Sunday 22 April 2012

HSBC Shanghai, It's Been Nice Knowing You

But it's time to say goodbye.  After wiring all the money that needed to be wired, then withdrawing all the remaining cash, the next logical thing to do was close down the account.  Predictably they asked why.  I simply told them I had gone to Hong Kong and opened a SmartVantage account with HSBC over there, thus I didn't need the existing Advantage account in Shanghai anymore.  I could have told them their customer service was crap, and it took 3 painfully slow weeks to send and receive overseas money transfers.  But what would be the point of telling them that?  It's not their fault, it's the mainland banking rules.

As mentioned in previous posts, the HSBC SmartVantage account is not offered on the mainland.  It is, however, offered in Hong Kong and it only requires a minimum balance of HKD 10,000.  If you don't have that, there is a 'below balance fee' of HKD 60 every month.  The SmartVantage account is multi-currency, with over 15 major world currencies available.  Plus you have access to many other services.

Compare this with the Advance and Premier multi-currency accounts.  These are also available in Hong Kong with minimum balances of HKD 200,000 and HKD 1 million respectively.  Or else you pay a below balance fee of HKD 200 or HKD 500 respectively.

On mainland China, the only multi-currency accounts offered are with the Advance and Premier.  But that requires RMB 100,000 or RMB 500,000 respectively.  Or else a below balance fe of RMD 150 a month or RMB 500 a month.

The HKD and RMB used to be on par, but now 1 RMB = 1.25 HKD

To make a long story short, the Shanghai bank account served its purpose, which was to wire money to Thailand in my name, as it would have been unrealistic to go down to Bangkok for a day or two and carry cash

I was, however, able to carry cash and physically go down to Hong Kong during business hours.  Then I opened an account there last month.  Will be going again during the May holiday to help a colleague do likewise.  Going down in person is essentially the only way to open a HK-based account, which is certainly possible for non-HK residents .  There are rumors that you can open one by staying on the mainland, but this is only a rumor.  If it were possible, it would be an incredible amount of trouble.  That's just China.  But you go to the other China, that is HK, and it is easy breezy.  Welcome to one country, two systems.

HSBC advertises itself as the world's local bank.  They also are known as Hong Kong and Shanghai Banknig Corporation.  But you can obviously see that the HK and SH branches are two totally separate local entities thus the 'world's local bank' is most certainly true.  To test the waters I wired a small amount of US cash from my SH account to the HK account and got charged an extortionate rate.  The mainland banking rules are mainly to blame for this, as other HSBC branches in the world don't charge as much for comparable wire transfers.

To get money into the HK acount you'd somehow have to avoid the mainland banks entirely.  In which case you'd want to wire it in directly from overseas, or take cash and carry it across the border into HK.

Lots of Upgrades

Today's weather:  High = 27  Low = 18
Amazing

As the title suggests, there are many upgrades coming up.  The main thing is the scooter will be replaced with a high-powered motorcycle, and the folding bike replaced with a professional mountain folding bike.  Then I'm getting a GPS unit and a notebook computer.  One has to wonder how I'm not broke, or soon to be broke after all this.

Going to Hong Kong over the May holiday break will be primarily how all this is accomplished.  Also going to help a colleague open a HSBC SmartVantage bank account, drawing on the success I had with that last trip, we're both heading on down.

Meanwhile, 69 more days until summer vacation starts.  You can read all about that on my biking website.  Lots of recent success on there about getting to Chongming Island and Jiangsu province from the cty.

www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/10285

But I'm primarily concentrating now on preparing students for AP Calculus exam this coming May 9.  That day will happen sooner than you think.

Tuesday 17 April 2012

Amazing Airfares

Today's weather:  High = 20 Low = 10
Sunny

You know the airline.

http://www.airasia.com

They have a promo such that if you book flights within this week (From Apr 16 to 22) and fly during the summer period, then you can get some seriously awesome deals.  This will no doubt be useful for my upcoming Burma trip

http://www.crazyuyonabike.com/doc/10285

The only difficulty is coming up with a plan, asap, in order to make use of these flights.  The deals extend all over the network, and I'd to do another country for a month before Burma.  In terms of internet access, I've basically decided to do the Burma trip in August when there won't be a need to go online for my MMT masters degree.  Obviously, internet access is sketchy over there and it would be silly to rely on it.  

Meanwhile that leaves July and a whole bunch of cheap flights to figure something out.  Will eat a cheap meal, decide over dinner, then start booking out the wazoo.

