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| Teaching in Harbin | ||
| Harbin Its dirty and polluted, extremes of minus 30 in winter, plus 30 in summer. A northeastern city that is coming close to developing away any of the charm the Russian architects left it 100 years ago. I've been here a year and am loving it. The northeasterners are extremely friendly, the local dumplings and hotpots are delicious and the beer is by far the best in China (sorry Qingdao, can't take the hangovers!). Make sure you are teaching in the city. I was teaching at the appallingly run Harbin Star Foreign Language College. The foreign teachers, students and Chinese staff were great but the foreign and Chinese management were shockingly petty, incompetent and nasty. If you want to hear an funny one about your boss arranging for your appendix to be ripped out without anaesthetic because it was cheaper, or end of contract finacial irregularities, e-mail me for the full saga. Suffice to say Harbin Star Foreign Language College has one of the worst reputations locally. The going rate in the city is about 6000RMB/month based on 24hrs teaching a week. If you can manage to get a z-visa from a college for part-time work, then you can make much more money teaching privately on your own time (100-150RMB/hr). The Harbin version of Mandarin is also said to be one of the purest and most colleges will provide free lessons. If you come with an open mind and are not expecting 'The Paris of the East' then I think you'll fall for the place. Any questions, give us a shout. Greg Clark gregclark@lineone.net Harbin China My name is Pam Ricci April 7, 1004 pmricci01@yahoo.com Vancouver Canada |