Now in Pudong Airport

In 20 minutes... My flight will be called for boarding....
I got here 30 minutes ago. I made sure to tire myself from cleaning my apartment, doing my laundry at the same time packing my stuffs last nite so that I will just sleep the whole time in the plane.
I hate flying =(

I will post some pictures when I get to chengdu. I am using the airport's free computer. Wifi Doesn't work here

I am sure I am going to have a blast in Cheng Du

Sept 26... Starts to get cold

September 26
I think this day is the start of coolness that would gradually shift to coldness.
I woke up late in the morning for I don't need to be on my usual rush to work.

I was amazed when I went out, people were starting to be in their jackets. I thought it was just an ordinary breezy day to a temp that looks like it would rain. But there is really a feel cold chill in the air. Amazing to see how people are slowly wrap up again.

I went out to have my computer fixed, bought a backpack for my "long term planned trip", which I am going to write about soon.
Then went to my part time work.
I finished worked at 8:15PM and walking to the bus stop was a bit difficult because it was chilly and I was in shorts... Looking people in jackets and sweater makes it more colder.

Getting excited for my much needed break

Next week is a National Holiday. It's only in China that I will experience having such long holidays. Most companies, schools and other institutions would be close for a week.
On my part I'm really starting to get stressed out with work and I need a good damn holiday.
I'm really looking forward travelling to Beijing the 2nd time around. I'm mostly excited to see the olympic venues and sites related to it.
I'm gonna share more about it when I come back with pictures of course!
Thanks to Abbie and flying Sable for coordinating the trip

The Heart of the Matter

Music plays an important role in my life. Music helped me make some important decisions in life and it simply just changes my mood instantly.
But how does one gets attracted to a certain song? How can one say that he likes a certain song. Is it the lyrics? Is it the artist behind the song? Is it the beat?

My friend's blog posted a song Titled " The Heart of the Matter"

I got attracted by the song first by the beat of the song. It was just smooth and quiet.

When I listened to it again and tried to digest the lyrics and message of the song. It talks about relationships and about forgiveness. It's so apt to one of the main reasons why I am here in China. I wish I will have the courage to send this song out to someone, whom I want to say thank you and sorry so badly.

Let me share this song with you...

This song is originally by Don Henley of the Eagles. And India Airie has her own version also.

The Heart of the Matter

I got the call today,

I didn't wanna hear

But I knew that it would come

An old true friend of ours was talkin' on the phone

She said you found someone

And I thought of all the bad luck,

And all the struggles we went through

How I lost me and you lost you

What are these voices outside love's open door

Make us throw off our contentment

And beg for something more?

