Monday, June 15, 2009

Apologies for the lack of action here lately. I have been blogging at Kangaruni recently regarding international students in Melbourne. However, I hope to return to Soy Sauce soon!

Monday, April 13, 2009

Challenge Yourself


This is the first part of my interview with Jarry. Whilst we have never met in person, I was interested in interviewing him after hearing that he had been involved in several volunteer projects, including work for the City of Melbourne. In the above photo, Jarry is the centre of attention, or, as he so eloquently puts it: 千夫所指.

There are many reasons students from China choose to pursue their studies abroad, what do you think are the three most important?

Increasing experience: Stemming from a fondness of Western culture, students are driven to go overseas and experience life here first hand.

Improving English: Achieving a good standard of English whilst living in China requires a huge amount of work, whereas living overseas is a more efficient way to improve one’s English level.

Challenging oneself: Admittedly there are a lot of stresses and difficulties associated with leaving one’s home country, but one by one, I hope to optimistically surmount all of them.

And what about those students who don’t come, what lies behind their decision to stay in China?


Most families cannot sufficiently bear the expenses associated with foreign study. However in these situations, students with good enough grades can still apply for scholarships. There is also a percentage of students who simply don’t want to go overseas. They prefer living a quiet life, and have other pursuits.

Was Australia your first choice?


Australia was my first choice. My English isn’t great and whilst there is no doubt that schools in America are excellent, from my perspective the entry threshold was just a little too high.

Out of Australia and England I selected Australia. This is because I’d like to get some overseas work experience and Australia gives people the opportunity to immigrate. After graduating in Australia, the chances of finding work here are relatively easy. Also, the majority of postgraduate courses in England only go for one year, and this seems too short.

Finally, do you believe that overseas students in Melbourne are satisfied with their experience here?


From my understanding they don’t seem to be very satisfied. The most important reason is because they are lonely, and also they find themselves unable to really immerse themselves in English speaking environments.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Colours



Colour of Water by kool_skatkat, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 license.

The following post is from Grace, a former student of mine whom I met whilst teaching at the Monash University English Language Centre in Clayton.


My name is Ruan Xuemei and my English name is Grace. I come from Hangzhou in China, which is a very beautiful city. I arrived in Melbourne in March 2008. Along with many other students, the main reasons I decided to study abroad were not only to improve my English, but also to broaden my mind and add to my life experiences. For me, the reason I choose Australia is very simple, it's easier to apply for entry than America and also my agent told me Monash is a very good university. In my opinion, most students from China are generally satisfied with their educational experience in Melbourne.

I am living in Clayton now. Like other students in Australia, I share a house with others. Fortunately, I live with my friends, and I get along with them very well. We care about each other and often make meals together just like a family. Finding nice housemates is very important I think. Apart from this, choosing a place to live is also crucial. For me, I chose a house near the station and not far from the shopping center, so I can go to university by train and buy food conveniently.

About my social life, I think the best way to get involved with the environment is participating in social activities, for example go to a church. People in the church are all very nice and friendly. They are willing to help you. I became a Christian here and go to a church regularly. As time goes by, I have made good friends from church. I enjoy spending time spending with them. This year, I joined the worship team, which has been an unforgettable experience in my life. For new students, especially oversea students, joining university clubs is a good way to meet friends. Don't always stay at home alone. Going out and making friends will make your life colorful.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

On the beach, you'll find them there


This photo by Ross Thomson, appears under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 license.

This is the final part of my first interview with Jack. I have presented it in its original format, with Crystal's translation of my original questions left intact. Jack articulates some interesting ideas on how international students might be able to learn more about the lives of Melbourne locals and also offers some advice to newly arrived students.


Many international students find life in Melbourne to be quite boring, with not many social activities of interest. We’d like to hear your opinion on this matter?

In some ways this is true because we find it very difficult to become a part of the local social scene. What appears on the surface to be a friendly exchange of amenities does not necessarily signal that you have successfully integrated with local society. Sometimes this is a complex problem, incorporating cultural differences, language barriers and differences in habits and customs. However, if you want to resolve these issues there is only one way, and that is to stay here long enough. So for students who have just arrived, life can be very tough and lonely.

Have you ever attended any social activities or events in Melbourne, such as a sporting event, a music concert, a university club function or a church event?


As a matter of fact, I’d love to attend events like these but I wouldn’t have anyone to talk with. Normally the thought of going to something like that makes me quite nervous, after all I'm a stranger in a strange land. However I would probably adapt pretty quickly. A church meeting might be the best place for me.


