Guo Juan's Internet Go School
Summer Weiqi School with Yan Laoshi
Frequently Asked Questions:
- What should I bring with me?
- I've heard that Wuhan is one of the "three furnaces of China". How hot is it?
- Will there be air conditioning?
- How will I call home?
- What should I bring for clothes?
- Will I be able to do laundry?
- What should I bring for footwear?
- Will we have internet access?
- I don't know any Chinese. Is this ok?
- I need coffee every day. Will there be coffee available?
- How will I pay Yan Laoshi?
- How much money should I bring?
- Will I be able to get cash while I am there?
- Will the schedule be grueling?
- What is there to do besides Go?
- Will I get to do any sightseeing?
- Will there be enough food? Is it good? Is it strange?
- What about bugs?
- Should I leave space in my luggage to carry stuff back?
- I have to play kids?
- Will I be able to charge my electronic devices?
Answers:
- What should I bring with me?
- Gifts. If you bring a suitcase full of gifts, then you will have plenty of room to carry stuff (like Weiqi books) back with you. Also, you will probably find that you want to give gifts to people. You might bring small gifts (candy or trinkets) for the kids at the center, but you may also want to bring something nicer for Yan Laoshi and his family and for the other people you meet while you're in China. If you can bring something that is unique to where you're from, that is particularly nice. It might also be nice to bring a few small things that are meaningful to you to give as gifts to the people you become closest to.
- Drugs. You should of course see a doctor about any immunizations you might need for China. In addition, you may want to bring some over the counter medication. Some basic pain killer, some anti-diarrhea medicine and perhaps some cold medicine (maybe non-drowsy cold medicine too) are probably sufficient. Also, you should of course bring any prescription drugs you take (bring enough for the whole time you'll be away) and anything else you might take on a regular basis. You may also want to bring some vitamins if you are so inclined though it's not necessary.
- Clothes. See "What should I bring for clothes?".
- Electronic Devices. I brought my laptop and wished I hadn't bothered. We had a computer here that we could use (with internet connection) and I was unable to hook my computer up to the internet, so it wasn't really useful at all. If you like to record games on a palm pilot, you might bring that, but we were given kifu books and used these to record our games. We sometimes also recorded our games or lectures and variations on the computer here. Bringing a flash drive might be a better idea than bringing a computer. You will want a camera, preferably digital (the kids like to get to see the pictures you take). I don't own one, but knew beforehand that others there would have them and would let me use theirs. This was sufficient for my needs. You might bring an MP3 player if that's important to you.
- You might want to bring a towel with you.
- I've heard that Wuhan is one of the "three furnaces
of China". How hot is it?
Wuhan is hot in the summer. The temperatures range from about 30 degrees celsius (86 degrees fahrenheit) to about 40 degrees celsius (104 degrees fahrenheit) and it's also quite humid. However, most places where you will spend your time have air conditioning, so it's not unbearable. See "What should I bring for clothes?".
- Will there be air conditioning?
Yes. We had air conditioning in the house (in the living room and in the bedrooms), in the car and at the Weiqi center.
- How will I call home?
You can check with your cell phone company, but probably your cell phone won't work in China. Those of us who were interested in calling home bought phone cards (for calls to the U.S., it cost 100 RMB per 100 minutes, to Holland it cost 30 RMB for 8 minutes). Skype did not really work on our computer (it would work for a few minutes at most and then cut off). There was better luck with MSN's computer to computer phone service. If you can get this to work, of course this is free.
- What should I bring for clothes?
Bring really light clothing. Wuhan is very hot. One light long- sleeved shirt is sufficient for heavier clothing. You should only bring enough clothes for several days--at most enough for 1 week. (See "Will I be able to do laundry?".) Shorts are recommended. For girls: tank tops are ok, but don't bring anything terribly low cut; skirts and dresses are nice: the girls here like to wear pretty clothes. You don't need to bring anything terribly fancy with you, but it's good to have something a little bit nicer for when you want to be more presentable. See also "What should I bring for footwear?".
- Will I be able to do laundry?
Laundry was done for us basically whenever we wanted it done. We would just leave our dirty clothes in a designated spot in the morning and they'd usually be clean and dry by evening.
- What should I bring for footwear?
They provided us with slippers for inside the house. Sandals for outside is a good idea. You may want sneakers for playing basketball, but I just used my sporty sandals and never once used the sneakers I brought with me.
- Will we have internet access?
Yes. There is a broadband (though sometimes slow) internet connection for the computer at the house. We all shared computer time though (all the visiting students plus Yan Laoshi and his family).
- I don't know any Chinese. Is this ok?
I very strongly recommend that you learn some Chinese (Mandarin) before you go. Take a course if you can or at the very least buy some textbook and cd's and start studying as soon as you possibly can. My method was the latter ("Integrated Chinese" by Tao-chung Yao and Yuehua Liu, published by Cheng and Tsui company in Boston--this was recommended to me by my uncle who works for Berlitz in New York). I listened to the first cd whenever I could, repeating everything after them whenever possible. I thus started memorizing the things they were saying and then I'd go back and look at what it meant. I think this was actually an effective and not very time-consuming way to learn. Unfortunately, I only started about a month before I left for China. If I had started 6 months or a year before I would have been much better off. You can go without knowing any Chinese, but you will get so much more out of your trip (and avoid some unnecessary frustration) if you know at least some Chinese.
