Budgeting for China

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cruisemonkey

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Re: Budgeting for China
« Reply #15 on: October 01, 2015, 01:14:22 PM »
Torrents -
At first, the process can seem overwhelming - WTF... is all this??? What do I do??? What do I click on... and why??? What's happening??? Why did this screen pop up??? What's it doing???  ahahahahah ahahahahah

Here's what I recommend -

1. Install uTorrent on your computer - http://www.utorrent.com/
2. Search for torrents with Kickass Torrents - https://kat.cr
3. Play your downloaded torrents with VLC media player (make it 'default')

Use a drive on your computer with lots of free space to store your downloaded torrent files. You might want to make a 'TV' folder and a 'Movie' folder.

Using Kickass, find what you want - almost any TV show and movie ever made is available. Click on the 'Magnet link' (it looks like a horseshoe magnet) and uTorrent will open automatically. In the upper left of the uTorrent screen, select where to save the torrent. Wait for the file(s) to appear in the box on the right - some will have only 'main' file, some will also have: subtitles, information, 'downloaded from...', and sample(s). Check/uncheck what you want (I usually just want the 'main' file... sometimes subtitles). Click on 'OK' under the box... the screen will disappear and your torrent will start to download on uTorrent. When its finished, it will tell you it is 'seeding'. Delete the torrent, or leave it seeding for a while (it's file sharing... so you're helping others) and then watch your show by opening it from where ever you 'saved' it on your computer.

Experiment a bit, and you'll catch on fairly quickly re: jargon, file sizes & quality etc.

Happy torrenting!


Buying an oven -
Shop around!
 bfbfbfbfbf


The Koreans once gave me five minutes notice - I didn't know what to do with the extra time.

Re: Budgeting for China
« Reply #16 on: October 01, 2015, 02:55:51 PM »
Calach - I looked at the list you provided and was scared off by the fact that they all ask for credit card details, all claiming they won't charge you but I'm very hesitate to provide details, just in case they do, or worse use the details for other purposes. Secondly, I found one I thought was ok and it sent me to a page that looked like a DOS screen, made repeated loud siren noises, demanding I telephoned a number and wouldn't let me leave until I shut the computer. I had to wipe cookies (to stop it keep redirecting me!) and run a full scan. I'm still not convinced that I'm completely free of it but so far I've had no further issues. Finally, does anyone have a stupids guide to torrents? I tried and tried, and I can't fathom how to make them work right consistently.

Ew. Sorry about that. Yeah, I don't know anything about legal downloading in China.

Re torrents - basically, what Cruisemonkey said. It used to be that effective torrenting required arcane knowledge and "tweaks", but these days a decent client will do all the tweaking for you. All you need is the client and an open port.

Clients: uTorrent and Vuze are the popular choices. A while back uTorrent went ad-supported which I found annoying so I switched to Vuze. Vuze always was bloated and full of settings to play with, but it worked for me. I forget what annoyed me about it now, some obvious performance hit on my whole computer maybe, but for a while there I was looking for new client software. There are all sorts, like Deluge or the original BitTorrent, or the one I've started liking: Tixati

Open Ports: these are what the torrents go through to get to and from your machine. They can be blocked by your ISP, your router, or shut by your computer itself. Your chosen client software will have some setting somewhere like

Settings > Network/Downloads > Ports/Connections/Something

And the "port" will be some number, probably in the range 49152-65534. Doesn't matter which number you choose, so long as it's "open". Either your client software will include a port tester or you can check it online (Google "open port" and lots of port testing sites show up.) If you can't find any "port" number that checks out as "open", you may have to do an arcane operation called "port forwarding". That is a whole other post (and not really something I understand because usually ports are open.)

Nb: probably the default port the client starts with will work fine.

Torrenting: you've got your client, you've directed it at an open port, you've visited Kickass, you've downloaded a .torrent file, your torrent client has picked up that tiny .torrent file and has begun to do things. The download will start slow and pick up speed, ideally using up to about 70% of your download capacity. (Most modern torrent clients will discover for themselves what this is.) The downloading operation is not 1-to-1. The client software is collecting many pieces of your target file from many sources and putting them together on your machine. Eventually, it will conclude and the file or collection of files will be "downloaded". At this point, you can shut down your torrent client and do whatever you like, but the worldwide system of torrent file sharing generally relies on people leaving their torrent clients running. Your client and the downloaded torrent will then serve as a piece source for other downloaders. It's normally understood you'll leave your client running until the file you downloaded has been shared again up to 1.5 times the total file size. If you don't do this, the client system may take automatic umbrage and you future download speeds will suffer. You can also change this uploading behaviour, choosing to share more or less, and it'll work away in the background, but getting your download-to-uploads ration at least to 1 can sometimes take a while. I leave my machines always running, and the torrent client always on.

Tip: if you want to test out your client, download a Linux distro. For instance, choose some Ubuntu torrent. You don't have to keep it or even like Linux, but the latest distro torrents are usually very active and will give you a good idea of whether or not your client is working right.
« Last Edit: October 01, 2015, 03:03:11 PM by Calach Pfeffer »
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Re: Budgeting for China
« Reply #17 on: October 01, 2015, 04:22:31 PM »
I guess I'm just going to have to learn quickly to live like a china lady! Any tips on buying an oven?

Taobao is the place to go.  I ended up with something that's like an industrial sized EZ-Bake oven and am reasonably happy with it.
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BrandeX

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Re: Budgeting for China
« Reply #18 on: October 03, 2015, 06:19:09 AM »
I just went to the local Jusco and bought the largest one they had at the time. (about the size of a microwave)

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CWL

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Re: Budgeting for China
« Reply #19 on: October 03, 2015, 12:57:56 PM »
I love how some of those boxes the little ovens come in has a picture of it roasting a whole fucking turkey. 


