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From what I have seen from Shenzhen and Guangzhou this is very common practice in restaurants. But considered rude if you do it at a house (it says you do not think they are clean people if you do it). I have seen it done in Shanghai but usually only at a restaurant that caters to the southern people. Yuan is strange on the soap situation. I cheated for house in the states told her the dishwasher sterilizes the dishes as part of the process so she uses it all of the time with soap . In China she says that you cannot trust what they put in the soap so she uses a lot less. for the baby we purchase foreign made baby safe soap for washing the dishes/bottles and the baby herself. It does drive me crazy when she takes the pure water that we boil for the baby and rinses a toy with it and says all germs gone. Most of the time it has been 3 or 4 hours since we boiled it and even though the water is in a thermos it is not boiling hot. not to mention that the toy is only in the water like 5 seconds versus the 10 minutes that it should be at boiling temperature. I just shrug it off it is easier than getting on the head for saying that she and her family do not know how to clean correctly. Because if I said anything it would make her lose face and would her mother and sister as they taught her how to clean .

Yuan continued to pay into the system by "working for a friend" last year. But she heard the age was going up and stopped paying into the system. I think she said that she had 6 more years until she had enough money in the system. If she can indeed start getting money back at age 50 it might be worth the investment to pay for the last 6 years. I wonder if we can just make a one time payment and be done with it altogether. I will have to ask her tonight about this. I will also have to tell her about being able to receive half the amount of my SS when I do eventually retire.

When Yuan and I made appointments we always checked other services option. Do exactly as Dan says and you should be fine, remember to be nice.

That is the best airline safety video that I have seen.

Dnoblett, arrival is around 6:30PM. Tsap, I only threw out the open packages that she had held shut with a clothes pin. All of the sealed containers and packages are fine. Well, I did clean out the refrigerator, there were a few UFO's "Unidentified Food Objects" that I also discarded. It will be a good fight but I am sure to lose. My saving grace is the fact that she is going to bring home 2 suitcases of treasures. I think I will mention to her that she should buy a spices here because it will be cheaper than in the US. the one sure way to be in Yuan's favor is to find a way to save a little money. She is now buying about 10 years worth of holiday cards, birthday cards, thank-you, and who knows what else. At least she has me look at the words before she buys them. Last night she showed me 20 different cards, 4 made sense to me. 3.5RMB per card. I told her we should buy a suitcase full and take them to the Avon Flea market and sell them for 3 for 5 bucks.

Credzba, Air Canada, has the bassinets which is the direct flight from Shanghai to Toronto. They actually have larger ones than most airlines. And it will get us a bulkhead seat. If we get lucky we will get a 2 seat row which most of Air Canada's 777's have. Dnobbt, I threw out all of Yuan's open spices and packages from the Chinese food store before I left for China. If we fly to YYZ our flight arrives to late to stop and pick up supplies at the grocery store in Buffalo. I am pretty sure she will go ape sh*t when she finds out I threw out her open treasures from the food store. So I can take the chance of Emily crying from 2 flight's, or hear Yuan freak out for at least 2 or 3 day's about her food treasures. Either way I am screwed

That is what I was thinking, forget the miles and go with a direct flight. I think I can have the car service pick us up at Pearson. My family does not have passports or the enhanced DL.

there are several flight options from Shanghai to the states. Never having traveled with a baby before which choice would you go with, after the flight we have another 2 hour ride by car after we arrive in Buffalo, or 3 hour by Toronto. 1. Shanghai to Toronto 1 flight, but no airline miles. 2. Shanghai- Chicago 3.5 hour layover, Chicago-Buffalo. Lots of airline miles, enough for silver status 3. Shanghai to San Fran on a 787, 8 hour layover SAN-ORD red eye, ORD-BUF. Also a lot of airline miles. The costs are about the same. close enough that my company will not care which route I book. The only thing I like about the Shanghai to San is the 787, it has a much higher humidity level in the cabin and a higher air pressure for more comfort. the Shanghai -Chicago -Buffalo could be changed to a shanghai-Chicago stay the night at the airport hilton, then take a mid morning flight to Buffalo. I know traveling with the baby is going to suck no matter how we go. For some reason Yuan does not want to have the airline approved baby seat that i have in the states shipped over. I keep telling her it would be a lot easier with the baby in the middle seat and her on one side and me on the other. I think Emily will be to big for the bassinet by the time we fly over, she is 4.5 months old and is wearing 9 month old size clothes, she is going to be very tall. So that will mean one of us holding her the whole time.

That's great, If you have an airline miles program make sure you sign then up under your account as authorized travelers. 2 round trip tickets to the states from China should be enough to get you a first level of status. I even found a one way ticket for free when Yuan traveled to the states for 32,000 miles, well it cost $75.00 but close enough. If you sign up for an airline credit card the miles should not expire. If you are buying their tickets by using the airline mileage card you should get free checked bag's. priority boarding, and the money for the tickets will also get you miles.

My china visa replied to my last email last night. While they were at the NYC consulate yesterday they asked about the baby visa. they said no problem just make sure that I send the exit permit book with her passport and all of the other information. I even managed to get my company to foot the bill for the tickets back to the states and the cost of the babies visa. That almost made up for the 2 inches of water on the first floor of the office and half of the factory from the typhoons. Now all I have to deal with is the flooding problem from the typhoons that might of destroyed 2 month's of work yesterday. It seemed like such a good idea to run all of the wiring for the new factory in floor troughs, It made the factory look so clean for 5S.

