Stone

I read an article that A Chinese Nobel laureate got his Chinese green card after a lot of fanfare. Another lady donated over $220,000 to help many orphans with schooling also received her green card.

Not easy to get Chinese green card at all.

My wife has been here for 3 years. We often talk about going back to China to enjoy an easy lifestyle. But there is a major problem: we are both over 35 years old. In China, if you are over 35, it is very difficult to find a job. I saw Jesse and a few others found jobs in China. But they have very specialized skills. If you have American education and work experience, it may be slightly easier. There is more competition in China. If you drive a car in the U.S. and have an accident involving another car, most of time, the auto accident can be settled civilly and peacefully. But if you have a car accident in China, it can become a violent fight. Maybe people in China are not used to auto accidents. Grass looks greener on the other side, because it's the grass that you don't have. The saying points out precisely this aspect of some people's psychology: that they think that what they want is better than what they have and in many cases they could be wrong.

I taught my wife 9 rules of driving, which contain both English and Chinese. 1. ÈËÐкáµÀ£ºWhen an automobile crosses an intersection (ÈËÐкáµÀ), it should be very careful of crossing pedestrians (¹ýÂí·µÄÈË). The car should slow down, even though it has green light. 2. ÓÐÈÃÐÐÈ˵ıêÖ¾£ºAlways stop the car and yield to pedestrians, when it has a ¡°State Law, Yield to Pedestrians¡± sign. 3. ´ÓºóÃæײ»÷£ºWhen a car tries to slow down or stop for a reason, and was hit by a car from behind, most of the time, the car from behind is responsible. But when you suddenly change lane without sufficient safety distance and was hit from behind, you may be responsible. 4. ¸ßËÙ¹«Â·£ºWhen a car runs on a highway, it should avoid sudden stop and fast deceleration unless absolutely necessary. It should usually maintain speed of above 45 Miles/Hour unless there is heavy traffic or traffic congestion. 5. ײ»÷ÐÐÈË£ºWhen a car hits a pedestrian, most of the time, the car owner is responsible. The penalty is severe! 6. ³µÔÚÐÐÊ»Öл»µÀ£ºWhen a car tries to change lane, it should be very careful, always yield to cars already in the lane, no matter from front or behind. 7. ÊÓÒ°±»µ²×¡£ºWhen the driver¡¯s view is blocked by any object(s), it should be very careful and should slow down when necessary. 8. ×¢ÒâÁ¦²»Òª¼¯ÖÐÒ»µãÉÏ£ºThe driver should always be mindful of everything surrounding or near the car he/she is driving, including traffic light, pedestrian, other moving vehicles/cars, traffic signs, etc. and should not just be concentrated on one thing/object. 9. STOP sign ±êÖ¾ £ºAlways bring the car to a complete stop at a STOP sign.

Your statement is indeed stereotypical. Not all asian drivers are the same. I think it all boils down driving experience. My wife came here 3 years ago, with zero prior driving experience. Now that she has had her license for 6 months, she still drives with me sitting next to her and giving her hints/instructions. I can see she is making progress and becoming more experienced on the road. We had a lot of fight, of course, during her learning lessons. But we are both aware of the deadly consequence of a crash, which happens every day in my crazy state.

I just called Access America. After being put on hold for 20+ minutes, I eventually spoke to a customer service representative. She told me that if I went on a trip to China and was quarantined there, it would be considered a covered event. But she does not know how much I will be reimbursed for, as it will depend on how much of my trip is lost, etc. Their claim dept will make a determination.

She can wire this amount to your bank account for a fee. She can inquire this at a large Bank of China branch. Carrying large amount of cash involves risk. Other options include American Express traveler's check, Western Union, a VIP Visa/Master Card from her local bank.

Those tiny soaps, hair shampoo, lotions, toothpaste are disposable items, and should be thrown away by the hotels and not to be used by the next guest. Bath towels are re-usable and should not be taken away from the hotels. Many Chinese hotels have beverages in their refrigerators. If guests drink those, then they will be charged.

That is similar to what I heard also. In Beijing, even no one on the plane was sick, you are encouraged to stay home for one week with minimal outside contact, and you are required to have temperature taken & reported for 7 consecutive days of arrival.

You go to the (Chinese) consulate that serves your state. Some have reported success, others have reported being turned away going to a different consulate. i see!!, HelloWorld, you must have thought Lisa was a U.S. Citizen and she was trying to renew her U.S. passport, right? Some time ago, I was reading from the NYC Consulate that they no longer "renew" passports. They just issue you a new passport instead. If you live far away from Consulate, like I am, you could try a reputable local Chinese travel agency to see if they can help you get a new Chinese passport for a service fee.

Thank you for your suggestions. I did not ask for IE 8. It was part of Window Vista periodical updates, where it prompted me to install IE 8.

Or how can I roll back to IE 7?

