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Almond Crunch posted:Also am I really the only KunmingGoon? Why on earth would someone go to notkunming China? How much are you getting paid?
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Dec 3, 2013 13:15
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Pro-PRC Laowai posted:Why? You could literally get this done in about 5 minutes online, get a better price, and have it in your hands tomorrow. Got a phone for the same price as the cheapest I can see on taobao, I have it today and I have my old phone number back from the phone I lost which I wouldn't have been able to sort out myself since the only Chinese I know is cao ni ma
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Dec 3, 2013 13:23
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Jimmy Little Balls posted:Got a phone for the same price as the cheapest I can see on taobao, I have it today and I have my old phone number back from the phone I lost which I wouldn't have been able to sort out myself since the only Chinese I know is cao ni ma  all you do to keep your phone number is move the sim card you were using to your new phone
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Dec 3, 2013 13:44
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Almond Crunch posted:Also am I really the only KunmingGoon? Why on earth would someone go to notkunming China? I'm gonna be with Kunming for one night only with some friends. We're gonna go to Dwarf Empire in the day and are staying pretty centrally. Any recs for a boozy dinner feast? From there we're headed to Dali for three nights if you have any suggestions for there. We want to do some outdoor stuff. Then poor old me is back to Chengdu.
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Dec 3, 2013 13:44
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gwrtheyrn posted:
The sim card is in the phone that I lost, which is lost. I lost it.
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Dec 3, 2013 13:50
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Jimmy Little Balls posted:The sim card is in the phone that I lost, which is lost. I lost it. You can get a new SIM card with your old number.
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Dec 3, 2013 14:13
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Jimmy Little Balls posted:The sim card is in the phone that I lost, which is lost. I lost it. Where did you lose it? You should go back to that place, get the SIM card, and put that SIM card in your new phone.
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Dec 3, 2013 15:10
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Smeef posted:I'm gonna be with Kunming for one night only with some friends. We're gonna go to Dwarf Empire in the day and are staying pretty centrally. Any recs for a boozy dinner feast? From there we're headed to Dali for three nights if you have any suggestions for there. We want to do some outdoor stuff. Then poor old me is back to Chengdu. I can't recommend much; the things worth trying are the minority cuisines (dai is the best imo) but there's really so many so choosing one is a bit of a task, but i can ask some more in-the-know chinamen for you. GuestBob posted:How much are you getting paid? This is the issue, isn't it? 9500, but no free flat 
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Dec 3, 2013 15:43
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Almond Crunch posted:I can't recommend much; the things worth trying are the minority cuisines (dai is the best imo) but there's really so many so choosing one is a bit of a task, but i can ask some more in-the-know chinamen for you. Out of curiosity, what kind of working hours/office hours/other responsibilities do you have?
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Dec 3, 2013 15:52
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Is Kunming doable on a stopover? Might do one of the Chinese airlines to get 20 hours in Kunming and Guangzhou with the temporary visa/permit. Still can't figure out a multiple entry year long tourist visa.
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Dec 3, 2013 16:46
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Almond Crunch posted:Whoa whoa whoa this seems a bit deceptive in its simplicity; i've been reading goonscripts about frequencies and unlocking and spies in my phone; is it really this simple? Shouldn't I be looking for version x004294 of the Lichtenstein release of the 2008 Samsung or whatever? Did you look at the OP? I outlined all of that stuff. caberham loves his Xiaomi, the Huaweis are alright, the Moto G would be great if you can find one (didn't see on Taobao yet). Just look to get Android 4.0+ really and WCDMA so you can use 3G on China Unicom (or 2G China Mobile)
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Dec 3, 2013 16:51
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I just got back from an amazing trip to China, and one of the things my wife and I do is buy masks from every country we visit. We got reasonably priced traditional tiger and Beijing opera masks from Beijing. Unfortunately, they were smashed to hell in our checked bag - fortunately, other stuff made it alright. The masks weren't heirloom quality, but they were good enough for our wall of masks. Anyone have an idea of where I might be able to shop for such things online? Checked eBay and ran a lot of google searches, but everything is low quality (pulp opera masks) or just the worst of the tourist market offerings. Long shot, but if anyone is near Qianmen station and able to find the small store that had the tiger mask and wants to be a Christmas hero (it was near Uniqlo - maybe a few stores down), I can make it up in Canadian goods exchange products or whatever. But really, if anyone has some good online sources of that kind of souvenir, that's probably easiest and best.
