Ask Imitation about 2years in China

[sushijerk]

[ QUOTE ]
Wait a second. Explain the economics of this teaching thing for a bit.
You make US$3000/mon to teach english in Guangzhou? And a rockstar party lifestyle costs US$2000?
Do I have to have any qualifications other than "native english speaker"?
Do I have to know any Chinese?

WTF am I still doing in America?

[/ QUOTE ]

Personally I don't know any English teachers making $3000 a month in China. I'm guessing no official educational venue will pay you this much but there are plenty of English "learning camps" and other special tutoring classes which charge exorbitant amounts since parents are so crazy about thier kids learning English. Also private tutors to rich folks can earn a lot. When I was visiting family back in China a government official basically paid me $25/hr to hang out with his son twice a week and occasionally use some English. I was 14 and all we did was eat out/play vid games/goto amusement parks on dad's money and get chauffeured around with a government car.

2k a month will let you have a very baller lifestyle in most parts of China considering that is multiple times the average annual salary. Keep in mind that living expenses like rent/car payments/health insurance will be very cheap to non-existent compared to America. As long as you are not stupid with your money and manage to pay the same prices as locals when you go out, 2k will go pretty far in even the more expensive cities.

[fish2plus2]

in thailand, english teachers without degrees get about $750/month, and they get treated as though they are very expendable, have to work crazy schedules like 8-12, 4-8. this is my understanding from reading www.stickmanbangkok.com and other websites.

[offTopic]

imitation:

Oliver Tse, good for poker in China, or no?

[Iron Lung]

Oh yeah can you provide some approximate prices for what these type of things would cost in USA prices?

Street Food
Fancy Dining
Club Entrence
One Drink at a bar
One night in a standard hotel
Months rent in an apartment (any good sites to look at this?)
A Polo Shirt
A digital camera
A computer

Thanks a lot!

[imitation]

[ QUOTE ]
Hi Imitation, thanks for your responses thus far.

I have been to Qingdao, had a relaxing time there. It's not too bustly. It would also be a good place for me to get out to next autumn because it's the base for the 2008 Olympic water events, if i recall correctly.

Next questions were going to include "setting up with an agent beforehand", but you've squared that one up. So...

- I am a UK Citizen (if you haven't guessed already). If I'm heading out there with the intention of working, but not yet found a job, isn't it illegal for me to get a tourist visa? Will i have to apply for a work visa with the intention of finding a job out there? Wouldn't i need sponsoring for a work visa? Or do you suggest going out there on a tourist visa and winging it.


[/ QUOTE ]

You can get 6mth tourist visas in one day in HK, I recommend people to get a 6mth tourist visa the first time this allows them to have some time and when you find a job if they require you to get a work visa (many will not) they can help you switch over.
[ QUOTE ]

- I will not be travelling alone, I have a girl who wants to teach English in China to and will most likely come along. Do you think it's possible, likely etc. that we will get landed jobs in the same city, or even the same school/class/department/whatever? I imagine we will get some control over the age range we want to teach (neither of us want to teach under 18s really).


[/ QUOTE ]
It should be no problem to find work at the same school, however I strongly advise people to take on part time or casual work at a 2 or 3 places as this is usually the best way to get good money and most flexibility. Obviously your situation will vary city to city but this is definitely the way to do it in the big 3 cities where you want to get as much money per class as possible imo.
[ QUOTE ]

- what do you think the authorities would have to say about an unmarried couple of westerners in China teaching English to their citizens? would "seditious" be a word the authorities know?!


[/ QUOTE ]

It won't be a problem, some schools like the couple angle and many Chinese in cities live together before they are married, though that being said many of the women still lie and say they are already married, I recently met a women who'd some how convinced her boyfriend to have fake wedding photos taken to show her friends.....

[imitation]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm very excited about this thread.

1. How harsh are the drug laws?


[/ QUOTE ]

As harsh as Thailand or anywhere in Asia no doubt, China has more executions per year than the rest of the world combined, I believe alot of these are in the west in the provinces bordering Vietnam, Afganhistan and Pakistan where some drug smuggling and gun running goes one.

In recent times in the province of Guangzhou there are 900 Africans in Jail for drug related crimes many of them on death row.

That being said the drug culture is definitely out there, 5 minutes from where I live is the busiest corner for westerners with one of Chinas most famous and best hotels, the area has a few clubs one in particular inside and out on the street is crawling with Africans who will sell you anything on the street.

I have not met many Chinese who are into meth, coke or heroin, but K is quite popular.

