China - Day 13, Monday

Today I promised Daniel that we would not do anything. So he stayed in his PJs all day long and enjoyed his last day of summer vacation!

I didn't make him do anything, but I had to go and run a few errands.

First I went to the Management Office and ordered our Bottled Water. I asked for 2 bottles and I had to put a 100RMB ($15) deposit on each bottle. Then I had to pay for the water which was 22RMB ($3.50) for 5 gallon container. Cheap! They delivered the water by 7pm.

Then I went to the bank to open an account. The banks here are different. 

When you walk into the bank you take a number then sit in the waiting area. When your number comes up on the digital screen (I think they announce it too, but I can't understand it) you may go up to the teller.

The tellers sit behind a glass window with a little slot on the bottom that you can pass papers, etc. through. They only have a maximum of 2 tellers, when I went in they only had one teller to wait on everyone.  You do not go to a customer service rep to open an account, you just go to the teller.

I filled out the paperwork. To convert money, open account, etc, you need your passport. I was suppose to write something on the paper in Chinese and the teller asked if I can write in Chinese, when I told her no she called over the guard and had him write it. Not sure why she could not do it. I gave her my dollars to open the account. I thought she was going to change it into RMB, but she opened the account in US Dollars.  I asked the teller how much it was in RMB, I explained that I need it in RMB at this time, so then she had to do a lot more paperwork to change it over. Opening the account took at least 30 minutes or longer. I got my debit card right then. I had to select my pin right then and there - no waiting a couple of weeks for the bank to mail it to you and the pin in a separate envelope.While I was opening my account, the line kept growing (remember there is only one teller at this time). By the time I finished it was 5pm and the bank was closing. The guard had to open the gates to let me out. It was an interesting experience.