Thursday, March 31, 2005
Friday, March 25, 2005
Hong Kong: Walking the streets
I've just came back from a two day trip to Macao. I'm pretty tired, but happy, after having done a lot of walking. It is a very different place from HK. More on that later.
Before going to Macao I had two days walking the streets of Hongkong and discovered a lot of places I didn't see when I was here last time 6? years ago.
Not sure how long I will stay here nor if I'm going straight back to Beijing.
Before going to Macao I had two days walking the streets of Hongkong and discovered a lot of places I didn't see when I was here last time 6? years ago.
Not sure how long I will stay here nor if I'm going straight back to Beijing.
Monday, March 21, 2005
Shenzhen by day
Waking up with this busy city. WuWui's little place is on the 12th floor of one of the numerous anonymous blocks that are crammed on to this piece of land.
She's got a nice little flat...
...with giant toy dogs.
WuWei picked me up in the early afternoon.
Walking through the streets in down town SZ. Endless shopping for the Chinese and Honkies coming over for a bargain.
Eating street stuff.
ShenZhen: One Wild Night
Arriving at 8pm in Shenzhen, I was picked up by my friend WuWui and her two friends. First stop was dinner.
Good stuff. Really good service here. Pooring the first cup of tea in the bowl, then clean the spoon, and then pour it out in a bowl. Hot towels to wash your face and lemon water to clean your fingers. I haven't seen that in Beijing.
After a fast drive in the city and further on the high-way we went on. The guys stopped to practise their flirting skills using cantonese (they are among the 80% of the people in SZ that have moved here the last decade) . Unfortunately they failed to stop at two red-lights, confirmed by the flash from the traffic camera. That will be two 500 kuai fines coming up. They asked if I wanted to join the to watch 'meinu', pretty girls. I thought they were kidding and said yes. They were not.
So we went to a super tacky disco with tons of teenagers jumping on the dance floor. Even if it was Sunday night there was quite a lot of people. This was really the chinese version of disco with the jumping altered with some games and a pretty poor show.
Quite a lot of there fat guys hanging around too.
They actually wanted to drag me to prostitutes WuWui told me, but we at this time we both wanted to go back. She lets me sleep in her apartment and she went to her parents.
Good stuff. Really good service here. Pooring the first cup of tea in the bowl, then clean the spoon, and then pour it out in a bowl. Hot towels to wash your face and lemon water to clean your fingers. I haven't seen that in Beijing.
After a fast drive in the city and further on the high-way we went on. The guys stopped to practise their flirting skills using cantonese (they are among the 80% of the people in SZ that have moved here the last decade) . Unfortunately they failed to stop at two red-lights, confirmed by the flash from the traffic camera. That will be two 500 kuai fines coming up. They asked if I wanted to join the to watch 'meinu', pretty girls. I thought they were kidding and said yes. They were not.
So we went to a super tacky disco with tons of teenagers jumping on the dance floor. Even if it was Sunday night there was quite a lot of people. This was really the chinese version of disco with the jumping altered with some games and a pretty poor show.
Quite a lot of there fat guys hanging around too.
They actually wanted to drag me to prostitutes WuWui told me, but we at this time we both wanted to go back. She lets me sleep in her apartment and she went to her parents.
Train to Shenzhen
After my project finished end of last week I decided to go travelling. First stop Shenzhen.
Departure Beijing West at 20:30pm, arrival Shenzhen 24 hours later and 437 kuai poorer (hard-sleeper, T as in 'tekuai'-type)
Beijing West Station. A colossal place with several hundreds of people crammed in huge waiting halls.
The first evening this little fellow stared at me like I was a ghost. His parents tried to make him talk to me and call me 'shushu'. Next day when he had gotten used to me he ignored me completely.
He had just quite his service as a soldier stationed outside Beijing. He told me that they couldn't speak to foreigners nor watch TV unless it would be under supervision. Now he was on his way to hang out with of his buddies in Shenzhen and possible start looking for a job.
The soldier giving the constantly burping and farting old guy a head massage. He snored too. A true master of body sounds.
Light switched off at 22pm. Hot water always available and decent food to eat. The squat toilets were really clean too. A really comfortable ride with a large part of China passing by the window. Unfortunately a quite ugly picture this time of year and this time at all. The ugly buildings and shacks becomes more apparent when the ground is gray and brown. The trash too.
