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Dear Wang Family Scholarship Committee: Here are my recommendations/experiences regarding the topics for the Wang Family Scholarship assignment. Housing As for housing I was fortunate enough to have a Chinese friend help me find and apartment upon arrival in Beijing. I ended up settling on an apartment in the Shangdi neighborhood a few kilometers to the north of Beijing University. There are some advantages and disadvantages to my neighborhood. The advantages include having cheaper rent and living in an area that has lower prices at shops and restaurants. One of the big disadvantages to this area, however, is the general lack of conveniences. There are very few restaurants, and shops where I can purchase supplies, go to eat or study, and go to for entertainment. There are a few shops but the selection of goods is very limited. Additionally, the neighborhood is a bit far from the university. So, while in the summer and autumn I was perfectly happy riding to school, once the cold of winter came, I found that I had to get up even earlier to catch one of the many busses to school. Since classes start at 8:00am the traffic on the way to school is very dense, so taking the bus requires anywhere from 25 minutes to 50 minutes (including the walk from the bus station to class) as opposed to a 20 minute bike ride. Following are some of the things I looked for in finding my apartment. These requirements fit my specific personality, so they may not be suitable for everyone. I wanted a place with internet access to use the laptop I brought with me from home. I also wanted to find an apartment with no more than two other roommates (think about how busy the bathroom will be in the morning). I also decided to get a furnished apartment because I did not want to spend the money or the time to buy and transport heavy items like a desk, table and bed to my room. Though it may sound obvious one of my requirements was to have a bedroom with a window, for the view, the lighting, and to keep me from feeling too much like a caveman. Other things to keep in mind are bills, hot water, appliances/furniture, and heating. A lot of utility bills are paid quarterly so it is a good idea to make arrangements up front about paying bills. It is better to know before hand what you are getting into than to be stuck with a ridiculously priced bill that you were not expecting. You will find that landlords and prospective tenants will bargain over everything, which includes bills, so make sure you ask about everything you can think of, otherwise the landlord may pass on bills to you that you were to naive to make an agreement for up front. As for hot water, most of the apartments I looked at have small instant hot water heaters. These units are very convenient (you never run out of hot water), but some of the older ones do not work very well. I recommend turning on the hot water in the shower to make sure it works properly and to see how long it takes to get hot before you actually settle on the place. Some of the apartments don't have a temperature adjustment in the shower/bathroom; instead the temperature is controlled on the hot water heater itself which is often in the kitchen. So, if you want to have the ability to adjust your water temperature while taking your shower, make sure that there is a faucet with a temperature control located in the bathroom. Most of the apartments I looked at came furnished with at least a desk, bed, small kitchen table and some chairs if there was a living room, a washing machine, a fridge and of course a cooking stove. Think about your needs before you decide on a place. Not all places will have these items, so make sure you get an apartment that has the conveniences you are interested in. Beijing is cold! While every apartment will have hot water radiator heating, some are better than others. In the summer time it will be difficult to check the quality of the heating, so just make sure that there are good sized hot water radiators in all of the rooms (especially your bedroom), or you will be miserable in the winter. Additionally, while the heating fee is usually paid by the landlord, this is another one of their bargaining tools, so make sure you let them know up front that they need to pay the heating bill, and then bargain your rent down from there. I ended up in a two bedroom apartment with a Chinese couple in the other room, whom I have become good friends with. Because they are Chinese I get to practice my language skills with them daily. In addition we often eat dinner together, they help correct my homework, and they share Chinese culture with me. Many of my classmates are living with international students, which may be exciting and more comfortable, but they speak English on a daily basis. As for finding apartments, it is best to look at the bulletin boards in the international student dorms (Shao Yuan #3), or at the various coffee shops in the Wudaokou neighborhood just to the east of the university (about a 10 minute walk straight to the east from Beijing University's East Gate.) I am told that apartments can also be found online, though I have not tried this option yet. While the Wudaokou area has many conveniences, keep in mind that there are a lot of foreign students in that area so apartment rates and the cost of living are much higher. Rent is usually paid six months at a time, however I found that some landlords are willing to let tenants pay in 3 three month segments. I am paying about $110 for my apartment before utility bills, but that is because I am far from campus. Typical apartments in the Wudaokou area cost anywhere from $150 to $500 per month. With internet included (I am paying for it by myself) my bills average out to no more than $25 per month. What to Pack / What not to Pack As for packing I basically looked over the suggestions in the IP handbook, and tailored it to my needs. Remember that Beijing is a major metropolitan area so most goods, western and eastern, can be found here. For some items it may be necessary to go to different parts of the city which have large foreign communities to find some of the western goods that Chinese don't use so frequently. Think of it as going to Chinatown in the U.S. to find Chinese goods. Items like deodorant, mouthwash, floss, etc. are harder to find but can be found. Additionally because China is developing so quickly and is rapidly taking on Western culture and goods, the selection of Western items in