chengdu4me

One thing I would like to point out to you if you have not already done this. This applies to just about all employer based medical coverage. Most insurance companies have a time period of 30 days for altering your coverage due to a "life change", such as getting married. If you didn't use this 30 day window to change your medical coverage when you get/got married, then you have to wait until the "open enrollment" period to do so. I don't know of any company/insurance company that waives this due to a out-of-country marriage. If you are going to get "remarried" when she arrives, then this is a moot point, but if you intend to use your marriage in China as your actual date of marriage, then I hope you notified your insurance company of your marriage and added her to you policy during that 30 day window. If you did not do that, then getting married again may be your best bet to ensure coverage depending on when the open enrollment is. Of course, this all depends on the timing of her arrival and the timing of the baby's arrival. But wherever, whatever, however...CONGRATS!!!!

Now there is an interesting thought/theory. My first thought was "no way" on second thought .... who knows. That is exactly what is happening. My Uncle was a geologist for Shell, then Mobil; now under contract to Exxon. He is one of the leading specialist in world for finding oil. He has been doing for over 60 years. By his calculations over his career, he told me(back in 2000) that the tapped and untapped reserves in the U.S. would (at a 5% percent growth in usage per year increase) last the U.S. 280 years. He went on to tell me that the known reserves on the planet would fill the world's demand at the same growth rate for over 1,000 years. Now, let me tell you this. My Uncle is a very rich man. He made his money by telling the oil companies where to drill. He gets a piece of the action, so to speak. But, he told me that his job is all smoke and mirrors. He told me that it doesn't matter where you drill, you ARE going to strike oil at some unknown depth. According to him, the entire planet has an oil "blanket" at some depth. Finding the places with the least depth(least cost of recovery) is his forte.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Australian-f...055867.html?x=0 This little article states that China is getting 33 million tons of coal per year from Australia beginning in 2014. The contract runs for twenty years. I know this isn't all the coal that China will burn in a year, but still... Let do a little math, shall we.... 33,000,000 tons x 2,000 pounds/ton = 66,000,000,000 pounds of coal per year 66,000,000,000 pounds / 365 days/year = 180,821,917 pounds per day. I was just wondering...how big is your carbon footprint if you burn more than 180,000,000 pounds per day of coal everyday for 20 years? Would this trump Gore's electric bill at his mansion a few years ago?

Here's the link to Yahoo Help on the subject. When you do this, it is a global copy. It will copy everything from all conversations including profiles. You cannot pick and choose what you want. It is all or nothing. Also, when you copy it on to another computer, then they lose their archives and profiles as it is replaced with yours. Other than this method, this is no way to choose one persons chat and save them to disk without picking them out, one by one.

Do the same thing she would do. Don't share bad news. Have the surgery, keep your mouth shut about it until she returns. Between cell phones and laptops, there is no reason for her to even know you are in the hospital. Perhaps it is day surgery and you will be come that evening for the webcam call?

No, you shouldn't need anything. You might want to take a copy of your prescription if the medication does not have a prescription label with your name on it. The simple fact is that entering China is usually the least scrutinized customs checkpoint on the planet. If you have nothing to declare, you just sail on through an entry point that is unmanned most of the time. Do make sure you have your medication in your carry-on bag. If you are chosen to have your bags scanned, and they ask about the medication, just show them your prescription.

Very good idea and thoughts, Mike. Fresh data that supplies everything is must better than old info that is only half complete.

I have China Mobile. My wife has China Unicom. Incoming calls are free. Received test messages are 1 mao. Thats 1/10 of a Yuan(RMB)

Going to ACH may only provide you with one thing. It may give you the boost that you need to know that you did everything possible while you were there to overcome this. Even if it doesn't work, it will give you and Hui the peace of mind that this action implies. I too, am sorry about the blue. If anyone crossed their t's and dotted their i's, it was you. You can and will overcomes this fairly quickly. It is just paperwork. Whatever works out, make sure you eat lots of pizza and other junk food so that Hui knows you need her like you need your next breath. It will give her something to fret over instead of worrying about the paperwork.

Yes, attitude is probably more important than anything else. I made my list based on being here for the past six months and wanting to overcome barriers to my independence. My wife is not working outside the home, so this list came as a slow learning curve. My list would be very important to someone who's wife works and/or works a different shift so the expat wouldn't be stranded without resources to keep from feeling completely helpless. One day of shopping and you are ready to fly on your own (mostly).

