Cell phone, secondary projects, travelling outside of China…

QUESTIONS
1. How close are you to Internet access?
2. Do you recommend bringing a laptop?
3. If I have a cell phone now that gets international service, can I bring it?
4. I’m obsessed with not having dry skin and carry miniature bottles of lotion in my purse. How easy is it to get access to toiletries like lotion.
5. During the summertime, when we have our second volunteer opportunity-what international non-profit organizations are available to volunteer at?
6. How expensive is it to travel outside of China, for instance, to Vietnam?
7. How long did it take you before you felt relatively comfortable conversating in Chinese?

Sincerely,
N

1. I have DSL in my apartment, it’s unlimited and fairly reliable. It took a couple months to get set-up, but I haven’t had any problems since then. Most of us have easy access to internet in our own homes, or in our offices.
2. Yes! Especially if you’re an internet junkie like me. Anyway, I use my laptop to store photos and watch movies and keep track of my grades and everything.
3. Yes, if you have a GSM phone you can buy a sim card here.
4. You can buy lotion just about anywhere, but most of it has whitening agents in it, so you just have to be careful when you purchase it. If you’re particularly devoted to a certain brand then you should check back with us and ask whether you can get that brand here. In the bigger cities like Chongqing and Chengdu you can pretty much get anything you need, but it’ll cost you the same as you would spend back in the U.S.
5. Our secondary projects are dictated by Beijing. We’re required to participate in the nationwide teacher training program for two weeks. I’m sure if you’re interested in doing other projects during the summer you can too, but you’ll still be required to do the Beijing project.
6. It depends when you go and where. Some people found really fantastic deals to Thailand. It seemed like on average people spent around $400 on airfare to Thailand, Vietnam, or Tibet (granted that’s still in China). There’s lots of places worth seeing in China too, if you don’t have that kind of money.
7. I had two years of Chinese in college, couldn’t more than a few words and phrases when I got here, but after pre-service training I felt confident enough to get by. Most people didn’t have any previous language experience, so it was definitely different for them. It seems like pretty much everyone can handle basic things on their own now though. how long it takes to get comfortable really just depends on how much effort you put into it, and how quickly you pick up new languages. check out http://www.chinesepod.com for a headstart.