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Dec 3, 2013 16:51
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SB35 posted:Did you look at the OP? I outlined all of that stuff. caberham loves his Xiaomi, the Huaweis are alright, the Moto G would be great if you can find one (didn't see on Taobao yet). Just look to get Android 4.0+ really and WCDMA so you can use 3G on China Unicom (or 2G China Mobile) dafuq is WCDMA edit: I think I'd better not even ask what it is; how do I find out if a phone has it? And yes I did read the OP. I just didn't understand a word of it. An hour with wikipedia taught me some of the basics but it's still p much gibberish to me.
Almond Crunch fucked around with this message at 17:20 on Dec 3, 2013 |
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Dec 3, 2013 17:11
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blinkyzero posted:Out of curiosity, what kind of working hours/office hours/other responsibilities do you have? 18hours a week, but it's 7-10 on Wednesday-Saturday and then 4-10 on Sunday. No office hours.
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Dec 3, 2013 17:21
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Almond Crunch posted:dafuq is WCDMA If you're looking on Taobao they will say WCDMA in the specs. You know what? Pretend I'm caberham, just buy a Xiaomi Hongmi or Xiaomi 2S and go on with life. Both are good, cheap phones.
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Dec 3, 2013 17:29
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SB35 posted:If you're looking on Taobao they will say WCDMA in the specs. thank you, this sort of idiot-proof solution is all i've ever really wanted)
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Dec 3, 2013 17:29
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quote:Anyone have an idea of where I might be able to shop for such things online?
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Dec 3, 2013 19:14
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Oracle posted:yoybuy.com Shipping is a bitch, but such is life. Thanks for that - this has me pretty close on the opera mask front, just need to find the right search terms for a replacement. I found a picture of the (garish) tiger mask on Corbis images, but still haven't seen one being sold online, and even the google similar image search isn't coming up with much.  Let this be a lesson about checked baggage. :/
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Dec 3, 2013 20:21
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Almond Crunch posted:dafuq is WCDMA XiaoMi 2S - it's good m'kay. ZombieParts fucked around with this message at 03:14 on Dec 4, 2013 |
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Dec 4, 2013 03:10
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Almond Crunch posted:18hours a week, but it's 7-10 on Wednesday-Saturday and then 4-10 on Sunday. Evening hours and no weekends? Since SB35 pretended to be me, let me pretend to be Bloodnose : QUIT YOUR JOB Once that is out of your way, how's Kunming? It would nice if you can write something about it.
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Dec 4, 2013 03:46
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blinkyzero posted:Where did you lose it? You should go back to that place, get the SIM card, and put that SIM card in your new phone. This makes no sense. If he knew where he lost it, hence where the sim card was, he wouldn't need a new phone?
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Dec 4, 2013 03:56
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Dec 4, 2013 05:41
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oic 
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Dec 4, 2013 07:19
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caberham posted:Evening hours and no weekends? Since SB35 pretended to be me, let me pretend to be Bloodnose : But I DO get a weekend; Monday and Tuesday is my weekend! But really what should I be looking for? I don't know what to write; this is my first  so i have no real basis for comparison. It's nice to have spicy food again, but it seems like most of the chinese with whom I interact use their appreciation of spicy food as an consolation for being unable to appreciate any subtlety in other tastes whatsoever. I was much warmer in Russia. This no heating thing is loving stupid. Riding a goddamned electric scooter to class everyday before the sun is up is an absurd form of torture; going from moderately warm blanket pile to cold house to FREEZING COLD bike trip makes me just skip class more than once a week, and lord if it is raining then there is no respite because its freezing even under a pile of blankets, and btw haven't these people ever heard of a loving mattress? Living with a chinese guy and his brother is a daily exercise in madness; to what extent can i judge social and cultural niceties as simply 'different' and when can I acknowledge them as stupid and childish? I've gotten e-mails about my transgressions which include: not