Have you met any local Australian families or students?


The only family I’ve met were a Chinese family who immigrated to Australia around 20 years ago. We met on the plane trip to Australia. They sat down next to me and we chatted happily. The father had actually graduated from the university where I am about to commence my studies. After the plane landed they accompanied me to my new house and we have stayed in contact since then.

What do you feel is the greatest difficulty in adapting to life in Melbourne for international students?


Actually, the only real difficulty is the loneliness. Apart from this, most students find it relatively easy to adapt to life here.

If you could, what changes would you make to improve the quality of life for international students in Melbourne?


I feel that the Australian Government could establish more scholarships for overseas students. Also, I think we shouldn’t be viewed merely as consumers, give us more opportunities to contribute to society. For example, we could visit the homes of older local residents and do volunteer work. We don't expect young Australians will be that interested in making friends with overseas students, they are busy enjoying their own lives. Older people on the other hand are often just looking for someone to talk with.

Up until this point in time, what has been your best experience here in Melbourne?


I was walking along the beach at some bay, the name of which escapes me, picking up shells, enjoying the sun's rays and the gentle breeze. It felt so good. I thought to my self, this is truly living!


Overall, would you describe your experience of life in Melbourne as pleasant?


Yes, relatively pleasant. I find life here agreeable, the pace of life is very slow and I am free to do the things I want to do.

Monday, March 2, 2009

The power of compassion



Photo by Nasitra entitled Glimmer of Hope, available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial license.


Saturday February 7th 2009 will long be remembered as the day over 200 people lost their lives in Australia’s worst natural disaster to date. On this day, now known as Black Saturday, fires swept through the Victorian bush, destroying over two thousand homes and completely decimating the towns of Kinglake, Marysville, Narbethong, Strathewen and Flowerdale. With over 500 people injured and 7500 people left homeless as a result of the blaze, not to mention the huge economic losses caused by the disaster, a remarkable effort will be needed to restore balance to the lives of those Victorians affected by the fire.

Alongside a swift response from the State Government of Victoria and the Federal Government of Australia, which passed a $10 million emergency package, individual Australians were quick to contribute to the call for donations with a Red Cross appeal raising over $150 million. These contributions have been bolstered by donations from major corporations, companies, banks, and cultural and sporting organizations such as the AFL.

One group that has also rushed to the assistance of the victims of the bushfire has been Australia’s Overseas Chinese community. This community, made up of international students, permanent residents, citizens of Chinese descent and expatriates has galvanised in an effort to raise much-needed funds in this time of need. Whilst their campaign has not received much media attention, I feel that it is extremely important to commend this community for their fund raising efforts.

Personally, I found out about this campaign only last week. Whilst walking to work at Monash I came across a poster proclaiming
捐出一澳元, 献出你爱心。

The sentence can be translated as ‘donate one Australian dollar, show your compassion.’ It went on to detail a campaign organised by the Australian Overseas Chinese community with the support of the Education Group of the Consulate General of the PRC in Melbourne. I was quite awestruck by the community spirit displayed by the Chinese community in Australia in instigating this campaign. I was even more moved when I met a student from Beijing who was standing in the hot sun at Monash Caulfield carrying a hand made donation box emblazoned with the Red Cross insignia and collecting money for the bushfire victims. I began talking with her and discovered that she had only been in Australia for a matter of weeks but felt the need to volunteer and do what she could to help those affected by the disaster.

To read more about the fundraising campaign or to find out how you can donate, you can follow this link to the Monash Chinese Students Association blog. I will provide a full translation of their blog entry in the above post.

In closing, Soy Sauce would like to pay tribute to the Overseas Chinese Community of Australia, especially those international students involved, and also to the Consulate General of the PRC for their assistance in helping Victoria rebuild in the wake of this tragedy.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Absolutely happy with life in Melbourne


In this second and final part of my interview with Pei Pei, she relates her feelings and opinions on a variety of topics relating to the international student experience in Melbourne.

I live in shared accommodation near the Clayton campus of Monash where I go to uni. It is definitely very difficult to find accommodation here. There are lots of student seeking off campus accommodation, so rental properties become quite a scarce resource with availability unable to meet demand. I think that this makes rental agencies quite rude, as they don’t have to worry about the properties they are handling, knowing that there are so many people who are desperate for housing. As for price, those properties located near campus become unreasonably expensive. Living in home-stay accommodation is even dearer, plus I don’t really think I’d like the food provided!

