Using Tap Water

[abcdefg]

#19 -- @Rayne --

 

I tried searching on and off for the last month, using different search terms.

 

I'm puzzled now. Did you have a look at the blog consolidator links I posted for you, just above in #18?

 

Sounds like you have really enjoyed Korea and don't want to leave. Understandable. Especially when leaving means being uprooted from a place you love and transplanted to a place you aren't sure you will like for an initial block of 7 years. That's a very long commitment. Would give many of us, myself included, a case of cold feet.

 

Have you discussed your concerns with your fiancé? I'm sure he values your input and respects the need for you both to be happy in any new assignment. Regardless of how great the move might be for his career, I'm sure he realizes that your feelings are important too.

[Lanchong]

It's just anecdotal, but I use a brita filter and then boil the water and have never been sick.

[rayne]

I was explaining to the poster who told me to google for blogs that I have already tried googing, your post with blog lists came right after his post =) 

 

There's no quote button on this forum so we have to manually quote people so that may have been confusing.

 

I already tried the first website you listed before starting this thread and almost all of the teachers' blogs are old; some from 2008. That's what I'm finding for most teaching blogs. All the good ones are old and China develops so fast things may have changed significantly since 7 years ago! I will continue searching =) 

 

Yes, we have discussed it in detail... I'm a very logical person so I've weighed the pros and cons and the pros benefit the both of us as a family in the long run. This move is good for our career and ultimately his life and therefore mine. 

[abcdefg]

I understand. Hope that some of the other websites are more useful. You're definitely right about things changing rapidly here.

 

Your move sounds like a major life decision, and such things are always tough.

[Shelley]

There's no quote button on this forum so we have to manually quote people so that may have been confusing.

 

You copy and paste and then highlight and click the little speech bubble in the second row at the top  of the reply box. I think it is good that it takes a bit of effort to quote or else quotes would be flying all over the place

[James3]

rayne, something you might try, in your attempt to prepare for your upcoming move and learn as much as you can about Qindao, is look on a site like SharedTalk.com, MyLanguageExchange.com, and LanguageForExchange.com for a language exchange partner who is from there. They have pretty good search engines (if you use advanced search), which will enable you to search for someone specifically from Qindao.

Your response might be, that you've not learned enough Chinese yet. But that's okay. You're not looking for someone with whom you can practice Chinese, you're looking for a native Chinese from Qindao whose English is decent enough for you to interact with and learn about their home town.

This just might help increase your comfort level with the area, and possibly give you a friend as well.

I've done this twice, once when I thought I was going to go live in Beijing, and once my plans changed, again for Harbin. My Mandarin is so limited that both times we mainly communicated in English. Unlike many on this forum, who have commented on their experiences with finding and practicing with language exchange partners, my original objective was simply to make friends with someone, not really to practice...yet. I figured the desire to communicate in Mandarin would intensify once I developed a friendship with someone, and that would motivate me to study more diligently.

Well, this worked very well. In fact, better than I expected.  I now have several friends in Beijing and Harbin, with whom I communicate on a regular basis. Sure, my plans changed, due to my starting and building a business, so my learning Mandarin has been delayed...as well as my trip to China...but in the mean time I've gained a new perspective on China, and the culture, and I can truly say I will have several friends eager to meet me in person once I'm finally able to go.

So, maybe this would work for you too. Imagine meeting a Chinese woman online, from Qindao, and actually becoming good friends with her. I bet it would help you get acclimated and help to ease some of your concerns.
 

Hope this helps.

[rayne]

Shelley: yes, that's what I mean by manually quoting people... you have to manually copy and paste the quote in the reply box and use the quote icon in the reply box. I've never seen the lack of the auto-quote function on a forum before but it does help threads from being clogged up and too long 

 

Thanks for the advice James3! I will try it out. 

[James3]

rayne, you're welcome.

 

Oh, by the way, your results may vary...but it took me a few tries before I found someone who worked out. A few didn't know English well enough, and my Mandarin was so lacking...that there was just no way to communicate. But I just kept trying, and found several people later who worked out great! I was truly impressed with how nice they were, as well as how well they knew English.

 

Good luck! And have fun.

[Flickserve]

You copy and paste and then highlight and click the little speech bubble in the second row at the top of the reply box. I think it is good that it takes a bit of effort to quote or else quotes would be flying all over the place

Strangely, when I access the forum through my iPhone, there is a quote button like I have just done with your post.

But if I use my PC, I have to manually copy and paste into quotations as you described.

[rayne]

^The quote you did is what I'm talking about. It has the name of the post and even the date and time. This is common is all other forums I've ever been in. I thought it would be no big deal that it isn't here and I decided not to bother with manual quoting but it has already cause confusion...