chengdu4me

I use Witopia. It works very well. Large list of servers to connect.

There is no "entertainment" TV today. There is also no gaming on the internet. The world famous "farm game" is not accessible. All entertainment videos...for that matter..all entertainment including movie theaters, arcades, internet cafes are supposed to be closed. When they have a day of mourning here, they make sure no one gets any entertainment.

Have your US license translated at the Notarial Security Office in China. Study the test questions. Go take your translated license down to the Dept of Motor Vehicle Supervision and take the written test. Cost is 130 RMB. Minimum passing score is 90 out of 100. Test is computerized and in English. You will get your score immediately after completing the test. You must have a Resident Permit to get a drivers license. You can get a temporary license at most major airports if you only have a visa. PM me with your email address and I will send you the test questions.

This is not Oregon..this is China! In China, you mind your own business. It is not GDBill's place to inform anyone of anything unless it directly has a negative impact on his own life/business/safety. If he were to say anything to anyone and the facts played out later on to be not as he stated, he would lose face and lose credibility. Whatever mess this guy got himself into with DOS, HHS is his business. I understand that Bill post was a informative one to relate what can happen when you allegedly don't live up to your responsibilities. While his post may have also had some conjecture, the main point is still the main point. While this does not apply to me (no kids), it is a good lesson for anyone that may find themselves in this situation or is thinking of making a move to avoid the financial burden of an greedy ex and/or one-sided legal system.

Could be. I guess I'll find out after work when I get home just what his reaction is. It used to be they wouldn't do a name check on adding pages, but now the consulates have instructions to do a name check for everything. What kind of surprised me was that for $2500 in back child support they can nuke a passport, too. Having been through a divorce in the USA (with children/child support/custody issues) it does not surprise me at all (either that they do it or that the dollar limit is so low). In fact, while I am not trying to defend this guy, it would not surprise me if the back child support amount is only "alleged to be owed" meaning the ex-spouse only has to file a claim for back child support not that it has been proven the person in actually in arrears. The state cannot certify to the Department of Human Services that over $2500 is owed unless there is a child support order issued by a judge. That requires a hearing, doesn't it? In many states, your payment for child support must be made to the state and then the payment is recorded and then sent on to the custodial parent. If there is no record of payment, the state Child Support Enforcement office merely needs to notify the judge that payments are not being made. This triggers a bench warrant which triggers notification to the HHS which triggers the passport hold/revocation. The burden of proof is on the payer, not the gov. If an $8 an hour clerk makes a typo, you can be screwed!

The bottom line is this...if you have Child Support issues, you need to deal with them before hopping a plane to live in a foreign country. Whether you are going for very innocent reasons or are hiding, BIG Brother will catch up with you. Personally, I support this effort to get proper support for children, but I also think that there is another way to do rather than just hamstring someone once they have left the country. In this guys case, he can't stay and he can't leave without just handing himself over to the Consulate for removal and arrest when he arrives back at a POE.

The CCP is going to have to do something about housing prices damn fast! The average cost of a home in Beijing rose by 47%, Shanghai 52%, Shenzhen 51%, Guangzhou 51%, Chengdu 48% in the past year. Curbing building projects will have a huge negative effect. The only answer is to force/give incentives to developers to build more, more, more! The "law" states that 70% of all new homes must be under 90 Sq/meters so that "average" Chinese family can afford one, but that is not happening around here. Most new home developments are over 110 sq/meters and some entire residential developments have their smallest homes starting at 185 sq/meters and up. I saw a development of 4,000 homes in Wenjiang that the smallest home was 285 sq meters at a very fair price of only 11,000 a sq meter. I saw a different development that was nothing but condo style villas, attached homes in clusters. Each home was three stories and they all were on different levels. Some had garages under them, some not, some were built on raised earth, some not. It was a really cool looking development, but I can't even imagine what the prices were!! Each home was 500 sq meters. While the banks are advertising that it is possible to get a loan for 80% of the value(20% down payment), it is rare to get that. You need 30% down and all the fees/taxes/commissions to get the loan approved. Sometimes you need even more because the bank will not appraise the home for the asking/selling price.