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cruisemonkey

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Re: Budgeting for China
« Reply #20 on: October 11, 2015, 10:27:46 AM »
I love how some of those boxes the little ovens come in has a picture of it roasting a whole fucking turkey.
They look like turkeys, but they're 1 lb. Cornish game hens (or quails).  ahahahahah
The Koreans once gave me five minutes notice - I didn't know what to do with the extra time.

Re: Budgeting for China
« Reply #21 on: October 14, 2015, 09:04:03 PM »
I used to teach English in SK as well.  You can definitely save more money here than there.  But I strongly suggest you just take whatever research you find on the Internet as a "guideline," or a rough estimate.  The prices in SK are pretty uniform, but the cost of living in China really depends upon where you end up going.  For example, Shanghai is definitely more expensive than Shenzhen or Chengdu.

Re: Budgeting for China
« Reply #22 on: October 16, 2015, 10:40:49 AM »
Thank you everyone for the wonderful advice, particularly the directions on using a torrent! It's not my area of expertise but I think I can fathom it now.

SK was VERY expensive in a number of unexpected ways - service charges / socialising and the gym to keep sane / unseen costs that were expected such as the monthly deduction from my salary to cover weddings / funerals.  When I'm working for less than (a UK) minimum wage and can't make any extra income, it all added up rather quickly. I'm working on the budget as we speak Netflix + spotify are history and native food is the way to go. I've enjoyed the time out here in the UK but its also increased my commitment more than ever to achieving a MSc - it's purely a financial constraint that prevents me from pursuing it.

My letter of invitation FINALLY arrived and I've applied for my visa!! I'm now looking at flights etc and preparing to leave in the next 7 -14 days.

« Last Edit: October 16, 2015, 11:02:13 AM by Magic_Hat »

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eggcluck

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Re: Budgeting for China
« Reply #23 on: October 16, 2015, 06:47:37 PM »
Seems I am late to the party but for what it is worth here is my budget.

Salary 5500 RMB /month

Rent - 0

Food 250 - I almost never eat out but have to buy tons of slightly more pricey things as a veggie (also a reason why I usually don't eat out) for nutrition's sake, nuts are a big expense. For sanity's sake I also had to learn to cook a bit better than the average person who can get away with just frying some sausages and potatoes.

Utilities - about 50 RMB a month ( I get an 100 RMB allowance towards them and the excess is deducted from my semester bonus.

Gym 0 - campus one was free but now it is not, I set up my own with heavy junk, for less ( 200 for a barbell, I use bags full of books as a weight) than a year subscription at a local commercial place

Travel - 0  I don't go anywhere usually, I use a bicycle if I do even if it is an hour ride.

Swimming - 30 but I have to buy 30 session in advance at a time so 900 in a lump sum every time I renew

Beer - 12  Local supermarket

Internet 0

Passably nicety - $6 /month - will go up as tired of the downhill decent of the current one.

One off expenditures - 1500 for a reasonable road racing bike (can get a cheap heavy town bike for 800, 1500 would net you a cheap e bike if you are feeling less energetic),  500 for workout stuff, 10000 for a new laptop, 300 on some personal teaching books

I considered USENET at one point, it is subscription downloading but has an advantage over torrents of having more hard to find things and faster speeds overall, and no need to hope one day you get invited to a private tracker so you can have the rarer stuff on demand ( after several years I have never been invited to a private tracker).
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mlaeux

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Re: Budgeting for China
« Reply #24 on: October 18, 2015, 01:57:02 AM »
I made 14,000  kuai a month, did not pay rent or utilities. I had a monthly stipend, but never went over. Internet was around $385 a month. I ate at home during the week and ate out at specific places (that accomodated my food allergies) on the weekends. I spent about 1000 a week on groceries in order to avoid MSG and gluten. I spent maybe 300-500 a month on transportation (taxis, metro and buses.) I had a little problem with fabric addiction and bought fabric almost weekly to take to the tailor to get made into various articles of clothing. In the end, I got my budget down to $850 a month. I did everything I wanted to do, plus was able to support two other people, but that was about 3 years ago, so things may have changed. I lived in Chengdu at the time.

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CWL

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Re: Budgeting for China
« Reply #25 on: October 18, 2015, 03:53:03 AM »
I love how some of those boxes the little ovens come in has a picture of it roasting a whole fucking turkey.
They look like turkeys, but they're 1 lb. Cornish game hens (or quails).  ahahahahah

Cornish hens my ass!

xxxxxxxxxx

Re: Budgeting for China
« Reply #26 on: February 15, 2016, 06:19:34 PM »
I'll be working at the same uni as cruisemonkey so will be enjoying the same deal he gets. We are friends and live similar lives except I don't smoke.

I will mention one website I use to watch TV shows: www.couchtuner.com

It has every TV show worth watching season by season and episode by episode all laid out for you.

If it wasn't for kickass torrents (movies and books) and couchtuner I would have stepped even closer to the edge of insanity that I have after 5 years in Korea.

About 3 weeks till China!

Counting the days until I see the happiest place in Korea: the departure lounge at Incheon Airport.
« Last Edit: February 15, 2016, 09:24:53 PM by Phillis »

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Escaped Lunatic

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Re: Budgeting for China
« Reply #27 on: February 16, 2016, 01:01:53 AM »
I love how some of those boxes the little ovens come in has a picture of it roasting a whole fucking turkey.
They look like turkeys, but they're 1 lb. Cornish game hens (or quails).  ahahahahah

Cornish hens my ass!

xxxxxxxxxx

Cornish game sparrows. ahahahahah

I'm pro-cloning and we vote!               Why isn't this card colored green?
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