Departure Beijing West at 20:30pm, arrival Shenzhen 24 hours later and 437 kuai poorer (hard-sleeper, T as in 'tekuai'-type)
Beijing West Station. A colossal place with several hundreds of people crammed in huge waiting halls.
The first evening this little fellow stared at me like I was a ghost. His parents tried to make him talk to me and call me 'shushu'. Next day when he had gotten used to me he ignored me completely.
He had just quite his service as a soldier stationed outside Beijing. He told me that they couldn't speak to foreigners nor watch TV unless it would be under supervision. Now he was on his way to hang out with of his buddies in Shenzhen and possible start looking for a job.
The soldier giving the constantly burping and farting old guy a head massage. He snored too. A true master of body sounds.
Light switched off at 22pm. Hot water always available and decent food to eat. The squat toilets were really clean too. A really comfortable ride with a large part of China passing by the window. Unfortunately a quite ugly picture this time of year and this time at all. The ugly buildings and shacks becomes more apparent when the ground is gray and brown. The trash too.
Thursday, March 17, 2005
吃东西 - Eating Stuff
北大家园餐厅
Peking University JiaYuan Canteen
家园外边的烤肉串的。烤鸡翅可能是我在中国最喜欢的小吃！
The kebab place outside the canteen. BBQ:d chicken wings are my favorite snack in this country.
3月12日 晚上7.40
March 12th, 7.40pm
还有一片关于吃东西的帖子。
我在北大看书的时候有好多留学生不喜欢去食堂吃饭。我自己一年差不多每天去。不瞒你说,我还觉得去学校的食堂比较好。有时尽管你们只有一两个人也可以选择各种各样的菜。去一般的饭馆除了吃拉面饺子以外只能点一两样儿菜不然肯定吃不完。
Another post about food
When I studied at Peking University there were a lot of exchange-students who didn't like to go to the canteens to eat. I went almost everyday for the whole year. To tell you the truth I still think the canteens are pretty good. Even if you are just one or two people going there it is still possible to eat a variety of dishes. If you go to a normal restaurant and eat something else than noodles and dumplings you can only order one or two dishes or else you won't be able to finish them.
游泳池男女公平 - Swimming Pool Gender Equality
海淀体育场游泳池 3月12日 晚上6点45
The swimming pool at the Haidian Sport Center, March 12th 6.45pm
进去游泳池必须戴一顶性感的游泳帽和给他们看你的‘深水证’。因为拿到一张‘深水证’一定要证明他们会游泳,男生250米女生游200米。逻辑是如果一个男生只会游200米让他进去有点危险,可是如果是个女的就没有问题。
To enter the pool you have to wear a sexy swimming hat and let them see your 'Deep Water License'. To obtain the 'Deep Water License' you have to show that you can swim, guys 250 meters and girls 200 meters. The logic is that if a guy can only swim 200 meters it could be dangerous for him to enter the pool, but if a girl can swim 200 meters, she will be fine.
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
新疆菜 - Xinjiang food
新疆菜在语言学院的那家饭馆。
新疆汤饭,新疆拉条子,烤馕和羊肉串儿。
3月11日 晚上7点41
Xinjiang food at the restaurant in Bejing Language and Culture University.
Rice soup, noodles, bread, and mutton kebab.
March 11th, 7.41pm
Sunday, March 13, 2005
北京风味 - Beijing flavor
上边是炸灌肠儿，左边是面筋白菜，右边是麻豆腐。
Sorry, have no idea how to translate the name of these dishes.
Saturday, March 12, 2005
在天安门广场的美丽的一天 - A beautiful day at Tiananmen Square
我好久没去天安门,所以上个礼拜一个下午去逛逛。那是一个北京少见的晴朗的日子。
It was such a long time since I went to Tiananmen, so an afternoon last week I went there for a stroll. It was one of those rare clear and bright days here in Beijing.
因为开人民代表大会，有比平常更多的警察...
Because of the ongoing People's congress there were even more police than usual...
...和记者。
... and journalists.
他还挂在那里
He is still hanging there
外地人和外国人挤在天安门。
Country folks and foreigners elbowing at the Gate of Heavenly Peace .
农民叫租出车
Migrant workers calling a cab
It was such a long time since I went to Tiananmen, so an afternoon last week I went there for a stroll. It was one of those rare clear and bright days here in Beijing.
