Moving to a different country is a new exciting for me. We have been in China for a month now and im actually liking it here. Not only because we have our own place but also a new experience as a husband and wife.
We moved here because of my husbands job and since its not super far from the Philippines we decided that i will just come along with him as a dependent. We live in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province and this is not one of the famous places in the country like Beijing and Shanghai. Here are just some of the few insights when it comes to things here.
Pointers to remember
APARTMENT RENTALS - They ask for 1 year in advance or if they are nice to you they will let you do 6 months rental plus security deposit. Even though its a common practice here in China, since rentals in some other parts of the globe is just the usual one month advance and one month deposit, i find this really shocking. so you better have your funds ready or else you will be in a pretty bad situation when you get there. for furnishings normally they provide the basics but dont expect too much. we requested for an air-conditioner to be installed in our bedroom so i think its not really bad. normally you will get the following, water heater, stove, sofa, tv, bed, ref, a table and some chairs. it varies from time to time anyway.
ELECTRIC- Electricity is PREPAID and its inexpensive as well. My husband said that basic necessities are subsidized by the government. 1 Yuan = 2 kilowatts. Since we are used to post paid bill and this is new to us. and photo below is our electricity card.
WATER SUPPLY- POST PAID you will get a bill every 6 months. I asked our land lord about how much it will cost they said like its almost nothing thats why its being billed every 6 months.
INTERNET CONNECTION- PREPAID 1 year in advance. well we get good internet service here at least. we availed for the fastest connection which is 20 mbps for just $15 a month.
FOOD- There are many restaurants around the place but fruits, veggies and meat are very affordable as well. We prefer shopping every 2 weeks for eggs, fruits and veggies. We do monthly shopping for everything else. photo below is our staples except the corn. its bland and takes forever to boil im not a fan of the corn.
APARTMENT HEATING- In the building that we live in we have CENTRALIZED HEATING which will run from November- January . I dont have any idea if other places does have centralized heating though. Also there is an annual Maintenance Fee paid around the same time with the heating.
COOKING GAS- They have it directly piped inside the kitchen area. We dont use ours so i dont have a lot of ideas about it. I heard its also very cheap as well.
TRANSPORTATION- If i can remember it correctly its 7 yuan flag down and then .80 every succeeding kilometer, Cabs are not air conditioned and dont expect too much with the interior as well. JUST DONT SET AN EXPECTATION okay? They also have buses, trains and an airport in our city.
And thats it for the basics i will post more about our visa processing and application of our residency sticker on our passport soon.
xoxo,
Therese
We moved here because of my husbands job and since its not super far from the Philippines we decided that i will just come along with him as a dependent. We live in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province and this is not one of the famous places in the country like Beijing and Shanghai. Here are just some of the few insights when it comes to things here.
just a random photo i took while we are driving :)
APARTMENT RENTALS - They ask for 1 year in advance or if they are nice to you they will let you do 6 months rental plus security deposit. Even though its a common practice here in China, since rentals in some other parts of the globe is just the usual one month advance and one month deposit, i find this really shocking. so you better have your funds ready or else you will be in a pretty bad situation when you get there. for furnishings normally they provide the basics but dont expect too much. we requested for an air-conditioner to be installed in our bedroom so i think its not really bad. normally you will get the following, water heater, stove, sofa, tv, bed, ref, a table and some chairs. it varies from time to time anyway.
ELECTRIC- Electricity is PREPAID and its inexpensive as well. My husband said that basic necessities are subsidized by the government. 1 Yuan = 2 kilowatts. Since we are used to post paid bill and this is new to us. and photo below is our electricity card.
WATER SUPPLY- POST PAID you will get a bill every 6 months. I asked our land lord about how much it will cost they said like its almost nothing thats why its being billed every 6 months.
INTERNET CONNECTION- PREPAID 1 year in advance. well we get good internet service here at least. we availed for the fastest connection which is 20 mbps for just $15 a month.
FOOD- There are many restaurants around the place but fruits, veggies and meat are very affordable as well. We prefer shopping every 2 weeks for eggs, fruits and veggies. We do monthly shopping for everything else. photo below is our staples except the corn. its bland and takes forever to boil im not a fan of the corn.
APARTMENT HEATING- In the building that we live in we have CENTRALIZED HEATING which will run from November- January . I dont have any idea if other places does have centralized heating though. Also there is an annual Maintenance Fee paid around the same time with the heating.
COOKING GAS- They have it directly piped inside the kitchen area. We dont use ours so i dont have a lot of ideas about it. I heard its also very cheap as well.
TRANSPORTATION- If i can remember it correctly its 7 yuan flag down and then .80 every succeeding kilometer, Cabs are not air conditioned and dont expect too much with the interior as well. JUST DONT SET AN EXPECTATION okay? They also have buses, trains and an airport in our city.
And thats it for the basics i will post more about our visa processing and application of our residency sticker on our passport soon.
xoxo,
Therese
