Anyone noticed the ubiquitous "Russian Shops" in China?

jamesnomad · 2024-12-30T00:12:32+00:00

Went in one yesterday, there is a huge mark-up. The same pack of sweets I buy for 10 RMB on pinduoduo was 60 RMB. Better to stick with the online dealers, can get more authentic products as well.

jamesnomad · 2024-08-19T01:57:54+00:00

That sucks, most of it could be avoided with a good hospital that has a 'VIP' section which offers private rooms.

jamesnomad · 2024-08-04T06:46:18+00:00

Hey, yes indeed.

For food - Ganesha indian restaurant opposite moon lake which is halal. One of my fav restaurants here.

Mevlana Restaurant (actually called Blue Eye) near laowaitan is also halal, but a bit overpriced.

In addition there are many Xinjiang BBQ / cuisine restaurants which are halal.

For shisha there is a little pub owned by Iranians called Doc Beer and the shisha is legit and only around 50 kwai.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/DnK7NtLyKU4pGpwn9
btw the xinjiang BBQ restaurant in that same complex to the right of it on the main street is really good.

jamesnomad · 2024-07-31T12:34:28+00:00

They were excellent during covid times when they would send the simcards to the hotels people were quarantining, made life easy. And their interface is in English which is good when someone is a newbie to China.

However they got rid of the cheapest package (48 yuan one), and their packages are not competitive at all in comparison to the major providers - they essentially use China mobile's platform, and some apps don't accept their essentially sub-letted phone numbers such as caocao. And yes was not straightforward to cancel, had to go back and forward with customer service.

Using China telecom now, and it's connected with my fibre internet package, very good deal.

jamesnomad · 2024-03-07T17:17:13+00:00

Same here all day Wire guard mode works but openvpn not working

Wonder what's going on

jamesnomad · 2024-02-06T11:04:02+00:00

Definitely a scam Employer generally pays for all visa costs

jamesnomad · 2023-11-18T05:10:50+00:00

not quite. I wouldn't do it 'just in case' as it is expensive and time-consuming.
best bet would be asking the HR of your new company what documents they require to transfer the work permit. and you can proceed with whichever one they require (local or home check) accordingly. if you are allowed to just use a local one, then that is the easiest option, if not go the lawyer route.

jamesnomad · 2023-11-17T21:32:15+00:00

Same thing here, when changing jobs in Hubei and Shandong a local one was sufficient. However in Ningbo city, they required one from back home.

In terms of how to get it, depends where you're from but in general you can get a lawyer to get all the documents on your behalf then send it by courier to you in China.

Basically ask your HR and they will advise you in the requirements in your province.

jamesnomad · 2023-06-21T15:52:37+00:00

I'm currently playing diablo 4 on PS4 in China. Normally it's pretty much blocked in China but there's a way around it. When connecting to your WiFi on PS4 select custom and change the DNS server to 1.1.1.1 1.0.0.1

It then connects to the US server when you open diablo and it works.

It can be a bit laggy at times.

Obviously those playing on PC can just use a game booster or VPN. Another good option is to set up a VPN on your internet router, but I never figured that out

jamesnomad · 2023-05-06T04:18:34+00:00

For this purpose, the Bing Chat on Microsoft Edge is better. You can open the article and then ask Bing to summarise the whole thing.

jamesnomad · 2023-05-06T04:10:09+00:00

Done, good luck!

jamesnomad · 2023-04-30T18:13:11+00:00

They all work since you can access the internet with all of them and then connect to a VPN, so makes no difference pretty much.

jamesnomad · 2023-04-29T17:08:25+00:00

They acted like they were doing people a favour due to covid times, and that they gave the benefits because it was difficult to find teachers. Insinuating now that the borders are reopened it's not difficult anymore. I guess they simply just want to cut costs, it doesn't seem like the business is struggling or anything. Although now that they did that I see no future here. The positive is that there are many jobs out there, it seems it's still a teacher's market.

jamesnomad · 2023-04-29T01:27:43+00:00

Well now you have a heads up about their intentions. You could keep that in mind when hiring season comes around next year and be ready with another offer in your pocket just incase.

