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Whether the Weather is Right for you…

Before I signed the contract for my first job in China, I remember thinking how lucky I was to have found such a great position. They were offering me a great salary with housing, decent hours, airfare, a travel allowance, free internet, and I would get to live at my dream location; an ancient city on the banks of the Yangtze River.  It wasn’t until a day after I had signed the contract and faxed it back to the school that I realized I had forgotten to research a certain aspect of the job; the weather. I had completely neglected to look at the general climate in the region where I would be teaching. Now that may seem like a small oversight to some of you, but for me, as person who thrives in hot weather and shrivels up in cold weather, climate was at the top of my list or at least should have been.

After doing some research, I discovered that my destination city experienced very hot summers and moderately cold winters. While I would have preferred to teach in a “tropical” climate, at least the city would be warm for most of the year. As it turns out, the winter was quite cold and I spent much of it in close proximity to a space heater but I was also able to go traveling during the coldest stretches.

Before you sign a contract, you need to do some research on the area in which you will be living. Is it a safe place to live? Is it very cold during the winters? Are there any historical sites of interest in the area? How accessible is it to major cities? There are hundreds of jobs available in China at any given time so you can and you should definitely find a place to live that suits you. Salary is important and so are the benefits but location is also a key to your comfort level.

Schools or recruitment agencies in China will tell you almost anything you want to hear about the cities in which they reside. Don’t rely on their information. Look on the internet and see what other foreigners are saying about the area. There are various forums decidated to travel in China so you should be able to get a pretty good idea of what you are getting into.

For more information about choosing the right place, check out our free Comprehensive Guide for English Teachers Living and Working in China.

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