Job Discussion Forums

[gerard49]

Whether u live on or off campus I guess there will always pros and cons for each option. On the one hand you may have a smaller apartment at the school which is noisy with students coming and going and letting off steam from time to time. However, it is usually very close to the classrooms which mean u dont have far to run to class if it's cold and wet.

If your like me u probably find teaching very tiring. So It may also be a good place to rest for a 1/2 hour or so before afternoon classes. If u get lunch at the school an apartment can be convenient to take one's lunch back to warm up. (mine was quite often served cold).
The disadvantages? Well, the caretaker locks the gates 10 pm.
Any others?

[struelle]

[Steiner]

I live on campus and am happy about it. Our apartment is huge and the gates are never locked. Free utilities and internet. Not bad.

[Wolf]

If I didn't live on campus I'd be homeless, seeing as there's not much else around. I have a big apartment all to myself, for free. It's actually "Western style," and I can only get disturbed when I want to be (no one can get into the building unless I let them in.)

It isn't cozy, but it's better than the alternatives, and I'm certianly not unhappy.

[davis]

I live off campus about 10 minutes from school and I love it. I have a 3 bedroom western style apartment and I pay for anything over 300 in utilities. Not bad...the gates are never locked and I sure as hell don't need a pass to come and go as I please. I don't need to sign in a visitor either. Yeah,I'm happy...so far.

[fat_chris]

I'd prefer living on campus. It seems easier to get to know Chinese counterparts and neighbors on campus than off campus. It also seems that if something breaks in the apartment, the waiban shifu will more likely come to fix it than the shifu for a private apartment, if there is even one at all.

I didn't have to pay for anything on campus; rent, utilities, cable TV (Star Sports and ESPN International!) and furniture were all paid for.

That was my situation in Chengdu at least and I was very content with it.

[ilunga]

I like living on campus. The only real disadvantage is getting woken up by the kindergarten kids at 7:00 every morning (expecially on a saturday when i've only been in bed about 2 hours)
Short walk to classes, 3 free meals a day, the gate gets locked at about 11pm but it's easy enough to climb over

[Roger]

In most places, we have no choice as China is nominally a socialist country, which means there is no, or a very limited, housing market.
That means we depend on a nanny institution to house us, and consequently we often get substandard accommodation.
My first on-campus home was a very decent and large unit, complete with a western-style bathroom, a bedroom and a living room. I had an aircon in my bedroom, and a fan in the living-room.
The kitchen was a bit basic.
The disadvantages were:
- There were two bedrooms and two bathrooms but only one living-room. Eventually, we were two guys sharing one living-room. NOt a real problem. The problem could be, however, that you and your partner do not go along well with each other. We did hit it off well, but I understand this is by no means an assured thing! Especially if the other guy hails from a different country.
- The school treated us as minors in that the staff and students dropped in without prior notice, especially when bad news had to be broached.
I once suggested they give us a phone call in advance so we would be up and prepared to receive their visits, which was refused point-blank, as if we did not have any right to privacy.
- The more serious problem was that they also came during our absences, and they had no qualms checking on our personal belongings.

Currently, a school is housing me in a nice flat. It's off campus. Actually, I am supposed to be living on campus, but on-going construction prevents us from moving in. SO we have to commute daily - not my cup of tea!
And, the school has a second set of keys, and they were supposed to install a computer, a telephone and various other things.
They did come on various occasions, but I still have no telephone line.

This offers one lesson: Your contract should stipulate that ON THE DAY OF YOUR ARRIVAL, they should put at your disposal all the above mentioned equipment!
Not piecemeal. One computer today. The needed telephone line two months later...

[wOZfromOZ]

MTN - back on now I'm told!!

G'day!

My/Our situation now is vastly superior to living on campus and comes to those who wait and have some form of Chinese Language skill - **(but some have practically no communication skills in the local language and are still able have this and survive well!)

We are still able to communicate with most locals - and develop and maintain very satisfying community relationships with one and all.
I can collect very eatable cuisine from the school canteens and have it on the table in our apartment within (after 2 minutes microwave) in 5 minutes. I /We''ve got broadband net access for 80Y/mth = unlimited everything.

We're provided with a 3000Y accomodation allowance to live off campus and this is outside Shanghai. We can get a good modern 'executive' style apartment with large modern kitchen, large modern bathroom, 2-3 large bedrooms, etc. We've got satellite TV - ABC Asia Pacific,cnn,bbc, starworld,starmovies, etc etc - 52 in all!