In terms of my experiences living in shared accommodation, I have heard lots of horror stories. I am constantly hearing complaints from my friends or friends’ friends that their housemates are being difficult or their landlord is being unreasonably harsh, even doing things like asking them to move out at extremely short notice. Ideally, I’d live in a cozy and clean newly built rental property with two to three other people. Of course it would be even better to have an opportunity to live with local people in a nice neighborhood in order to really experience Melbourne’s culture.

This brings me to the subject of meeting local people, I don’t think international students usually get many opportunities to do this. I was able to make local friends through my recent vacation work experience in Queensland but if I hadn’t had this opportunity I may have never had a chance to mingle with local students. Before my vacation I had been to soccer matches, footy matches, charity events and other things but only once did I really get a chance to meet any Australian students or their families. This occurred through an activity organized by St Johns Church near Caulfield. Some friends and I went to one of the church volunteer’s houses and had dinner with her family and friends. It was a really great experience.

Overall I think life in Melbourne is fairly easy for international students, especially compared to remote areas like the island I stayed on during my summer vacation. On the island there weren’t any Asian supermarkets or grocery stores, plus ALL the shops were closed on Sundays.

Sure the public transport here isn’t great but that is because Melbourne is more sparsely populated than most Chinese cities and the majority of the population have private cars here. This just means I have to plan my trip before I go out otherwise I might get caught waiting for a long time or stuck because of the dreaded NO SERVICE notice.

And in terms of safety I’d say that overall I feel quite safe here, except when I’m walking down the street and someone yells out ‘Sexy!’ Many of my friends have had this experience and have talked about it, so we just don’t go out alone anymore.

If I could make any changes I would let international students benefit from the public transport concessions that local students enjoy but on the whole I have been absolutely happy with my time here in Melbourne. The city itself is the most international city in Australia and there are heaps of exciting events happening here everyday!

Everything and Nothing



In this post Wei Jia recalls some of her first impressions of Melbourne and explores her views on the personality of the city itself.


For me, the thing I enjoyed most about university was participating in field trips.

A ‘field trip’ is a kind of assignment that students are required to do whilst studying Urban Design at the University of Melbourne. Put simply, a field trip is an activity where you go out to visit a place and then write a report describing how you felt about the experience.

My first urban design studio was quite out there. We were asked to assume that, as a result of global warming, the sea level would rise by 6.096m over the next fifty to one hundred years, covering a huge area of Melbourne and creating a new coastline. Along this coastline, we were asked to design something. Our first step was to take a field trip in order to analyze the breadth of this new waterfront. I teamed up with two other classmates during this image collection stage.

On the first day, we cycled together from the CBD to Docklands. This was my first impression of Melbourne, a place of many high rises with glass walls here and there, the sky reflecting off the glass giving the impression of a blue saturated world, dry and almost devoid of greenery. When we arrived at Docklands, everything seemed to become compressed, merging into a singular flat scene. Here it was industrial and dusty. Here the metallic-sheen left one feeling more than a little uncomfortable. So this is Melbourne, a monster with a great collage of imagery. It is not Europe, not America, not Asia, not the Middle East, neither classic nor modern. It is nothing, but in other words, it is everything. Melbourne, much like the people who inhabit it, is a city full of stylish conflicts.

This first field trip was a tiring experience for our group. We found that it wasn’t very smart to do everything together and so we split up. Williamstown was to be my next destination, another beautiful but disastrous field trip for me. But, I will talk more about that later.

To be continued…

Monday, February 23, 2009

Word List 1 Part 1 : 兼职


Photo by Zsolt Bugarski, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license.


Whilst translating Jack's last Soy Sauce entry I encountered many words and phrases that were unfamiliar to me. Perhaps I had never encountered them before or maybe I had just forgotten, whatever the reason I would like to spend some time writing about some of the language elements that sent me scrambling for my dictionary. And this is just the first paragraph! I find translation almost endlessly fascinating.

1) I never had a decent part time job in China.

在国内的时候,我没有做过像样的兼职

像样 This adjective can be translated as decent, presentable or sound, conveying the idea that the noun being described is nothing to be ashamed of. In this sentence Jack uses it to describe part time work - 像样的兼职。 It could also be used to describe a decent meal 像样的饭菜 furniture 像样的家具 or even a suit 像样的套装。Interestingly enough you could also use it in the same way English speakers say make yourself presentable. For example, the sentence - Make yourself presentable for the interview, could be rendered as 面谈时收拾得像样点儿。

2)
When I had time I mostly squandered it having fun.

