Welcome to GoYvon! My name is Yvonne and this year marks my 10th year of living in China. If you are new to my channel make sure to check out the first episode of this series in which I explain how six months of teaching turned into 10 years of living, working and dating in China. In this first episode I will be sharing the 10 reasons why I love living in China. I mean, I have been living here for 10 years, so there must be some reasons why I think this is such a great place to live. Let's start with reason 10; the people. The people in China are very kind and friendly. I experience this on a daily basis at my work. Co-workers are happy to help whenever I'm struggling with messages from delivery men or shop owners that I don't understand. People are also very helpful when you're lost or in a situation where you can't understand what someone says. I would have to say that the people in China
have always been helpful and friendly to me. Moving on to number nine, Beijing! It might sound odd that Beijing is on the list, but Beijing is one of the reasons Iove living in China. I have been living in the capital for seven years and I really enjoy it. Beijing has so much to offer! I can visit the numerous parks or walk through the hutongs, attend local movie nights, food events or markets and I can even shop for hours in one of the many modern malls the city has to offer. Honestly, Beijing never gets boring and that is why it is a great place to live and that is also why it will have its own episode. Number eight on the list is convenience. Life in China can be extremely convenient, actually, it's been so convenient to me that I think I've become kind of lazy the last couple of years! Although I just mentioned that there is always something to do in the city, I could easily live in Beijing without having to leave my house as I can order pretty much anything from my phone. With one of the many food delivery apps that are around, I can order any kind of food and have it delivered to me in less than an hour. Speaking of food, I'll be talking about that later, so keep watching if you want to find out how much I like Chinese food. Another thing that I wouldn't have to leave my house for if I didn't want to, are manicures, facials or massages. Most of the people who offer these services use WeChat and I can make an appointment with them at a preferred time and day and they will just come to my house. Another thing that is also convenient is transportation,
especially in a city like Beijing There are subway stops on almost every street corner,
I can order a DiDi to my house with my phone, or I can scan a QR-code on one of the many shared bikes that you can find around the city. As you can see, pretty much anything is available at my fingertips 24-7and I don't really have to leave my house if i don't want to. As long as I have an internet connection
and I can navigate the Chinese apps. And with navigating apps in Chinese we're at reason 7 why I enjoy living in China so much. The language. When I first came to China in 2010, I didn't speak a single word of Chinese and didn't know anything about the language. Soon after my arrival I started going to classes and tried to make sense of this language that so many people speak. With every year that I stayed in China, my Chinese improved. Learning the language wasn't always easy, especially not at the beginning, but I always enjoyed learning more about the characters. Even now I'm still learning a lot about the language and I enjoy using it on a daily basis. For example when I'm getting my hair cut, when I do groceries, or when I'm traveling in the country. And as traveling is something I really enjoy doing, it is number six in this list of reasons why I like living in China. If you have been following me for a while, you know I love to travel. Living in China has given me that option like no other country. China is enormous and has a wide variety of landscapes. In the 10 years I've been living here, I've had the chance to visit many unique places and none of the places I've visited were the same. When you live in China, you basically won't have to leave the country if you want to see different environments on every trip you take. In the past 10 years I've seen tropical beaches in Hainan, road a horse on the grasslands of Gansu, tried to ski during my winter vacation to Harbin, road my bike in the mountains of Yangshuo, and much more. I've actually gone on so many adventures in China that I'll be making a separate video about that! Most of the trips Iwent on together with Miguel, but I've also traveled quite a few times by myself, which in my experiences is absolutely safe to do. We have entered the top five and we are getting closer to the number one reason I love living in China. but first number five: safety. There are many places in the world where people might not feel safe walking alone at night, but I have lived in three Chinese cities and
have traveled by myself all over this country and I can honestly say in my experiences China is generally safe. I am not suggesting you wander down dark alleyways,
but for the most part China is safe and most people are actually really friendly
and helpful if you are lost. Overall, I have never felt in danger when
biking alone at night or traveling by myself to unknown places. Earlier in the list I talked about convenience and how convenient it can be to live here. And with this life being so convenient, it can be very easy to spend a lot of money, and money is what number four on this list is all about. Let's talk about the cost of living. I have been living in Beijing for seven years now and I believe that Beijing isn't too expensive, Especially since it is the capital. I'd say it is cheaper to live here than in many western European and north American cities, which makes it a nice city to live in. To give you an idea, Miguel and I pay about a thousand US dollars per month for our one bedroom apartment in the heart of the city. If I compare this to Amsterdam, where you easily pay 1,400 to 2,500 US dollars for a small apartment, I consider this fairly cheap. Food costs can also be low. You'll pay a price if you're going to buy your groceries at foreign supermarkets, but if you decide to go to local supermarkets though, you'll be surprised at the variety and lower prices there. Getting around Beijing is easy and can be cheap
if you are willing to take the subway, or use one of the many shared bikes that are available in the city. A short ride with either one of those won't cost you more than 5 rmb, which is less than a dollar. Overall, I think that Beijing is cheaper to live
in than many other capital cities. With high-paying jobs for foreigners it can also be very easy to save a lot of money for retirement. Speaking of work, we have entered the top three
and on number three on this list is work. I mentioned work briefly when I talked about the language, but my work is honestly an important reason I enjoy living here in China so much. Before I came to China, I worked in education in the Netherlands. After my graduation I worked as a teacher for a year before moving to China. Working here is very different from working in education in the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, I taught classes with as many as 30 students, sometimes even more! Here, I have yet to experience that, as most of my classes have had about 20 students. Smaller class sizes, international staff, classroom assistance, parents' commitment to education and pay are just a few of the reasons I love working in China. There are obviously many other reasons why I love my job and because of that I will be making a special video about teaching in China. So, if you are interested in that make sure to subscribe so you won't miss that episode. Alright! We're getting closer to the number one,
but first number two, the culture. One of the main reasons I enjoy living in China is the culture. Although even after 10 years of living here, there are still many parts of the culture I don't fully understand. There are also lots of aspects of the culture and traditions that I think are amazing. China has a lot of festivals and traditions that I think are fascinating. Food is a big part of these festivals. And that unique food is the number one reason I enjoy living in China! The food is extremely diverse, which makes it a great reason to live here, well if you love food as much as I do! I'm lucky to live in a big city like Beijing, because the city offers food from all the regions in the country. If i am hungry for Chengdu's famous hot pot,
I have plenty of restaurants to choose from. Do I miss the barbecued lamb skewers I had in Xi'an?
There are many places where I can get some. The food options are endless and I could honestly eat a different dish every day of the month. I could talk about Chinese food for hours and that's why the Chinese food will have its own episode in this series. So, make sure to subscribe if you don't want to miss that episode. These were my 10 reasons why I love living in China and why I've been able to live here for such a long time. Let me know if any of these reasons would make you want to come to China and live here or maybe you are already living here
and you can relate to these reasons. Let me know in a comment as I love to chat with you about that. Thank you for watching this video and see you in the next episode!