I brought my textbook with me, which was useful and fun. You should also bring a dictionary between Chinese and whatever language you speak (or check to see if one of the other students will bring one). These come in handy.
- I need coffee every day. Will there be coffee
available?
Nescafe (instant coffee) was available. If you insist on something better, you might want to bring it and some means of preparing it with you. There was also plenty of excellent tea.
- How will I pay Yan Laoshi?
There are 3 ways to pay:
1. You can use PayPal, our address on PayPal is guojuangoschool@gmail.com.
2. If you live in Europe, it is easy to pay by bank transfer. Our bank information:
Postbank Amsterdam
5263923 J. Guo
IBAN: NL38 PSTB 0005 263923
BIC: ING BNL 2A
3. You can pay Yan Laoshi with cash directly. In this case you will need to carry the cash to China yourself.
- How much money should I bring?
This is, of course, a hard question to answer. Most likely, you will want to buy a bunch of Weiqi books. These are about 1 to 4 Euros each. We each spent about 30 - 40 Euros on books. If you want to buy stones, you should expect to spend about 10 Euros per set. You may want to buy a board--this is a bit harder to predict. You can get a nice board for as little as 40 Euros, but you may want to spend more. You might also want to bring some extra money if you want to buy gifts for people while you're there. Phone cards vary in price depending on where you want to call--at the time, it was about 3 Euros for 8 minutes to call Holland and about 10 Euros for 100 minutes to call the U.S. Other than these things, you shouldn't need any money while you're there. See "Should I leave space in my luggage to carry stuff back?".
- Will I be able to get cash while I am there?
Getting cash in China is more difficult than in some other places. For any attempt to get cash, you will need your passport (even to convert cash). If you have U.S. cash (or Euros), you can convert them to Chinese RMB at the bank. Bank cards do not (as of summer of 2006) work in Wuhan, though they might work in Beijing or Shanghai. Visa will work to get a cash advance at the bank, but you should call ahead of time (there should be a phone number on the back of your card) to avoid theft protection security measures. Travelers' checks will also work, but are a little bit trickier. Try to get someone at the bank who has dealt with them before to help you do it right. They told me to sign mine, which I did, but I also filled in my name in the "make payable to" spot. This meant that the checks had to be sent back to the U.S. before they could be cashed and this would take about a month. Also, there seemed to be more charges and a lot more paperwork involved in doing this. The easiest way is to buy Chinese currency at home and bring it with you. Of course, you will need to be comfortable with carrying this cash while you travel and you should find out early from your bank how long it will take to get the cash.
- Will the schedule be grueling?
We worked 6 days each week, with one day off for rest or sightseeing. Most days we would either play games with the kids at the center and have the games reviewed, or we would play Yan Laoshi or one of the other teachers at the center and have those games reviewed. Starting in July, we spent four days each week all day at the center, playing two or three games each day with the kids and having the games reviewed. During this time, we did not go to the center on the other days. Instead we would stay home and do tsume-go and play simultaneous games with Yan Laoshi. Earlier in the summer, we spent only Saturday and Sunday all day at the center. On the other days, we would either stay home all day (as described above) or we would do tsume-go in the morning and then go to the center to play simultaneous games against one of the other teachers (and have the games reviewed) in the afternoon. In the evenings, Yan Laoshi often gave lectures. We sometimes felt that the schedule could have been tougher, but on the other hand, I would often get tired, so I think what down time we had was important.
- What is there to do besides Go?
Nothing. We rarely went out in the evenings. Sometimes we would play cards at home, read (some of us brought a few books in English), watch pro games online, play five-in-a-row (Yan Laoshi is really good), watch TV in Chinese or play basketball or badminton. There's always plenty of tsume-go to do. If you want to do karaoke (or lots of sightseeing), this is not the trip for you.
- Will I get to do any sightseeing?
Yes. We went out on a sightseeing trip about once every other week. We only went to places in Wuhan though. It was nice to get to see some things and to give our brains a rest, but the point of this trip is Weiqi, not tourism.
- Will there be enough food? Is it good? Is it
strange?
There was tons of food. They were always trying to get us to eat more. It was really good too. Some things you might find strange, but they are very accommodating. You certainly don't have to eat anything you don't want to eat. We found the food a bit heavy (lots of oil) but delicious. It seemed that the only thing we did all summer besides playing go was to eat.
- What about bugs?
The biggest bug issue was mosquitos. You might want to bring bug spray. It wasn't terrible, but it could sometimes get annoying. They also bought cream for us to help prevent itching.
- Should I leave space in my luggage to carry stuff
back?
Yes. You will probably want to buy books. You may want to buy a board and/or stones and you might also want to buy other gifts for people back home. All this stuff takes up a lot of space. More importantly, perhaps, the weight starts adding up. Check with your airline to find out how much weight you're allowed to carry on the plane. You may want to bring less stuff with you so that you can bring more back.
- I have to play kids?
Yes. You have to play kids. And they'll beat you. If you don't think you're comfortable spending a lot of time with a bunch of kids (who can screech and yell and get pretty rowdy during downtime) or if you think you're not okay with losing a lot to kids, then this might not be the trip for you.
- Will I be able to charge my electronic
devices?
You should be able to buy a converter for plugging stuff in when you get there. I left one for the U.S. and there should be one for Europe also, but with more people, you may need to buy more.