As we are not independently wealthy, we are looking forward to working while we are living here in the Middle Kingdom for a year or so. I have been searching for teaching positions for us both for several months before we left for Shanghai and we did both get certified to teach English through a company called Oxford Seminars, which has an excellent reputation as the leader in teaching TESL certification. As a result of our formal education (you need at least a bachelor's to teach TESL overseas almost everywhere), we have had dozens of offers - but many of these we just couldn't seriously consider not knowing anything about the country at all.
So, we decided to get on the ground first, get settled in Shanghai, then venture out and learn as much as possible about the local and surrounding areas as quickly as possible. Only then would we consider accepting a position and showing up to a brand new country, new school, and new classroom. Although this has turned out to be a very good idea, it has also been quite stressful because we are now having to search and interview for positions in a country, chatting a bit on the phone when possible (using phones here is another post that is coming soon), and traveling to a city we have never been to in our lives!
But, we both agree it is part of the adventure so here is how the process is working so far:
We learn of the position through email with a recruiter, then we research the city as much as possible (size, location, population, history and significance, etc.). We taxi down to the Shanghai Railway station, get two round trip tickets, jump on the train and get off at the city and head straight to the nearest largest hotel from the railway station.
Exploring Kunshan
Our first real opportunity was a small city, close to Shanghai, named Kunshan. Kunshan is located in the Jiangsu province, which is right next door to Shanghai to the north and the west and it is also home to Nanjing (the old capital of China). When I mean small, I mean it has a population of a mere 2.5million people, which means it is so small it is not in either of our guide books, (for comparison, Tampa, Clearwater, and St. Petersburg, Florida have a total population of about 3million). It was a quick 20 minutes on D train ride and cost about $2.00.
Kunshan did not leave a particularly good taste in our mouths, for several reasons. For instance, the only map we could obtain was in Chinese, we could not find a place to sit down and have a beer in the whole city, and nobody we met all day spoke a word of English - none. This is not a bad thing in itself, we are almost always the only non-Asians anywhere we go so we are used to that, but no English from anybody means a real struggle later such as menus with no pictures, no street signs in any other languages, and even using our Mandarin phrase book means most people will not understand even basic requests. So this city is almost too small for us already - we want remote but we will need basic functionality.
To be fair, it was raining and bitter cold too, about 34 degrees, but we managed to stumble around and even buy some warmer clothes and enjoy a nice coffee shop, even grabbed a strange bite at KFC (they are everywhere in China!). Whatever the reasons, we were not impressed with Kunshan and didn't feel like we would be comfortable there for a year of living - but it was our first day trip so we had fun anyway!
Take a look at the few pictures we took of Kunshan here...
Coming Up Next...
Our next stop is a bigger city, DanYang, with over 3million people...
So, we decided to get on the ground first, get settled in Shanghai, then venture out and learn as much as possible about the local and surrounding areas as quickly as possible. Only then would we consider accepting a position and showing up to a brand new country, new school, and new classroom. Although this has turned out to be a very good idea, it has also been quite stressful because we are now having to search and interview for positions in a country, chatting a bit on the phone when possible (using phones here is another post that is coming soon), and traveling to a city we have never been to in our lives!
But, we both agree it is part of the adventure so here is how the process is working so far:
We learn of the position through email with a recruiter, then we research the city as much as possible (size, location, population, history and significance, etc.). We taxi down to the Shanghai Railway station, get two round trip tickets, jump on the train and get off at the city and head straight to the nearest largest hotel from the railway station.
The trains in China are legendary for their speed and efficiency - and we are certainly impressed! They have regular trains, the fast train, and the incredibly fast mag-lev train that travels over 280mph. Here's some video of the D trains, the only one's we've taken so far, which hits over 150mph almost the entire trip.At the hotel we figure out how to ask for a map and if we are lucky it's in English (only one has been in English so far!). We then walk all day and get a feel for the city and it's sights, and if we are lucky we even get to see the school (if we can find it). Exhausted, but usually feeling pretty good about our new abilities, we navigate back to the train station, jump back on the train and get home in the late evening and discuss the opportunity over dinner. That's how we are going to decide where we work for the next year - crazy, huh?
Exploring Kunshan
Our first real opportunity was a small city, close to Shanghai, named Kunshan. Kunshan is located in the Jiangsu province, which is right next door to Shanghai to the north and the west and it is also home to Nanjing (the old capital of China). When I mean small, I mean it has a population of a mere 2.5million people, which means it is so small it is not in either of our guide books, (for comparison, Tampa, Clearwater, and St. Petersburg, Florida have a total population of about 3million). It was a quick 20 minutes on D train ride and cost about $2.00.
Kunshan did not leave a particularly good taste in our mouths, for several reasons. For instance, the only map we could obtain was in Chinese, we could not find a place to sit down and have a beer in the whole city, and nobody we met all day spoke a word of English - none. This is not a bad thing in itself, we are almost always the only non-Asians anywhere we go so we are used to that, but no English from anybody means a real struggle later such as menus with no pictures, no street signs in any other languages, and even using our Mandarin phrase book means most people will not understand even basic requests. So this city is almost too small for us already - we want remote but we will need basic functionality.
To be fair, it was raining and bitter cold too, about 34 degrees, but we managed to stumble around and even buy some warmer clothes and enjoy a nice coffee shop, even grabbed a strange bite at KFC (they are everywhere in China!). Whatever the reasons, we were not impressed with Kunshan and didn't feel like we would be comfortable there for a year of living - but it was our first day trip so we had fun anyway!
Take a look at the few pictures we took of Kunshan here...
Coming Up Next...
Our next stop is a bigger city, DanYang, with over 3million people...
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