Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Mon - Aug 21
5:30am – I am finally over jet lag and wake up refreshed and ready to go.
We were supposed to start work in the firm office today, but the schools where all of the kids go are closed due to a lack of water, so we have postponed our meetings today.
The morning was spent doing some work in the hotel room. The real adventure came in the afternoon: getting a bank account and getting a Chinese mobile phone. I cannot think of a better way to spend my afternoon!
To get my energy up and get out of the hotel on a beautiful, windy day, I decided to wander down the Wangfujing Dajie mall where many tourists come to shop. At the end of the mall, I found a small Chinese Dumpling store packed with people eating lunch. All of them were Asian, so I figured that it must be good. As I sat down to order and the Mandarin menu with no pictures was placed in front of me, I realized why there were no westerners in the restaurant. I proceeded to point to three lines where I recognized the meat symbol and asked for 2 of each. The waitress patiently sat there with her pen poised to her sheet of paper with an unblinking stare. I tried it again. She still stood there unmoving. I shrugged my shoulders and she let loose a barrage of Mandarin. I smiled and shrugged again. A nice man at the next table leaned over and said in English, “the minimum order is 5 dumplings per type. She does not believe that you want 30 dumplings, but she has seen smaller people eat more than 30 dumplings. Do you really want thirty?” He helped me get my 6 dumplings of pork and celery, which cost me $.50US. This is how I learned what “San Shi” means…30. And for those of you counting, 5 dumplings would have been plenty; they should replace the Nathan’s hot dog eating contest with a dumpling eating competition. 30 would have been amazing!
On my stroll back to the hotel, I wandered into a large bookstore and headed for the children’s section. Every kindergarten child learns how to read, so there must be some good books I could use to help me learn Mandarin. I bought 3 literary classics to help me recognize symbols and learn pronunciations. My colleagues were making fun of my choice of “Bugs and Slugs”, but I have an ulterior motive that I will save for later.
I met my Mandarin / English literate host, who is helping me through the banking and cell phone experience and we set off on our excellent adventure. First was the bank account. China is a mostly cash based economy. My main method of getting Renminbi is an ATM withdrawal from my corporate credit card or my personal debit card. Each method has a different fee structure. I could also wire money to an account, which has a different fee structure. At the end of the day, it makes more sense to make fewer, larger withdrawals than more frequent, smaller ones based on the various fees. However, I am not comfortable carrying such large amounts of cash. So, depositing larger withdrawals in a RMB account and accessing via a debit card or Chinese ATM for a tiny fee makes more sense. I go to the ATM machine in the lobby and withdraw RMB from my US account. Now comes the fun part. The bank account setup process form is in Mandarin, my name does not even come close to fitting in the small box on the form, much less my signature. The teller lines at the bank and guards in the lobby make it a much different environment than a US bank lobby. I get my account setup, deposit my newly withdrawn RMB and am handed a debit/ATM card as I leave. It does not have my name on it; I must enter my 6 digit PIN and Sign at the POS every time I use it. Actually, a less painless experience than the US, but it would have been brutal if I had not had a translator with me.
Off we go to get a local cell phone. I will never, ever complain about Verizon or Cingular service ever again. This is would make a great Laurel and Hardy sketch. First, you pick out your cellphone model, and wait in line and buy it. My translator is sticking her SIM card in the phone to make sure it works. Then you need a SIM card to make it work (assign it a number). So you pick and buy the number with 50 minutes on it. Then we test the SIM card and phone (all features: dial, receive, SMS, Voicemail, yada yada yada). Then comes my favorite part…can you switch the menu to English so I can use it?…Now comes the better part. Monthly billing doesn’t exist. You buy prepaid cards and load minutes onto your phone. So I purchase the prepaid card and ask what the next step is? The reply was to follow the directions on the back of the card. I should have seen this coming, but I fell right into the trap…I turned over the card and it was in Mandarin. I was not amused. However, an unmistakable phone number leapt off of the card at me and Option 2 is English after it picks up…I had reloaded my phone with more minutes and was ready to go. 2 hours, 1 bank account and 1 cell phone later, I was a happy camper!
The night only got better as a colleague found a western grocery store that carried peanut butter for $2.50US vs. my $11 previous find. I also got Nutella and sleeve of Ritz crackers for reasonable prices. Now I just need something to put them on besides crackers. Bread is sold in 4 slice packages. It lasts less than 24 hours due to no preservatives. The same store sold DVDs for $1.50US (region 9). So I got 5 to entertain me.
