Where Am I?


I've been working here in Hangzhou, China, for a few months now. Hangzhou is a major city and capital of Zhejiang province, about an hour from Shanghai via high speed rail. Here's a bit more on my neck of the woods:

Although the job itself is a step up from my kindergarten ESL days in Seoul, the location is a step down.  The city of Hangzhou has its bright spots, and I might actually enjoy them more if I were living near downtown.  As it is I’m about an hour north of the city center, in an area called Sandun.
Ten years ago Sandun was simply countryside.  It isn’t in the sticks now – Hangzhou has grown rapidly – but it isn’t exactly the place to be either.  Sandun is northwest of downtown, and basically due north of the West Lake park area (a huge nature reserve west of the city).  Before urban sprawl reached Sandun, a small eponymous town was here, with a few apartment blocks, small shops, and a market.  Remnants of the old Sandun remain, and within a five minute walk of the school you can reach the old(ish) town.

Map of Hangzhou; downtown is to the east and north of West Lake (the
blue circle). The red circle contains the lake itself, plus lots of hiking
trails, temples, and tea fields. Our school is a bit further northwest of
the Zhejiang University branch campus marked by a dot on the top
left corner (the campus extends further north another mile at least; it's
far from downtown, but on the plus side prices are
cheap and the university campus is within walking distance.

I live in an apartment complex about 2 kilometers from my school, but further west, away from the city.  Out in my neck of the woods there are a few shops and restaurants, but not much to write home about.  Walk for five minutes in any direction but east and it’s just business parks and scattered offices.  I’m not sure why the offices moved out of the city; I guess it’s a bit like office parks in a suburban US town.

Heading back east from my place it takes 20 minutes to walk to our school, and along the way you’ll come across apartments, small shops, and storefronts.  Most of these are new – one of the second year teachers told me that when she lived in the same apartment block most of the shops hadn’t yet opened.

View from my office, looking west over the main campus;
2 kilometers out is my apartment complex.
Another view from the office; these apartments, like many around
Sandun, are still under construction. There are several
major building sites within a block of our school.

Why would I choose to live there, you might ask?  Well I get my apartment provided by the school, so I don’t have a choice in the matter.  On the bright side all first year teachers – eight of us in total – live in the same complex.  It’s nice to have friends close by; I don’t hang out with every teacher, but with seven other people I don’t need to be great friends with everyone.  When I was in Seoul I only had three foreign coworkers, so if you didn’t click with one or two other teachers you’d have to find friends elsewhere (luckily we got along fine).

Heading east past our school, toward the city, the infrastructure becomes more developed.  The foreign teachers who’ve been here more than one year can choose to move out of the school-provided apartments (and pocket the rent stipend), and they’ve all ended up further east.  Head down the main north-south road nearby and you will run into several shopping malls, including a Wal-Mart.

Back home I don't shop at Wal-Mart, but you’ve gotta pick and choose your battles.  It’s the most convenient large supermarket and carries a wide selection of food, home goods, and clothing, so I can put my personal distaste for the company aside.  Besides, it’s not like I shop there all the time.  I also frequent a smaller supermarket called Century Mart, near the old Sandun town center, as well as two convenient stores near my apartment.  But once every few weeks Wal-Mart lures me back.

And the location’s not all bad; this far out from downtown prices are cheaper, and traffic is more manageable (Hangzhou is known for its terrible traffic).  Also, the #17 bus, which stops just outside our apartment, heads east past our school, and turns south on the main road with the Wal-Mart.  It doesn’t go all the way downtown, but pretty close.  From my apartment it only takes 5-10 minutes to get to school, maybe 20 minutes to Wal-Mart, and less than an hour until the bus turns around and heads back north.  Well, that’s assuming traffic isn’t crazy, which can be a toss-up!

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