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VideoTapir posted:Maybe, but the baseline that you're getting better from is "flying United." Not saying it's the best, but it is a cheaper ticket without it being China Eastern or, God forbid, American. The best flight I've ever had coming to/from North America was Air Canada.
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Aug 31, 2013 06:12
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Arglebargle III posted:Anyone ever read The True Meaning of Smekday? Requires an awareness of what happened to the native americans but it's hilarious and great. One of the characters speaks horribly broken English and I can see that being funny for ESL kids beyond a certain level. Short stories that worked very well for me in the past: Kafka's "the Hunger Artist"; Updike's "A & P"; Jacob's "the Monkey's Paw"; Jackson's "the Lottery" (followed by excerpts from the Hunger Games and watching the movie); O'Conner's "A Good Man is Hard to Find"; the Little Prince (in graphic novel form); Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains"; Heinlein "the Man Who Traveled in Elephants"; Gilman's "the Yellow Wallpaper"; and Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron". And books: "The Book Thief" (movie comes out soon); "Holes"; "The Great Gatsby"; and sections from Alexie's "the Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian" (has mentions of masturbation, which most schools aren't okay with; it gets banned in the US a lot). Scholastic also had a series of YA books called "Dear America", "My Name is America", and "the Royal Diaries". (There are also "Dear Canada", "Dear Australia", "Dear France", etc. series). They were really great, fictionalized first person accounts of kids through history.
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Aug 31, 2013 14:35
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Does Ningbo suck? I'm staring at a job listing there that looks like it was written for me.
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Aug 31, 2013 16:43
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VideoTapir posted:Does Ningbo suck? I'm staring at a job listing there that looks like it was written for me. I live about 20 minutes away in Yuyao and love it.
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Aug 31, 2013 19:52
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Hi everybody, I'm going to be in Guangzhou from now until the 5th and then to Chengdu from the 5th until the 9th. Does anybody in the neighborhood want to hang out with a young, supple 22 year old boy looking for a good time?
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Sep 1, 2013 08:33
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There's some other goon coming to Chengdu next weekend as well, so something is gonna happen.
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Sep 1, 2013 13:13
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Gonna dust off my nice fedora for this.
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Sep 1, 2013 13:39
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Tom Smykowski posted:Gonna dust off my nice fedora for this. Don't forget to POP that collar up!
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Sep 1, 2013 15:45
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Yayyyy Chengdu. I'll be around too, I think. I only teach three days a week. Has anybody had any luck baking bread in a toaster oven? Or desserts and pizza? Some kind of oven is basically the last piece I need to get my kitchen up and running, and anything other than a countertop oven is probably out of the question.
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Sep 1, 2013 17:57
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Monkey Fury posted:Yayyyy Chengdu. I'll be around too, I think. I only teach three days a week. My experience with counter top ovens has been good for desserts (cookies, brownies, quickbreads like banana bread, cakes) but less good for bready breads like an artisanal sourdough boule or even biscuits or whatever. This isn't to say it doesn't work only that with cookies and stuff it had been easier and more reliable. Don't know about pizza, never tried. As you may be able to tell mine was not so good about getting up to, staying at, or evenly heating, above 400 F. Other people tell me they have had better results though. In short: get one they are useful and worthwhile if you like baking.
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Sep 1, 2013 18:12
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VideoTapir posted:Does Ningbo suck? I'm staring at a job listing there that looks like it was written for me. It's clean and nice but the expats are mostly a bunch of asslicks.
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Sep 1, 2013 19:08
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TheBuilder posted:It's clean and nice but the expats are mostly a bunch of asslicks. Yeah, Yuyao is like this too. If you're fine working without a big expat group it's fine though.
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Sep 1, 2013 22:29
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Monkey Fury posted:Yayyyy Chengdu. I'll be around too, I think. I only teach three days a week. You're back in China? Cool man, come back to Tianjin sometime if you like, happy another quality expat is over here! 
