Conversations with Rose Wholesale

Dear Alice Ann, Thank you very much for your recent message. We are very sorry to hear that .Could you please send us clear pictures of the wrong items with size mark and SKU No. on the package ? Thank you for your help and cooperation .We will confirm it and solve the problems reasonably for you quickly.We hope that this is acceptable. Thank you so much for your continued patience and kind understanding. Best Regards Martin

Alice Ann Elliott　 At :12/05/2014 02:38:18 AM

I am in China, and the coat is in the US, so this is difficult.  I will get this done, however, what does it matter what the size says if it doesn't fit me?  I ordered an XL, which should fit me in American sizes, and it doesn't.  So I need to return it. The front fastener is coming off, and for some reason the collar is separate from the coat.  This may be how the coat is made, but I dont'want the coat.  Please give me instructions to return it, preferably with out pictures. Thank you, AA Elliott

Rosewholesale Customer Support　 At :12/05/2014 09:02:26 PM

Dear Alice Ann, Thank you very much for your recent message. I understand your mood at this time,We are very sorry for that.Because we are Asian size, it is a little smaller.Could you please send us clear pictures of the wrong items with size mark ? Thank you for your help and cooperation .As a valued customer,We will try our best to solve the problems reasonably for you quickly.We hope that this is acceptable. Thank you so much for your continued patience and kind understanding. Best Regards Martin

Alice Ann Elliott　 At :12/09/2014 05:55:05 PM

Here's one picture. Your server isn't taking them all at once.

attachment 1

Alice Ann Elliott　 At :12/09/2014 05:55:26 PM

Full view of item

attachment 1

Alice Ann Elliott　 At :12/09/2014 05:55:49 PM

Front fastener clearly coming off.

attachment 1

Rosewholesale Customer Support　 At :12/09/2014 11:43:31 PM

Dear Alice Ann, Thank you very much for your placing your order with us. We wish to apologize for the difficulties you have been experiencing and regret to hear that you are not totally satisfied with our product.As you know, our prices are very competitive and not considered expensive.So there is a little problems on the sizes and the quality is inevitable. Would you consider accepting 15 percent of the item price as a refund? If this is acceptable then there is no need to return the item back to us. We are extremely sorry for your disappointment. It is our obligation to reach out to every customer who is not fully satisfied. We will therefore also offer a special discount for your next order.If you send back ,you have to pay the freight for it .I have to tell you the freight is very expensive.It will takes a long time.I think that is a waste of time and money, also more troublesome. If you accept it , we can exchange it for you.I look forward to hearing from you. We hope to hear your decision very soon so that we may resolve the matter together to your satisfaction without further delay. Thank you so much for your kind understanding. Kind Regards Martin

Alice Ann Elliott　 At :12/10/2014 07:57:54 AM

I have no use for this item, and since it is sold on an American site, it should be clearly pointed out that the sizes are equal to children's sizes in America. I will accept a 50% refund if I keep the item.  I can't do anything with it, but that would save me having to pay the return shipping. Please let me know that a 50% refund will be made. Regards, Ann Elliott

Rosewholesale Customer Support　 At :12/10/2014 11:03:21 PM

Dear Alice Ann, Thank you very much for your recent message. Would you consider accepting  pay the 80 percent of the price ,we will try to resend a new one for you ,ok? If this is acceptable then there is no need to return the item back to us. Thank you so much for your continued patience and kind understanding. Best Regards Martin

Alice Ann Elliott　 At :12/11/2014 06:59:43 AM

When I buy clothes here in Shanghai I need a  4X size.  If you have my size  your suggestion is acceptable. Please let me know if this will work. Thank you, Ann

Rosewholesale Customer Support　 At :12/12/2014 04:37:10 AM

Dear Alice Ann, Thank you very much for your recent message. We are very sorry for that.Do not worry .I checked carefully it for you just now.This kind of clothes the largest size in XL,Could you change it for the other larger ones ,ok? We hope that this is acceptable. Thank you so much for your continued patience and kind understanding. Best Regards Martin

Alice Ann Elliott　 At :12/12/2014 06:51:31 AM

I'm not sure I understand.  Do you want me to choose something else from your store that comes in a larger size?  How will I know it is an American size and not Chinese sizes? Could you please just give me a refund as I asked?  I just want to return this item because I can't use it.  If you have a no return policy, it should have been stated on the web site, just as your sizes should have been. Please give me a full refund for this item and send instructions on how to return it. Ann Elliott

