How can my family contact me while I am in China?
In the event of an emergency, your family should refer to the Emergency Contact Sheet with Global Volunteers' after-hours numbers and in-country contacts you receive about a month prior to your departure. Please leave a copy with all who may need to reach you.
Can I make international phone calls?
International calls can be made and received in your hotel room in urban host communities. In the village, you will not be able to make international calls from your guest house. However, you can receive incoming international calls.
Is internet service available?
Internet access is widely available throughout China.
In Xi'an: Global Volunteers has an office that is available between 7:00 am and 10:00 pm most days, while teams are in Xi'an. This office has a volunteer workstation with direct access to high speed internet service. Broadband Internet outlets are also installed in the roms in Xi'an Gao Su Shen Zhou Hotel. A cable is provided in each room for volunteers to hook up your laptop to the broadband Internet Service. In addition to email, volunteers can do searches on line for teaching materials, and have access to a color printer. Photocopy services are not yet available at the office, but are available at small shops located near the Global Volunteers office
There is a computer at the Gao Su Shen Zhou Hotel business center, with Internet at a cost of about $4 USD per hour. There is an internet cafe about a 10-minute walk from the hotel, which charges about 5 Yuan (60 cents) per hour, but is quite smoky. There are other internet cafes nearby, as well as a China Telecom office in downtown Xi'an. Commercial Internet rates vary widely and are based on online time, and it is charged on half hour or an hour base. Most computers are slower than you are accustomed to. A simple message can vary from $2 USD to $12 USD, depending on these factors.
In Kunming: Global Volunteers rents a business suite on the same floor of the Golden Springs Hotel where the volunteer's rooms are located in Kunming. This suite has a high-speed broadband internet connection which is used by the Global Volunteers team leader for daily business activities.
Volunteers will have access to this service when it is not in use by the team leader. The first priority for volunteer use will be for assistance in preparing lesson plans and for researching lecture material on the internet. As time is permits, it will also be available to the volunteers for email correspondence, with priority given to contacting family and friends in connection with urgent personal matters. Casual use or use for recreation will be extremely limited or not possible, given the many demands for service use every day.
At this time there is no broadband internet access in each hotel room, however, installation of outlets in each room is part of the ongoing hotel renovations. The hotel business office is available from 8 am until 10 pm daily, and provides broadband service. In addition, there are numerous "internet bars" located throughout the city and nearby the hotel, where internet access is available and is fairly inexpensive.