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Sep 2, 2013 03:08
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OOPRCT posted:Hi everybody, I'm going to be in Guangzhou from now until the 5th and then to Chengdu from the 5th until the 9th. Does anybody in the neighborhood want to hang out with a young, supple 22 year old boy looking for a good time? Hey there, I'm in HK. If it was the weekend I would definitely take the train over to GZ for a meet up. But kind of busy this week  If you are coming in from the Americas, I suppose pulled pork sandwiches and southern food isn't a really big appeal. But if you have time and can pop over to Hong Kong, I can show you around in the evenings and all.Pro-PRC Laowai posted:https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/activex-for-chrome/lgllffgicojgllpmdbemgglaponefajn Thanks Pro PRC  Jeoh posted:You never have anything to declare at customs and if you're caught just tell them it's a mistake and give them a cigarette package. Only if you are white  You got to be careful about certain customs. If you fly from Amsterdam or Netherlands to the states, your bags will get searched. If you carry too much tabacco or alcohol and get caught, you get major fines. US/Canadian airport customs are jerks and like to check on everything and ask all sorts of inane questions to throw you off. Going to Stuttgart was weird. We were the only Asians on board and the customs were freaking out. "Where are you from? OH CHINA? THIS WAY PLEASE!". After looking at our passports, the first thing they asked us was "Did you bring any tabac, alocohol, or baijiu?" If some small town cop knew what baijiu was, aiiiyaaaa.... And I just want to repost this: "Chinese_suitcase.jpg"  Hey Jeoh, good news! I'm flying to Germany again next year! This time, maybe we can stop by Poland, and you are based in Amsterdam yes? I haven't been there in 12 years, and hopefully I can weasel in a client meeting and see you in the evening  TheBuilder posted:It's clean and nice but the expats are mostly a bunch of asslicks. I think everyone can be a jerk, but expats are just more visible. When it comes to comparing asslicks across China, I think Hong Kong has the biggest concentration of expat assholes though. Super self entitled jerks who "don't want to touch any of that local tripe". But meh, the city needs warm bodies to sustain great steak houses. Doesn't mean you can be a holier-than-thou prick and rub it in though: they either move for work/money; hopping from one place to another. Next post: Caberham made a bank account 
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Sep 2, 2013 03:34
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Monkey Fury posted:Yayyyy Chengdu. I'll be around too, I think. I only teach three days a week. I recently bought a toaster oven off TaoBao and it stays at a constant temperature. It goes up to 220 degrees Celsius. I've made all sorts of different breads and cookies with it so far. It works absolutely wonderfully! I definitely recommend you get one. I've even done up a couple baked potatoes.
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Sep 2, 2013 05:27
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Where are you these days Woodsy?
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Sep 2, 2013 05:32
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Woodsy Owl posted:I recently bought a toaster oven off TaoBao and it stays at a constant temperature. It goes up to 220 degrees Celsius. I've made all sorts of different breads and cookies with it so far. It works absolutely wonderfully! I definitely recommend you get one. I've even done up a couple baked potatoes. Yes my girlfriend and I bake bread and pizza and cakes and cookies and stuff in the 200 RMB toaster oven I got on taobao all the time. You have to learn how to use it without burning stuff, because it's not a real oven, but it works!
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Sep 2, 2013 05:55
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So after a few days in HK meant to be preparing for my move to Chengdu, I find myself having done nothing and still completely unprepared. My flight might be canceled (no one can confirm/deny), but if it's not, I'll be arriving at about 2am. Any recommended hotels near SiDa that would be a good base for apartment hunting? e- From the looks of the posts above, there will be a gathering of the neckbeards in Chengdu later this week.
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Sep 2, 2013 06:21
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What, aiya should give me a tell earlier and all. Are you still in HK? Magna is near SiDa from the top of my head
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Sep 2, 2013 06:33
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I've been fully booked with friends the whole time I've been in HK. I've barely had time to sleep much less recover from mounting hangovers.
