blinkyzero posted:

Okay nevermind that really is poo poo, heh.

caberham posted:

Wonderful business plan! Hey how's your free time? If I visit Shanghai January want to meet up

Daduzi posted:

Gulluoglu: If you've got any specific questions, hit me up.

goldboilermark posted:

I've got a good group of friends here in Tianjin that work at EF and love it. The group of EF people a few years back were total shits but the people we have now seem quite good. Wall Street in Tianjin has always been horrible. I am pretty sure that it varies from city to city. Lucky English sucks in Tianjin. So does Baby English, Orange English, Nancy's Friend English and New Oriental.

Gulluoglu posted:

Thanks, I appreciate it.

The salary I was offered was 12,350; is that realistically enough to be able to get a place close enough to work without having a horrible or nightmarish commute if I'm in Shanghai? I know Shanghai has a pretty good subway system, but know nothing about their bus lines. After being in Beijing for a couple of months, I know that navigating Chinese bus lines without a good grasp on Mandarin is pretty much impossible unless you've prepped in advance or have some kind of map/app.

One of my goals is to learn Mandarin, and the main reason I want to consider this job is because this is a way for me to learn it while getting paid and getting my foot in the door for some other work opportunities in China. When I asked my recruiter about advancement opportunities within EF, she sounded kind of vague and just told me that the company sends out internal emails all the time about different positions they are offering. I asked one of my other friends who is a teacher there now and he sent along a couple of those emails to me and they were things related to joining sales or marketing teams or becoming administrative assistants. I have a Masters degree and years of previous work experience, I'm not looking to start at square one again or go into something unrelated like sales. I'm just wondering if these are the typical opportunities that she meant, or if there were other things that come up too that would be more appropriate to my education/experience level.

I do like that EF has ways to gain other certifications and they offer Mandarin lessons. Are the lessons they offer a viable way to try to reach proficiency or fluency in Mandarin, or should I be considering something much more intensive? The recruiter didn't know a lot about it since she wasn't taking advantage of those courses, but from what she did know it just sounded like it was once a week or something you have to sign up for and hope they have open availability.

Brotein_Shake posted:

Welp, seems me and my buttlover will be spending the next 6 months in Tianjin starting next week. We will be working with New Century Culture and Language Center, I've met one of their founders during a language intensive and he invited us to teach and study there. How bad will things reasonably go?

goldboilermark posted:

If you all show up and are looking for places to to hang out or whatever, hit me up, I am willing to show you around if ya like.

Magna Kaser posted:

1600/月 place

caberham posted:

Friend of mine lives right next to xinzhuang station at the end of line 1. She has 3 room mates but her place is huge. The place is 250m, so that's like 2500 square feet with a large living room. Unfortunately, there's no elevator in her house but her share of the rent is 800 RMB a month. It's a bit far to the city centre and takes 45 minutes to be in JingAn but it's still manageable for weekend trips or going out. Her office is on YiShan so her commute is just 20 minutes.

RocknRollaAyatollah posted:

Don't live out there, live closer to the city. I lived by the South Station, which is closer, and that was rough. I'd stick to within line 4 and not past line 8 to the East as a rule because that leaves you much closer to the areas you want to be in. Don't live in Pudong either, there's nothing out there despite it being built up.



The Laowai Ghetto is mostly families who work for corporations or the big international schools. If you're young and single, not the place to be. The Bund and Pudong are pretty opulent but there are some good views at some of the bars and there's some good restaurants, like Tocks. You want to be in that green area or around. Try to be close to a subway stop and remember that just because there's a subway stop, doesn't mean it's realistic. I think one of the lines even goes to a water village now.

RocknRollaAyatollah posted:

Don't live out there, live closer to the city. I lived by the South Station, which is closer, and that was rough. I'd stick to within line 4 and not past line 8 to the East as a rule because that leaves you much closer to the areas you want to be in. Don't live in Pudong either, there's nothing out there despite it being built up.



The Laowai Ghetto is mostly families who work for corporations or the big international schools. If you're young and single, not the place to be. The Bund and Pudong are pretty opulent but there are some good views at some of the bars and there's some good restaurants, like Tocks. You want to be in that green area or around. Try to be close to a subway stop and remember that just because there's a subway stop, doesn't mean it's realistic. I think one of the lines even goes to a water village now.

RocknRollaAyatollah posted:

Don't live out there, live closer to the city. I lived by the South Station, which is closer, and that was rough. I'd stick to within line 4 and not past line 8 to the East as a rule because that leaves you much closer to the areas you want to be in. Don't live in Pudong either, there's nothing out there despite it being built up.



The Laowai Ghetto is mostly families who work for corporations or the big international schools. If you're young and single, not the place to be. The Bund and Pudong are pretty opulent but there are some good views at some of the bars and there's some good restaurants, like Tocks. You want to be in that green area or around. Try to be close to a subway stop and remember that just because there's a subway stop, doesn't mean it's realistic. I think one of the lines even goes to a water village now.

