My partner lived in Nanjing for like eight months nearly a decade ago, and still talks about how awesome it was. Great food, cool people, neat cities, beautiful countryside, easy to travel around, yadda yadda. Having visited and travelled around a bit since, it's a pretty awesome place, though initial culture shock is real and you'll benefit a lot from getting your Mandarin up to scruff.
Long and the short of it is that it's like moving to any other country - if it sounds like a good fit, pull the trigger
I think being around people is going to be the biggest culture shock for me lol. Crazy to imagine being able to move around and do things normally because they actually handled their outbreak well.
But you're right. I can use duolingo or something to build familiarity before going, but I'm worried it'll be isolating not knowing the language well. I'd be working in an environment where English would be ubiquitous, but it's still limiting as far as social life and travel go.
In the cities there's enough English around to get by, but even knowing the barest basic Mandarin will improve your experience. It'll be hard not to pick some of it up naturally tbh, but just find a fluent speaker who you can chat with over a beer or whatever for a couple hours a week and you'll get there.
One of my favorite things was leaving the city and being utter dependant on my own Mandarin. Chinese are cool and it's nice to force yourself to speak the language.
Imo, middle class locals (from anywhere) that speak really good English and have a western mindset are basically white people. And gringos will spend their entire time with that crowd and never even try to get the county 🙄
That's reaffirming to hear. Thanks for your feedback. What about air quality? I guess it depends on which city/part of China you're in to some degree, but I'm used to very clear skies and being close enough to outdoor recreation areas that I can take advantage of that too.
My mom is from Nanjing and everytime I visit my grandparents there I’m astounded by how fast it’s grown. Growing up, they lived in a tiny room and I had to sleep on a cot when I visited. Now they live in this beautiful three bedroom condo that you’d have to be making six figures to rent out in TriBeCa or San Francisco. And these are pensioners we’re talking about
My partner lived in Nanjing for like eight months nearly a decade ago, and still talks about how awesome it was. Great food, cool people, neat cities, beautiful countryside, easy to travel around, yadda yadda. Having visited and travelled around a bit since, it's a pretty awesome place, though initial culture shock is real and you'll benefit a lot from getting your Mandarin up to scruff.
Long and the short of it is that it's like moving to any other country - if it sounds like a good fit, pull the trigger
I think being around people is going to be the biggest culture shock for me lol. Crazy to imagine being able to move around and do things normally because they actually handled their outbreak well.
But you're right. I can use duolingo or something to build familiarity before going, but I'm worried it'll be isolating not knowing the language well. I'd be working in an environment where English would be ubiquitous, but it's still limiting as far as social life and travel go.
In the cities there's enough English around to get by, but even knowing the barest basic Mandarin will improve your experience. It'll be hard not to pick some of it up naturally tbh, but just find a fluent speaker who you can chat with over a beer or whatever for a couple hours a week and you'll get there.
One of my favorite things was leaving the city and being utter dependant on my own Mandarin. Chinese are cool and it's nice to force yourself to speak the language.
Imo, middle class locals (from anywhere) that speak really good English and have a western mindset are basically white people. And gringos will spend their entire time with that crowd and never even try to get the county 🙄
That's reaffirming to hear. Thanks for your feedback. What about air quality? I guess it depends on which city/part of China you're in to some degree, but I'm used to very clear skies and being close enough to outdoor recreation areas that I can take advantage of that too.
My mom is from Nanjing and everytime I visit my grandparents there I’m astounded by how fast it’s grown. Growing up, they lived in a tiny room and I had to sleep on a cot when I visited. Now they live in this beautiful three bedroom condo that you’d have to be making six figures to rent out in TriBeCa or San Francisco. And these are pensioners we’re talking about