The International Schools Review Forum

It appears the options are to deal with pollution/over crowded bs. dealing with cold. I'd like to hear your experiences with these locations.

I have little experience in eastern Europe (as im in Western Europe). Though one thing we share here in Sacandanavia with eastern Europe, is not just the cold, but the very short "day" during the winter months. The sun rises at about 7:45 and sets around 3:00pm. Its barely enough time for school before dusk settles in.

The pollution in China can be a major problem for some people in the metro cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou) but the air and environment can actually be very nice outside in the smaller non industrialized parts of China. It really depends where you are...

I have been in Beijing for 1 1/2 years and maybe it's just me, but the pollution isn't really that big of deal most of the time. Yes, you get some truly nasty days and don't spend much time outside, but when I am out on those days, it doesn't really bother me physically (it's not like you are choking for breath or anything). If you have asthma etc, I guess it could be an issue (or we could all end up with serious health problems down the line I suppose).

We get a fair number of decent days and even some long runs of actual blue sky (26 in a row last winter). You just get used to it and accept that it's the price of enjoying an otherwise nice lifestyle here.

As for crowds, I don't really feel that crowded here. Most days I have less than a 30 minute commute to work by car/taxi and surf the web on a decent 3G network and I can walk around my neighborhood to grocery stores, really good restaurants, dirt cheap DVD stores etc without feeling pushed or crowded.

Maybe I'm just easy to please but I quite like it here and it's a fairly easy life for a few years at least.

If it helps you with a frame of reference the air in Beijing is generally and on average no worse then Los Angeles.... At least in my experience breathing the air there.

Unfortunately you can't compare Beijing and LA's air quality as China doesn't measure air pollutants to the same degree as the United States. I have been to Beijing on some amazingly clear days but I have also seen it at its worse, like when the US Embassy described it online as "Crazy Bad".

I think the OP needs to be more specific on where in Eastern Europe and China they are considering as there are great variations within each.

[quote="Overhere"]Unfortunately you can't compare Beijing and LA's air quality as China doesn't measure air pollutants to the same degree as the United States. I have been to Beijing on some amazingly clear days but I have also seen it at its worse, like when the US Embassy described it online as "Crazy Bad".

I think the OP needs to be more specific on where in Eastern Europe and China they are considering as there are great variations within each.[/quote]


Albania, Tirana
Armenia, Yerevan
Belarus, Minsk

Bosnia & Herzegovina, Sarajevo
China, Chengdu
China, Chongqing

China, Dongguan
China, Shekou
China, Shenzhen
China, Suzhou
China, Zhuhai
Georgia, Tbilisi
Macedonia, Skopje
Malta
Moldova, Chisinau
Montenegro, Podgorica
Slovakia, Bratislava
Slovakia, Kosice
Slovenia, Ljubljana
Ukraine, Kyiv

For a great read on Beijing's air quality see the Dec. 7 edition of the IHT. It quotes one study as saying that if Beijing's fine particulate concentration reached the polluted levels of LA, life expectancy would increase 5 years.