有时间都浪费在玩儿上面

浪费 is a verb meaning to waste or squander. As a noun, the character 浪 means a wave, 巨浪 meaning mountainous wave. As a verb this character takes on the very wave like meaning of being unrestrained, hence its ability to convey the meaning of squandering time by having fun 浪费在玩儿上面。 One could also waste one's money 浪费金钱, words 浪费口舌 or even one's youth 浪费青春. Interestingly, 浪 also appears in 浪漫, meaning romantic. Here both characters convey a sense of something that cannot be contained, an overflowing of emotion made even more poetic by the presence of the water radical in both characters.

3)
To be honest I haven't been that considerate of my parents.

说实话,我不是一个能体谅父母的人。

体谅 is a verb meaning to be considerate or to show sympathetic understanding of. When describing the character of a person or place in Chinese it seems quite common to use the pattern 我是/不是一个能做某事的人 meaning literally I am a person who can/cannot do something. I don't know why but this kind of pattern reminds me of a song lyric by the Beijing band Car Sick Cars called Square where singer Shou Wang sings 这是一个没有希望的广场, this is a (public/town) square without hope.

4)
However since arriving in Australia, I have begun to appreciate the hardships associated with earning money.

不过来澳洲, 我能感到赚钱的艰辛

赚钱 is a verb meaning to earn money. 艰辛 is a noun meaning difficulties and hardships, the first character also appearing in the more commonly heard 艰难。Last semester I also remember coming across the character whilst reading the words of the famous Chinese author 胡适. He used the word 艰深 meaning abstruse as a way to describe theories 艰深概念 that by right should be critically analyzed in order to discover their true worth to society in his essay 新思潮的意义, commonly translated as 'The meaning of New Thought'。 As a way of wrapping this post up you might notice that the title of the essay employs the character 潮 which literally means tide. However, 潮 here is used figuratively to describe a social upsurge, in this case the influx of western ideas in China during the early 20th century. So we can have a wave of refugees 难民潮 and, going back to our earlier character 浪 we can describe a tidal wave of reform - 改革的浪潮。

Sunday, February 22, 2009

And you may find yourself in another part of the world


When I started this blog, I had several goals. One of them was learning more about the Chinese international student community. I feel that over the last couple of months, my interviews with students such as Xiu, Pei Pei, Jack, Crystal, Wei Jia and Neil have helped me gain a much clearer understanding of life in Melbourne for international students. To this end I have discovered that most students face big difficulties finding houses, securing jobs that pay a fair wage and attaining a sense of attachment to their new city. But from these stories of difficulty have also come both positive experiences and new ideas.

These ideas constitute the second goal for Soy Sauce. I hope that the discussions and ideas expressed here will play a part in improving how international students are welcomed by the city of Melbourne, and that with our help, those students who have chosen this city as their new home will be able to lead active, interesting and enjoyable lives filled with new experiences, new friends and the achievement of their scholastic and personal goals.

As our cities most valuable export industry, worth over $4 billion dollars to this state if the word on the street is anything to go by, we cannot afford to lose our reputation as a safe and welcoming city that provides a supportive and hospitable environment in which students from all over the world can chase their dreams.

More than this, as Australians we have come to pride our self on our ability to offer everybody a fair go, reveling in our status as a multicultural society that gives everyone a fair crack at achieving their full potential. But is this sense of being an open and friendly nation that offers all an equal playing field merely a myth? What are we really doing to make international students feel truly a part of life here? I hope that over time Soy Sauce will be able to devote more page space to good news stories than dwelling on the many problems faced by students here.

Finally, I had really hoped that through this blog I would be able to practice my Chinese. In this regard I have been quite lazy but recent submissions by Jack have really reinvigorated my love of this most interesting of languages. As a result, I would like to start posting some entries discussing some of the translation that goes on behind the scenes at Soy Sauce, posting up a word list to accompany some of the articles. The first one will focus on the most recent entry regarding Jack's work experiences in Melbourne. Also, it will include some discussion of the wonderfully worded survey questions which were so excellently translated by Crystal when this all began in November of last year.

Wading through shallow waters


Here is the second part of my interview with Jack. Here he talks about his experiences working in Melbourne and coming to terms with the difficulties of supporting yourself for the first time.

I never had a decent part time job in China. When I had time I mostly squandered it having fun. To be honest I haven't been that considerate of my parents. However, However since arriving in Australia, I have begun to appreciate the hardships associated with earning money.

