My experiences living with a Chinese couple

[Brian US]

I moved in with an old Chinese couple last month and from here on I will refer to them as my "Chinese mom and dad." This is due in part to my Chinese mom taking my clothes out of the washer and hanging them up to dry.

I found them through an agency and rented one of the three rooms they have. The apartment is located in the Dongwangzhuang neighborhood in Beijing. I went with them as it is the cleanest place and they didn't have a bunch of yippy dogs like the other apartments I looked at. My room is the smallest and the window opens up to a small enclosed porch that is used as a pantry. My Chinese mom and dad tend to leave their vegetables in there, so my room smells like cabbage after opening the window.

My setup is not a homestay like some other people I know went with. One woman has meals prepared by a Chinese couple as a part of her lease. Another guy truly has a Chinese mom and Dad as they will call worried if he is out too late.

There was a Korean girl living in the other room that I never saw for two weeks. She would lock herself in her room and I wasn't sure how to introduce myself. Two days before I came back to the US I went out to see her talking to my Chinese mom and dad (they may be her Chinese mom and dad as well, so I'm open to a Korean sister). I introduced myself and she briefly acknowledged me by saying, "I'm going" before turning back to talk to my Chinese mom and dad. I didn't understand what she meant until I came back later to find all her stuff gone and moved out.

My Chinese mom and dad said I can split the internet bill with her, but if she moved out then I would have to pay the whole bill if I used it. I found it strange that they brought this up about three times while signing the lease, so I asked if she was moving. They assured me she was not, so I find it hard to believe they didn't know about her moving two weeks later.

My Chinese mom and dad sometimes have their grandson over to babysit. He is at the most adorable age at three where his winter jacket won't allow his arms to go down. I'll never get over hearing Chinese gurgled by a kid better than me. My Chinese dad isn't very helpful sometimes when I don't understand his Chinese. Instead of saying it another way, he will talk slower and louder. This doesn't help if I don't understand the words. I told them to write down anything important that I may not understand, so I can look up the words. They simply said they wouldn't, so it may be that they're illiterate or don't want to bother.

They have a sign on the front door that reminds to turn off electricity and lock the bedroom doors. I thought locking my bedroom door would imply my roommates are untrustworthy, but my friend thinks it is so I don't blame them if I lose something. I also thought it was strange how far they go to turn off electricity. I don't mind going into the kitchen to turn on the water heater for a shower, but they ask me to turn off the internet when I'm not using it. Not sure if that is just for electricity as I think it is a flat payment and not by how much bandwidth is used. They also ask me to turn off the power to the washing machine after use, but I don't think it uses up much lighting the red display.

These are just a few experiences and observations I have had living with my Chinese mom and dad. I ventured from the dorms to see how Chinese people live and to get away from English speakers. Nothing too out of the ordinary with my Chinese mom and dad waking up early, cooking, afternoon nap, watching TV, and in bed early. I'm still up in the air if I should look at them as my Chinese mom and dad, my landlords, or my roommates. They have been great so far and hopefully I will return to meet a great new roommate next week.

I apologize I didn't include stories of crazy drunken karaoke dance parties.

[Cactus543]

My story isn't exciting, however I thought I might as well contribute heh.. I'm half black and half white so I was a little worried about what my family would think of me haha.

All right so I stayed with a Chinese family in Wangjing, Chaoyang District, Beijing (Last summer) for a while through a program as well..Pretty fun and I had only been casually studying Chinese for about 5 months so I wasn't exactly prepared haha.. I spoke very little Chinese and my family spoke very little English. The first day I arrived in China I made sure to wear my "白人看不懂" shirt. My host mom and brother were cracking up from it.

So onto things about my "family" members..

My "mom" would continuously insist on me eating more food, even if I was full she would keep offering food to me. She also always made me exercise with her, normally we would speed walk around a park a few times at like 6 am. She also was interested in learning new English words. Whenever I came home late I felt as if she was genuinely worried about my safety. She washed my clothes for me, cooked all my meals, told me to shower every night , took me to the shopping mall, let me pick out whatever I wanted at the grocery store(where she worked).. Ahhh good times.

My "dad" was at work a lot so I didn't get to see him much besides at dinner time every so often or sleeping on the couch. Occasionally he was home during the day and would normally be chain smoking cigarettes and hawking loogies.. However he always did attempt to help me with my pronunciation and teach me new words.

Sometimes family members and friends of my family would come over and happily greet me but once again my Chinese was very newbish so I didn't really understand much of what was going on.

The day I departed from Beijing and the cab was waiting for me, my mom and dad actually looked sad and I felt really bad because I didn't know how to express my gratitude in Chinese. The end!

[skylee]

I also thought it was strange how far they go to turn off electricity. I don't mind going into the kitchen to turn on the water heater for a shower, but they ask me to turn off the internet when I'm not using it. Not sure if that is just for electricity as I think it is a flat payment and not by how much bandwidth is used. They also ask me to turn off the power to the washing machine after use, but I don't think it uses up much lighting the red display.

Just think of the environment.

[natra]

It sounds like you have a pretty good deal... It is at least much better than my experience at a homestay while living in China.