Getting ready

After we got married in July 2012, we knew for sure our next goal was to go to China. But figuring out how and where to start took a lot of planning.

The first thing we had to do was decide where we wanted to go specifically. Taylor and I are Mormon and decided we would only look at cities with a Mormon congregation. This limited us to, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Suzhou, Xian, Tianjin, Shenzhen, Dalian,Hangzhou, or, Guangzhou.

We didn't want to go anywhere in Guangdong province because they speak Cantonese and we wanted to be immersed in Mandarin, that ruled out Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou.

The last time I was in China I had already seen the Shanghai and Nanjing area and we wanted to see something new. That ruled out, Shanghai, Nanjing, Suzhou, and Hangzhou.

I then started doing research online looking for schools in Northern China, Beijing, Tianjin, and Xian mostly. After emailing back in forth with a few companies we finally decided on a school called "China immersion" www.chinaimmersion.org. The school is run by Americans and really focuses on teaching English and Learning Chinese. The school give us a place to live, a 20hr per week job, and 20hrs per week of 1 on 1 Mandarin lessons. It was exactly what we were looking for and we found it in Tianjin China, a huge city of 5,800,000 people an hour and a half from Beijing.

Once we had the school figured out,had gone through the interview process and,been accepted there were a few things we needed to do before we could actually get on the plane.

1. $100 commitment fee per person.
Most schools charge a commitment fee, it's to be sure the applicant is serious and to cover the companies expenses in applying for your entrance letter.
2. Plane tickets
We opted to just get 1 way tickets, for a couple of reasons. First they were cheaper and we are on a budget, and second we didn't want to be locked in to a return flight when we aren't sure how long we are going to stay. Plus at the end of our 1 year contract our flights are reimbursed so we will have the money for a one way flight home.
3. Visas.
This is where things start getting sticky, the closest Chinese consulate to us is in California. That means we need to use a visa service. Some of the visa companies are crazy expensive like $400 a person. I shopped around and found a company that charges $186 total per person thank heavens! Www.notary.pacificlightinginc.com

Questions?comments? Blogminks@gmail.com