I've been learning to live without you now

But I miss you sometimes

The more I know, the less I understand

All the things I thought I knew, I'm learning them again

I've been tryin' to get down to the Heart of the Matter

But my will gets weakAnd my thoughts seem to scatter

But I think it's about forgiveness

Forgiveness

Even if, even if you don't love me anymore

These times are so uncertain

There's a yearning undefined

And people filled with rage

We all need a little tenderness

How can love survive in such a graceless age

And the trust and self-assurance that lead to happiness

They're the very things we kill, I guess

Pride and competition cannot fill these empty arms

And the work they put between us,

You know it doesn't keep us warm

I've been trying to live without you now

But I miss you, baby

The more I know, the less I understand

And all the things I thought I figured out,

I have to learn again

I've been tryin' to get down to the Heart of the Matter

But my will gets weak

And my heart is so shattered

But I think it's about forgiveness

Forgiveness

Even if, even if you don't love me anymore

All the people in your life who've come and gone

They let you down, you know they hurt your pride

Better put it all behind you; cause life goes on

You keep carrin' that anger, it'll eat you up inside

I wanna be happily everafter

And my heart is so shattered

But I know it's about forgiveness

Forgiveness

Even if, even if you don't love me anymore

I've been tryin' to get down to the Heart of the Matter

Because the flesh will get weak

And the ashes will scatter

So I'm thinkin' about forgiveness

Forgiveness

Even if you don't love me anymore

Even if you don't love me anymore

Opening a Chinese Bank Account

Having worked with Citi for more than 3 years, I can still remember how important an account opening process is.
Today I decided to transfer my savings from my payroll account which is the Bank of China to another bank. I chose another Chinese bank. I chose Industrial and Commercial Bank of China ICBC. I tried to access their website yesterday to check what are the requirements needed for a foreigner to open an account with them. I did this because I want to do everything in one visit and not having to come back for lacking documentations. Unfortunately their website did not indicate the requirements. I tried to phone their hotline. After the usual machine recording speech (in chinese of course) I was greeted by a lady on the line obviously with a “chinglish” accent. I inquired on the process of account opening and the minimum balance to maintain the account. She kept on asking me for what sort of like a number. I repeatedly said account opening. “I want to open an account with ICBC.” Finally after almost a minute of trying to repeat what I said. She gave up and said “wait a moment”. Again I was placed on hold with a chinese song on the background. I was almost tempted to just hang up. Suddenly another lady with still a “chinglish” accent came to the rescue. Finally she understood what I wanted to know, I felt relieved for a while. She talks really fast, now I’m having a hard time trying to catch up with what she is saying. I only understood, “only credit card”. Then I realized that maybe the hotline I called was only for credit card queries. She then gave me another number to call. I just pretended to take down the number she dictated so not to hurt her feelings. I don’t want to go through such long conversation and end up with nothing. I just decided to just walk in the bank with all my documents ready.

Sept 18
Lunch time

Armed with all my documents, I went to ICBC branch near my work place. I brought my passport, my working permit and some ID’s back home. I just walked in an inquired about where to open an account, I made sure I have enough time before going back to work. I don’t want to stay in the bank too long and be late in going back to work. A chinese lady assisted me and handed over a sheet of paper for me to fill up. I just filled up what I understood. Name, Address, Telephone number and ID number. I did not bother filling the other informations, which I don’t understand. I handed it over to her, she just examined it and asked me to affix my signature at the bottom. She got a copy of my passport, and voila handed me an ATM card. She just made me do the usual PIN number of the ATM card and I am ready to go. The process was less than 5 minutes. I am done.
She just asked me for 25rmb for the payment of the ATM card. It’s my first time to encounter a bank that requires a payment for ATM card upon account opening.
(Most Chinese if not all Chinese ATM card doesn’t display your name in the card)

My thoughts:
I was surprised on how easy to open an account with ICBC, considering that they are a big financial institution in China. I can’t help but compare on the tedious requirements and the bloody account opening process we have back home.
Let me share with you the thing that I do best aside from learning all the investment options and some basics of the stock and financial markets.
The account opening. We would require at least 2 ID’s, passport and driver’s license is favorable. It is a must to have 2 identifications. I had some experiences of having to decline an account opening due to lack of acceptable identifications. Depending of the type of account a customer wishes to open, we do have other major documents needed. For example for some accounts we need to require a utility bill (credit card bill, a phone bill or any utility bill under the customer’s name). We also do the “call back”, meaning call the customer’s telephone number using a recorded line to ensure the validity of the customer’s identity and contact details. And the most important point prior to accepting an account opening is to check the customer’s identity against a data base we call the “negative file”. This file contains the names of people with pending court cases and unpaid balances with other financial institutions. Imagine the hassle if you have a very common Filipino name, like Jose Ruiz, there would be hundreds of matches. If this case happens then we would require an “affidavit of denial” duly notarized by a lawyer, denying that the customer is not the same person who appeared in the negative file.
Other important things we need to obtain from customer is what we call the KYC or “know your customer”. As the person responsible for opening the account, I should know the ff informations:
Source of wealth
Occupation
Nature of Business
No. of years in the Business
I need to know all these detailed information because we have a thing called AMLA or the Anti Money Laundering Act. As they say Philippines is one of the haven for money launderers worldwide. It would trigger a suspicious thought if someone unemployed would have $ 40,000.
With this I need to inquire the ff informations:
Purpose of account opening:
Are there expected incoming remittances from other countries
Is the account going to be cash intensive
Expected no. of transactions in a month.
Expected no of transactions in a month is a very important information. If the customer’s purpose for opening an account is for “savings” then after a month there were several deposits and withdrawals, this would raise a red flag for AMLA.