Monday 16 April 2012

A Student Went Nuts

Today's weather: High = 21  Low = 12
Sunny

He didn't go around shooting people or anything like that, but a particular boy in my calculus class has been acting up lately and I'm seriously concerned.  To make a long story short, he doesn't have he support of his parents, his Dad often beats him, and he lives with other relatives in substandard conditions.

Today he started hissing and growling and banging his head on the desk during the breaks between classes.  This was a new development.  Not loud or anything overly disruptive, but nonetheless noticeable.  Other students dismissed him and said he was depressed, he does it often, don't worry about it.

Things are happening at school to take more care of this boy and for privacy reasons I don't want to get into too many details.  However, I want to post more about this issue on my other blog from a spiritual point of view, especially concerning these manifestations.


 

Sunday 15 April 2012

We Have a Crackdown

Today's scooter ride to work was a little scary. There is a colossal intersection I have to pass through each way (Caoxi Rd and Zhongshan Rd). Police love to stand around and nab unregistered scooters as they are waiting for the lights. The usual tactic I have is to sit back 50m from the red light and wait for it to change, then go through with the mass pack of other scooters when the light changes, thus blending in with the crowd.

Imagine my shock when I saw no fewer than 6 police officers flanking the intersection and coordinating their attacks to stop the scooters. They were quite aggressive about it, and walking around back and forth to catch people like me who stop before the light. I had to do quite a few stealth moves, U-turns, ride against traffic to get away from the intersection completely.

Then a few hours later I was walking to the bank and I saw a blue truck parked and full of scooters which were already confiscated. This is not a good sign. The bike is parked at the school now, safely underground, and it may stay there for awhile. Rather park the bike voluntarily and take a break from riding, as opposed to the police taking away my bike.

I Love My Ayi

Today's weather:  High = 22  Low = 12
Sunny
 
When I was a kid, my Mom used to say, "Don't think you can have a maid to clean up after yourself when you become an adult.  You'll have to learn life skills yourself."
 
Little did she know I would end up living in Shanghai, hiring a maid, and speaking Mandarin. 
 
One of the hallmarks of living in Shanghai during my first stint from 2001-04 was the "ayi", that is the local house maid who came regularly to clean, cook, wash clothes, and generally keep the place in order.  Hiring domestic help is common for foreigners living in Shanghai.  For those of us who can speak Chinese, and even those who can't, the ayi does far more than simply a job -- she effectively becomes like your mother, ready to dish out plenty of good advice and stern criticisms about eating habits, personal health, and watching out for your safety.  These people can also bargain like nobody's business.
 
Indeed, all the ayis I've had have been an enormous help in terms of local knowledge.  I weigh far more heavily what they have to say about survival in Shanghai than anyone else.  For example, when they tell me to avoid the red colored taxis, then it's great advice.  Similar to how I'm told that sleeping when exhausted and skipping dinner after a long day at work is not a good decision.  Instead I should just go to bed earlier and eat regular meals, especially the meals they offer to cook. 
 
The best advice came once about 3 years ago when I was living in the Gubei area on the weekends, and working out in the boonies -- a school called Sino Canada.  I was so angry about some things at work and afraid the school wouldn't pay my salary.  She basically told me to calm down and take time before making any irrational decisions.  When I finally did get paid, the ayi was sure to get a major bonus.
 
Now, during my 3rd stint in Shanghai, I've finally decided to hire a 3rd ayi and she has been a real winner.  The market price has gone up -- to around 20 RMB per hour.  But if she keeps up her excellent work as she has done for the past couple of times, then I may consider paying her more.  At any rate, I've been firing off emails left, right, and center to people I know and advertising her services.  She is one of the rare types who works hard, goes beyond the call of duty, and does it all wth a smile.
 
When in China the key thing is to get recommendations from others, and to do everything privately through word of mouth.  When a person does something really well, then his or her reputation spreads fast, and people know this is the one they go to.  There is so much riffraff in China I wouldn't even know where to start.  So then the exceptional people stand out and shine through private contacts.  They end up getting so much work they have to turn down offers.
 
I would never recommend using an agency or referral service for ayis.  Instead, do it privately.  The same would apply for house rentals.