Not a bad Monday…I went to bed sounding out and trying to translate “Bugs and Slugs”…
We were supposed to start work in the firm office today, but the schools where all of the kids go are closed due to a lack of water, so we have postponed our meetings today.
The morning was spent doing some work in the hotel room. The real adventure came in the afternoon: getting a bank account and getting a Chinese mobile phone. I cannot think of a better way to spend my afternoon!
To get my energy up and get out of the hotel on a beautiful, windy day, I decided to wander down the Wangfujing Dajie mall where many tourists come to shop. At the end of the mall, I found a small Chinese Dumpling store packed with people eating lunch. All of them were Asian, so I figured that it must be good. As I sat down to order and the Mandarin menu with no pictures was placed in front of me, I realized why there were no westerners in the restaurant. I proceeded to point to three lines where I recognized the meat symbol and asked for 2 of each. The waitress patiently sat there with her pen poised to her sheet of paper with an unblinking stare. I tried it again. She still stood there unmoving. I shrugged my shoulders and she let loose a barrage of Mandarin. I smiled and shrugged again. A nice man at the next table leaned over and said in English, “the minimum order is 5 dumplings per type. She does not believe that you want 30 dumplings, but she has seen smaller people eat more than 30 dumplings. Do you really want thirty?” He helped me get my 6 dumplings of pork and celery, which cost me $.50US. This is how I learned what “San Shi” means…30. And for those of you counting, 5 dumplings would have been plenty; they should replace the Nathan’s hot dog eating contest with a dumpling eating competition. 30 would have been amazing!
On my stroll back to the hotel, I wandered into a large bookstore and headed for the children’s section. Every kindergarten child learns how to read, so there must be some good books I could use to help me learn Mandarin. I bought 3 literary classics to help me recognize symbols and learn pronunciations. My colleagues were making fun of my choice of “Bugs and Slugs”, but I have an ulterior motive that I will save for later.
I met my Mandarin / English literate host, who is helping me through the banking and cell phone experience and we set off on our excellent adventure. First was the bank account. China is a mostly cash based economy. My main method of getting Renminbi is an ATM withdrawal from my corporate credit card or my personal debit card. Each method has a different fee structure. I could also wire money to an account, which has a different fee structure. At the end of the day, it makes more sense to make fewer, larger withdrawals than more frequent, smaller ones based on the various fees. However, I am not comfortable carrying such large amounts of cash. So, depositing larger withdrawals in a RMB account and accessing via a debit card or Chinese ATM for a tiny fee makes more sense. I go to the ATM machine in the lobby and withdraw RMB from my US account. Now comes the fun part. The bank account setup process form is in Mandarin, my name does not even come close to fitting in the small box on the form, much less my signature. The teller lines at the bank and guards in the lobby make it a much different environment than a US bank lobby. I get my account setup, deposit my newly withdrawn RMB and am handed a debit/ATM card as I leave. It does not have my name on it; I must enter my 6 digit PIN and Sign at the POS every time I use it. Actually, a less painless experience than the US, but it would have been brutal if I had not had a translator with me.
Off we go to get a local cell phone. I will never, ever complain about Verizon or Cingular service ever again. This is would make a great Laurel and Hardy sketch. First, you pick out your cellphone model, and wait in line and buy it. My translator is sticking her SIM card in the phone to make sure it works. Then you need a SIM card to make it work (assign it a number). So you pick and buy the number with 50 minutes on it. Then we test the SIM card and phone (all features: dial, receive, SMS, Voicemail, yada yada yada). Then comes my favorite part…can you switch the menu to English so I can use it?…Now comes the better part. Monthly billing doesn’t exist. You buy prepaid cards and load minutes onto your phone. So I purchase the prepaid card and ask what the next step is? The reply was to follow the directions on the back of the card. I should have seen this coming, but I fell right into the trap…I turned over the card and it was in Mandarin. I was not amused. However, an unmistakable phone number leapt off of the card at me and Option 2 is English after it picks up…I had reloaded my phone with more minutes and was ready to go. 2 hours, 1 bank account and 1 cell phone later, I was a happy camper!
The night only got better as a colleague found a western grocery store that carried peanut butter for $2.50US vs. my $11 previous find. I also got Nutella and sleeve of Ritz crackers for reasonable prices. Now I just need something to put them on besides crackers. Bread is sold in 4 slice packages. It lasts less than 24 hours due to no preservatives. The same store sold DVDs for $1.50US (region 9). So I got 5 to entertain me.
Not a bad Monday…I went to bed sounding out and trying to translate “Bugs and Slugs”…
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