Beijing

When you go to China, you learn to become a last minute person, change plans at the drop of a dime. True to it's nature, China threw a curve ball at the last minute. Instead of Xi'an and the Starfish Foster Home, I'm off to Beijing and China Little Flower. A woman somehow related to the home offered to let Kendra and me board at her home while there which is beyond amazing of her. There is hope in humanity! ;)

I am completely determined to approach this new experience with an open mind and make Beijing my home. I want to make friends with the locals, and as always, live like the Chinese as much as possible. The best way to keep culture shock and homesickness at bay is to immerse yourself in the culture. It's amazing to embrace (as much as possible) another culture and really experience it. It opens you up to a whole new world you didn't ever know existed. It's the most beautiful experience, and I wish I had the words to truly help you see it the way I do. Better yet, go try it for yourself!

Things You Can and Can't Buy in China

大家好！

One of the biggest struggles I found while trying to pack for China my first time was that I didn't know what I could buy there and what I couldn't. Here is a pretty basic list of necessities that you can buy in China (Please note that this is a general list. You may be able to find some things in one city that you can't in another):

• Toothbrushes and toothpaste like Crest and also lots of really gross tasting ones. I'd just stick to Crest.
• Socks (not thick ones)
• Razors (though they are not as high quality and usually more expensive since they are uncommon)
• Makeup (Also can be expensive depending on how picky you are about brands, etc.)
• Hair dye (Only natural colors in blond and dark brown)
• Q-tips
• Nail clippers
• Office supplies like paper, scissors, colored pencils, markers, notebooks (often with poor English on the covers), etc. 
• Hair gel and spray (in larger cities mostly)
• Clothes (If you are of a small build) and shoes (if you are about a size 7 in women's or 10 in men's)
• Some decent brands of body wash, lotion, and shampoo and conditioner. While in China, I used the L'Oreal curly hair products, but they were a little pricey at 30 yuan a piece which is around $5. They do carry Olay products, but note that all things are in smaller quantities for higher prices because they are imported. If you can, just bring your own.
• Hair dyers and straighteners. There are little shops everywhere that sell random things, so it's not hard to find one for really cheap.
• Chapstick
• Laundry detergent though I do prefer to bring my own because I think the detergent in China is really hard on clothes. (Be careful when buying this if you do. Try to buy ones with colored clothing pictured on the package to be safe)

You cannot buy

• Deodorant
• Contacts and contact solution (I've heard that if you can find a Watson's you can find this there.)
• Dental floss
• Mouthwash
• Western medications such as ibuprofen, cold meds, Peptobismo, etc.
• Tampons
• Good sunscreen
• Shoes if your feet are over size 7 in women's or 10 in men's. I brought two pairs of shoes. Heels and some tennis shoes. My tennis shoes got holes and I had to buy new ones (at a foreign store that luckily carried my size) and I wished the whole time I was there that I had a pair of flats to wear to school instead of heels.

Here are a few things I brought that I found very useful:

• Pack of playing cards
• Sewing kit (packing is limited and China is hard on clothes. Your clothes are bound to get a little worn out with all the extra walking and travel so it's good to be able to do minor repairs)
• Granola bars and fruit snacks to eat while getting used to different food.
• A backpack or a big purse to carry lots of things with so you don't have to take your huge suitcase on shorter trips.
• A USB for printing things, sharing lessons, or anything else for that matter They are pretty expensive to buy in China sometimes, so I'd bring one just to be safe.
• An iPod with games and music
• A couple books to read though you can use the hostel book exchange if you find any good books there.
• A Mandarin-English dictionary. 
• A passport case to protect it from ware and tear. You can't take trains or planes  or stay in a hotel or hostel without it, so you use it a lot.
• A lint roller
• A basic light jacket you can wear inside or when you go outside to work out.
• A watch
• Warm socks (I spent more than half the time with frozen toes my first time even though)
• Boots (Like thick ones. I just bought cheap Ugg look a-likes and they kept my feet warm both the 2nd and 3rd time I went to China.)
• Gloves and scarves
• Adapters (the ones we bought at Walmart all broke so find one elsewhere)
• A laptop. Some schools will be willing to provide you with one to use, while others won't. Some schools will give you an office computer while others won't. A laptop is a great resource when you are teaching since you can make power points and get online ideas and help.

The China Horizons packing page has some good suggestions as well. To look at that, click here.

Good websites I frequented that will help you get around or get information:

• Ctrip is great for getting times and prices on trains and planes as well as finding hotels.
• Hostel World for booking hostels (a cheaper form of a hotel)
• The Great Firewall of China lets you test websites to see if they will work or not in Mainland (though not entirely reliable since it says Gmail doesn't work even though it does.)
• The Travel China Guide is great at giving you ideas of places to see in the cities you travel to.
• Sogou is where I get all my Chinese music from. You can get basically any other kind of music on there, too, but remember that it's illegal so I can't technicallly encourage it... ;)
• Youku is the Chinese YouTube. You can watch tons of TV shows and movies if you are in Mainland China (otherwise it doesn't work). It's great!
• Baidu is the Chinese google. I use the map on Baidu paired with Google Translate to find things in our city.
• (Note that blogs, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and many other websites won't work unless you have a VPN or proxy server. It's suggested you get one before you leave because once in China, it's much harder to get one. I've used Express VPN and Switch VPN. Of the two, I'd recommend Express, but Switch was cheaper.  As far as free goes, I haven't found any that work super great, but I have set up a proxy on my Google Chrome browser. You can do this by following the instructions on this website: http://mrjetlee.com/facebook-from-china/ )

For anyone who reads this, I really hope it helps you pack and prepare for your trip to China!