AMonk
- 2007-05-26
Hello Gary & Old and Tired,
Thank you both for your advice and your input.
It is very hard to know what one should/should not bring to another land. Especially when planning to stay for a while. It is definitely not like taking a vacation trip, is it? Whatever is needed/wanted, but "forgotten" cannot necessarily wait for the week or two, till one gets home.
It will be much easier now that you have made some suggestions for me to follow.
Again. My thanks to you both for your assistance to a Newbie.
AMonk
Gary
- 2007-05-24
I take two suitcases, one for my clothes and personal things, and the other for books and teaching materials. Textbooks for teaching English are usually pretty blah, so you'll be relying on other materials to dress up your lessons, especially if you will be teaching specialty forms of English.
Most all hygiene products seem available in cities, but sometimes for a pretty penny if you need imported products. But dental floss and deodorant are sometimes hard to find. Clothes in all styles and patterns are widely available at good quality, but if you are unusually tall or "heavy" you might have a hard time finding something that will fit properly.
Laptops are iffy. China is the land of computer viruses and spyware.
Take a few pictures of your family and hometown. They're good for making friends and breaking the ice.
Patience and level headedness.
Old and Tired
- 2007-05-22
Hello, AMonk!
Obviously, everyone will offer a different answer. For me, because I have particularly large feet (size 46 in China), I have trouble finding shoes and socks. Next time I go back home (assuming I will return -- and probably not), I will bring far more shoes and socks.
Deodorant (also important to me) is becoming easier to obtain with each successive year.
So my suggestion is: if you wear a large size of some type of clothing, bring several of that item.
Some westerners I meet go a little crazy trying to get some specialty food products. Your success in that area will all depend on where you live. I live in a large city in China, and so again, foreign food products are getting easier and easier to find, but of course, at premium prices. I'm lucky that I don't crave so many home foods.
Good luck!
For those of us who are still in the "planning to get to China" category, I wonder if those of you with experience will please share your collective wisdom.
What did you pack and bring that you did not need? What do you wish that you had packed?
Thanks.