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Sep 2, 2013 06:38
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Oh that's good to know! Hope you are having fun here! Chengdu is great, there are all kinds of spicy noodles. And Tibetan food
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Sep 2, 2013 06:58
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Cool beans, Caberham. Let me know when you're here and I'll show you around and stuff.
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Sep 2, 2013 07:14
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Smeef posted:So after a few days in HK meant to be preparing for my move to Chengdu, I find myself having done nothing and still completely unprepared. My flight might be canceled (no one can confirm/deny), but if it's not, I'll be arriving at about 2am. I'm not super familiar with the area though.
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Sep 2, 2013 08:51
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I went ahead and booked a private room at the Flipflop Lounge. Magna, earlier in the thread you said you'd used agents in the past to find accommodations. Do you have one your could recommend? I imagine I'll get less screwed by an agent + fee than by trying to find a place on my own with no language skills.
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Sep 2, 2013 09:03
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GuestBob posted:Where are you these days Woodsy? Are you still in PinDingShan?
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Sep 2, 2013 09:26
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 Shenzhen Trip Report: Xinjiang food and setting up a bank accountI like making fun of Shenzhen, it's a dump compared to Hong Kong but the Xinjiang and Sichuan/Non Cantonese Chinese food is really delicious. Price wise, it's still OK even with the horrible RMB : HKD currency  So it was a Friday and I decided to cross the border. I guess it has been a while since I went back to China and each time I go, there's just something quirky about China. Sure, Shenzhen is actually getting cleaner/tidier/better each passing year but it's still no Hong Kong  So how do you cross into China from Hong Kong? Here's a list - http://www.gov.hk/en/residents/immigration/control/location.htm There are actually a few ways to do it. Wiki travel and I think the past forum posts have enough information. This time I took the Futian Border(Shenzhen)/Lok Ma Chau(Hong Kong) check point (福田口岸/落馬洲). It opens from 6:30am - 10:30pm. From the Shenzhen side, you can the Longhua Line from Shenzhen, and just walk across a landbridge. In the HK side, you can either take different buses/minibus/taxi or just hop onto the train onto Kowloon. It's so weird, once you hit the border crossing, all the little China things/China fashion start showing up   I really don't get it.  Shower slippers and a qipao?  Cool haircut  If you don't have any fast pass for the China side, expect 45 minutes or longer during rush hour. If you fly to Hong Kong over 3 times in a year, there's a fast travel ID pass you can apply and make going to/exiting HK a breeze. Being in Shenzhen proper What do you see? Motorcycle taxis I love being on a motor cycle taxi. It's awesome, but a bit dangerous I suppose   Xinjiang food Xinjiang food is awesome. The meat is halal and the lamb is delicious. And freshly baked naan too  Sure there are lots of Xinjiang places in China, but which one? I like the restaurant for the Xinjiang affairs office in Shenzhen. Party members like to eat (food/alcohol/pussy/and your taxes) http://www.openrice.com.cn/shenzhen/canting/detail/33466 It's a whole row of Xinjiang restaurants actually, and right there's a subway line construction so the address might be harder to find. To say the decor is basic would be an understatement. It's actually pretty dirty but for the neighbourhood. You know the place is pretty legit when you see tacky disco lighting, questionable hygene, a legit menu without pandering xinjiang as a tourist spot. Come on, even if the food is so-so for you, the crowds are hilarious. You get guys like  Who just likes to wear a Captain Jack Sparrow shirt, WAAAA SOOO FASHION And Once time passes, everyone starts slamming qingdao's (It's not Halal) and taking their shirts off, chain smoking cigarettes and chugging baijiu to fight the summer heat and dust.  I never been to Henan, the ancient heartland but I imagine I would see this all the time  So sexy Food! I think I ate somethings like the skewers before I could even take pictures, I was too hungry. The lamb skewers are delicious. It was a pretty meat heavy meal which makes it super awesome because most things in China are pretty carb heavy. For veggies: 18rmb. spinach and fried egg with peppers. I was a bit spicy but not too greasy because it was constantly cooked under a wok with ultra high heat  25 rmb. Freshly baked lamb meat pies. They take forever, but drat the crust was good. It was also partially soaked in lamb juices so it had a hearty meat taste to it.  