stores is increasing daily. This year I was able to find deodorant, mouthwash, and a selection of Western foods/drinks in a Walmart store that was still under construction when I was volunteering to teach English here in the summer of 2004. A useful website to help you plan what to pack for extended stays abroad is the One Bag website found at: http://www.onebag.com/home.html. While I used some of the recommendations from this website, I found that if I packed everything recommended I would have quite a large bag indeed. Just remember that you need to be able to get your luggage to and from the airport and that the more stuff you have the more planning you need to do in advance when traveling or moving. A final note on packing, Beijing is very hot, and humid (compared to most of California), in the summer, and very cold in the winter. For the summer you will want to have synthetic clothes which feel much cooler and dry much faster than cottons. As for winter, I ended up buying a down jacket, several pairs of long underwear, and some long wool socks as well as a 100% wool blanket when winter came because the winter clothes I brought with me from the U.S. were not warm enough for Beijing. The winter temperatures in Beijing very, but it is not uncommon to have highs in the mid twenties (Fahrenheit) and lows in the teens or less. Computers/ Internet Access I decided to bring my laptop with me. Though it is possible to get buy without a laptop, I have been happy to use it to keep in touch with family and friends. I also use my laptop to keep up with current events and to complete my various scholarship requirements. As far as classes go I think it would be possible to get by without a laptop as I have not had to write any essays. However, some students did use their laptops during presentations or speeches that they gave. I decided to get internet access at home, which ended up being about $10 a month for DSL, it would be even cheaper for me if my roommates wanted to share the cost, but they are not interested since they can use the internet at work. Many coffee shops, teashops and even places like the Subway sandwich shops have both wired and wireless internet access in Beijing. For students a convenient location is the Wudaokou area about a 10 minute walk from the East Gate of Beijing University. There are many coffee shops and other small businesses there that offer internet access to you after purchasing a cup of tea or a small snack. Where to go to buy certain things Beijing abounds with shops, department stores and other markets, so there is no shortage of places to buy necessities as well as other items. For students, there is a large underground department store called Carrefour, in the Zhongguancun area about 10 minutes south of Beijing University. Just go out the east gate and then head south, the complex will be on the right side/west side of the street. Carrefour sells everything from groceries to items you would find in a department store such as bikes, sports equipment, household appliances, and clothing. Think of it as a Walmart superstore with groceries. Speaking of Walmart, I came across one at the Zhichunlu light rail/subway stop. To get to Walmart, walk 10 minutes directly east from Beijing University's East Gate until you arrive at the light rail/subway station in Wudaokou. From the Wudaokou station go south (towards Xizhimen) and get off at the next stop which is Zhichunlu. Once you get off the train, Walmart cannot be missed. Of course the best way to experience shopping in China, and perhaps get the best price, is to go to the local markets/shops and haggle for items. A fun place to do this is at the Jinwuxing market directly to the east of the Dazhongsi subway stop. Telephones / Cell Phones I opted for a cell phone though I hadn't had one in the U.S. for a few years. Cell phones can be bought almost everywhere (just look around and you will find many shops carrying them). The prices don't very too much, so just shop around until you find a model and a price that you like, and then bargain it from there. The price placards are more for guidelines then being actual prices so don't be fooled into believing that you have to pay the displayed price. In China you will have to pay for the phone number (certain numbers are luckier than other and so cost more), which will get you your SIM card to make the phone work. One of the best deals I was able to find was a UP SIM card that has free incoming calls, 200 free messages a month, and outgoing calls for a few cents a minute (within Beijing). The downside is that I have to pay $2 a month on top of the money I continually put on my cell phone, for this rate. There are other plans without a monthly fee but the rates will be higher. Chinese cell phones are mostly pay as you go (prepaid) so you will also have to buy cards every so often to refill the amount of money on your account. The cards can be found at all of the China Mobile shops as well as at most news/magazine shops which are scattered all over Beijing. It will not be a problem to find cards to refill your phone. There is another option, which I neglected, which is to get a Shaolingtong phone. These phones look like cell phones but instead use the service of the major phone carrier in Beijing. While these phones can only be used in Beijing, and they have a higher rater for calling out of the city, they are much cheaper to buy and have a much better rate for calls within the city, than using cell phones. However, I am told that they don't always have English menus in the phones, and that the reception is not always as good. It is also important to see if the Shaolingtong can send/receive SMS messages, as I am told that some can, while others cannot. You will find that many Chinese will go for both options, that is they will have both a cell phone and a Shaolingtong phone. Postal Services Postal offices are located all over the city, and they are basically as easy to use as those in America. Post offices, or Youju, are easy recognized because of their big green and yellow signs which say "China Post" on them. Additionally, there are two China Post's on campus which is very convenient for students. The main difference between Chinese post offices and ours is that packages cannot be pre-packed. In other words you need to take the items you wish to send in an unsealed box to the post office so that the items can be inspected before being sent. I hope this helps. Darrol Butler CSU IP Student – Beijing University |