Whilst I was completing my English course, I worked as a removalist. I got this job through my roommate. We got six hours to unload containers in a ware house and the pay was really good, $15 an hour plus one meal supplied. Because there were four of us working together the workload wasn’t that heavy and we usually had it all finished within 5 hours. At the end of the day each person would walk away with $90. It was definitely worth it but I have a feeling I am not going to be able to find another part time job that paid as well as that.

Recently I have been looking for work in Chinese convenience stores but the pay is pretty low, usually around $7 an hour. Apart from the difficulty of finding a well paying job, I haven’t really been entangled in any negative workplace situations like having a bad boss. But maybe that is just because I haven’t been around long enough!

In terms of jobs that I would really like to have whilst in Melbourne, I kind of envy those students who have jobs where they come into contact with local people quite frequently or they work in a place where the boss is an Australian. This is because improving my English is something I feel is really important.

Monday, February 16, 2009

On an island in the sun...



Introducing Pei Pei whom I met whilst teaching a fantastic group of students at the Monash University English Language Centre a year or so ago. It was great reading that she had some great experiences doing vacation work on Boyne Island in Queensland, a remote island that most Queenslanders would never have even heard about, let alone visited.


I’m Pei Pei from China. Right now, I am doing third level of Materials Engineering at Monash University. Before I came to Australia, I finished the first two years of university education at my local university.

I believe that the three main reasons why students leave China to study abroad include a better quality of education, a chance to improve their language skills in an English speaking environment and the possibility of future immigration. As for those students who don’t come overseas, budget and language limitations are two of the main factors. Also, many students would find it very difficult to live without having their friends and family around.

I chose to come to Australia because I was offered a place in a program that allowed me to finish my bachelor degree at Monash University. Actually, it might not have been my first choice if there weren’t so many terrorist-attacks in the United States. :)

It’s hard to tell whether other students from China are satisfied with their educational experience or not. Personally, I’m content with what I’ve gained from my experience. For instance, there is help offered by various levels of organizations and individuals out there. There are all kinds of tutorials and programs helping international students with their studies, communications, and health.

Regarding work, I haven’t had a part-time job since being in Melbourne. Usually coping with lectures and exams is already enough to keep us occupied during our free time. As a result, not many of my friends have taken part time jobs because we think of them as being dangerous. This is because if we fail one subject we have to pay 3,000 dollars to repeat the course, compared to the paltry amount of money earned by doing laboring work it just really isn’t worth the risk.

Although I’ve never taken any part time in Melbourne, this summer I did do some vacation work at Boyne Smelters Limited in Queensland. I’m really lucky that I got this opportunity, because it’s extremely hard, almost impossible, for international students to get vacation work due to the difference in our educational background and language level when compared with local students.

It has been a great experience for me! I have gained industrial experience and contacts, as well as living with locals and hanging out with them. To be honest, if not for these three month, I may never have chance to mingle with local students and experience Australian culture. Now that I have friends who have grown up in Melbourne, even when I go back, life will be different.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Everywhere you go, you always take the weather



I was Neil's English teacher when he first arrived in Australia to complete a bridging course before entering his Masters at Monash University. Amongst other things, I remember his love of astronomy and the fact that as a boy, he made his own telescopes in order to gaze at the stars. I hadn't ever met anyone who had done that before and it struck me as fascinating.


My name is Neil and I come from Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of northwest China and I have been in Australia for about ten months. I live with my uncle’s family at the moment in Hallam. Before I came to Australia, I studied at Chengdu University of Technology of Sichuan Province and majored in Geology. After my graduation, I worked in the E-commerce department of a children’s clothing company.

I think the top three reasons why students leave China to study include the fact that some developed countries still have a higher level of tertiary education than China does. Secondly, the diploma or certificate from a developed country may make it easy to find a better job in China. Thirdly, many students go abroad to study for the sake of emigration.

As for why students don't make it overseas, well firstly living costs and tuition fees are very expensive and not every family or individual can afford it. Secondly, their English level mightn't meet the requirements of the overseas college or the immigration department. Finally, their previous academic performance might not be enough to meet the demands of the overseas tertiary institution.

I chose to study in Australia for several reasons, including the fact that I have many relatives living in Melbourne. I also love the climate, weather and environment in Australia. Also, it was easier for me to apply for a course in an Australian university than in an American or a British one.

I think most Chinese overseas students are generally satisfied with their educational experience in Melbourne. The biggest complaint I think is that the number of Chinese and Indian students is just too big.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Somewhere over the rainbow...



Photo by Fernando de Sousa entitled VIBGYOR, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 license.