Rosewholesale Customer Support　 At :12/12/2014 08:47:13 PM

Dear Alice Ann, Thank you very much for your recent message. ok,we will try to apply the refund to you. but I have to trouble you again.To reduce the possibility of disputes, please take clear photographs of the items while placed on the ground and place a ruler or measuring tape to measure out length and width or the different part for the clothes .The photos should then be submitted to the after sales team. Please do not worry and once we confirm it,the problem will be solved soon. Thank you so much for your continued patience and kind understanding. Best Regards Martin

Alice Ann Elliott　 At :12/12/2014 08:54:45 PM

You do not know how to do business in the US.  If you don't have a refund policy it should be stated on your web site.  If you don't have standard sizes, that should be stated on your web site.  If you don't accept the customers word that something doesn't fit, you should tell people that up front. I will make sure that I post everywhere on the web the bad business practices that you have, and I will report you to the better business bureau.  I will make sure that your reputation is accurate and people know that your are a bad business to purchase from. Maybe you can get away with this in China, but people in the US expect better service and products.  I have already told you THE COAT DOESN'T FIT. You have already admitted that your sizes are Chinese sizes.  Your last request is stupid. I will make sure that everyone that looks on the internet to find anything about your company sees what you really do.  You are a bad company and your products are not acceptable. Give me a refund now and get it over with.  Ann

Rosewholesale Customer Support　 At :12/15/2014 06:26:38 AM

Dear Alice Ann, Thank you very much for your recent message. We really need to confirm the problem,no matter whose problems .We will try our best to solve the problems reasonably for you.Thank you very much for your help and cooperation .We hope that this is acceptable. Thank you so much for your continued patience and kind understanding. Best Regards Martin

Alice Ann Elliott　 At :12/15/2014 06:44:07 AM

Let me know when you are giving me the refund.  Let me know if you want your item back and how to return it.  Other than that I have not more to say.

Rosewholesale Customer Support　 At :12/16/2014 02:04:40 AM

Dear Alice Ann, Thank you very much for your recent message. As a valued customer,we have tried our beast to help you ,if you really can not accept it ,we will try to send the address for you ,ok? If this is not suitable, please note that if you were to send the item(s) back to us, the product status would become “second hand”. In that situation, minus the shipping cost and restocking fee, we could only refund you the original product price; this is to fairly reflect the reduced value of the clothing in our inventory when we resell it to another customer.I have to tell you the freight is very expensive ,if you send back.  Thank you so much for your continued patience and kind understanding. Best Regards Martin

Alice Ann Elliott　 At :12/16/2014 05:29:13 AM

This is not a second hand item.  It has not been used.  It was damaged when you sent it to me.  You do not know how to do business in the US.  If you don't have a refund policy it should be stated on your web site.  If you don't have standard sizes, that should be stated on your web site.  If you don't accept the customers word that something doesn't fit, you should tell people that up front. I will make sure that I post everywhere on the web the bad business practices that you have, and I will report you to the better business bureau.  I will make sure that your reputation is accurate and people know that your are a bad business to purchase from. Maybe you can get away with this in China, but people in the US expect better service and products.   I have already told you THE COAT DOESN'T FIT. You have already admitted that your sizes are Chinese sizes.  Your last request is stupid. I will make sure that everyone that looks on the internet to find anything about your company sees what you really do.  You are a bad company and your products are not acceptable. Give me a refund now and get it over with.   Ann

Rosewholesale Customer Support　 At :12/17/2014 12:49:53 AM

Dear Alice Ann, Thank you very much for your recent message. We need to confirm the problem,no matter whose problems .We will try our best to solve the problems reasonably for you.Thank you very much for your help and cooperation .We hope that this is acceptable. We are very sorry to hear that .Thank you for your help and cooperation .To reduce the possibility of disputes, please take clear photographs of the items while placed on the ground and place a ruler or measuring tape to measure out length and width or the different part for the clothes .The photos should then be submitted to the after sales team. Please do not worry and once we confirm it,the problem will be solved soon. Thank you so much for your continued patience and kind understanding. Best Regards Martin

Alice Ann Elliott　 At :12/17/2014 07:17:59 AM

We already sent photographs.  You offered 15% off, please refund the 15% and leave me alone.  i am tired of you and your problems.

I ordered a coat from them...is there anyway to solve such a problem?
The link to my review on sitejabber.com.