因为开人民代表大会，有比平常更多的警察...
Because of the ongoing People's congress there were even more police than usual...
...和记者。
... and journalists.
他还挂在那里
He is still hanging there
外地人和外国人挤在天安门。
Country folks and foreigners elbowing at the Gate of Heavenly Peace .
农民叫租出车
Migrant workers calling a cab
电脑帐篷居民 - The Computerized Tent Inhabitant
田孟媛在她的帐篷里开心得上网
我的合租的人田孟媛买了一台电脑,所以最近天天在上网,看电影,聊天。因为她的电脑在帐篷旁边她可以呆在里面上网。如果你刚开始看我的博客,我应该告诉你她的帐篷在我们的客厅里。
上边的照片是我偷偷拍的。下边的照片是五秒钟以后。她不喜欢我告诉别人她住在一个帐篷。
生气的帐篷居民用毛绒玩具打我。
My flatmate TianMengYuan has bought a computer and lately she is spending her time surfing, watching movies, and chatting. Since her computer is right next to the tent she can remain in the tent and surf. If you just started to read my blog I should add that her tent is in our living-room.
The upper picture was taken in secret. The second picture is five seconds later. She doesn't like that I tell others that she lives in a tent.
Upper Picture: TianMengYuan happily surfing in her tent.
Lower Picture: The angry tent inhabitant hitting me with a soft toy.
中文博客 - Chinese Blog
我打算从此用中文写这个博客(网络的日记)，可是因为我想让我的家人和好 朋友看的懂，所以也要翻译成英语。如果你在用 anonymouse.ws 这个网站看这个blog，可能你的浏览器有问题显示汉字。最好找到一个代理服务器，比如在www.stayinvisible.com上有。我自己用 Firefox和Switchproxy插件，很方便。如果你不在中国就没问题。
I intend from now on to use Chinese to write my blog, but since I still would like to let my friends and family read, I will provide English translation. If you are using anonymouse.ws to read the blog your browser might have problem to display the characters correctly. The best way might be to use a proxy server, for example at www.stayinvisible.com. I'm using Firefox together with the plugin Switchproxy. Very convenient.If you are not in China there shouldn't be any problem.
I intend from now on to use Chinese to write my blog, but since I still would like to let my friends and family read, I will provide English translation. If you are using anonymouse.ws to read the blog your browser might have problem to display the characters correctly. The best way might be to use a proxy server, for example at www.stayinvisible.com. I'm using Firefox together with the plugin Switchproxy. Very convenient.If you are not in China there shouldn't be any problem.
Sunday, March 06, 2005
My 5 cents of knowledge of the Beijing employment scene
Recently I have received a bunch of mails asking my about my stay in China. I reply to the here since it might be of interest of others:
There are basically three types of employments here.
Teaching English or other languages
It is fairly easy to get such a job. If you have a passport from US, UK, Australia and are a whitie this is no problem. Anyone else might get paid less (including American born Chinese!), but can still find pretty good jobs. 80-150 RMB/hour. Many people are hired for longer periods of time at schools and get all expenses paid and a couple of thousand to play with. When it comes to bigger money you better be careful since many people get cheated. Note that I have only been teaching as a volunteer, and have quite limited personal experience. There are as you probably know a lot of blogs out there talking about teaching experiances here in China.
Some people (including myself) are making a little extra money by working as a model or actor. This is mostly for fun, but it seems like some are combining this with English teaching to make a living.
Local hire
Usually related to language skills too but is a real job but with a pretty meager salary (compared to the money in at home). 5000-12000 RMB/month. The lower range is for a Chinese company and a higher probably a foreign company. From my own experience and from what I have heard from others, working in a Chinese company seems to be quite unbearable.
Another option is to do internships at the various trade councils or embassies etc. Might or might not include a salary.
Expat package
A person that have his employment transferred from another country and get a better salary than in in the home country plus a fat benefit package (apartment, insurance, flights, etc). I don't have too much knowledge about these players, but here are some things I have heard. You get this job because you are trusted by the home team and have some specific knowledge about your company. These guys can save money and have a much higher living-standard than back home. It will probably include long working-hours and insecurity in regards to future employment. When being called back home, other colleagues might have have been promoted while you are back to square one.
