Self-introduction:
Uncle Sam's currently specializes in teaching young learners, with most of our students aged between 5 and 12 years old. Teenage and adult classes will begin in the near future. Classes are English-only, and taught with the help of a Chinese-speaking assistant teacher. All classrooms are equipped with electronic, internet-capable whiteboards and class sizes are small, with the largest class currently at 10 students.
Apartments are fully equipped and air-conditioned; utilities are to be paid by the teacher, but generally average less than 200RMB per month.
Yingkou is a very inexpensive city, even by Chinese standards, with taxi fares starting at 6RMB, a bottle of Tsingtao beer at 3RMB, a meal in a small Chinese restaurant costing 20-30RMB and even a meal at one of the more expensive restaurants rarely exceeding 100-150RMB.
Yingkou is a growing port city, with new apartment buildings and shopping malls sprouting up every month and a skyline dotted with cranes. Air quality here is generally very good, and blue skies are normal. The fast train will take you from here to Dalian or Shenyang in about an hour, for 70-100RMB each way, and both cities are well worth the trip.
Western goods are reasonably scarce here, but you can find most things in the bigger supermarkets, and there are several KFCs, one Pizza Hut and a half-dozen restaurants serving western-style food. There are several enclosed "street" markets selling good-quality produce, meats and seafood. Yingkou is a coastal town, so seafood dominates the cuisine, although barbecue is very popular in the summer and dumplings very popular in the winter.