Reflections

I've begun to teach extra, taking on part time jobs, and I haven't had so much time for writing.  There is one thing I have been thinking about, and it's the feeling of being a white foreigner in China.

Since the government requires schools to have foreign teachers, in a way you're an employee of the state.  I don't actually work for a state school, yet I still feel that when people see me here, they associate me with the state program to teach their children English.  In a way it's a validation, and in a way it's a little strange,  being an extension of a communist government.

As a teacher at an English training school, I am a luxury that only a few can afford.  I am not the English teacher at a state school, I am with a private school enrichment program that wealthy and aspiring families or business people take.  And since my native language is English and I am an English teacher, there is almost a feeling of it being my identity.  Knowing me, having classes with me, doing things with me is a privilege that many people on the street feel they will never have.

At Yuyan Garden Tea House, Shanghai, China on National Day 2014

I also represent something many students that have gone through school English programs feel.  It is the failure of being able to speak English even after 12 years of studying it.  The Chinese English teachers teach English for the students to pass their university entrance exams.  They do not have to speak English, they just have to write it.  The education system here is all about teaching students to do something correctly, so the students feel the heavy burden of only speaking if they can say it perfectly. So when I go to a store to buy something, I feel the fear of the average store clerk at having to speak to me.  They feel like they should be able to, but they know that if they try they will make a mistake.  Sometimes it makes shopping uncomfortable.

They also have some of the same feeling about my speaking Chinese.  If I make a mistake, I must be corrected.  They may worry more about the correctness of my speech than whether they understood my request.  It makes it hard to use what Chinese I know.  And though I have worked with several Chinese tutors provided by my school, they typically do not know how to teach spoken language.  They may be able to tell me what the words are in Chinese, but they don't know how to structure a lesson that will allow me to practice it and really learn it.  So most of my Chinese I have learned from the online service I subscribe to.

At Suzhen Tiger Hill Park on October 3, 2014

There are times when I seem to represent a foreign invasion.  Many of the older Chinese scowl when they look at me.  Sometimes they will respond if I smile at them, sometimes not.  And in a real sense I am a foreign invader.  The wealthy and educated Chinese are learning English.  The youth are forgetting their Chinese character writing skills, and the Chinese will loose much of their culture as they are assimilated into the international world of business and culture.  Already, the children and younger people of Shanghai answer many cultural questions with western ideas.

At the Thames Town section of Songjian, Shangai, China

Yet, this is a necessity for them to progress and survive.  I am happy to be here, helping people realize their dreams.

God Bless,

Six Months of Mall Displays, Songjiang, Shanghai, China

Six Months of Mall Displays at Kai Yuan Med Shopping mall, beginning with March 2014: famous Americans, including Marilyn Monroe (down at the end)

May 2014, Minions for Children's Day

June 2014, Cinderella

July 2014, for The Transformers Movie

August 2014, cartoon airplanes, but I'm not familiar with the movie.

September 2014, Japanese cartoon characters

Every day at the mall.

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

Teaching

7-30-14

The lessons are the same, but there is always something new with teaching.  The other day I asked one of my students where she was going to go to school, and she said she wanted to go to one of the Universities in Songjiang.  Then she explained that there was a god of knowledge in Songjiang, and that is why there are so many universities here.  She said that the god helps people learn.  She said foreigners ask why there are so many universities in Songjiang, and that is the reason.

The culture here is such a mixture of East and West, old and new here.  The surface is developing modern, but the beliefs underneath the surface are superstitious, old, and religious.  Many children are raised by their grandparents, because both parents work and are very busy.  The children often live half the week at the grandparent’s house, so much of the older culture is still passed on to the children.  Most of the students are Buddhist.   Somewhat surprisingly, yesterday I had a student whose grandparents were Christian, and she was asking me about the truth of the Bible.  She described her feeling of peace and tranquility when going to church.

A Bank in the Financial District of Shanghai.

And there is always the same type of grammar errors, because all my students are native Chinese speakers.  The vocabulary is often British English because their text books are British, so I usually teach them the American words, but sometimes I just give in and use the UK idioms.  It’s not that the students don’t learn, it is that there is a new wave of students and I teach the same UK v. US terms over and over.  Our center has over a thousand students and new students start out every day.  Sometimes I think, “If I teach this student this term he isn’t going to be understood by the rest of the English speaking population of China, so maybe I should just let him use the local dialect of English.”  But I usually go ahead and teach the US alternative, the students prefer US English, and I can’t get used to saying “at the weekend” instead of “on.”

