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The Hypermarket:
It contains many different shops and
stalls within the same building. You can buy pretty much anything here:
Food, clothes, stationary, kitchenware, etc. The basement of the
hypermarket is a large supermarket. It is handy because it is so close,
the prices are reasonable but not the cheapest.
(To get there: Turn right at the college gates and walk down the road to the junction at the end. Turn left head towards the drum tower. At the drum tower, turn right down the main road, Di'anmen Wai Dajie. It is down this road just past McDonalds.
The Meat & Vegetable Market:
Very cheap place to buy
fruit and veg. I found that most traders gave me a good price, but
occasionally some will try to rip you off.
(Across the road from the college, turn right, and take the second turning.)
Another Supermarket. (Don't know what it's called, the name is in Chinese.):
There
is a supermarket here which is often quieter than the hypermarket and
cheaper. Food is downstairs, with household items upstairs.
(Turn right as you come out of the college gates walk down the road until you come to the junction at the end of the road. Turn right on to Gulou Dongdajie and walk straight down the road until you turn left at the big junction with traffic lights on to Jiaodaokou Nandajie, walk 20 meters and it's on the left.)
Metro station:
The Beijing underground is very easy to use and you don't need to speak
a word of Chinese. Tickets can only be purchased one way and any ticket
costs only 3 yuan.
(Turn left as you come out of the college gates and it just down the road.)
Western Supermarkets:
There are small supermarkets
selling some Western food, These supermarkets are the Park 'n' Shop and
the CRC. They are located in all of the Plazas.
The Carrefour (French) There are a couple around Beijing but they are difficult to get to, best take a taxi.
To buy: The best place to buy them is the Beijing Foreign Languages Book store in Wanfujing. There are some English language fiction books on the ground floor but the larger selection is on the top floor. It is through a passageway so it is well hidden, but it is there! There is also a small selection in the Friendship Store in Jainguomen
To borrow: Using libraries is highly problematic for foreigners. You will encounter problems such as not being allowed to take books out of the library, and not even being allowed to peruse the shelves. In some places you must give a specific title to the librarian (who will not speak English) and it will be brought to you to read in the library. Sometimes you will be charged for using books or if you want to take a book out. However, you can get pages photocopied for a small charge.
The Pass-By Bar operates a lending library for foreigners. They have
a good selection of English language fiction donated by ex-pats over
the years. The deal is that you contribute 3 books of your own; then
you are given a membership number, entitling you to borrow 1 book at a
time.
(Out of the college turn right and go to the bottom of Jiugulou Dajie. Turn left towards the drum tower and then turn right onto the street where McDonalds and the Jian Hypermarket are. Continue down this street and there will be a left-hand turning (just before the bridge,) go down here and take the 2nd turning on the right (just past a building claiming to once be the home of some famous general) go down this road and the pass-by bar will be on the left hand side.)
Pharmacies:
in
Beijing are aplenty. Medicines that are only available by prescription
in the England and America are sold cheaply over the counter here,
including a wide range of antibiotics (these will probably come in very
useful) and oral contraceptives.
Opticians:
Alexis Eyewear Boutique in the Oriental Plaza
in Wanfujing. The manager and some assistants speak good English and
are very helpful. They offer free eye tests. For glasses and contact
lenses the prices are a little cheaper than in England.
If you know your prescription you can buy lenses and contact lenses over the counter without needing to present a current prescription from an optician, as is required in the UK.
Phone:
In China local calls are free from a home land line or mobile but not
public pay phones. To make an international call, you must buy a
pre-pay phone card called an IP card. Be careful about the price. The
cards are sold in units of 50 and 100. These are time units, not
monetary units. Most retailers are aware that foreigners will pay 50
yuan for a 50 unit card and so on, but the prices are not the same as
the number of time units. The prices vary from different retailers. The
small supermarket across the road from the college and to the right as
you come out of the gates, charge a fair price without haggling.
Internet:
To get a dial up connection from your room, the dial up number is 169.
The charge for using the internet is made up of the cost of the phone
call and the internet charge. The total cost is 5.4 Yuan per hour.
