for a lawyer.
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I am making it my new career.
The Plan:
Yr 1: One year of Senior 1/2/3 in China small city
Yr 2: One yea of Uni in China medium city
DELTA modules
Yr 3: Business Privates in a large Chinese city with a low contact hours job for visa, apartment and such. 15k - 20k RMB/mo as the goal.
Yr 4-6: ME, oil rotation, big money jobs
Yr 7: shift focus to sitting on a beach one year, working the next.
Learning Mandarin and building contacts to get a non-ESL job also in there as Plan B. If I can get a US-based job in SEA with a USD salary then that pays much more than even the best SEA ESL work.
May even get an MA.
So yes, I am in it for the long term. |
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zootown
Joined: 27 Nov 2009
Posts: 310
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| Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 8:59 pm Post subject: |
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| norwalkesl wrote: |
| zootown wrote: |
| If a huge plate of meat,a bowl of rice and a bottle of water is considered a top notch meal.You need to get out abit more. |
Interesting that the multi-lingual, well-traveled, educated, cosmopolitan 20-somethings still project Upper Middle Class EU/USA =='Normal' and everything else is unacceptable.
We went out for Christmas Dinner the other FT and the AT and I. 4 people, huge meal at the best restaurant in town, 10 courses, so much unfinished food. Oink.
150 qwai for the 4 of us. 75 was my half. 75! This is not a meal I could eat but once a week it is simply too large and too much. I had a huge bowl of stew with potatoes, carrots, tofu, clear noodles and other veggies with 1/2 a round of delicious bread for 6 CNY for lunch yesterday.
Frankly I think the critics on this thread are spoiled and want too much.
I have tasted a '79 CLR and whilst it is yummy I have the common sense to not expect that for every meal. |
Norwalk one month in China and you think your an expert on the place.
Your so far out of the loop you still think your job is safe.It ain't.
I have been coming to China off and on for the last 20 years I ain't no twenty something night clubbing big spender but I have no desire to live live like a spendthrift.
Had the misfortune of living in Guangzhou for far to long.Luckily we just sold our unit there.
So I have lived in big cities and small rural towns.
Guess what after 20 years I am still learning how the Chinese think and work and I have been married to one for the last long nine years.
You must indeed be a legend if you have worked it all out in just one month.
I can't wait for your next idea of starting a business in China.
Your in the I love China phase.
That will pass. Seen it all before. |
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Sinaman
Joined: 23 May 2009
Posts: 85
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| Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 9:57 pm Post subject: |
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Your in the I love China phase.
That will pass. Seen it all before. |
LOL so true. I estimate it takes newbies about 1 year until they start getting jaded and hate the place. |
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Steinmann
Joined: 17 Mar 2009
Posts: 255
Location: In the frozen north
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| Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 10:20 pm Post subject: |
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| norwalkesl wrote: |
| Interesting that the multi-lingual, well-traveled, educated, cosmopolitan 20-somethings still project Upper Middle Class EU/USA =='Normal' and everything else is unacceptable. |
Somehow I rather doubt that the majority of English teachers in China come from the EU's or USA's "upper-middle class." |
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Mr. Kalgukshi
Mod Team
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
Posts: 6613
Location: Need to know basis only.
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| Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 10:56 pm Post subject: |
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The long-standing policy on this board is that members address the message and not the messenger in their postings. Members who choose not to abide by this policy often become ex-members very quickly.
This policy is applicable to the posting behavior of members on all threads on this board. |
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