Just had a quick flick through the Rainbow Guide, an orientation and pre-arrival handbook funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, International Quality Branch. The guide is available to download from the excellent International Education Association website ISANA. The Rainbow Guide is basically a template that can be adapted by all education providers throughout Australia in an effort to help student service professionals provide students with a thorough orientation to both their institution and life in Australia.

The AEI website describes it as a synthesis of orientation best practice and Soy Sauce was really impressed with both the presentation and the level of information that the document provides. Also, Soy Sauce is really supportive of this kind of top-down best-practice standardization. With all of the controversies late last year over dodgy education providers, moves from the DEEWR to provide leadership in areas such as pre-arrival and orientation will hopefully raise the level of service provided to all international students during the time leading up and immediately prior to their arrival in Australia.

One area that I find interesting especially in light of recent stories featured on Soy Sauce, is the section of the document covering permanent accommodation. There is a wealth of information and advice provided in relation to renting, all of it presented in clear and simple language. The section covers everything from information about bonds to advice on how to select suitable housemates. It also provides contact details for relevant bodies that can provide further help such as the Tenants Union of Victoria.

However, with the lack of rental properties available in cities such as Melbourne, the document inadvertently serves to highlight the fact that not all service providers have a dedicated accommodation service, and that despite this wealth of information, students face the difficult challenge of actually finding and negotiating a rental arrangement alone. Perhaps if institutions where required to assist students secure suitable accommodation for their first couple of months in their new city, then the depressing tales of students being forced into signing overpriced leases through non-mainstream providers might be less common. So, whilst this document is a great start, further work needs to be done to provide international students with support in securing permanent accommodation.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

The importance of being harmonious



This post introduces Jack, a student who I first met whilst working at RMIT English Worldwide. Jack was always really funny and interesting in class so I was keen to ask him to contribute to Soy Sauce. In this first excerpt, he talks about some of the reasons why Chinese students come to Australia and goes on to give some really interesting anecdotes about the problems many students face when trying to find suitable accommodation in Melbourne.


My name is Jack and I come from China. I have lived in Melbourne for four months. I finished my Bachelor degree in China with a major in applied mathematics.

I think the main reasons Chinese students go abroad for further study include widening their own horizons, improving their English skills and also exploring the possibilities of future immigration. As for those students who choose not to go abroad, they probably cannot afford the financial burden and their parents have rejected the idea, or they simply want to start their careers early. Personally speaking, I came to Australia to improve my English and I’m also interested in migrating here one day, even though I’d prefer to live in Canada.

On the whole I have been satisfied with my life in Melbourne although I’m always annoyed that there are so many Chinese here, which limits my chances to speak English.

I think one of the biggest problems facing Chinese students when they come to Melbourne is housing. When we arrive in Australia, usually our English speaking and listening skills are not sufficient to interact with local agents. We have to say ‘pardon’ so many times that they become impatient and bored, leaving with the impression that Chinese have poor communication skills. As a result local agents seem like they really don’t want to do business with Chinese students, which really limits our options when it comes to renting a house.

However, we still need to live somewhere so we are usually forced to seek help through more established Chinese immigrants operating within the rental market. Because the properties controlled by Chinese in Melbourne represent only a small section of the overall market, we are forced to compete with all of the other Chinese students here who face the same problem. As a result of this fierce competition the prices go up and up. In the end, Chinese students usually end up living in places where the rent seems irrationally high!

To add to this problem is the difference in the exchange rate between China and Australia. Let me give a specific example, the money used to pay a month’s rent in Australia on a single room is equivalent to what it would cost to rent an entire apartment for a whole month in some mid-scale Chinese cities.

Because of this, most of my friends here live in share houses with other international students. This experience is not without its problems and some of my friends have been forced to move house. A couple of my friends have even moved house several times in one month! Honestly though, I would probably do the same thing as I believe in the importance of harmony when one is living abroad alone. I would rather avoid conflict even if it meant losing a little bit of money. I guess that is because I am a pretty easy-going guy with not much in the way of aggression.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

City of Melbourne welcome to international students





With university about to kick off for 2009, City of Melbourne is planning a big event to welcome international students. To be held in Federation Square on Sunday the 1st of March, this free event will feature an array of cultural dance performances, roving performers, international food and information stalls as well as live crocodile feeding on the main stage. The organizing committee for the event itself is made up of local students working alongside current and recently graduated international students from around the world, including China. The event should be a great way for people from all over the city to experience the myriad of cultures international students bring to our city.

