Job Discussion Forums

[ScreamingCube]

Having completed a year in Wuhan, and having decompressed in the States for a year, I was thinkin' about doing some time teaching in Xining, for whatever reason. Anyone have any recommendations about great places they loved, or terrible spots to avoid at all costs?

Also, general advice about the city from any Xining vets?

Thanks!

[Gilka]

I used to know someone who lived in Xining because he was doing a dissertation relating to something that happened in Qinghai province. He ended up working in an EF or something after blowing through his stipend - apparently, decent work isn't so easy to find. He came to Xi'an whenever possible for company, a pub, and double cheeseburgers.

But, he did say that the minority women that abound in Xining made living there totally, totally worth it

I think we need new emoticons.

[ScreamingCube]

[Big Poppa Pump]

There is an Aston and a school called Jerry's School. Go with Jerry's as it has a sound reputation, ample time off, fantastic apartments, and very very nice working hours.

Pay at Jerry's isn't so great, but on average you are working about 8 hours a week during school sessions and 20 hours a week during intensives.

I've never really heard of anyone complaining about jerry's either.

[nickpellatt]

http://www.jerryenglish.net/english/index.htm

[ScreamingCube]

Nickpellat- Thanks for the link, takin' a good look around their site.

[Big Poppa Pump]

Yep lived in Xining. There are other language centers there, but that is the one I've heard spoken about the most. Now the thing to remember is Jerry's is for children. With your massive workload of 8 teaching hours a week you can easily supplement it with adult students.

From what I understand, this comes from a guy who has worked at Jerry's for about 5 years, he told me he supplements his pay with his boss's blessing using classrooms at the Jerry school at night during the week.

So while the pay is a bit skint.. the possibilities are good.

[ScreamingCube]

[Big Poppa Pump]

I was bored alot, but that was me more than anything. There is a decent foreign population in town if you look for it. Also a nice little import store for foreign goods and couple very nice coffee shops. So there are some gathering places in the community for english speakers and foreigners.

I'm hard pressed to be able to give you any contact info, I know these people in person and never got around to asking for their email addies.

[Big Poppa Pump]

Quick update on foreigner related hang out spots in Xining..

The Greenhouse.. a very nice coffee shop.. two floors.. they grind their own imported coffee beans and make sandwiches and pizza. The muslim girls that work there are some of the sweetest girls I met in Xining. Always had a smile and they'd bring me an extra bowl of hummus for my garlic bread because they knew I liked hummus.

Lete Guest House... A youth hostel that has a bar and resteraunt with a few things you can order. Biggest selling point is the bar has guiness. The place is run by an American fellow named Bill. He's a good man to know for meeting people in Xining.

Around the corner from the Lete is a liquor store that stocks a decent selection of foreign hootch for a reasonable price. I spent many o' 100 rmb bills there buying vodka.

The Lighthouse.. they have like 3000 books you can read with an order of coffee and tea. The American woman who owns it opened it for business a few months ago. They don't sell any food but the coffee and other drinks go well with curling up on one of their sofas and reading a book.

Meing (no idea how to spell it..) University.. They have an english corner where you can hang out with students who want to practice their English. I met a couple nice people there who took me to see a few places I never would have seen without meeting them.

The Uni also has a decent population of foreign students studying Chinese so it is possible to meet some of the foreigners there.

[ScreamingCube]

Thanks so much for all that! Always good to get a heads up on where to go to hang out. I sent an email to Jerry English, haven't gotten a response yet- suppose I'll skype them soon.

Do you remember the air quality being good there, for a Chinese city? I ran into a bunch of articles from the nineties saying it was really bad at the time, whereas there are a few recent references to it being pretty good.

[Big Poppa Pump]

Seemed alright to me, it is worst in the winter though, due to all the coal burning. Summer and spring and early fall is ok. Langzhou though is wretched.. to the point where my eyes used to burn everytime I got off the train there.