Coffee at Starbucks, Songjiang

The family structures here are often unique also.  While the “One Child Policy” has made many one child families, there are many variations on that.  Much of the population here has migrated from the country.  Many families in the country had multiple children and just didn’t register them.  For those children to get ID cards as adults, they have to pay a high fee.  Some families paid the fine for having second children, and there are some families who have government connections that just didn’t have to pay fines.  Some families sent their children to relative’s homes that had fewer children, to avoid the fines and have them be raised by aunts and uncles.  In my classes I have had some adults who don’t like the one child policy because they grew up alone without brothers and sisters to play with, and a few who do like the policy because they grew up with brothers and sisters that don’t want to share in taking care of the parents. Some children were sent away as young teens to schools to get a “good education” so they would be successful, and others that chose to go themselves.  Some stayed at home in the country, but still flourished with the booming economy.  Each person's story is unique. 

Shopping for sunglasses with students

I am privileged to be here at this time in history, and to know these people and serve them.

God Bless,

Cityscape

6/1/2014

A couple weeks ago a friend took me to downtown Shanghai at dusk and we walked around Wai Tan, the financial and tourist area.  We looked across the Huang Pu River at the cityscape as the lights came on at night.  It was beautiful, and it looked like the Shanghai skyline you would see in a movie.  It was sort of the first time I really felt that I was in the exotic city of Shanghai, China, like being in a storybook. 

The Bund, in the financial district

The financial district

We took the ferry across the river and I took lots of pictures of the beautiful boats and lights.

On the other side of the river, this is the Oriental Pearl Tower.  On a clear night you can see all three "pearls" of the tower.  We saw the tower that Tom Cruise climbs in the Mission Impossible movie.

I <3 Shanghai.

Blessings,

Going on Safari

5/27/14

Going to the bathroom at work always seems like an adventure into a dangerous land, sort of like going on safari.  I work in a mall, so there are many toilet stalls, but only one Western style toilet.  Using the Chinese floor style toilets reminds me of how little boys have to be taught to “aim” when they are learning to use the toilet.  As a girl I never had to learn to “aim,” but I need to know it now.

Usually I wait for the American toilet.  In the morning it is sometimes clean, but later in the day it is always filthy, as the Chinese choose to stand on the edges of it and use it like a Chinese toilet.  It usually has a combination of dirty footprints and what I can only assume is urine dripped on the seat cover.  So I use a wet wipe to clean it and dry it before I use it.  Toilet paper isn’t provided here, so you have to carry your own.  Honestly, I always carried some kind of tissue in America too, but there it is just on the off chance that I will need it.  Here I know I need to carry enough to get through the day, and cleaning wipes.

There is a bathroom attendant that mops the floor constantly throughout the day.  This ensures that the floor is always wet, so everyone that enters the bathroom leaves muddy footprints.  People also “miss” with the Chinese toilets, so she is mopping around them.  I don’t think she mops with any kind of soap, just water.   This also makes the bathroom always humid.  I think the mopping is supposed to make the bathroom constantly clean, but it seems to me to do the opposite.  The bathroom attendant’s job apparently doesn't extend to cleaning the counters, which always have puddles of water on them, or to cleaning the Western style toilet. 

Periodically, I feel a small sense of resentment that the bathroom is so humid, muddy, and that the toilet is always dirty when there is a cleaning lady there all day long.  I wonder why my logic of how to clean doesn't occur to her.  But I realize she must be doing her job the way she is supposed to.  The bathroom attendant at the other end of the building carries out her job exactly the same way.  So obviously they are doing what their employers and customers expect.  This makes me realize that “logic” depends on the primary assumptions it is founded on.  After all, I don’t even know enough of the native language here to do simple things, so why should my logic be valid here?  This is not my country and I can’t even function in it without help, like a child that needs a babysitter, whereas the bathroom attendant is fully functioning in her own culture and her job.  Maybe at some time the cleaning practices for public bathrooms here may become more Western, but in the mean time I just need to practice patience and humility and carry wet wipes.