 

Saturday 14 April 2012

Math Masters Degree 25% Complete

A rather significant milestone with this program.  I've now achieved 1 credit out of 4.   For those interested, the MMT description can be found here:


It is an online masters degree in math for teachers, however, don't let that name mislead you.  The program is not designed for teaching pedagogy, and I knew it from the outset.  Rather, the focus is on mathematical content.  The courses have been specifically picked for high school teachers.  That is, if we can master the content at the level of the program, then it helps greatly in the lower-level content that we teach the students in class, by leading to a deeper understanding.

So far the courses I've taken have been:  Mathematical Software, Proofs, and Calculus Foundations.  The last one is more like a course in mathematical analysis, despite the name "calculus" which is a bit misleading.   I'm going to set aside some time during summer and re-learn the material in the last two courses.  I got the marks OK enough, but the content has been very difficult to grasp, as pure math and theory is not my strong point.  However, it's important to learn, so I'm going to take the time and do it.

Next up on deck is the History of Mathematics course which promises to be interesting.  After that it's mathematical modeling, more theory, then the much-awaited finance course, which will probably be the highlight of the whole program.  I'd also like to take a stab at probability, number theory, and geometry.

If all goes well then I'm done this program in June 2014.  It's a steady slog, but 2.5 years seems to be a reasonable time frame to complete a masters online while not compromising work.   That's an important date for other reasons as well, when I'll most likely quit BC offshore school teaching and do a career change.  

The price of this program is very reasonable.  I've been paying out slightly more than $950 per half-credit, so it's probably going to cost just short of $8000 in total.

Those people who go home to Canada, stop working, and take physical masters degrees on campus are throwing money down the drain in more ways than one.  Not only is the cost much more for actually showing up on campus to do a degree, the lost opportunity to work is what really eats away the cash, given the higher living costs in a western country. 

However, doing a masters and working at the same time is quite brutal to be frank.  I'm enjoying this 3-week slack time until the next course kicks off in May. 

Friday 13 April 2012

The Thai Monsoon Begins

It should be fairly obvious by now that I have an affinity for Thailand after an umpteen amount of trips down there.  Only reason why I don't live there, well at least not yet, is the economics isn't as good as working and living in China.  Even so, retirement in Thailand is a darn fine idea.  If not that, then medical tourism, or certainly just tourism in general.

My favorite time of year in SE Asia isn't the dry season, but actually the monsoon.  This may seem strange, but for the type of travel I do, namely bicycle travel, the monsoon is the ideal time.  The rains happen in the afternoon and evening most of the time, and other than that, it is cloudy with temperatures not as searingly hot as they'd normally be.  Another huge benefit is that it is low season which means less crowds and better discounts.

There is no real official stating time for the monsoon, but it is usually around now as marked by the Thai New Year, or the Songkram Festival.  This is the water festival to mark the end of the hottest weather season and celebrate the monsoon arrival which brings the rains and the cooler weather.  Fittingly enough, they go around dumping water buckets on everyone at this time, especially in Bangkok.

Unfortunately I've never had the opportunity to visit Thailand during Songkram due to my work schedule, but I follow the news and other peoples' bike blogs to see what's going on.  I'm now quite looking forward to seeing the monsoon kick into higher gear, and for the low season to approach so I can head on down there --- which of course is where I'll be this summer.
 


AP Exams All Ordered

Today's weather:
High = 18  Low = 11  Cloudy

This week has been quite hectic in terms of exams.  Students in the senior year at our school already had to write a provincial exam for their English course, as well as take part in the mathematics contest.

Next on the agenda for testing is AP Calculus.  It was a horrendously complex task to get all the exams ordered to our school, but it got done.  So now, we can now ramp ahead full scale into the final preparations for this big test.

78 more days until summer holiday, but who's counting.  

Tuesday 3 April 2012

Holiday Trip / Bike Warmup All Went Pear-Shaped

See the cycling blog for the details
 
 
I'm so glad I chose not to invest any money in China, despite how this trip made for some interesting possibilities in a region of northern Jiangsu province that has huge development potential.  But as I learned on this trip, whenever China develops something new, they also cancel the former option, and so people don't really have a choice but to pay more for the newest "options"
 
In this sense, the development is really a step backwards, not forwards.  As such, I won't be investing a jiao of my money to participate in China's development, no matter how large the profit potential.  It's really a matter of principle.

Sunday 1 April 2012

Local Bike Break

Today's weather:  High = 25 Low = 11
Sunny

I'm on a short bicycle trip for this 3-day holiday.  Anything bike related will be on this site from now on

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/10285