Being a foreigner in China can be a strange experience, regardless of whether you're in a large city or a provincial town. Prepare yourself to be stared at. A LOT.I'm used to it now but at the beginning, even though I knew what to expect, I still felt as if I was an alien as wherever I went I attracted huge attention.
As I am totally new to Guangzhou, I would like to explore it as much as possible. Due to my OH's wild work schedule, this proved a bit difficult though, to say the least. In case you don't know-in China there is no such thing as regular working hours, not for most people at least. The hours in your contract are almost never the hours that you actually work. Also, it is normal to be requested to work on Saturdays, if only for half a day. So you are leaving the house at 8am, coming back at 8pm and having one whole day off. Wonderful,isn't it?One could say, well do something about it, complain, but this is China and if you don't like your job, there are literally millions waiting to take your place so don't hold your breath for the boss to do something about the broken air conditioning or horrible food in the canteen. Get on with it, seems to be the motto here. Oh, it is also common to be asked to work on Sunday, your only day off. Sounds great,doesn't it?
How did we both end up in Guangzhou then?Not Shanghai, not Beijing, not even Wuhan?Well, first of all I must have done something right at my interview as I was offered a position straight away. Here's the catch-the job doesn't start until August:/What do I do until then?Where do I live?Should I go back to UK or perhaps continue searching for another, more-immediate work?All those questions were answered very quickly. Only a couple of days after returning from the interview, my OH was meant to have an interview of his own in Wuhan. Everything was prepared, transport ready, departure on time. And then my phone rang. It was a Chinese person looking for him!Few minutes later I received a text:'I'm on my way back'!Turned out my OH applied for a few positions in Guangzhou,too and one company wanted to meet him right away!So he came back, packed his bags and left. But not before I joined him as all this seemed very exciting:)He was supposed to stay in GZ for 2 days, attend the interview and that's it. So, the time has come to pack our bags, say goodbye to my OH's parents' house and the fair city of Yichang. We are officially moving to Guangzhou!!!I never really considered that city to be my future base; ever since I came to China I saw myself in Shanghai or another city near east coast of China. It's just where foreigners go, isn't it?And because so many foreigners settle there, life for a fresh expat like myself, seems that little bit easier there, what with countless international food stores and restaurants, multitude of foreign brands, a wide selection of online retailers specializing in foreign products, all sorts of social clubs,etc. It' a bit like still living in a European/Western way but in China...
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MEHello! I'm a Polish/British girl, who followed her heart all the way to China....Confused already :) ?Wait for the updates written from a uniquely international perspective. Inspirations
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