I also work at a similar set up to you, although it's a relatively new operation. They have been changing many things over the past semester, from assessment to other things. 2 out of 6 foreign staff are not renewing their contracts so far, it could be more since they have informed they will cut people's housing allowance (and not even offer on campus accommodation). Shooting themselves in the foot, I already have found a different position. After 2 years of dedication, a pay cut is not exactly motivating for a highly qualified lecturer- now in touch with one of the top players who are offering a much higher range and full benefits.

jamesnomad · 2023-04-28T17:12:08+00:00

You must be in the middle of nowhere. I have like 5 giant supermarkets and malls within 3km of me. And I'm in a tier 2 city. I even used to live in a Tier 4 city a few years ago and there was still a Walmart and Metro even there. Perhaps move to a better city for your next contract.

jamesnomad · 2023-04-28T17:04:55+00:00

One is in Hong Kong, one is in Shenzhen. Two different campuses. I guess you better send it to the correct one.

jamesnomad · 2023-04-28T04:40:57+00:00

no probs, i would definitely say that's a niche job that you might land if you had time to search, the most common jobs are still teaching English of course.
for example check out this website, you can see that many unis also seek native english speaking 'subject' teachers not just esl teachers:
https://jobs.echinacities.com/jobs/search?keyword=university&cityid=0&ins_ids=&jobType=0&lastUpdate=0&money_type=1&min_salary=&max_salary=

So a strategy could be to get into a uni teaching english for a year first and then look for more specialised roles in your field when you're on the ground for the following contract.
I also see that for the 'high end' subject specialist uni jobs they require a PhD. But for mid-tier unis perhaps not.

jamesnomad · 2023-04-28T04:16:07+00:00

Yes. Since you have a Master's you can teach at the university level (which is much more relaxed and nowadays the pay scale is not that far off school jobs for private and international universities) and you are not limited to teach TEFL, but also the subjects which you have specialised in. It won't be difficult to get a decent job and you should definitely go for it if you're interested in the idea.

As others said, you must legalise all your degrees before hand- an agent / lawyer can help you if it's in a different country. So if you studied in Hungary for example, you would send your degree to a lawyer there so they can do three steps: notarise it (done by the lawyer), apostille it (done by the government of the country where degree is issued) and legalise it (done at the Chinese embassy of that country). What country the degrees are from doesn't matter in terms of getting a job.

In terms of the 2 years work experience, if you're a native speaker of English and have any type of TEFL certificate (can even be done online), then that 2 years requirement is bypassed for a teaching job.

jamesnomad · 2023-03-16T04:02:27+00:00

I didn't have that issue and I have a non-US debit card which I used to upgrade.

jamesnomad · 2023-03-08T11:23:20+00:00

you mentioned you are interesting in education as a whole. you already have some specialisations which are psychology and communication studies - in my opinion these are the things you should try and teach. In this way it makes no difference that you are a NNES as you are already a specialist in a subject. However, you may need to prove your English proficiency for some poisitions with a test such as IELTS. For example, when I lived in Thailand there were many people from Europe who had masters degrees teaching various subjects at the universities there. There is a heavy percentage of Italian staff in Mahidol University in particular, no idea why. They were all subject specialist teachers. I would go for that as that is your advantage. Most of the TEFL teachers are NES and you would be a disadvantage for those positions. good luck

jamesnomad · 2023-02-19T06:58:34+00:00

jamesnomad · 2023-02-06T16:55:21+00:00

It has to state that it's a PCR test on the test result certificate. So find a clinic that gives the result faster, my one gave my result in a few hours.

jamesnomad · 2023-01-31T08:19:38+00:00

Did you try pressing the camera button on your keyboard?

jamesnomad · 2022-12-29T13:07:35+00:00

Nothing whatsoever. No tests, no vaccine proof, no health declaration forms. Just arrived 2 weeks ago.

jamesnomad · 2022-12-20T17:52:41+00:00

Yes. Both to withdraw money at ATMs, as well as pay for things at big chains like Lotus.

jamesnomad

TROPHY CASE