Banking in China

This post, like pretty much all my other posts should be backdated.. but.. meh.

We arrived in Shanghai on the evening of 6th May. 2 days later, on Thurs 8th May we went to the bank to open an account. During the first week of May in China there is a week long public holiday. Because of this, the banks would be very very crowded and the queues would be very long when we tried to go.

Fortunately, my mother's relative had a special 'gold' or premium account at the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. So Mike and I went with him to his bank. He also had to go anyway. We thought we could get served quickly but after waiting almost an hour, this was still considered 'fast' service. I'm sure the other people there would have been waiting many many hours. And that was when it first hit me, there are soooo many more people here. We're talking 18 million in ONE CITY compared to 20.7 million for the entire COUNTRY of Australia. Wow.

A few weeks later, after we got the internet connected, it occured to me.. that we should set up internet banking. However, I was scared. I was now very very scared of the Chinese people. The woman who served us at the bank was possibly one of the most unhelpful people I had come across in China, and not a good first impression. She has scared me from ever going back to the bank - ever!

On 30th May I decided I wanted to set up internet banking but got scared that I may have to call the bank or go into the bank. I know some Mandarin but my Chinese is not that great (I have the vocab of a 5-6 year old) and since I didn't have any money in there anyway I just kind of forgot about it.

Then, a few nights ago, Mike decided to have a go doing it himself. In Australia there is a series of security measures you have to do before setting up internet banking. For eg, when I set it up at Commonwealth (the biggest bank in Australia) I had to fill out a form at the bank and give them THREE passwords. A few weeks later they rang me up on the phone to confirm these three passwords - by which time I'd practically forgotten them. I got 2 pretty easily but had trouble with the third. The lady was kind enough to hint and I finally got it.

So with this in mind I assumed it would a similar thing here, but nope. It was actually easier!! Mike did it all himself without a single phone call or anything.

He went to the website (linked above) and filled in the details from our keycard, our password, and voila. We made an online account. And it was so easy because it was all in English - hallelujah!!

I changed the language!

I can't believe it was under my nose the whole time. I was speaking to a friend on MSN about how I couldn't figure out how to get the comments etc links to be in English instead of Chinese.. then I started playing around and found the section where I could do it. It was a real 'slap forehead' moment, where I felt so stupid that I didn't even bother to look for it for weeks, and just assumed it was like that because I registered this blog in China?!

You know you've been in China for too long when...

Tonight Mike and I ordered home delivery for the first time. It went off without a hitch! We rang Mealbay and spoke to the operator (who seemed to speak no Chinese - strange, only English) and then they delivered it in about 45 mins.

We ordered some Mexican dishes from an "American" place. Total cost 120 RMB.

After dinner Mike started to eat the fruit salad which he made the other day - with chopsticks!!

So when I read this I had to laugh.

THIS

You know you've been in China for too long when...

We've not been here a month yet and are already doing some of those things! eg:

When you take a cab, you give play-by-play driving directions to the driver (did this yesterday)
You eat three regular meals a day: lunch, dinner and night snacks
You can pick up any type of food using just your chopsticks... even peanuts.
The footprints on the toilet seat are your own.
You no longer wait in line, but go immediately to the head of the queue.
You accept the fact that you have to queue to get a number for the next queue
You have figured out that it is actually the Taiwanese who are running this country.
The idea of seeing how this place will look at Expo 2010 actually appeals to you.
In the rain, you spot a vacant taxi which is 10 minutes away and you have already planned how you are going to jump out with great enthusiasm in the road, elbow everyone else trying to claim it, and wave your hands everywhere in a 'look at me I'm a goal keeper' kind of fashion
You are no longer flinching every few seconds in a Taxi ride.
You quit having meals and just have snacks throughout the day
You start buying things made, manufactured, produced, assembled, or fondled from your hometown in your home country because "it's the best"

Does my blog come up with Chinese or English menus on your screen?

I'm confused. It was all Chinese for me. I changed the language to English and it's still in Chinese!

Sick and Photoshop crazy!

I've been researching A LOT about Photoshop brushes and actions and doodads to make photos look absolutely stunning. I finally found the thing I was looking for, but to use it I needed the latest version of Photoshop which I didn't have. And even if I had it, I'd need the Mac OS 10.4.8 or 10.4.9 update. So I'm going around in circles and circles.

I'm so excited about my new business idea (secret for now). I'm keen to get started and do all these cool and amazing things with mine and other people's photos!

I've spent most of my time here being sick. Just when I thought I was getting better I come down with a stupid cold/flu thing last Thursday. I'm slowly getting better (I think?) but my chest is all congested with sticky phlegm gunk.