Tom Smykowski posted:

Id legit live in a place called the land of wind and ghosts.

Gulluoglu posted:

Thanks for the advice and helpful color-coded map, I'll look at that area when I get closer to moving. I'm still young and unmarried, though have a ~~Chinese Girlfriend~~ I met when finishing off the Masters, so we'll want to be able to go out and enjoy some semblance of a nightlife too. I'm still not entirely sure where my future workplace is at in relation to anything in the city (EF HQ). I'm hoping to be able to get by without a roommate, is that doable in that area or am I going to be eating instant noodles every day?

Atopian posted:

I've been very happy sharing an apartment with another English teacher. It meant that I could live somewhere nice and shiny for 1400/mo

Atopian posted:

I've saved a ton of money by being able to casually talk to someone in English without having to hit the expat bars, etc.

caberham posted:

Lentt is the gooniest goon ultra lurker though. Both sides have merit. Depends on what you are looking for.

If bad astronaut was my room mate we would have created goon paradise. Actually any city I go I try to make it a goon paradise. Such is my power

Atopian posted:

I've been very happy sharing an apartment with another English teacher. It meant that I could live somewhere nice and shiny for 1400/mo (Kunshan, near Shanghai, the savings would be more significant in Shanghai proper), and I've saved a ton of money by being able to casually talk to someone in English without having to hit the expat bars, etc.

Yes, I know, I know "~~~Chinese Girlfriend~~~" etc, but until that, uh, happy day, a flatmate is good company. As long as you don't choose to live with That Guy.

Magna Kaser posted:

The best place I lived in Chengdu was a 2 storey sky castle with like 3 balconies that were all huge, but that cost 1200 each with 3 people!

quote:

Are expats the only people that speak English or something?

caberham posted:

Are you in Suzhou now or something? Besides expat bars, you can set up your board game groups or goon groups right?

LentThem posted:

BadAstronaut made the same argument, but I'm not really seeing it. I could buy a medium pizza by myself, or I could save some money and split a large pizza with another guy. Technically I saved money but half a large is still smaller than a full medium.

If you're sharing a living room + kitchen + bathroom + balcony with someone else, you're kinda ending up with less space overall than if you just rented a smaller place by yourself (unless this is someone with a crazy shift who is never home when you are or if this is the only possible way to live near a subway station)

Daduzi posted:

Regarding EF (full disclosure: I currently work for them as an academic manager but this is an honest account of what I know):

bad day posted:

These places are crappy English mills that churn out gobs of money for the owners but it's much, much better to work as a real teacher in an actual school. You get paid better (or have drastically reduced hours) and are less surrounded by self-important nonsense. I've taught at training centers, universities, middle, and high schools with naught but two arms, white skin, and a bachelor's in English.

The training center was absolutely the worst, though. Apple Apple, Ball Ball, drilling, flash cards, games, and drawing stars on the board. Yaaaay. Today I explained the Crimean crisis to a bunch of 14 year-olds, because they have to go talk about it in Model UN next weekend. Again, I don't have any special qualifications. I have a friend that just took a job in Guangdong that's double my salary with half the hours and he's an alcoholic reprobate who never went to university (cool guy tho).

China is a land of opportunity. No one needs to work for EF.

edit: is this something that exists in every country; a sort of pocket industry that exploits the naïveté of newly arrived foreigners?

bad day posted:

edit: is this something that exists in every country; a sort of pocket industry that exploits the naïveté of newly arrived foreigners?

bad day posted:

bad day posted:

These places are crappy English mills that churn out gobs of money for the owners but it's much, much better to work as a real teacher in an actual school. You get paid better (or have drastically reduced hours) and are less surrounded by self-important nonsense. I've taught at training centers, universities, middle, and high schools with naught but two arms, white skin, and a bachelor's in English.

The training center was absolutely the worst, though. Apple Apple, Ball Ball, drilling, flash cards, games, and drawing stars on the board. Yaaaay. Today I explained the Crimean crisis to a bunch of 14 year-olds, because they have to go talk about it in Model UN next weekend. Again, I don't have any special qualifications. I have a friend that just took a job in Guangdong that's double my salary with half the hours and he's an alcoholic reprobate who never went to university (cool guy tho).

China is a land of opportunity. No one needs to work for EF.

edit: is this something that exists in every country; a sort of pocket industry that exploits the naïveté of newly arrived foreigners?

VideoTapir posted:

Where are you finding these jobs? I never found anything outside a training center that was offering more than 8000 RMB, though some of them did have better hours. Some were offering as little as 4000. That is, apart from international schools, who want certified teachers (which I will be in a year and a half).