Wanted to order the pilaf but we already had a meat pie. That's the problem with 2 people eating at restaurants where everything is just served in a large platter. Portion control is a bit hard but oh well. Cumin in lamb, goes well with the pie as extra meat. 35rmb  Granted, food will probably taste better as I go up north. I'm planning to head to Beijing Mid October and Goon Meet , hopefully we can order a pile of xinjiang food and see.The next day, I went to the bank and tried opening a bank account. I stumbled upon an awfully Chocolate, man the desserts there are just good. Everything is chocolatey to the max. Saw this special item and it was really really good Have a bad China day? Treat yourself to this, they also do salted brownies. Want to live in China? You should just pick these cities code:caberham fucked around with this message at 10:47 on Sep 2, 2013 |
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Sep 2, 2013 10:05
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caberham posted:I never been to Henan, the ancient heartland but I imagine I would see this all the time I see partially sheer tops all the time. The cheap fabric used in women's clothes is just too thin.
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Sep 2, 2013 10:15
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A friend of mine works at a 5-star hotel in Bangkok, and she said that their biggest problem for the past few months has been Chinese tourists going to breakfast in their boxers. So far the most effective solution has been to pump the aircon and offer bath robes.
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Sep 2, 2013 10:19
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Indonesia is not Chinese territory, Caberham.
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Sep 2, 2013 10:25
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Smeef posted:A friend of mine works at a 5-star hotel in Bangkok, and she said that their biggest problem for the past few months has been Chinese tourists going to breakfast in their boxers. So far the most effective solution has been to pump the aircon and offer bath robes. We seriously live in the best country.
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Sep 2, 2013 10:42
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Woodsy Owl posted:I'm still here in Xuchang. I managed to get out of my last terrible 'situation' smoothly. Now I am in something really cushy and nice. Good for you then. You are still on a Residence Permit though, right? I am still in Pingdingshan, I might be going through Xuchang a bit more now you have the fast train you see.
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Sep 2, 2013 10:44
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GuestBob posted:Good for you then. You are still on a Residence Permit though, right? Rad, if you wanna chill I'd be down to taking you to a few decent restaurants here. I have a new residence permit for this year, of course. It was nice this time because the new school knows what the gently caress they are doing, as opposed to the train wreck that happened last year. edit: We've had the fast train at least since November. Woodsy Owl fucked around with this message at 11:48 on Sep 2, 2013 |
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Sep 2, 2013 11:38
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Chinese TV Sausage-Making, or The Hardest 40 Kuai I Ever Made My wife and her sister dragged me along to a taping of some Chinese talk show I probably have seen but never bothered to remember. 天生一对 I was told it would be about 4 hours, and we'd get lunch and 40 kuai. My wife either didn't know or didn't want to tell me what the show was so I wouldn't refuse outright. We get off the bus at the appointed stop, and there are a bunch of people already waiting to be escorted to the studio. Being the only forager there, naturally there were people who wanted to strike up conversation. First was this middle aged woman who had lived in San Diego. She was pleasant enough, so that's all I'll say about her. Next was this pudgy 20 something dude with a buzz cut and a red and white striped polo shirt, who was a lot more pushy and insistent. He spoke extremely broken English with supreme confidence, while claiming to be a some-time translator for the mayor of Beijing (I think?). After the standard “where are you from” and comments about the weather there, he goes into the next standard casual foreigner on the street topic, Obama. And there's where things get interesting. After I registered my lack of enthusiasm for and grudging acceptance of Obama, the guy comes back with this: “Obama is friend of the family. In America many people not like friend of the family.” Well, can't really say that isn't true. “Uh, it's a little more complicated than that,” I say. Things