Most people here are teaching English or other languages. It is hard to beat the money from that unless you find a job from home. There are many skilled Chinese with work experience that will work more effectively for a fraction of your pay. In most cases, except when it comes to dealing with other foreigners, a Chinese can do the job much better because of better contacts and knowledge on how to get things done here.
My intention is to go back and find a good job back home. I like to study Chinese so that makes staying here worth while. Spending a year or two in a different country is a lot of fun by the way. That fact that China is a cheap place makes it a lot easier.
Good luck!
Johan
Hi!The people I know that have found non-teaching jobs have found them through That's Beijing's classifieds or personal contacts.
If been reading your blog now for a while, just to get some news on whats happening in Beijing at the moment (from a "westerners" point of view) and hearing about how life in Beijing / China for a westerner permantly is.
I am at the moment looking for a job in Beijing startin in July and I would like to stay for one year. In April I will leave school (in Germany) receiving my "Abitur", which is similar to the A-Levels in the UK, but in my personal opinion more advanced. I have been attending a economy grammar school, so I have some good knowledge in business administration (well 3 years with 4 hours per week, so some good basics:) ) Do you maybe have an idea?
Best regards and keep up the good blogging,
Ian
There are basically three types of employments here.
Teaching English or other languages
It is fairly easy to get such a job. If you have a passport from US, UK, Australia and are a whitie this is no problem. Anyone else might get paid less (including American born Chinese!), but can still find pretty good jobs. 80-150 RMB/hour. Many people are hired for longer periods of time at schools and get all expenses paid and a couple of thousand to play with. When it comes to bigger money you better be careful since many people get cheated. Note that I have only been teaching as a volunteer, and have quite limited personal experience. There are as you probably know a lot of blogs out there talking about teaching experiances here in China.
Some people (including myself) are making a little extra money by working as a model or actor. This is mostly for fun, but it seems like some are combining this with English teaching to make a living.
Local hire
Usually related to language skills too but is a real job but with a pretty meager salary (compared to the money in at home). 5000-12000 RMB/month. The lower range is for a Chinese company and a higher probably a foreign company. From my own experience and from what I have heard from others, working in a Chinese company seems to be quite unbearable.
Another option is to do internships at the various trade councils or embassies etc. Might or might not include a salary.
Expat package
A person that have his employment transferred from another country and get a better salary than in in the home country plus a fat benefit package (apartment, insurance, flights, etc). I don't have too much knowledge about these players, but here are some things I have heard. You get this job because you are trusted by the home team and have some specific knowledge about your company. These guys can save money and have a much higher living-standard than back home. It will probably include long working-hours and insecurity in regards to future employment. When being called back home, other colleagues might have have been promoted while you are back to square one.
Most people here are teaching English or other languages. It is hard to beat the money from that unless you find a job from home. There are many skilled Chinese with work experience that will work more effectively for a fraction of your pay. In most cases, except when it comes to dealing with other foreigners, a Chinese can do the job much better because of better contacts and knowledge on how to get things done here.
My intention is to go back and find a good job back home. I like to study Chinese so that makes staying here worth while. Spending a year or two in a different country is a lot of fun by the way. That fact that China is a cheap place makes it a lot easier.
Good luck!
Johan
Thursday, March 03, 2005
Wu Hao visiting Beijing
Wuhao is a good friend from my year in Singapore. She has just come back to China after having studied a year in Britain.
To make ends meet she had up to five part-time jobs there, cleaning, working in a bar, in a Chinese restaurant, and translating stuff. She is a tough girl. And ambitious. Now she has been traveling around the country to find a job.
She was saying that it was much harder than she had imagined. Her studies abroad doesn't seem to be of value for many of the Chinese that interview her. She even was told by the Chinese bank that didn't hire people that had studied abroad because they wouldn't be able to adapt.
Good luck girl! You deserve to find a good job.
To make ends meet she had up to five part-time jobs there, cleaning, working in a bar, in a Chinese restaurant, and translating stuff. She is a tough girl. And ambitious. Now she has been traveling around the country to find a job.
She was saying that it was much harder than she had imagined. Her studies abroad doesn't seem to be of value for many of the Chinese that interview her. She even was told by the Chinese bank that didn't hire people that had studied abroad because they wouldn't be able to adapt.
Good luck girl! You deserve to find a good job.
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