Question About Homestays

[Lauren88]

Hello,

I will be going to BLCU in December for language courses, and I am trying to decide on what my best housing option is. Does anyone know anything about homestay programs like chinahomestay.org?

It seems like the pros are - it's cheap, - immersion in the language/help with hw, pronunciation, - building relationships w/ family, but what I worry about in terms of cons are - little privacy, - high demand on my free time.

Is anyone in this situation right now? Any advice?

Thanks,

Lauren

[mpallard]

You said homwstays were cheap but I didn't see a price list on the website. How did you find out how much it was?

[Lauren88]

This is from that website, under "Terms of Service"

>> While the homestay itself is free, the foreign visitor is responsible for >> one placement fee to China Homestay for finding and negotiating the >> free stay. This fee is $200USD for 6 months or less and $300USD for >> 6 months to 1 year. This is the only fee the foreign visitor will be >>responsible for; there are no rent, food, pickup or utility costs for the >> entire duration of the foreign visitors stay.

If I'm reading this correctly, you pay a one time $200 fee and you're set up with a family in China.

[mpallard]

I have a tough time believeing that it's actually that cheap. I sent them an email asking about prices and they haven't gotten back to me. If you hear anything else about the prices let me know.

[mpallard]

I'm an idiot, please ignore my previous questions. Hopefully next time I'll actually read the whole website before asking questions.

[Harvey]

Has anyone ever used this service?

[amandagmu]

Yes I used that specific program. I did not have a good experience. I won't elaborate, if anyone wants to pm me backchannel for specifics please do so.

This summer several people in my program at BLCU stayed in homestays. Approximately two thirds left after 1-3 weeks for various reasons. For the most part, there was extensive miscommunication between the host families and the Chinese companies that acted as intermediaries (the company you go through in English is often times NOT the same one they go through on that end).

[Desmond]

amandagmu,

I'm trying to private message you but it says I'm not allowed (just like I'm not allowed to edit my posts or download files from here, I don't know why), but anyway, I was hoping you could PM me and help me out with something: I'm just curious what it's like staying at a homestay, as I'm considering doing so when I got to China...

Thanks

[mpallard]

Why don't you elaborate? It could easily prevent someone from making the same mistakes you did.

[Gireesh]

Hi friends:

I browsed the site chinahomestay.org and I would like to know why most people leave their services after 2-3 weeks. I tried to pm some of you, but couldnt. Please post the details so that others can avoid such bad experiences.

Thanks,

Gireesh (gireeshgireeshd@rediffmail.com)

[adrianlondon]

It sounds a bit scary. Imagine you yourself wanting to meet some foreigners while you're too poor/busy to travel abroad yourself. For some reason, you don't just want to advertise on a forum somewhere for company, maybe over a coffee. So, you decide to allow someone to live with you for a while. OK, so far it's all believable.

However, would you then ask a company to find people for you, so that you don't know who they are? And, get this, then say "oh, I'll give them their own room in my house and I'll help them integrate into our country, probably even cook for them every morning and sometimes in the evenings too. And please, please ensure that they don't pay me any money. I'd like to offer all this, to a complete stranger, totally for free".

That's when it loses credibility. Maybe I'm just overly cynical.

I couldn't stay with a Chinese family who expect me to have home comforts for free. They must want something in return; it all sounds a bit odd.

When I go to study in Beijing next year I'd happily rent a room in a house share or whatever, but I wouldn't do a home stay from that website. As I say, it could just be me, but it sounds a bit odd.

[gougou]

"oh, I'll give them their own room in my house and I'll help them integrate into our country, probably even cook for them every morning and sometimes in the evenings too. And please, please ensure that they don't pay me any money. I'd like to offer all this, to a complete stranger, totally for free".

I did just thatin the US, living with a family who accomodated me for a year, nothing in return but the pleasure (yeah, right... ) of my company.

It was one of the greatest experiences of my life!

[Desmond]

Really, gougou? So they didn't want any money from you? Did you at least have to pay for the food you used, and some of the water and heating, etc?

Did you ever ask them why? They really just said they enjoy the company?

[roddy]

I've emailed Amanda, and she's busy at the moment but has asked me to pass on the details to anyone who wants them. I've already pm'd them to those who asked in here. If anyone else is seriously looking at the organisation and wants them, let me know by pm or email (use the contact form) and I'll pass them on.

Roddy

[adrianlondon]

Well done gougou, maybe my cynicism is causing me to miss out on some of life's opportunities.

Still, living in a big city like London, I'm sure it's also saved me a few times

[amandagmu]

Hmmm... I just want to note about China homestay: there is an upfront $200 application fee (paid in cash ONLY, the day you arrive, no exceptions). Other than that, it's "free" -- if you look at the cost of things in China, you could stay in a decent hotel for 2-3 weeks (that's a single room without a roommate) for the same cost or less, depending on quality. (A dorm room on campus would cost $4.5/day for crappy, $9/day for foreign student dorms.)

The real beef I had with the money is when I found out that my host family didn't receive my $200, but in fact they were ALSO paying the Chinese intermediary money to have me stay with them! So someone in the middle was making a lot of extra $ at the expense of us all.

[gato]

The families are probably doing this with the expectation that you'd help their kids with their English. One-on-one tutorials with a native-English speaker is expensive, so they probably think this is a good alternative. It could work if the agency does a good job of screening both the families and the students.

[amandagmu]

"The families are probably doing this with the expectation that you'd help their kids with their English."

That's exactly what it was. But that is not what China homestay tells you. I believe their wording is something like "cultural exchange" rather than "English tutor"!

[adrianlondon]

chinahomestay.org have recently placed an advert on the thatsbj website where they say

"in return, you only have to teach the family 4 hours of English a week."

[SamanthaTea]

Yeah, the deal that I've always heard of is free room and board for 4 hours of English teaching for their kid. That's a good deal for them and if you're into learning Chinese and getting a feel for Beijing life, it's good for you too, especially if you've just gotten here.

Of course, if you live here for awhile, you can easily make arrangements with a family yourself and save the $200 placement fee, see the living situation before you move in, and find a family that you already have a good relationship with.

It'd be great if people could post some of the problems they've had with homestay. I'm really curious.

-ST