My suggestions, in order of importance. Do not hide in your home! Get out and do/see stuff! Get some dark sunglasses so your wife can't see where your eyes are pointing. This will become important and you will understand why soon enough. Get a bus pass. It will save you a lot of money. Go the book store and get a map of the bus routes in your city. Get a small book that will fit in your pocket. Every time you hear something that may be useful, write it down and then have the person that said it, write the Chinese characters and the Pinyin. Soon, you will have a book of useful phrases that you can study. When you don't have anything better to do, take your map, translator, and GPS and go ride buses just to see where they go and to "mark" location on your GPS. Take your pocket translator everywhere you go. Get a phone with GPS English language capabilities and start marking everywhere you go. Until you can whine and bitch like a Chinese woman, do not waste your time thinking that you can barter as well as she can. Let her do the negotiating until she thinks you are ready to waste money all on your own! Do not sweat the small stuff. If it does not directly affect your families health, welfare or security...it IS small stuff!

I cannot speculate one way or the other. But, from what I have observed, when two people divorce in China, they are dead to each other. There is no contact of any kind. I know more than a few divorced men and women here in Chengdu. None of them will even speak of their ex's, much less meet with them. But, this is China! Different things happen in different places.

Seem to getting terms mixed up here.... Two types of L visa Single Entry/Multiple Entry - Limited stay (30,60,90 days), could be valid for up to 2 years. Get this at Chinese Consulate in the U.S. Extended L visa - Issued at PSB Main Offices of the City/Province. Enter China on your SE/ME L visa and then go to PSB. Apply for a Extended stay L visa. Once you have that, you can stay up to a year at a time whether you come and go or not. At the end of the year, go apply to get another one. For now, you can stay in China for as long as you want by simply getting a new Extended Stay L visa each year. You can come and go as you please for whatever time you wish to be gone as long as you return before the visa expires.

Just to show the difference in what I was saying about salary. Randy works at a uni for 4,500 a month. His benefits are a $2200RMB travel allowance, a round-trip ticket home (to the US) once a year, free room and board, a Z-visa w/work permit and residence permit taken care of by the University, and free Chinese lessons for me and free English lessons for my wife. I work at a private middle school. I work 13 hours a week for 7,000 a month, paid whether I teach or not( i have two months paid vacation in Jan/Feb and then two months again in Jul/Aug) on a 12 month contract. I also get 800 a month for a living stipend since I already had my own home. In lieu of the R/T ticket, I choose a 12-month contract(basically works out to be close to the same). They paid for my trip to HK for my Z visa, my health insurance, my resident permit. I have free housing and meals on the days and nights I spend at the school. Each year I teach at this school, I will receive a salary increase/living stipend increase of 15% over the previous year.

Without pasting all the links and info to give as evidence ( it is just as easy for you to do), I'll say this. Once your wife is a USC, then it is real easy for you two to spend as much time in China as you want. China has a fairly easy process for your wife to return to China, keep her US citizenship, but also receive a resident permit to allow her to live, once again, in China. As her spouse, you get an extended L visa to be with her. The odds of China refusing to renew this type of visa is so slim that it isn't worth mentioning. The big issue is the US. Having only a GC is not the way to go globe hopping. A USC always has the door open. A GC holder must knock first and hope it is still open. IMHO, it is not a chance worth taking. Help her get her USC status as soon as possible. After that, do whatever you want.

You've been fed a bill of goods! Teaching English at the University level in most cities is the lowest paying of all teaching positions. And there are no benefits! The highest paying jobs are in private or international schools. Mostly that would be middle or high school. Beyond that, university level non-English business/science/engineering course will pay the most International schools will pay the highest, with private middle/high schools being the second level of pay. Anything that is government run will be the lower paying. Any private mill will be the worst of all of them. Do not mislead yourself. A white foreign face is nothing more than PR for the school. Most, and I do mean MOST don't care if the students learn a damn thing from you. You are a poster boy to show parents that they provide native English speaking teachers for their kids. I'm curious, how will you get your tutoring students? What city will you be in?

Many people come to China to teach without ever setting foot in China to see what they are getting themselves into. They come here and find out that those darling students don't give a crap, think that foreign teachers are just here to entertain them and since the students parents are paying the bill, the teachers get no support to correct the situation. I work in a private school. Grades 1 -9. My students are the most unruly and immature 8th graders I have ever seen. If they were in America, they would all be on Ritalin! There isn't 40 out of 520 that really care about learning and practicing English. I just teach the ones that care and let the other do as they please. If they want to participate in class, great! Otherwise, shut up so the kids that do want to learn can do so. I got the opportunity to speak to one of my students parents about his bad behavior. His parents attitude was, "We are offering him the opportunity to get a good education. If he takes it, that's great; if he doesn't, he will fail but it won't be our fault. He is your student. He is your responsibility". So, I have responsibility, but NO authority. I can't kick him out of school because he is "profit". The students know this and they always use it to their advantage. I had one student tell me exactly that. He said, "I am worth 20,000 RMB to this school just to be here. You will be gone before I am". I like my students, but sometimes.......

