Blogs from Tianjin, China, Asia - page 20

ATTENTION: this blog post is more or less for fellow people coming to China who may encounter similar dilemmas to mine in regards to the Chinese VISA. I hope my experiences can help you get an idea of how to handle these rather frustrating situations My Situation: I am spending about six months in China. I am doing to two study abroad programs; one in the summer and one in the fall. When i applied for my visa (probably in April of 2008, i left for china on June 10th) i first sent in the forms (Letter of invitation and JW202) for the summer program. When i was informed that they only gave a 90 day visa i tried to apply for another visa to extend my current one with the JW202 and letter of invitation ... read more

Hello Everyone! This is actually Travel Blog Entry #4... Monday, June 16??? - 1:15pm China Time, 1:15am Buckeye Time... For the first time since we have been here, we finally have computer access! Hopefully all the parents have heard from their children and know they are safe, sound, and seem to be having a great time. I told all the kids I would send a "Happy Father's Day" to their dads, but Matthew said he did not want to be included...just because he wanted to be different :) ! So.... Happy Father's Day, Dads, except Matthew's!! As I write this entry, the kids are meeting with Chinese students from the sister high school in Tianjian, China. It was an almost three hour bus ride to get here. They immediately served lunch, and then had a welcoming ... read more

I remember thinking about how nice it would be to move to China and be free from our many commitments back home. Teaching in the private system should allow me more time for my personal life, more time for leisure. I guess the answer is that Craig and I are workaholics. If the school doesn't fill up our time, we will find other ways to make ourselves busy. This story will end with my completely exhausted body getting on a plane to head south to Hainan, to recover. Beijing Trip #1 - Adventures in Transportation Craig and I have decided to travel to Beijing once a month. Our November trip to Beijing was only for the day and was an adventure in transportation. We woke up early that Saturday and headed to the Tanggu bus station; ... read more

The bonus of the service component of my job is that I get invitations to community events. The first event Craig and I have been able to attend was last Monday September 24th, 2007 - The Mid-Autumn Day Tea Party. This was Craig's first time out with me representing the school in the community, so I think it gave him a taste of some of what I have been experiencing. You walk into such an event having no idea as to the proper etiquette, really having no idea of what to expect and you just have to stay on your toes. Watch others before diving in, mimic gestures of politeness etc. Additionally, you have to be ready for anything you do to possibly be photographed. This tea party was hosted by the Teda Chamber of Commerce, ... read more

When our IT Manager Mike sent out a mass email inviting everyone from work to his wedding, a number of us thought we should decline, surely he didn't mean us newcomers...he didn't know us well enough! We were soon informed that just the opposite, he would love nothing more than to have the school fully represented at the wedding. Chinese Weddings are large affairs. When we told Mike we would come he was absolutely thrilled and has since let us know several times that we are his very good friends. Once we agreed to go, the next part was to find out what customs we ought to know about. My first source of information was Huilin Liang who runs the volunteer organization in Teda. Huilin let me know how it ought to be done. We should ... read more