We have discussed having Yuan's sister take care of the baby for the time we will be away. But Yuan is not very happy with that idea. Our only other option was to try for the SB-1. But she is still in status and the information on the form says that "A Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR) whose status has lapsed due to a failure to maintain a residence in the United States may in certain circumstances be granted an SB-1 visa allowing readmission". Since her status has not lapsed we cannot file for this visa. If we stay past her Travel permit which they only gave her for 1 year not 2. She will still be in status but the POE might give us a huge hassle when we return to the states next year. Since she will have been out of the US from between 14-18 months depending when we return. I am going to try to convince her to leave Emily with her sister to take care of while we make the quick trip back, maybe reduce the trip to 1 week instead of 2. Or she and the baby can stay in the states while I finish my work contract for a few month's. This is not a very good solution for us, I would only get to see her for a week every month and a half. until I return to the states.

I might give that a try Randy. I have heard that the PSB does not care about the us passport or certificate of birth abroad. They consider Emily a Chinese citizen unless we go thru the process of renouncing her Chinese citizenship. Which from other web sites can take up at least 3 months to process. I emailed my china visa's NYC office, and they were going to check with their contacts at the consulate about getting the Visa. Our main problem is that we only plan on staying 2 weeks in the US. And part of that 2 weeks are going to be over Chinese new year. If there is a problem with getting the visa Yuan will never let me forget it.

Ok, Yuan now decides that yes it would be a good idea to go back to the states since she has been away for 8 months now and I have been away for 5 months. Actually she wants to look at some houses that we have seen online and go to the bank to get pre approved for a home loan. But hey if it gets me a no argument trip back to the states I am all for it. I can the water/electric bill put in her name to help with ROC and get her a credit card in her name while we are back in the states. We would of done the bills in her name sooner but her GC arrived the day before we left to move her overseas. I know we have to shlep to her home town for the DA*M STUPID BLEEPing BLEEP cannot process anything except in home town BLEEP BEEPITY BLEEP HOKU crap to get the baby her exit visa. Sorry, about all the bleeps, but getting to her home town in a pain in the arse 25 hours by direct train, or airplane then train. Of course my wife says the plane is to expensive and we should take the cheaper train. Maybe I can talk her into flying to GUZ to visit her brother then take the 4 hour train to her town. My question is this. We plan on staying 2 weeks then heading back to finish my work contract. Once Emily arrives in the US with her passport stamped with the exit from China and the entrance to the US . We can then send for her Chinese visa to return with us correct? Yuan's travel permit will still be valid so that will help us by not filing for the SB-1 Visa. Once we return to china we will be moving back to the states within 5 months so we should not have any hassles in returning at the POE.

Well, with all of the Fee's that are required there should not be a shutdown for processing centers. that being said I am pretty sure they will shut them down to apply pressure to the idiots on both sides of the isle in DC.

Anyone know a good site for looking up the estimated dates of new high speed rail routes? I have found a few but they are very vague for new route starting dates. I am interested in the Shanghai-Shenzhen, and Shanghai-GUZ route.

No luck on a fast train. the line from Shanghai to GUZ is not in service yet. I could jump from one high speed train to another, but it would only shave 4 hours off the trip and with a 4 month old getting on the train here and getting off at GUZ will be much easier.

Thank-you for the info. Yuan and I have to shlep to GUZ sometime in OCT to file for her SB-1. the map and info will be very useful for us. I hope I can talk to her about taking a flight. But every time I mention something she says there is "bad" air on the plane and it is not safe for the baby. If not I will be in for a 16 hour train trip. Versus 2.5 hour flight.

Save every scrap of paper that might even be remotely useful. You never know what the GUZ will want.

Us baby formula is a huge gift. I know I have been having coworkers bring over some every time they come to shanghai. Last batch of our special formula, amino acid based cost me 379 dollars for 8, 400g cans. Another good idea is good old cash. they can use it for whatever they want or they can use it to start the baby's saving account. You can never go wrong in China with a red envelope with money inside. the good will/salvation army/thrift store idea is a good one. On our best day before we left the states we managed 5 outfits for 10 dollars. Western clothes on a baby here get a lot of attention. Then again a 200lb 6'2" white guy pushing a stroller thru the jinsanwei mall will also do the trick.

8 months after our return the 2year GC expires

Well, Mark thinks that because we wrote down 12-18 months overseas on her I-131 application. that might be the reason that they only gave her a 1 year reentry permit. We will try the SB-1 route first, hopefully GUZ will be helpful. It just sucks that we have to take 2 trips all the way across the country to resolve this.

New acct, That is the million dollar question. Mark Ellis is also very interested in that as well. Dan, I forgot about the SB-1 Visa. We have to go to the Shanghai Consulate for our daughters COBA, Passport, and SS card. I might ask them even though they might not be able to help us.

Here is our problem. Yuan Received her GC late last year, for advancement at work I took an overseas work opportunity. We applied for a reentry permit and she was issued a 1 year permit. Now work wants to extend my stay until next April making Yuan's stay overseas for 14 months. With the newborn baby we do not want for her to be in the USA while I live in China for the last 2 months of my contract. I suppose we could turn in her GC and I could file in country as soon as my 6 months living in China date comes up. But it would be strange to turn in her GC in august and refile for a spousal visa in November? I did a search and did not see any other similar postings on the site. We do have to go to the Shanghai Consulate for a COBA, passport and SS card for Emily. I could ask there, but they do not deal with this type of case. If there are no ideas from the forum I will give Mark Ellis a call and see what he suggests.

Congrats,

A hypothetical Question If someone were to want to download lets say, entire seasons of various TV shows and his/her favorite movie's. What site would you suggest for my friend ? My friend would like to know because all of the normal sites he/she would use in America do not work for him/her in China. By posting this question I am in now way condoning my friends possibly illegal downloading of movies and or television programming.