That is hilarious! Most of the comments are made by uninformed, ignorant people. China has a good standard for hiring teachers. But, just like in other countries, the "requirements" are ignored if need be to get them hired and have that "laowei" face in your school. If the provincial governments forced the schools to actually be able to prove the hired teacher meets the requirements, then the problems would diminish considerably. I know high-school drop-outs that have jobs as university level teachers here. How did that happen? The Chinese employers faked the paperwork. Simple as that. In fact, teachers that don't cut it are weeded out and pushed to work in lower and lower paying jobs until they give up and go back home. On one part, I do agree. Foreign teachers that do not honor the culture and the laws should be ejected.

My lovely wife... Calm (never a bad word about anyone) Quiet ( speaks when she has something to say, otherwise does not engage in idle banter) Responsible ( family, home, relatives always come before her) Frugal ( couldn't get her to spend money on unnecessary items if I put a gun to her head) No temper at all (never yells, throws things, has temper tantrums) Family focused ( everything is about what is best for her family) Stubborn ( about everything!) Amazed ( by the crazy stuff I do!)

Depending on certain qualification criteria, 91,500 USD may be exempt from U.S. Income Tax. There is no reciprocal income reporting mechanisms between China and the U.S. If you work for a Chinese employers, the U.S. government will never know how much you make or even if you have a job unless you decide to tell them. You should, to CYA, file a return every year even if your income is $0 (wink, wink). There is no sense in going back to the U.S. just to find out that you have been audited due to missing tax returns. If you work for a U.S. corporation, but are based in China, then you better make sure you are reporting your income. I guarantee you that your company is on their tax statements. Taxes paid in China are deductible in the U.S. and vice versa. The first 4800 RMB of a foreigners monthly salary is not taxed. After that, you need to calculate the rate on each category of your salary. Grade Monthly Taxable Income Tax Rate (%) 1 Income of 500 yuan or less 5 2 That part of income in excess of 500 to 2,000 yuan 10 3 That part of income in excess of 2,000 to 5,000 yuan 5 4 That part of income in excess of 5,000 to 20,000 yuan 20 5 That part of income in excess of 20,000 to 40,000 yuan 25 6 That part of income in excess of 40,000 to 60,000 yuan 30 7 That part of income in excess of 60,000 to 80,000 yuan 35 8 That part of income in excess of 80,000 to 100,000 yuan 40 9 That part of income in excess of 100,000 yuan 45

Some of these ships are carrying flammable goods. A firefight on the deck would not turn out well. A blown up supertanker would make a big mess, not to mention the insurance liabilities. However, the US Navy is about to have super high speed boats. This will change the dynamics of power in this area. Currently, we have elephants trying to swat flies. The flies are just a bit faster. Smaller, highly weaponized speed boats will cure this problem. http://www.lmlcsteam.com/media.html

She will give up her Chinese passport. She will retain her Chinese National ID card and her Household Registry. That is all she needs. Non-Chinese citizens can own homes and businesses in China. If she is really worried about this, she can check with the Chinese authorities and they will tell her the same thing. Another alternative is to add someones name to the deed that is a Chinese citizen. There may be some Chinese tax implications that I am not aware of.

The easiest and best way to ensure nothing gets on the plane that isn't supposed to is to train the flight crew of the aircraft to do the screening. If someone that has to fly on that plane is doing the screening, it stands a better chance of getting done right! Yes, that means more money spend as the screening would get done at each gate or at each airline's specific terminal. But the upside is that all the dolts that do the screening now...would be unemployed!

I don't think it is too much of a stretch to believe that all "service" fees are going to go up, federal and state. After all, they aren't taxes and that is what the majority is concerned about...raising taxes. So, those who require "special" services will just have to pay more! And, it is also a way to reduce workload. Just price it out of reach and the demand drops quickly!

The best, easiest, and cheapest way to establish credit for her is to open an account in her name with your bank. Then open a savings account for her, as well. Then go to the other side of the lobby and apply for a loan...$500 ought to do it. Co-sign for the loan for her and then put the money in her savings account. Use the savings account to pay back the loan. Pay three payments every month and get it paid off early as possible. Then go get another loan for $1,000 and do the same thing. Once she has a good payment history with the bank from two loans, she will have an excellent credit score. Keep in mind that your credit score is made up of not only timely repayment of debts, but also a track record of sustainable repayment. That is why it is important to not pay off the loans too fast.