Being a banker is not an easy job. Account opening is just one of the many responsibilities of a person working in a bank. That is why I am just amazed on how fast and lenient Chinese people are when in comes to banking matters.

stress buster

Yesterday was a long day for me. Though I only have to work for half day, I had some obligations to do with my part time job. The fact that I have been having some problems with sleeping the past few days, really made me get tired and groggy so easily.
I went to work in the afternoon with some Chinese colleagues. I had to interview 20 people and check their English level, and assess them accordingly. I thought it would be an easy task to do. But it was not as easy as it seems especially if one has only less than 4 hours of sleep. It was a battle between trying to comprehend what the Chinese person is saying against trying hard not to yawn in front of them.

Finally after2 grueling hours of short interview, I managed to come out alive and still half asleep. The drive back to the office took about 30 minutes, My Chinese colleagues were speaking in Chinese as if I was not there. This is a good thing because I am not in the mood to have some small talks at that time. Maybe they read the “Don’t talk to me” face I am wearing at that time.

When we got to the office, I was suppose to take the bus home to rest in my apartment for a while and come back at 6pm for my part time job. Thinking of the hassle of catching the bus and just taking a nap for less than an hour and going back to work again might not be such a good idea. I decided to just stay in the office and waited until 6pm to do my part time job.

Having to take 2 jobs at a time is not easy at all, but what keep me going are the rewards I would give myself after all these effort and tiresome activity.

I finally got to my apartment at 8:30; I was feeling so tired and just wanting to hit the sack. When I turned on my computer to see who’s on line. My cousin is on and told me that my niece is with her in the room.

The last time I saw Nina in person was 3 months ago when I went home for a 2 week vacation. My cousin showed Nina on Cam. It was such a delight seeing my 1 year old niece on cam doing all her new tricks. From a simple “beautiful eyes” to her “pouting lips” and even just marching and doing the hand salute. It was just amazing, how a young child can take away the stress I felt the whole day and just make me smile and laugh looking at her in the camera looking like a small penguin because of her thick diaper in her pajamas.

I can’t wait to see her again in person. It should be 5 to 6 months from now.

Solo Cafe

I always prefer to take buses over taxis here in Suzhou. Aside from it's cheaper, it is a way to really simmer myself into the culture of Chinese People. Taking buses and just random walking around town has a lot of benefits. One of which is discovering some unique places in Suzhou.

While walking 1 sunday afternoon, I decided to take the alleys of Siquan Jie instead of taking the main bar street. I passed by a very small coffee shop near one of the "mini bridges" in the alleys. It looks ordinary from the outside, because most of the houses in that areas were designed to look all the same, white facade and the ancient black chinese style roof. I was expecting it to be one of those small coffee shops that doesn't have english menus and no english word spoken. I just decided to try my luck and gave it a try. Surprisingly the Menus are in english, the barista can speak english and the place is really undiscovered and quiet, which is what I always wanted, a place to just read and quiet down.

Solo cafe has a small capacity. maybe max of 20 people can sit comfortably. The choices are limited. They serve just the basic coffee and just cheesecake for those who wants to grab something to eat. The toilet is always clean, the owner is very friendly, they have free wifi access and most of all it's still undiscovered by many people.

Solo cafe is an ideal place to just unwind and quiet down. Apart from the added bonus of the canal view when you peek through their windows.

Autumn in Suzhou

I was feeling light headed today, as it is my last day of work for the week. Because I was transferred to an office at SND Suzhou New District, which is more than an hour bus ride from my apartment. I spoke with my boss about the inconvenience of traveling to and fro everyday, to trade off for the inconvenience, he adjusted my working hours and cancelled my friday. I now have 3 day weekends... How cool can that be?



After finishing my work and declaring it a weekend for me, I decided to walk from the bus stop going to my part time job. It was a nice afternoon to walk with my ipod. While walking, I saw a lot of leaves on the ground. It's officially Autumn in Suzhou. A lot of dried yellow leaves are scattered beside their tree.
I remembered almost a year ago, I posted in my old blog a song that a colleague from my previous job introduce me. Autumn Leaves by ATB.
I can still picture the time when I was taking my sandwich at our pantry, listening to the same song and just wishing to disappear and be transported to another land.
Now here I am experiencing the first taste of Autumn in a foreign land.