Since I installed Internet Explorer 8, my IE windows are frequently closed by DEP - Data Execution Prevention. According to the help menu, Data Execution Prevention (DEP) is a security feature that can help prevent damage to your computer from viruses and other security threats. Harmful programs can try to attack Windows by attempting to run (also known as execute) code from system memory locations reserved for Windows and other authorized programs. These types of attacks can harm your programs and files. DEP can help protect your computer by monitoring your programs to make sure that they use system memory safely. If DEP notices a program on your computer using memory incorrectly, it closes the program and notifies you. For me, this DEP gives me lots of headache and troubles by unnecessarily closing IE windows. Does anyone know how to get rid of it without incurring too much security risk? Thanks.

I do not disagree with you. So I still encourage my wife to stick with her original plan. Do people on the plane wear masks during the long international flight?

So you were gone for almost 2 weeks and the hotel was not afraid of you passing swine flu? That is very good to know. My wife plans to go back to China in July, but her parents are worried about the flu. I think many parents are concerned. While it is no longer receiving prominent coverage in US media, it is still being reported frequently in Chinese media - for parents with children coming for a visit this can be rather distressing. If you look at CDC's weekly report, the number for Week 17 and 18 reached the same level recorded back in Feb. 2009 (the usual time for flu cases to peak), and has dropped in Week 19 although the number may be revised up. While this strain is new and deserves much attention, and that the timing is very unsual (in a normal year there are few flu cases in May), it is pretty clear by now it is not any more lethal than the "regular" flu. It is not only reported frequently on Chinese media, it is the Number One headline of almost all media, every and each day. They are treating it more like a biological warfare. If you did not get swine flu, then you are lucky. If you just happened to be diagnosed of swine flu in China, then your photos will be in every newspaper. Your relatives or loved ones will also be blamed for inviting you. My wife is still thinking if she should cancel her visit.

So you were gone for almost 2 weeks and the hotel was not afraid of you passing swine flu? That is very good to know. My wife plans to go back to China in July, but her parents are worried about the flu.

My wife downloaded a 30-day trial version of Kingsoft. She and I found the latest version of Kingsoft (Powerword 2009) has poor English pronunciation. Does this software, Youdao, have good pronunciation?

Another problem: the hotel where Lu (the 2nd infected person in China) stayed was shut down for quarantine purposes. The hotel lost money and business just because of this single person. If you plan to travel to China and stay with your wife, I am sure she wouldn¡¯t mind. But her relatives may not be so "receptive", because the U.S has too many cases. Has anyone here been able to book a hotel room? The hotel certainly does not want to shut down just because of one foreigner with swine flu. I am very concerned and hope this flu can go away soon.

There is rumor that the guy (the infected Chinese student returning from the U.S.) may have lied on his Health Declaration Form. If that is the case, he may face either civil and/or criminal charges. I can imagine there are millions of yuans (RMB) of costs associated with this swine flu case. It appears to me that the U.S. is not doing enough to quarantine those infected people and schools. That is why U.S. now has most cases of Swine Flu (H1N1).

China has its first suspect case of Swine flu. This case was a Chinese student from St Louis, MO, who went back to China for summer vacation. This suspected case has brought a lot of outrage from China public and some blame game is going on. Because U.S now has most confirmed cases of swine flu (surpassing Mexico), I have the feeling that any people who are going to visit China from the U.S. may receive extra scrutiny (and potential discrimination). We have to remember SARS created a lot of problems for China back in 2003. So I understand why China must be extra careful. It must be discouraging for Americans and their Chinese spouses to visit China at this time. My wife is planning to visit China this summer but she is worried that she may have to cancel her ticket? Has anyone here has to cancel his/her ticket to China because of Swine flu?

My wife and I also went to Niagara Fall Canada side, by car, last year. She used her green card and Chinese passport without any problem. Where is that Canada Duty Free Store? I am sure my wife must regret that we have missed it.

My wife wants to buy an Acer Aspire One mini-laptop with a 10" screen, Atom processor and 1G memory. She really likes a light-weight computer. She does not intend to use the computer for games or graphics. She usually opens 3-4 windows at a time: one window for a Chinese translation software called Kingsoft Word, another one for Word document and 1-2 internet explorer pages. Will these windows cause Acer Aspire One to slow down substantially? How bad is it from a regular laptop in terms of computer response time? Thank you for your input.

My wife is planning to fly from JFK to PEK round trip via Air China, with our child. Can she make seat selection on Air China website, once she purchaes the ticket from her travel agent? I know it is possible to select seats on United or Continental websites. But I am not sure about Air China website and its services. Thanks

Yes, I watched that video with great interest. But people forget one very important buyer of US debt: Federal Reserve. Fed to buy $300 billion in long-term Treasurys. Worse comes to worst, just have Federal Reserve buy several trillion dollar of US debt. The debt is gone or erased, nice and easy. Who said our future generations have to pay for this debt, when it can be eliminated so easily?

My wife soaked it in water for quite a while, so it became softer and larger. Then she cooked it (fry) with pork, soy source and other ingredients. It supposed to be rich in iron and have other beneficial effects.