I personally believe that events like this are a step in the right direction. Melbourne needs more special events that recognize the contribution made by international students to life in Melbourne, not only culturally but also economically. For Melbourne to be able to retain its reputation as a great place for international students to pursue their studies, all levels of government need to do more to ensure that international students feel appreciated in their new city. Days like this should not only symbolize that appreciation, but also provide real opportunities for connections to be established between the local student community and international students. I look forward to hearing more about the day and will keep Soy Sauce readers updated as news comes to hand.

Those first few months



Xiu talks about some of the biggest barriers faced by overseas students when they first arrive. Like many students, she stayed with a home-stay family on her arrival here before moving on to look for cheaper accommodation. It is a difficult period that students usually face with minimal help, and a time that often leaves them with mixed emotions about their new home.

I have participated in some events here, like the Melbourne Cup and horse riding. I’ve watched sports games that I don’t even know the exact names of. I have met many Australian people too. I met them through my friends or just accidently. My first two months here, I lived with a local family which was a really important experience for me. I got to come to terms with a different culture and get used to different life.

The biggest difficulty living in Melbourne is the unfamiliar environment around us, especially at the very beginning because most of us don’t have friends and families here. Those first few months are a tough time for us.

Another thing is the transportation; it’s so infrequent here! Some areas don’t even have much public transport and if you don’t have a car it’s really inconvenient.

Money is also an issue and the cost of our tuition is the most popular topic of conversation amongst my friends and I. Our fees are three times higher than those of local students, which just doesn’t make any sense to me. Local students really should appreciate how lucky they are.

So I guess that so far, I can’t really tell about this whole experience. It has been bittersweet. Having said that, if there were more things for us to do, that could help us get involved in Melbourne life, we would be so glad. I have tried so hard to feel part of life here, but it seems hard sometimes.

Monday, January 19, 2009

No turning back


I got this great post from Xiu before Christmas but have waited until now to put it up. With Chinese New Year soon upon us I think some of her words really bring home the sense of isolation felt by some international students during the holidays. Also, Xiu hints at the incredible expense involved with studying in Australia. Students pay thousands of dollars in fees to attend English language colleges throughout the city. If a student is using these colleges as a means to help them achieve the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) score that their tertiary course of choice requires of them before they can commence their studies, then they are stuck paying for courses until they get the score they are after. In some cases this may mean paying for 5 weeks of mind numbing English classes just to improve a reading test result by half a percentage point.

A few days ago, one of my friends’ IELTS score came out. Just like me, it wasn’t enough to get her into university. I guess for both of us, the whole same journey needs to start again. There are consequences, like we will have to pay money again to take IELTS, but this is nothing compared with English class fees. It’s ridiculous. It is like we are paying thousands of dollars to an English language centre for one more course just so we get that extra bloody 0.5 or 1 point. Actually, most of the students I know are all so close to our required scores but we can’t go anywhere until we achieve what we set out to do, we certainly can’t go back home guilty and with bad scores.

Right now, we are having our holiday for Christmas. In two days it will be Christmas. We all ask each other “any plan for Christmas.” Some people I know are planning really fabulous holidays. Others are really boring. Some of their holidays will be just like mine, promising myself I will work harder to get a perfect score next time, promising myself that I will use the whole holiday if that is what it takes. So, technically, you could say our life here is inspiring, not boring at all.

I met some people recently, and they all asked the same thing, “Will you go back for the holiday?” Of course I said no. Of course, the next question you already know, “Why?” I guess I really didn’t want to explain that much and receive some kind of sympathy so I said, “I don’t miss home at all and I like to stay here, I have so much to do.” Anyway, I gave up the whole going back thing. It may be good for me. Tomorrow I promise myself to go to school and study. But who knows what I am going to do, I already broke so many of these kinds of promises. But looking back on the days I stayed home and did nothing, I never knew doing nothing could be so exhausting. I need my energy back.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Something to talk about


In this post, Wei Jia talks about some of her experiences of working in Melbourne.

When I first arrived I worked in a Chinese restaurant. The wages for working in a Chinatown restaurant are pretty low, and to make matters worse the work is usually really laborious. These days I occasionally work in a Sri Lankan take away place where the wages are OK, the work is not as strenuous and the boss is not too bad. Actually, I am quite happy when I’m doing this job. It is sort of like a break from study and my real job, which is working part time at a landscape architecture company.

