Job Discussion Forums

[jibbs]

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

Why is it that when Chinese (or other Asians) come to say Canada, some are all for multiculturalism and embracing Asian cuisine, but when we westerners come to China we have to melt into Chinese food culture and eat the things they eat?

Double standard here somewhere.

I do not like many Chinese foods and I almost always cook for myself. This way I'm not on the pot for 30 minutes with stomach pains.

[teachfortoday]

Twelve of the Chinese English teachers from my school visited America last year for 3 weeks. They ate all of their meals in Chinese restaurants. Not once did they eat anything else.

Seven of my students visited Canada last Summer. They also ate all their meals in Chinese restaurants. They claim that it was the fault of their guide, but you would think that they would have tried at least one non-Chinese meal.

[Mrs McClusky]

Hello everyone, I'm the thread starter.
Thanks for all the food chat, now if we could get back to the original topic.

Many thanks in advance.

[Mrs McClusky]

[The Ever-changing Cleric]

[Puffy]

As for choosing between the 2 jobs, I think it depends on the hours and type of school. As well which big city and where in the "big" city the school is located.

I once earned 14k a month working for a well-known training center. Most months we received a bonus based on sales/# of new students. So, I sometimes made 15 or 14.5k before taxes. After taxes I had around 13k. After rent, utilities and commuting costs I usually had around 9k to spend, usually a bit less.

In my opinion, 9k to spend in Shanghai is more than enough, but some folks may differ. Either way, I earned it. The days were 10 hours long. I left my apartment around 12 noon and got back at 10pm or so = 50 hours a week somewhat devoted to the job. I had to wear a tie and didn't receive that much vacation time.

I then took a cut in pay and worked at a university in Puxi. A lot of the Shanghai universities are 1 hour or more from downtown. You may "live" in the big city, but the school could be 1+ hours from the real city action.

I was paid 13k a month, without accomodation, but didn't work at night or on the weekends and could dress casually. While the days were still relatively long, 8 hours or so, I enjoyed almost 2 months paid vacation during the Spring Festival/winter break. The summer wasn't full-salary. They did pay 3000 or so housing allowance and did require that I work for 6 weeks in the incoming student summer program.

Either way, I assume someone will comment that they don't care about the details of my previous job or cooking skills, but, I'm trying to paint a picture for you and others with similar questions. I'm here to help, not lambast and tell others to chill out!

Basically, what I will reiterate is - it depends on the type of schools, where in the big city they are located, hours, vacation time.

The 2 examples above both resulted in my having around 9k to spend in Shanghai. I'd say 9k after taxes = a bit more than 8k to spend, so, the 15k job is a bit better financially. But, again - the type of school, location etc... is important to consider.

PS - While others have expressed awe regarding my worldliness, I've never heard of XingTai. Which province is it in? Quite frankly, I doubt it is a "big city" according to China standards. Either way, Good Luck.

[The Ever-changing Cleric]

[Mrs McClusky]

[MisterButtkins]

[cormac]

Well, as an example of a second tier city and living on 5k or less.

I originally got my first teaching gig in Xi'an roughly 3 years ago although I had worked in BJ previously in more business roles. I would be paid 5k and the free apartment. I didn't speak chinese, had no desire to speak chinese, and tbh my reason for coming to China was that it was somewhere completely different to living in the west. I'd had enough of that. I knew absolutely nothing practical about living in the country. So I started working in a language mill 6 days a week, averaging 30 hours of actual teaching time. My mornings/afternoons were free and I worked the evenings except on saturday/sunday when i worked all day.

On 5k I could eat in "western" style places although its really was a parody of western food (spagetti with steak). I'd generally eat the school canteen food during the day (pretty yucky) and then eat in western or indian/thai places around the city. Yummy. I regularly went out clubbing 5 nights a week, because I got so bored otherwise. I'm also Irish so drinking is rather integral in my social setup. So I was able to do all of that on 5k without dipping into my savings/reserves although I didn't save anything.

Now I'm back once more in Xi'an, and the prices across the board have gone up. More importantly there seems to be less bargains when clubbing or buying drinks. I'm on 4500 with apartment working 18 hours a week. I don't have extra duties. And I go clubbing twice a week (i'm getting older now), and my drinking interest has diminished somewhat. I do however eat Chinese food, and have avoided the western style places. Not because i don't have the money, but because I actually want to expirament with the foods available here. And I haven't needed to spit out bones or skin from any dishes I've received.. OH I've seen it before.. but there are plenty of dishes which don't involve such.

I'm averaging 300 rmb on weekly spending costs(bills, food, water, travel, and household items). Clubbing is costing me roughly 600rmb a week for two nights. I've also been on a few dates and they haven't set me back more than a 100 each.. Life here is what you make of it. And it can be as expensive or inexpensive as you want.

Regarding food... even if you only like 10% of the food here, that is still a huge amount of dishes to choose from. Frankly I don't know what you're complaining about. I'd have some sympathy if you were trying to be a veggie in China, but you don't seem to be.

AS for Chinese food being similar to what is available at home or other western countries, I certainly hoped it wouldn't. The amount of taste additives that chinese places put in their dishes is staggering. But the simple fact is that if you want the dishes you got at home, you're probably in the wrong place. Many of the dishes i ate at home are not native to Xi'an, and I'd need to go further south. Or find a restaurant whose owners come from that particular region. In the west, we're used to most western food being readily available no matter what city we're in. But China doesn't have such a culture.

Lastly, in regards to American food... what IS American food? Hamburgers? Lemon Chicken? I'm at a loss as to what actually is american food. (not trying to be offensive, since the times I have been to the states, I've been amazed at the variety\availability of foods from other countries/cultures.)

[clownshow]

[jibbs]