Banking, Washing, and Teaching

5/12/14

Did you ever read The Cat in the Hat Comes Back by Dr. Seuss?  The Cat in the Hat eats cake in the tub and has to clean it up.  He cleans the tub it with a dress, and cleans the dress stain by putting it on the wall, the wall with shoes, and the shoes on the carpet… That’s how I feel when I do laundry here.  I start the washer in the bathroom, then I sweep and mop the balcony so I can hang the clothes out to dry without getting soot all over them.  Then I have to mop the floor inside where I tracked dirt in.  After I wash the clothes I have to clean the shower floor where the dirty water and soap are draining.  Then I mop the floor where the washer usually sits and the rest of the bathroom floor, which is dirty by that time.  When I am finished the whole house has mostly been cleaned.  But I really just started out to do laundry.

My work visa has been processed and I am back at work full time.  I set up my PIN number at the bank where my pay has been deposited and the school, “Web” for short, has given me an ATM card.  I set my account up to pay my electric bill.  The bank employee was a young man, and he spoke English pretty well, uncertain of specific words like “activate” my card, and “transfer,” but he did very well.  He was very humble about it, laughing at himself and saying it was difficult to do it all in English.  I blindly signed all the forms that were completely in Chinese, but I feel quite sure that they are all okay.  Web is a large customer of theirs, so I believe it is all safe.  The young man asked how I knew to set up my electric bill payments, and I said my co-workers (they use the word colleagues here, I’m not sure if it is the UK influence) had told me to do it.  He said I was the first foreigners to do so, and it made me look like I knew a lot about living here. 

My school had a karaoke party last night to promote team building.  There is a K-TV place in the fourth floor of the mall.  It was a lot of fun, a lot of songs in Chinese, but we had a selection of English songs to pick from.  We (the foreign English teachers) sang John Denver songs together, and The Beatles.  The Chinese employees mostly talked in Chinese together, as not all of them know English, and it was fun to mix with everyone in a social setting.

I also taught my first English Literature Social Club yesterday (it’s called English Corner at other schools, and it’s an open format where any students can come).  I had about 20 students and we read Daffodils by William Wordsworth.  I got the idea from English with a Twist Blog by Shanti http://englishwithatwist.com/2014/05/01/a-poem-by-william-wordsworth-a-giant-of-english-literature/ .  The students read through the poem stanza by stanza and we discussed what it meant word by word and line by line.  I went over new vocabulary, and at the end I asked them to write a stanza about a flower.  A couple of the students were really intimidated by it, so I said for them to just pick a flower and make a statement about how they felt about it.  Some of the students wrote quite eloquent stanzas of poetry.  I felt like the whole lesson went very well.

The subject of this series was picked by the school.  I teach 3 Social Clubs a week, with different subjects, and I feel like they have been going pretty well.  I find teaching is an up and down ride.  Sometimes everything works so beautifully, and other times activities fall flat and I feel bad for the students, that I wasn't as effective as I could have been.  But in general, I think it’s going okay.

Happy Teaching,

May Day

4/30/14

I was required to put down a two month deposit on my apartment, which, by the way, was not three months because my school talked them down.  The school loaned me money to pay it, and this month I pay it back out of my salary.  It’s all very nice, but it makes the second month in a row that I will be short of money.  It’s an interesting situation, because the cost of working here is so high up front.  But I guess that’s the way it is.

Actually, people that work for the public schools just get their housing provided for them and they don’t have to go through this process.

5/1/14

Today is International Labor Day, and May Day, and we have the day off work.   I walked to a nearby section of town called Thames Town, that is modeled after a village in England.  It was an interesting experience.  It actually has apartments and residential sections, but the village shops and everything are a tourist attraction.  It is interesting seeing the English style buildings combined with the Chinese people, food and customs.  I took a lot of pictures.  I took one of the British red phone box, with Chinese Telecom written on it, and thought of my daughter, who is a Dr. Who fan.

It is common for Chinese people to take sort of dress up and posed photos, so there are a lot of “brides and grooms” posing on the grounds of the church and hotel.  But I know this is not their wedding day, just a photo opportunity.  One photo has four couples posing in it.

The weather is getting warmer.  Today was 27 degrees C.  It was still pretty comfortable walking around, but I know the hot weather is coming next month.

5/5/14

In one of my classes I had two young women who were university students.  The practice exercise was for them to interview each other and make a “presentation” style speech, where they introduced the other one.  Their homework exercise had been to write about an achievement from their own life that they were proud of.  One young woman had studied hard to get a first prize in a math contest in high school.  Then she explained that she was studying Business English at the University and would not have to take any math classes in college.  In fact, she said, she didn’t like math and wasn’t good at it, but she had wanted to make her parents proud, so she had worked hard at the math contest.   The other young woman was studying financial management.  They were both from cities in the interior of the country, but they were in Shanghai to go to University.