I feel that language is still my biggest obstacle to truly fitting in with my workmates. Also, I’m still not 100% familiar with Australian culture and that makes it really difficult to fully integrate with my work colleagues. For example, everyone at the landscape architecture company loves to go fishing, but I don’t know how, so it is really hard to find something to chat about with them. But, on the whole, I’m really pleased to have this opportunity.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Building a platform for the future


Soy Sauce talks with Wei Jia about her take on life and study in Melbourne. Wei Jia has lived here for over two years now and I have had the pleasure of meeting with her on several occasions as she was a classmate of my girlfriends at Melbourne University.

My name is Wei Jia and I come from Guangzhou. I arrived in Australia in late 2006. At the time I had just graduated from University and hadn’t any work experience. As for why I chose to come to Melbourne, to be honest it wasn’t my first choice. I was more inclined to work for a couple of years in China and then go to America but my family were more familiar with things here which made it easier I guess.

Students from China leave home to pursue advanced studies for lots of reasons but I think the three most important ones include the desire to study more things which gives them greater opportunities for the future. Immigration is also a popular reason along with dodging the pressures of sitting either the national university entrance examination or the exams for entering a graduate programme. As for those students from China who don’t come overseas, I believe their reasons would be things like a lack of funds, or they think China is fine. Many probably plan to accumulate some more work experience in China before looking for opportunities to go abroad.

On the whole I don’t really believe that Chinese overseas students are happy with the study environment in Melbourne for the simple fact that there are just too many Chinese people here!

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Working hard for the money

In this post, Xiu gives Soy Sauce readers a peak into her experience of working life as an international student in Melbourne.

Before I came to Australia I had never worked a day in my life. Now though, I am on the lookout for part time jobs. The job I have right now is not so great. I guess the biggest reason why I cannot find a satisfactory job is my language is not good enough, or lets say my language is bad, not even close to good!

I am a waitress in a Chinese restaurant. The pay is so bad! I guess the boss just treats us as cheap laborers. My boss is the kind of person who thinks a lot about money, which is good for her, cause she is running a business. But from where I am standing, she is just a mean person who likes yelling and saving money.

As for my friends, whose English skills are as bad as mine, most of them cannot even find a job. If they do find a job they usually find themselves in the same situation as me, with low pay and a horrible boss. One student I know has a very good job in a bank. She is very good at English and smart. She is also very young. She is still studying in Monash University and sometimes she can make 5,000 in one month. She works hard and has really good social skills so she earns good money. But she is an exception and most of us tell of uncountable bad experiences, about bad bosses and bad work conditions. Some students even get hurt during their work. One of my friends even burned their hand whilst working!

Thursday, January 1, 2009

A place to call my own


In one of the previous posts we met Yang Tong Xiu, a Chinese student who has been living in Melbourne for several months now. In this installment Xiu offers her thoughts on finding accommodation in Melbourne.

I am living in Clayton right now, with two couples and another girl. We are all Chinese. Even though our house is a big, with six people living in it together it still feels crowded. I found this house by myself, and it was very hard process for me at the time. I had looked at five different places before I found this one. In the end, I decided on this house because I was just tired of looking for accommodation, there was no other thought behind the decision. It is so hard to find somewhere to live in Melbourne!

The people I have been living with are fine. Some of them are very nice and take care of me. Some of them are so different to me, because actually we were total strangers to each other at the very beginning. I guess we have been very careful to establish some boundaries; we keep a very quiet environment in order to live together and have been doing fine so far.

In talking with my friends and acquaintances in Melbourne, they all have different stories about housing. Most of them are like me, finding a satisfactory place to live is very hard. The main thing that everyone talks about is the importance of the living environment. Most of us come to Australia by ourselves. We arrive in a city with absolutely no friends and no idea about who we will be living with during our time here. As a result finding a good environment and good housemates is especially hard. Some of my friends have experienced a really horrible time here. They moved house quite a few times because of their housemates were so terrible. They experienced fights, arguments or just really awkward situations. So they were forced to move out and begin the exhausting search for accommodation all over again.

Like a lot of my friends, I want to settle down during my time here and try my best to live peacefully with other people. Really, there is no use in fighting and moving house is just such a waste. This wasn’t why we came here! So we are trying to knuckle down so we are able to focus on our studies.

My ideal house or housing environment would be a single apartment where I could live alone. I would like to live in an area which has lots of people and is clean. I guess when we grow up, we all want to live in our own apartment, where we don’t need to worry about how to get along with others and we can enjoy our privacy. As for the price, a high price usually means high quality. Some of my friends and I just hope some day we are able to afford that by ourselves. Overall though, the housing prices here are still bloody expensive… sorry about the word, but it is true!