wearing shoes around the house, sitting on the floor in the living room, drinking drinks at the table during mealtime, offering others food i'd made from the bowl from which i was eating, not offering others food from the bowl from which i had been eating, etc. For my total inability to speak chinese, I can't say I've really experienced Kunming; moreso just the ex-pat Kunming lifestyle. I don't like most expats here; it seems to be mainly contemptibly puerile international-relations majors on their study abroad trips who are consistently SO AMAZED at the exoticism of china (WHOA THESE PEOPLE POOP OUTSIDE I AM SO JAZZED), fourty-to-fifty-something weird guys whose conversations tend to revolve around some craft-turned small business (this is not necessarily a bad thing but man if you don't share that interest these guys are seemingly otherwise difficult to relate to for me; i mean the only hobby that we seem to share is oggling cute chinagirls which isn't really an hotbed of conversational fecundity), irresponsible twenty-somethings who do nothing at work all week and then party friday, saturday, and sunday night, only to skid into their desk monday morning. I myself cannot condemn that sort of indolence but it makes a person very hard to interact with in any way more meaningful than clinking glasses and sharing cigarettes, and the group which I can only really describe by stealing a demographic identity from the turks; that is the Agabeyler: the hitherto farmboys who somehow (whiteskin) landed a white-collar job and are desperately looking to at once display their newfound success in a bid for the respect they never saw as children while asskissing people who actually have a decent share of social grace and charisma. The chinese girls have not been as welcoming as i'd heard. I am tall, blond, young, and healthy. I never had problems (not significant problems; I don't claim to be able to snap my fingers and have bitches on my dick) getting laid in America or Russia, but here it seems that I'm exoticized to inhumanity; i can spend a whole night having girls coming up to me asking for photos with me but any advance or invitation on my part is met with shock and hushed dismissal. I mainly spend my time studying; I take classes at two different schools and after class I'll go listen to podcasts for another two hours while drinking coffee and watching chinese people. It feels hopelessly debilitating to physically exist in a place while being totally unable to interact with any of the people there besides being continually stared at as if you were suspected of shoplifting. Work is OK. My students are exceedingly diverse in their ability to speak english; I can help the few who are actually suited to the class they are in, but it's draining to have to teach 20 people who have no hope of understanding what you're teaching and who are humiliated by the prospect their comprehension of a currently-taught lesson being checked. THE WEED IS P GOOD THOUGH
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Dec 4, 2013 08:37
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Almond Crunch posted:THE WEED IS P GOOD THOUGH Nah it's not. Unless you're not from America in which case maybe it is. At least you can get cheap opium down there though! Your schedule is fine since you want to take classes, ignore the haters. Also I don't understand..cold in Kunming? I was there last February and it was like 60 and sunny every day. Arakan fucked around with this message at 08:47 on Dec 4, 2013 |
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Dec 4, 2013 08:44
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Arakan posted:Nah it's not. Unless you're not from America in which case maybe it is. At least you can get cheap opium down there though! Right, so it's 60 outside, and slightly less inside. If you're on the wrong side of the building, it's 55 without sun. It's not so humid, so that daytime burst of sun doesn't stick around at night, leading to being able to see your own breath underneath the covers.
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Dec 4, 2013 09:04
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I landed in Wuhan a week ago and immediately got sick with a high fever/cough. Went through a night of high fever before I popped some Ibuprofen. I feel like I have bronchitis because my lungs feel like they're full of gunk and I'm still coughing up phlegm. I don't know if it is the pollutants or the placebo effect but I got a crappy filtered mask the other day and felt better. If I had to recommend anything when visiting China, it would be to get a mask. The last time I was back in 2009, the pollution didn't seem quite as bad. I feel like I'm in a toxic wasteland now. Moreover, I'm surprised how many people are rolling around in BMW's, Audi's, Rover's, MB's, Bentley's, etc. God drat Gucci, Louis Vuitton, DG, Hermes stores are popping up faster than Starbucks. PS: Saw a girl pee on the street the other day -- trip complete. Ready for some greasy burger from Five Guys or something.