Sell myself short? Hardly! All these kids have had native English speaking teachers for 8 years now. They can speak. They can't think on their own at any level or in any language. They are not taught to think. They are taught to memorize. That is all they are taught. My classes are about thinking, listening, and speaking in English. Nothing else. But, one thing I am sure of is this. They also couldn't care less about thinking on their own. Out of 13 classes of 40 students each, I have 2 or 3 in each class that want to learn English. The rest are just spectators. They want nothing to do with participating in class. Fine with me. It's their parents money that is being wasted. I get paid the same whether they want to be there or not. Yes, you have known some brilliant Chinese people...so have I...They are the very rare exception, not the rule.

IMHO, after teaching here for the past six months, I would put any 8th grade Chinese student up against any American student in the subject of math or science. These are finite arts. They have rules and laws. They are black and white. Beyond that, Chinese students are nothing more than poorly disciplined robots. Any mention of creative thinking and they go "tilt". They can recite anything in the greatest detail that they have learned over the past semester. Beyond that, they have no clue. Once they have taken the state exam on that material, it is either flushed from their brain or put into a memory block that is inaccessible. I have 520 students that have all taken English for 8 years. Not one of them can think of a simple ten word sentence to write or speak in English in any spontaneous fashion. They can write or speak the entire textbook, word for word in exact order. They can't tell you what it means. My son is in 8th grade. Anything beyond a three word reply from him is impossible. They can't do it in Chinese either. Certain subjects will get a Chinese phrase out of them. Mostly leisure activities. Academic subjects are nothing but rote. Drills, practice, memorization...that's all. They memorize what is written in their books, but if you ask them what it means, again.."tilt" I heard a very notable and well educated Chinese scholar on TV here the other day. he said..."Once the Chinese see other ways to do things, they can copy it as well as anyone. Creative invention is not necessary in China, since inventions are once in a lifetime events and production is an ongoing task". IMO, there is only one way to interpret that. We don't care what you know, We only care about that you can make us money. Do not try to think, you will only hurt yourself. We will steal the idea, you copy it for us. It is not the students that are stupid. It is the state. It is the idea that learning is only about what is written in the book. It is the idea that thinking for yourself is just not a worthy pursuit. One of the reason that there are so many classes each day is that parents want their kids cared for while they are working. They do not want their kids at home when they are not there. The Chinese education system is about memorization and babysitting. As far as the hours the kids go to school everyday, it is a joke. Here is the schedule for an 8th grade student anywhere in China. 8:00 AM - 8:40 AM Class 1 8:50 AM - 9:30 AM Class 2 9:40 AM - 10:20 AM Class 3 10:20 AM - 10:50 AM Mandatory organized break - Military formation style stretching and exercise. You do it standing in one spot. 10:50 AM - 11:30 AM Class 4 11:40 AM - 12:20 AM Class 5 12:20 AM - 1:00 PM - Lunch 1:00 PM - 2:15 PM - Mandatory rest time. Go back to your classroom and put your head on your desk and take a nap. 2:15 PM - 2:55 PM Class 6 3:05 PM - 3:45 PM Class 7 3:55 PM - 4:35 PM Class 8 4:45 PM - 5:25 PM Class 9 5:35 PM - 6:15 PM Class 10 This is the mandatory class schedule prescribed by the Ministry of Education. Some provinces deviate from this schedule a tiny bit. They have ten different classes each day in school. Some subjects have classes every day, others do not. These subjects are: Chinese Language Math (8th graders are learning Algebra and Geometry) Science (8th grades are learning Physics and Chemistry) English Grammar English Reading English Writing Oral English Art Music P.E. History Political Affairs(Civics) Geography Computer Usage The last two classes of the day are usually "self-study", so you can get your homework done. Even during the self-study classes, the teachers will not help the students that have questions. One of these classes is a P.E. class, but it is also a joke. Girls do not do P.E. They sit and stretch or they play ping pong. Boys play BB or soccer. Classrooms in China in public schools have an average of 60 students. There is no time for explanations of any kind. The teacher gives the lesson plan, again, by rote, by the number, and then class is over. If you do not understand or you do not "get it", you are ignored and left behind. Teachers are not given any time to help students. They, like the students, are just programmed robots. If you need help beyond the classroom, you may hire your teacher to tutor you or you may go out and hire a private tutor. From what I have seen and experienced here, I would rank Chinese education in the K- 12 arena as one of the worst in the world. I haven't experienced it , but from what I hear, university education isn't much better. One issue I have with Chinese education is that the kids don't have enough "play" time. Playtime is where children learn to be creative. They learn to think for themselves and to use their imagination. This does not happen in China. This is the root of the of the problem in the lack of creative thinking area, IMHO. It is also where kids with energy burn off that energy so they can sit still in class and learn something. Most class time is used for settling the kids down and constant repeated attempts to maintain order. This takes up about 1/3 of the class time, so even if they wanted to learn something, there is now no time for that. If they didn't pay me so well to be a white face poster child for the school, I would have nothing to do with this system. It is by any definition, a poorly managed joke.