In some of the smaller cities where corruption is bigger have heard that clubs were serving K on plates to customers, I'm not sure if this is still going on this was 2-3yrs ago.
[ QUOTE ]

2. How is the crime?


[/ QUOTE ]

I feel very safe in China, there is pick pocketing and bag snatching but you can safe gaurd against these. Given the dense living you're basically never alone so I don't have to worry about walking home at night, etc. Violent crime is not really a problem in China and most Chinese tell me that is the case.

[ QUOTE ]

3. Are there ladybodys?


[/ QUOTE ]

Yes but very very very rare, I do know gay/bi guys in China though, and some of the guys are almost feminite it's hard to tell they aren't gay.

However one of the popular TV shows I watch that comes from Taiwan has a Ladyboy host, so i'm not sure if they aren't more into that kind of thing.
[ QUOTE ]

4. How do chines women feel about you having multiple girlfriends/wives?


[/ QUOTE ]

Depends, some girls are there to be mistresses, there is an entire city 1hr from me which is basically just full of Hong Kong business mens mistresses. These girls are fully aware of what they're in for when they entered the relationship and willingly take on that roll. So in some way it is accepted, that being said if my gf caught me she would probably go ape [censored] crazy.

If the relationship is not too serious I think the girls more understand the dating idea, but then similar to what I've heard people say in Thailand, they pretty quickly starting calling themselves your girlfriend.

I know one guy who plays alot of girls but they never really get jealous because he constantly tells them they are his second girlfriend so they expect him to have other girls perhaps this could work.
[ QUOTE ]

Also regarding white dudes having 'bad' taste, would you rather be banging a chic who you think is hot and other people think is ugly or a chic who you think is ugly but other people think is hot? I usually go for the one with big boobs and if other people think she's fat and hence don't like her, thats [censored] awesome. Thats means all the chic's I think are super hot are also super easy to pick up. wtf is wrong with that?

[/ QUOTE ]


[/ QUOTE ]

It's not neccesarily skinny or body shape white guys can't choose a nice face.

[imitation]

[ QUOTE ]
Wait a second. Explain the economics of this teaching thing for a bit.
You make US$3000/mon to teach english in Guangzhou? And a rockstar party lifestyle costs US$2000?
Do I have to have any qualifications other than "native english speaker"?
Do I have to know any Chinese?

WTF am I still doing in America?

[/ QUOTE ]

Ok heres the thing, making $2k is pretty easy with enough shopping around, $3k actually is probably doing weekend tutoring and stuff at night, I know people who do it but you may get burnt out though remember you will have about 3mths of holidays a year when there is no class or weeks when there are exams etc.

Rockstar lifestyle isn't exactly right but you can party and if you are good at partying you can save alot of money just by making friends with the rich chinese guys who will buy you drinks. But this may bite you in the ass if you go out with them for breakfast after and stuck with a $USD100 bill because they assumed you are baller as them.

Qualifications I think it helps to have TEFL or TEOFL piece of paper or if you have a degree, but again if you play your cards right you can get the same work without any of this just by speaking English.

You do not need to know Chinese, you will never have to use it in the classroom.

I must say that I often tell me teaching friends that this must be the hayday for teaching there is many unskilled basically life drop outs in China now making approx $USD15-20 a 40minute class while the average wage in this big city we live is $USD250/month. Unlike Thailand where once you decide to stay and teach english the companies know they have you by the balls here in China the companies still think they need to pay you big wages semester after semester or you'll run away. This is simply not true for most of the long term teachers who are usually well adjusted to there lifestyle here already.

I think that they will probably wake up to this in the next few years and wages will drop down some.

All this said there are some people who come here from overseas already signing a contract getting paid not much more than Chinese people, so they do rip a few people off as well.

[imitation]

[ QUOTE ]
imitation:

Oliver Tse, good for poker in China, or no?

[/ QUOTE ]

Who is this? The problem I forsee in online gambling in China is the difficulty in funding of accounts, I was doing some research in online Mahjong to see where it was headed and was thinking of doing some investing, but the problem is that Chinese can't use credit cards online (not to mention the large portion don't have them). They were trying to sell these like recharge cards but I just don't know if it will work. I'm scepticle they will be drawn to texas holdem when there are already so many traditional poker games along with mahjong.

[imitation]

[ QUOTE ]
hey Imi,

Weren't you going to go and study in a Shaolin temple? Did you do it or did the pajamas turn you off?

ads.

[/ QUOTE ]

I decided to keep studying Chinese, I was also doing alot of coke when I made that vow.