The Chinese internet is very restricted, so a lot of English websites will not be accessible. Amongst the restricted sites are those containing free virus checkers. Be very wary of viruses on Chinese computers. At the time of writing, the average number of viruses on a college computer is three, but the record for the most viruses on a single computer was seventeen! Currently the college is working to remedy the situation, but it is highly advisable to have an up-to-date virus checker. One way of protecting your personal computer against viruses is to not use floppy disks, instead, e-mail documents to yourself then open them on a computer from your email account. If you have a Hotmail e-mail account, anything you send is checked by the MacAfee virus checker, which is one of the best available. Alternatively, keep your virus checker very up to date.
There is a college canteen, the building on the right as you come out of the main doors. It is open at lunch time and from 5pm to 8pm. It is very cheap, and upstairs there is an English menu.
The maintenance man is permanently in the college but does not speak English. He is in Room 106. If you need his services during office hours ask your departmental secretary. If you have an emergency outside office hours, you will need to find someone around college who will translate for you.
Rubbish can be left in the rubbish bag outside your room for the cleaners to take away. You should be provided with a door sign with "Do not disturb" on one side and "Please cleaning"(and they call this a college of English?) on the other. If you display the Please cleaning sign, the cleaner will clean your floor for you.
Laundry: You collect 12 token coins per month from your departmental secretary. 1 wash uses 1 token. If you need extra you can buy some. There are two washing machines on the ground floor corridor first door on the left.
Chinese classes do not involve much discussion work, so Chinese students are
reluctant to participate in discussion and students are not used to putting
their hands up or speaking in class. Chinese schools tend to have large class
sizes so there is not much personal teacher - student interaction. Western teaching
methods are more discussion centered and encourage students to think for themselves,
while Chinese lessons are highly book based and do not encourage as much creative
thinking.
Chinese schools do not teach study skills and techniques. Therefore Chinese students who have not had a foreign teacher before will not have been taught how to take notes, plan essays, summarise in their own words etc.
Some students mistake the Western classes as being more informal than traditional Chinese classes because Western teachers encourage interaction between teachers and students and between students themselves. This could be one of the reasons for discipline problems, such as using mobile phones and reading magazines etc. There is also a myth circulating amongst Chinese students that Western teachers are more 'laid back' in regard to discipline and behaviour in the classroom. It is well worth setting the record straight from the beginning on this point. The Chinese teachers, perhaps used to large class sizes usually take the approach of ignoring these minor instances of bad behaviour.
The Chinese students are more dependant upon their parents than Western counterparts. It is very uncommon for students to have part-time jobs, as Westerners would. The students still feel their parents are responsible for them, so if there are any issues of behaviour/attendance e.t.c. don't hesitate to contact their parents, even if they are 21!
Bars: It is always a good idea to ask the price of drinks
before you order them. Once consumed, the owner can (and probably will)
charge you any price he/she likes.
Best Before dates: It may seem that all food is past the Best Before date printed on the packaging. This is not necessarily true. In China, the date printed is the production date, not the best before date. The production date is displayed and the shelf life will be written else where on the packaging
Haggling: In a lot of shops and markets the seller will quote an extortionate price in an attempt to begin haggling. If you pay the first price they ask, bad news for you but they won't believe their luck. Despite what the first asking price is, don't be afraid to give them your own price, even if it seems ridiculous in the light of the first price. Good hagglers can pay as low as 10% of the original asking price for clothes from markets.
Current news and events for Ex-Pats: For up-to-date information on what's available around Beijing for Ex-Pats, there are free magazines in most Western restaurants and bars.
Taxis: By law taxis must run on a meter, so you don't have to negotiate a price before you get in. Taxi drivers still try to bump up the fare by taking the longest possible route, so keep an eye on your map as you go.
Money: If you bring Travellers Cheques with you in Sterling or Dollars, you can only cash them at The Bank of China, other banks will not exchange them for you. To change currency from Yuan into Sterling or Dollars, this can also only be done at some branches of The Bank of China. Don't rely on being able to send money to a bank account in other parts of the world from China. Chinese currency and monetary system is very independant of the rest of the world.
Copyright Rebecca Forbes