China Blog A20

That’s a Lotta Water!

08-05-2009

Today it poured buckets of rain all morning long.  There was no thunder, but it set off a car
alarm near our hotel.  When it seemed to
be letting up, we went to the shopping area and bought umbrellas.  It seemed like a good time to take care of
that.  Sure thing, it pretty much stopped
raining for the day.

We got a bank account set up today with the help of someone
from Brad’s work and the bank manager.  I
now have a “magic card” for shopping (debit). 
It’s a lot easier than trying to figure out the cash, but I think money
will spend too quickly that way, so I’d better get the hang of this money thing
ASAP.  Also, I need to get a battery
operated calculator.  My solar one in my
purse won’t work under the store lights.

We hope to hear from the school soon about the admissions
status for our kids.  It will be nice to
have that cleared up – since school starts in one week (yikes).

We will move into our apartment tomorrow or the next
day.  It will be so nice to have a place
to call home.  What a relief that will
be.  We may not have internet access for
a few days though.  I don’t know how long
it will take to get that connected.

One interesting thing here: 
You do not tip service people here. 
Bellboys, restaurant servers, etc., will look at you like you are crazy
if you try.