I went to Hong Kong to get Lryica. You can ride the train very cheaply into HK. My Dr, a physicatrist, would give me three months at a time. It was covered by insurance. I would bring in a large suitcase to shop for Western type groceries as it was cheaper and make a day or weekend of it. I do not remember if the expat Dr in China could get me Lryica. If you tell the pharmacy in the states you are moving out of the country you might be able to get more then the prescription, but at cost, not they insurance, maybe. Definitely ask the Dr for your medical diagnosis and prescription as it makes the transition easier. Good luck. I liked China.

I am in SE Asia and while most things are here, they are more expensive or they are not of a good quality. I bring expo markers, sharpness, electric pencil sharpener and stapler (plugged into adapter), very colorful cardstock even though it is not an A4 size, pre sharpened pencils, glue for glue gun and rubber cement.

Does anyone have information about living on the Ivory Coast? Can you save? The community? Anything?

Thanks everybody for your responses. I noticed I misspelled Duck tape - opps :shock:
I am wrapping up in a few days and will you use your suggestions to pack.

Thank you Moose and Micki. When you used the dick tape, did you go around the entire container or just tape the lid closed? Thanks.

I know that this has been talked about and would like a few more details. Someone has mentioned using the Rubbermaid containers instead of luggage when bringing stuff with you. Some questions.
1. Where did you drill the holes on the container?
2. How many holes did you use?
3. Were they clear containers?
4. They obviously meet the airlines guidelines and restrictions about luggage? - anything I might need to know about this?
5. Someone suggested the soft plastic vs. the hard plastic, I am not too clear on this. Can someone assist me?
I also looked at the link for the container store about the storage locker on wheels and am also considering them as well.
I like the rubbermaid container idea b/c they can stack into one another.
Thank you.

I use a kindle. We can download books and magazines from the amazon account with no problem where we are located. BUT our Kindle is registered on an Amazon account from USA. I know of a few people who had the amazon account registered in other countries (their credit card was not with an American address) and it did not work. We can not download the movies or TV shows unless we are in the USA due to copyright laws but the books work fine and I have not found any restrictions.

HI, here is my two cents about coming to China and what to bring. I have a small daughter so that impacts what I have to say. I am not in Beijing or Shanghai but I am in a large city. This is also my first time being overseas, which will also impact my opinion of what to bring.

If you have a shipping allowance, use it all to bring things you like/need over on the airplane.
There is no such thing as the Learning Store or Lakeshore near me. For example simple things like cut out letters that you can find in Dollar Tree are not available here. Cute borders? Nope.
If you like it bring it. While it may be in a western store near where you live, it will take a while for you to figure out which stores have what and where to buy things.
Easing into the culture is easier if you have some of the comforts you are used to. And while it may be in the western stores it is more expensive. Use your shipping allowance.
Your bed sheets from home will not fit the beds, don't bother. If you have some towels that you like, bring them.
If you use Tampons, bring them. They have 50 different kids of pads but no tampons (sometimes available in western stores).
Ikea is not far and they have some stuff for you.
Very Important (and you probably already know) if it says it is made in CHina back in the states, the likelihood that you can get it here in China is VERY SLIM. Things that are made here and stay here, break very easily. Staplers made in CHina are not very good, etc. You can get many of the items from Hong Kong, for a price.
Buy your computer from home and get a VPN, I have Astrill as well, I also have another one, WiTopia. The VPN will allow you to stream Netflix, Skype and get on FB.
Remember some of your plugs will not usually work here (but there are adaptors).
If you are larger than normal for CHina, it is hard to find things in your size BUT they have great tailors that can make whatever you want for you. Not so sure about shoes. If you are over 8.5 foot size, good luck.
Some teacher resources and children's books you can get on amazon china, not all though. If you use it, bring it.
Definitely get an ayi! Worth their weight in gold.
We are not eating ANY chicken, just recently the . was discovered here. We are buying all meat from the western shop until at least next school year.
Our fresh fruits and veggies are form a local wet market.
Bring all medicine you need and want. Aleve, Tylenol, Midol, Flu medicine like Thera Flu, NyQuil, Halls, and ALL children's medicine.
If you have a prescription, tell your doctor that you will be leaving for at least a year and to write you a prescription for that long (or as long as he/she will allow it). CVS worked with us and we were able to get 6 months advance for ours. We then went to the local doctor and we got the medicine here. Obviously there is medicine in China there is comfort in knowing that you have what you need on hand in the middle of the night.
I will answer more questions if you have them.
I love being here (just really stocking up when we go home again).

I am in China and while we tried to leave things home and said, oh I will just get what I need when we move there, not working so well for me. Simple things that I thought since they were made in China might as well pick them up. Nope, does not work like that. If you want the cute stuff you have in your classroom that you can buy back in the states at the Dollar Stores or at the Learning Store, not going to find it here. If you want a quality stapler that will not break or jam after a couple of uses, nope not here. I also wish I had brought my personal library books. English books are not cheap here OR not the ones you would bother to use for modeling strategies or read alouds. My advice is use all of your allowance and move it with you b/c to get stuff sent to you can take a while or in one case three months later sent back to the states having never reached here. All of your teacher resource books, bring them. Any learning games you use, bring them. You will miss them. [u]This is just MY opinion[/u]. I will be bringing back many items upon my summer return.

Thank you for your interesting tidbits and to everyone else who is sharing the experience.

Albiet we are new to being overseas, we kept our house and are using a management company to handle our affairs, mortgage, anything breaking, etc. While our renters our paying a large sum of our mortgage, it is not all in its entirety and we do have to put a few hundred dollars towards the mortgage and the management company (we personally knew the MC). BUT when we figured out what we would have to come to the table to sell our house (we would have to pay more now tan what it is worth) and when we figured out the numbers of of our overall plan, it was just best to keep it at this point in time. We do not have any intention of coming back any time soon but it was in our best interest to keep it. We too have had to pay for some "breakage" (some roof damage from a large storm, a stove issue) but we do pay a monthly fee for a home warranty and that does bring some comfort. We also put a little money aside should some major issues happened with the house that would not be covered for the mortgage. I personally wish we did not have a house but we bought it when the market was high so that is our own fault. Bottom line, someone is paying the mortgage (and so are we) we have someone we trust looking out for it and we did not have that kind of cash to come to the table if we had been able to sell it (not short sale it although that is an option you could look into if the need is available).