It is times like that in class that make me realize that I have “the best of the best” young people in my classes.  They are smart and ambitious, and they work hard at what they want to accomplish.  They study English as an extra-curricular activity because it will help them achieve their goals.

Chinese Lessons

I know this blog is a lot about my personal experiences, and not much about the actual teaching here, but when I was planning on coming I could only find blogs about how wonderful the children were and how sad the teachers were to leave.  There was nothing about the day to day experiences.  I thought this kind of blog might help someone that wants to know what it is like to live and teach here.  Granted, I have traveled a lot and lived in both developed and undeveloped countries, so my impressions are a little more accepting than the average first time American traveler.

4/17/14

I had my first Chinese lesson at Web International on Tuesday.  My Chinese tutor gave me a half hour lesson on the sounds of vowels in Chinese, and the pronunciation tones.  I have either read about or had these described to me several times, but I find that it takes several times for me to really assimilate them.  The problem I find with the tones is that when I try to say more than one word, a sentence, I try to give the words “normal” sentence tones, and then I forget the word tones.  Hmm.  This is going to take a while.  And I really need to practice using the words too.  So far I have only used a couple while shopping or taking a taxi.

Sonjiang Web International English Center

I’m using online courseware to learn Chinese too.  If I repeat the words to myself for several days after the lessons I begin to remember them.  I have realized that I need to learn the Chinese writing characters also if I want to understand what is around me.  This actually strikes me as not so hard, because I am a more visual person.  So I have learned a couple…there are only about 5000, right.  And they change meaning when they are combined with each other.  I think I need a tutor for this also.  There are “handwriting” or calligraphy classes here for nationals, but I’m not sure where I would find one for an English speaker.  Maybe one of my students will know.

I missed church last week because I was waiting for IKEA to deliver my furniture.  They are coming again this Saturday, and I hope they will get here in time for me to go the local cell group.  I realize it is Easter Sunday, and I would like to be able to worship with other believers.

4/21/14

Things are getting settled in here.  I had my second round of employee orientation yesterday and I have a teacher training session next week.  The student feedback has been positive and I the trainers will continue to observe me teaching.  Next week I will begin teaching three larger classes a week, (called English Corner, or Social Club) from curriculum that I will create myself. 

I got my mattress situation taken care of as well as changing the lock on the door and small repairs that needed done in the apartment.  I think my landlady is happy with me, and she has been helpful when I needed it.

Last weekend one of my brother's students from Anhui province came to Shanghai for several job interviews.  She came to visit me and stayed the day.  We met one of my students here for lunch and had a wonderful time.  

I attended a local Christian cell group meeting last Saturday.  They watched the Jesus movie as a celebration of Easter.  It is co-lead by one of the teachers at the school; there are several Christians in our office.

I went to the local medical center today to get some chiropractic treatment for my back and the pain in my legs.  The doctor of traditional Chinese medicine there spoke English and has requested some medical records and I hope I can get them by email from the States. I need to purchase some Skype credits so I can call the medical center there.

4/26/14

I spent 9 hours yesterday going around Shanghai to get my paperwork done for my long term work permit.  I knew I had to register within 30 days of arriving, but I thought that was part of my medical checkup.  Turns out it is a separate thing, and I was about to run out of time.  The visa specialist got all my application papers ready, and she was grateful for me doing it all in a rush.

 The inside entrance of the mall where the Center is.

They gave me time off work to do it, and I actually missed teaching yesterday.  Since I am shy I feel like I am not sure how to make friends with the people I see every day.  I have to remind myself that I have only been here three weeks.

I get paid for the first time on the 5^th.  I am looking forward to getting some money and replenishing my bank account.  I have to figure out how to exchange and transfer money to my Bank of America account.  I know that Bank of America has a branch in Shanghai, but I’m pretty sure it’s in the city and pretty far away.  I tried to do a search for a location, and didn’t get a clear idea of where it is.  Somewhere in the financial district.  I will ask around at work for some help.

I’ve decided to extend my free trial of the online Chinese 101 lessons.  I’ve been doing them three to four times a week, and I want to keep on.  Since I am surrounded with English all day most days, I am not learning very fast, but I feel like if I just keep on it will stick.  I was going to cancel, but they sent me a 33% discount offer and it seems like a good deal.

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