Let me share this with you:

Autumn Leaves
ATB

I woke under the cover of darkness
Looked up into the television sky Tonight
I wandered through the city alone this Rain wouldn't stop,
I couldn't dry my eyes I cried
Who is the one to blame
Why is it that you never say ...when the feeling leaves...if you're through with me
As I'm walking through the rain
Cold tears falling down my face...like the autumn leaves...on a windy day
I went to the edge of town
Over bright highways where the traffic was the only sound
Around
While my eyes were looking at the ground
I could see pictures of you floating all aroundI didn't doubt
Who is the one to blame
Why is it that you never say ...when the feeling leaves...if you're through with me
As I'm walking through the rain
Cold tears falling down my face...like the autumn leaves...on a windy day
Who is the one to blame
Why is it that you never say ...when the feeling leaves...if you're through with me
As I'm walking through the rain
Cold tears falling down my face...like the autumn leaves...on a windy day
Who is the one to blame
Why is it that you never say ...when the feeling leaves...if you're through with me
As I'm walking through the rain
Cold tears falling down my face...like the autumn leaves...on a windy day
Who is the one to blame
Why is it that you never say ...when the feeling leaves...if you're through with me
As I'm walking through the rain
Cold tears falling down my face...like the autumn leaves...on a windy day

Mark

He is 21 years old and he decided to come to china to try his luck. Pretty much the same as what I have in mind. He is from Australia and has never been out of Australia all his life.
I learned that he arrived same day as I did, January 5 2008. But his flight got to Pudong shanghai at 6 or 7 am in the morning while, my flight got there at almost 8pm. I learned that he flew from Perth to Brisbane, and from Brisbane to Phuket, Phuket to Bangkok and Bangkok to Shanghai. How tiring could that be.
Being in Aussie all his life, he told me of some restrictions they have. As a young kid, he was not able to play with pellet guns, and he told me that it’s very seldom to see a firework in Australia.
Being new in china, his eyes glowed when we visited the Amusement park and he was able to buy a Pellet gun. He is also determined to light a firework here in china. How random can be for a housemate in a foreign land.

1st Apartment in China

My 1st apartment in china is provided by the school, most of their students stay in this apartment in Su Dian Road in SIP. My apartment is on the 7th floor of the building. I am sharing it with Mark, my classmate. My apartment has common living room, dining room, kitchen and toilet. Although, it modern looking and with all the modern and compact amenities of an apartment, having no heater in the living room is such an agony. We cannot enjoy watching Chinese TV because the living room is dead cold. But the most agonizing part is after taking a shower and having to run to our bedrooms and passing through the living room with a temperature of almost 2 Celsius. What a punishment.

Our bedrooms has nothing in it except the AC, and a small cabinet and a single hard bed. Mark’s bedroom and my bedroom are connected with a mini terrace, which our bedrooms have access to. I also specified and I have to pay more money for having internet access in my bedroom. The apartment is not so bad except for the heaterless living room and the very hard bed.

1st day is Suzhou

While I was still waiting for results for my school application in Suzhou, I always check some facts and pictures about suzhou in the internet. I always google suzhou and what comes out are pictures of Canals and traditional Chinese houses built beside these water ways. Internet states that it is famous for its gardens, that are included in the UNESCO world heritage.
Waking up on the first day, it was freezing cold. I peeped through my terrace to look for the surroundings of my apartment. I realized that my apartment is in the middle of many large factories lined up. Looking at the left side, I saw a very small canal, and on the intersection of the street there is a big factory named Renesas. Looking straight I saw a company named L’oreal, should be the famous cosmetic brand. Then I felt so tricked by the pictures I saw in the internet. I chose to stay in Suzhou because of its traditional beauty and it seemed so peaceful and a very good place to start a full year adventure.

Su Dian Road in SIP Suzhou China

Coming back to reality, I later found out that my apartment is located at the expensive SIP or Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park area. I was expecting to wake up with a very good view of canals in my window, or probably be awaken by the sounds of Chinese people in their mini gondolas passing through the canal alleys. Lesson no. 1 Suzhou is not just all about canals and gardens. It is a modern city also, with a lot of foreign companies building their factories in this city.