Many companies consider Mandarin Chinese fluency a plus in recruiting and since Kowalski can only apply for entry-level jobs, she isn't a prime candidate.
Now she, and many other fresh expats, are studying Chinese and moving out of the exclusively expat party orbit. She bought a second-hand bicycle for 300 yuan and has learned to bargain.
Brian Jang, 29, from South Korea, is also studying Chinese "to get more involved in the community, make more local friends and to get cheaper stuff."
Jang, an office administrator, has been here for eight years and spent his last two years in college at Fudan University.
"With my degree and background, the company wouldn't have recruited me back in Korea," he says. He was hired by the local office for his Chinese language skills.
He earns a little over 10,000 yuan a month, less than his Korean colleagues and about the same as his Chinese friends of the same age. He considers himself lucky to know enough Chinese to find cheaper apartments and shop in cheaper stores and markets.
At least he's more fortunate than 28-year-old Canadian teacher Leah Edouard, who says her living costs are three times higher than those of her Chinese friends. She has been teaching English in the city for three years, after teaching for two years in northeastern Heilongjiang Province.
She teaches in English-learning centers and speaks a little Chinese.
"I can find cheaper apartments on Chinese Websites, but I can only read English Websites," she says. "I want to shop at supermarkets but I can't read the labels. I want to take public transport but I get lost with the Chinese names, except Metro lines."
Edouard accepts the higher costs as part of life in the city. She also struggles to maintain a lifestyle that many locals consider high-quality. Western restaurants are expensive in Shanghai and Edouard can't read the menu in small Chinese restaurants. She buys basics in Chinese grocery stores and makes sandwiches at home every day.
"It's not a high-quality lifestyle. I would much prefer great and cheaper Chinese food," says Edouard. "It's still a little inconvenient for foreigners like me to completely get involved with the local community."
(Shanghai Daily November 19, 2008)