continue to decline from there, with a seriously asymmetrical assessment of the situation, as I get more and more uncomfortable and he keeps trying to get closer and closer to me, and interrupting me as I try to talk to my wife. “I too can speak German,” he says. “Heil Hitler!” He does a Nazi salute. I stare at him slack-jawed. “What the gently caress is wrong with you?” I ask. He takes no notice, and San Diego lady doesn't seem to notice either. He says “I speak a little Arabic” followed by something I'm sure is equally offensive. He starts going on about how he knows people who are making films and how he wants me to be in it. My wife and her sister come to the rescue, as we three head down the street to get something to eat while we wait for the rest of the people to arrive. The Amazing Chinese Racist doesn't follow more than a few steps, and I get a brief respite. We head back just in time to be herded to a studio in the 798 area. My lady friends and I head to our seats, and the annoying dude follows me, making sure to sit next to me. That's when things get unacceptable. The stage director, a fairly attractive woman maybe 35 years old with very long hair and very short shorts, comes out onto the stage to sort things out before they begin. The annoying dude says “She is sexy lady. I want sleep her.” I cringe. Then he tugs on my arm hair. “Dude! What the gently caress!” I yell, jerk my arm away, and scoot about a foot down the bench. He calmly says “you have many hair,” as though he's done nothing wrong or even unusual. Bear in mind this is a guy in his 20s who claims to have lived in the US; not a 4-year-old who's never left town. After a few minutes of him jabbering nothing particularly memorable, and my wife telling me to keep calm, he gets my attention long enough to say “You are OCD. I think you are OCD. Do you know what is OCD?” “I don't think that you know what OCD is,” I reply. edit: I forgot the most perplexing part. He touches my knee (I was wearing shorts) and laughs and says "tortoise!" He keeps saying "tortoise!" over and over again. At this point the other Chinese guys around us start telling him to knock it off, as it's gotten really obvious to everyone but him that he's pissing me off. I trade seats with the guy next to me to put some distance between us, and then the show starts to come together. Have you ever watched one of those Chinese talk shows? All the way through? (Liar, no you haven't.) How about one that was 2 to 4 hours long because it hasn't been edited? Why did I give a range rather than a single time? Because we sat through 3 of them. But first, we all did our part. The cameras were turned on the audience (about 100 people on this rickety carpeted bleacher), and we were expected to stand and cheer on cue. This was done 4 or five times. Apart from a couple times where certain audience members were singled out to interact with the guests (I was ruled out once they determined that my Chinese wasn't very good and I had no idea who the guests were) this was the only time the cameras were pointed at the audience. There's nothing more worth presenting in narrative format, so I'll give you the highlights. The guests were: Some elderly singer and his two youngish students; an attractive young lady in a blue dress, and a dude with long hair and cowboy boots; a paralyzed former gymnast and her fiancee; and a couple of elderly comedians. The elderly singer gave some singing tips to the hostess, and I guess they were talking about their respective careers and training...my chinese sucks. The gymnast talked about her injury, her life as a paraplegic, and she and her fiancee talked about their plans together. The elderly couple talked about their careers. The sound effects on these shows are NOT added after recording, they are done in the studio as it is going on, and played through the speakers to the audience. Though there is a studio audience, nearly all of the audience reaction sounds are either canned applause and laughter done live in the studio or added later. The only exceptions are the out-of-time clapping over the music (which was actually perfectly in time during one song, it was amazing!) and applause. Laughter, gasps, anything else, fake, if you couldn't already tell. Like I suggested before, any audience reaction shots are canned, they aren't actually in response to anything on stage. They shot three shows back-to-back. In the few shots of the audience that were actually done during the filming of each show, you might notice, were you masochistic enough to watch all three shows on TV, the same audience members over and over again. You also might notice a lot of them looking mighty tired during one of those shows, and that would be the one that was shot last. They had a house band, but most of the music isn't played by them. Sometimes that bass line you hear would be live, sometimes recorded. The band were actually pretty drat good. The highlight of the evening