The best features are no doubt the location (absolute centre of town) and also very peaceful and quiet with large established trees and gardens among buildings only 4 years old!

My place of employment and my son's kindergarten are a mere 2 minutes by bike!

Doctors, dentist, hospital, gov. registeration, shops ,restaurants, clinics,
department store/ foodstore all within 3 minutes by bike - 1 minute by taxi.

Nothing to complain about here!

wOZfromOZ

[MyTurnNow]

WoZ, as he often does, makes a lot of good points.

I have to wake up as early as 5:30am, take a taxi to one campus of my uni at 6:30, catch a private shuttle bus for a 40-minute ride to another campus, and then do the same thing to come home.
It's worth it. I wouldn't trade the privacy and freedom of an off-campus apartment for anything.

MT

[senor boogie woogie]

When I came to Dongyang to teach English (before I met my wife), I lived on campus. I liked my dinky little apartment, they put a refrigerator in there, a hot plate, comfortable bed plus a decent little computer to motor around on. Now, there were three people and a baby living under me, I became friends with them, and that was too crowded for my taste. Obviously, I enjoyed being able to wake up 30 minutes before I had to do class and walking over there. Another thing was that I was the only person in the building with an Air Conditioner, and this part of China gets hotter than hades in the summer. I felt sorry for the other people.

NOW, the bad part............................

Every morning about 6 AM, the students were required to wake up and report to the track for morning exercises. Being Chinese, they had to make as much noise as humanly possible. They blared loud patriotic music on the loudspeakers (which told me it was morning) and some bozo blowing a whistle.

Our school was surrounded by a wall about 10-12 feet high topped with glass. There was a guard house at the enterence, where the guard lived. he gate closed at 9 PM everyday. This really s u c k e d for those of us who had a social life, Senor included. I was dating the now Mrs. Senor at the time, and I felt like a 12 year old having to run home at 9PM. Then, if I was at home in the evening, I had to make sure I had enough, uh, beer to get me thru the evening. One time I was thirsty and had to give a dude on the other side 5 RMb for a quart.

One night, Mrs. Senor let me spend the night at her place. I came home to the school to find that there were people looking for me. Of course, they did not understand why a foreigner would sleep in a town where there are no other foreigners. So, I had to go talk to the boss about it, and I told him through an interpreter that I have a girlfriend in town and was there. He forbid me from sleeping at her place (they were concerned for my safety, and this was before I realized that unpaid outside of marriage sex was illegal in the PRC).

Then another night, Mrs. Senor came to spend the night at my place and the guard let her in but made her sign a piece of paper and told her that she had to leave. By then people knew we were together, and I had to make a phone call to get the guard to back off.

To end the story, I stated before that the whole campus in inside 12 foor prison walls. I had a bicycle stolen one night while I was in town. The MF sawed off the lock, threw the chain there to mock me and flew off with the bike. 200 RMB, I'd live. But my dorm faced the student's dorms and no one saw a thing. I'd like a motorbike here, but Im afraid someone would steal that, and I dont shrug off 4000-5000 kuai that easily.

SENOR

[Roger]

Well, you can't just live where you elect to, in most cities anyway. The LAW requires authorities "to protect our foreign friends" (no joke intended). YOu need the PSB's OK, and the neighbourhood brigade must be in the know, and most high-rises have a kind of concierge who diligently enters names of visiting and departing strangers. I have noticed these rules are being relaxed in parts of the country, but in many others the bad old times (read Senor's piece - very good and true!) still obtain.
If you can manage to get permission to live off-campus, try to locate a gated community. This affords you more privacy and more security, although in some estates there is police presence too and they have the prerogative to check on your visitors at night!
Security certainly is a growing concern! Take your bike INDOORS (yes, park your bike in your living-room!), double-lock the door... And don't trust the watchmen too much either!

[Guest]

The four of us foreign teachers live in an apartment block on campus and I find it very handy. I only have to walk 2 minutes to my classrooms to teach and we are never bothered by anyone coming to our apartments unannounced etc.

I have never lived off campus but I do not think I would like having to take a bus or riding a bike when it gets down to zero or below!

There are 8 apartments in our block and we all share a kitchen and laundry. The apartments are very spacious and there are of course 4 empty ones.

There are certainly no complaints from me in relation to this School or the apartment supplied.