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Dec 4, 2013 09:15
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Almond Crunch posted:Right, so it's 60 outside, and slightly less inside. If you're on the wrong side of the building, it's 55 without sun. It's not so humid, so that daytime burst of sun doesn't stick around at night, leading to being able to see your own breath underneath the covers. Hahaha where are you from? Go to a supermarket and get an electric blanket. If you think 60 is cold then you probably don't have a real coat. Get a real coat even if you have to order it from the US. It's Kunming so get one with a waterproof shell. For god's sake make friends with your coworkers. Go meet their friends. Find someone who you genuinely get along with. Get that person a present or two. Offer to help them with something English related. Ask them for help with things that you can't do because you are a foreigner who doesn't speak Chinese AKA adult baby. If you genuinely make friends with this person/these people then that's even better. Get your own apartment. For this you need a Chinese friend to help you find a place and negotiate a price. Kunming shouldn't be too expensive. Westerners and Chinese have enough trouble sharing an apartment when they're in a committed relationship; don't force yourself to stay with people you don't care about. Stay away from drugs and alcohol and TV shows and other time wasters for a while. You can come back to them when you've got basic living poo poo sorted out. There's a real risk of retreating into any of those things and never sorting about basic life issues like apartment, work and social circle thus becoming a dysfunctional person. Take things step by step; allow yourself time to relax once you've accomplished something for the day. It doesn't have to be big but it has to be more than getting through the work day. I think most of us have been where you are. Take care of yourself and make Chinese friends. Start taking problems step by step and you'll be living a much saner life before long.
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Dec 4, 2013 12:24
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Almond Crunch posted:Right, so it's 60 outside, and slightly less inside. If you're on the wrong side of the building, it's 55 without sun. It's not so humid, so that daytime burst of sun doesn't stick around at night, leading to being able to see your own breath underneath the covers. You're not going to see your breath at 55, WTF.
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Dec 4, 2013 14:46
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Are the apartments for esl monkeys usually pretty bad? I'm working for a public high school, and when I complained about how lovely my first place was, they moved me to another place which honestly is still not that great. I'm not really the kind of person that needs a big place, and I can clean and fix it up as well as I can and deal with whatever's left if I have to. Mostly I don't want to get screwed here.
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Dec 4, 2013 14:48
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If 55 is cold I can't imagine you surviving in Russia. I mean I know not all of Russia is a frozen wasteland even in winter but there can't possibly be anywhere even close to that warm.
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Dec 4, 2013 14:49
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New Coke posted:Mostly I don't want to get screwed here. I don't understand.
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Dec 4, 2013 15:22
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Eh, I kind of found the same thing. I don't know what Russia's like, but my hometown (Winnipeg) is far colder than the city I'm in right now, but the poor insulation plus the odd habit here of not heating any buildings until Nov. 15th, regardless of how cold it actually is, plus leaving the windows wide open even when it's like ten degrees and polluted as hell makes it much less comfortable than at home. edit: ^^^ I guess I mean that if crappy accommodations are the norm I can deal with it. I mostly don't want to be ripped off. New Coke fucked around with this message at 15:28 on Dec 4, 2013 |
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Dec 4, 2013 15:24
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New Coke posted:Are the apartments for esl monkeys usually pretty bad? I'm working for a public high school, and when I complained about how lovely my first place was, they moved me to another place which honestly is still not that great. I'm not really the kind of person that needs a big place, and I can clean and fix it up as well as I can and deal with whatever's left if I have to. Mostly I don't want to get screwed here. It varies a lot because it's one of those things where the responsibility can be passed around. Sometimes you get someone who cares, sometimes you get screwed more by penny-pinching or just sheer laziness.
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Dec 4, 2013 15:25
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It's an endurance thing, you know? In Russia the cold was welcome after spending a few hours in a sweltering office building, until it wasn't, at which point any structure within site could be entered for warmth. Here there's just no respite anywhere; it's all mildly cold. I'm actually ok when just walking around, but riding a scooter creates a steady 40km wind blowing at you. My daily commute involves lots of scootering. listen the cold is a relatively minor complaint here especially considering that it is december
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Dec 4, 2013 15:28
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I get you. Where I am in Korea is warmer than what I'm used to, but the persistence of the cold is a different experience. There's no respite, either places are unheated or are loving 30C and I want to kill myself.
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Dec 4, 2013 15:31
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So who's going to be the business tycoon genius who introduces Asia to insulation?
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Dec 4, 2013 15:34
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Insulation is for decadent westerners.
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Dec 4, 2013 15:46
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Oracle posted:So who's going to be the business tycoon genius who introduces Asia to insulation? He'll have to team up with the genius who gets them to close the windows.
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Dec 4, 2013 16:10
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Just drink more hot water
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Dec 4, 2013 16:19
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