for me. The audience members are all paid, 40 kuai each, plus dinner; which in our case consisted of a plastic box of rice, and a plastic box of stir-fried shredded potatoes, served outside the studio. There weren't enough seats, so I made a stool and table by stacking bricks that had been piled up after being dug out of the ground at what looked like an ancient train platform, where they had dug a trench to lay a sewer pipe. We got fed after the 2nd show, but didn't get paid until after all 3. Before the 3rd show, a couple of audience members got up on stage and sang. One of them, of course, was the guy who had been bugging me earlier. After the show, everyone went outside and lined up to get paid. We were separated into groups of five. Each group was handed 2 100 kuai bills and expected to sort it out among themselves. (WTF) We managed to make change, my wife got my 40 kuai, and I got 10 hour experience I will long struggle to forget. Anyhow...I think I will never watch Chinese TV again, not that I was in the habit. VideoTapir fucked around with this message at 01:30 on Sep 3, 2013 |
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Sep 2, 2013 16:49
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VideoTapir posted:The sound effects on these shows are NOT added after recording, they are done in the studio as it is going on, and played through the speakers to the audience.  China's a circus.
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Sep 3, 2013 00:40
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The best part about your friend who thinks its funny to do the Nazi salute is that if you punched him and explained to onlookers, they wouldn't care because Chinese people have a huge focus on what the Japanese did and nothing else. They don't even know who Hirohito is. Just "Japan".
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Sep 3, 2013 00:59
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Jeoh posted:Indonesia is not Chinese territory, Caberham. Not since the Dutch stole it!!!  Also lol to that story. 40rmb? Most people I know who have done that kind of stuff got upwards of 1k. What TV channel was it?
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Sep 3, 2013 01:09
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Smeef posted:So after a few days in HK meant to be preparing for my move to Chengdu, I find myself having done nothing and still completely unprepared. My flight might be canceled (no one can confirm/deny), but if it's not, I'll be arriving at about 2am. The Mix hostel is p much the best hostel in Chengdu. It's not terribly close, but with the subway its not wholly inconvenient. Near the uni itself isn't much besides weird crappy hotels with hourly rates and a few overpriced business hotels. Lazybones hostel is nearer to the uni but pricier (and nicer) than alot of the business hotels in town. If you really want to be in that area, maybe one of the business hotels on the first ring is your best bet, though. Just walk in one theres like a thousand. You could also just stay in the free dorms (if you got a scholarship) for a few days until you find a flat and be an iron chicken like I was.
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Sep 3, 2013 01:20
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Magna Kaser posted:Also lol to that story. 40rmb? Most people I know who have done that kind of stuff got upwards of 1k. What TV channel was it? You're thinking of being a guest. He was an audience member. When I was studying in Beijing, I had a professor who was a CCTV host and one who was a BTV host, so I was a guest on both channels. BTV paid better and had a better green room, but the host/professor was a Buddhist who limited the studio and post-taping dinner to vegetarian food. So I call it a push.
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Sep 3, 2013 03:39
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Magna Kaser posted:The Mix hostel is p much the best hostel in Chengdu. It's not terribly close, but with the subway its not wholly inconvenient. Near the uni itself isn't much besides weird crappy hotels with hourly rates and a few overpriced business hotels. Lazybones hostel is nearer to the uni but pricier (and nicer) than alot of the business hotels in town. I went ahead and booked Flip-flop for a week. It's clean and easy and was the closest to the university. Got in at 3am with no RMB and no ATMs working. In a shocking display of kindness a taxi accepted HKD at market rate. Then I saw multiple penises on the way in from the airport. Men here don't just urinate publicly. They do it proudly.
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Sep 3, 2013 05:27
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This is the show: http://so.letv.com/variety/90204.html It SUUUUUUUUCKS
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Sep 3, 2013 05:28
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