I suggest you get here and then shop around. No doctor/hospital/clinic accepts insurance payments. You will need to pay the bill upfront and then submit your claim to your insurance company. Since medical treatment here is so cheap, it is useless to use insurance in most cases. There are many places you can buy insurance with an almost unlimited menu of options from "cover everything" to "just the major stuff". I have medical insurance that costs 120 RMB a year. Another 100 RMB is for evacuation insurance. I doubt they will buy me an airplane ticket back to the states for that amount. Maybe a bus ticket to the nearest big city hospital.So far, they have paid all my claims 100%. However, I'm not stupid. At some point, they will stop paying and drag out some clause from the archives that states that I have used up my benefits for the year. Luckily, I'm still in good enough health to kick their ass! My policy states that it is renewable at the same rates, year after year. I'll let ya know how that turns out next October! Seriously, with the prices here for health care, insurance is not needed except in very extreme cases. Complete treatment for a broken arm will only cost $25 USD.

I think you will find that only major stores take any plastic. But, you may find that your purchase is declined by the card issuer as fraudulent. Make sure you let them know that you will be in China and want to use the card before you go. If you have a VISA/MC debit card, make sure they use it as a credit card, not a debit card. All banks have three exchange rate. 1. The true (spot) rate which has nothing to do with why you are at the bank. 2. The buy rate. The price they will pay for buying your USD for RMB. 3. The sell rate. The price they will give you to buy your RMB for USD. The buy rate fluctuates a little. Yesterday, I got 6.78 with a money exchanger outside the bank. The bank buy rate was 6.76, so I did a little better. If you are going to use a private money changer, let your wife/fiance handle it for you if you are not fluent. Most(some?) US banks will give you a good (6.80 - 6.81) exchange rate when using your ATM card and then charge you $2 for using a out-of network bank. That is actually the best way to go if you can handle carrying cash. I used to get 2500 RMB from the bank here in Chengdu with a good exchange rate and then give up $2 on the US end of my account.

Tim, if you do a short sale, make damn sure you get a letter from the lender stating that you have no further financial obligation for this loan. Have your attorney look over the letter before you accept it and go through with the short sale. If you do not have a release from the lender, the lender can come back later and sue you for the loss and you will be on the hook for it. Banks/Mortgage Companies are doing this left and right now. Any borrower that did not request a release is getting sued.

Yea Robert! You guys pulled it off! And all that worrying... see? all for nothing! That's only three weeks from now...can you consume all those Cheetos, clean up the porn all over your home, get that place ship shape by then? For your own safety, I suggest you postpone her flight for a couple more months!!! Congrats!!! to BOTH of you!!!

These types of ceremonies are common, especially when one or both parties will be separated from family during the actual "wedding". I can only imagine that the VO's have seen millions of pictures of this type. The important thing is that you really are not married. No official registration, no marriage..simple. If you and your bride-to-be decide to include pictures of the event in your collection to show the VO, just make sure that she refers to you as "her husband in her heart, but still legally just a mutt in training". The VO will get the distinction and maybe get a laugh as well.