My hubby has been thinking a lot about sponsoring a child lately. We have been thinking of having a baby sometime next year and it probably triggered this thought. 

We always see this old lady sitting on the pave way and begging for money. While I faithfully try to give her whatever small change she has, my husband is more skeptical. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he always tells himself that they are “fake” beggars or that they are part of some scam organization. Once, he did witness a “blind” beggar running to his favourite spot at a busy bus stop. It kinda reinforces his notion of “fake” beggars. 

The thought of having our own child coupled with a moving article about the Bill Gates Foundation forced him to think and reflect again. It made him realize how lucky we are. It does not matter if they are really real or fake beggars. So what if we give some of our money to a fake beggar. It should not stop us from donating at all. There are people out there that really need our help, however small it is. It may mean a world of a difference to them. 

My hubby started to do some research on sponsoring orphans in 3rd world countries. We are really impressed by the stuff some organizations are doing to help orphans. www.childfundinternational.org and www.worldvision.org are 2 excellent sites. He hopes to start sponsoring a child by this year. My hubby has also made a metal note not to pretend that beggars are invisible and donate some money whenever possible. 

Popularity: 1% [?]

Shanghai Metro during rush hour. Drop your shoulder and push when the train comes!

When I was in Songjiang, I hate to get up early in the morning and play rugby with the Shanghainese at the metro station.

Everyone will wait patiently for the train to arrive. Upon hearing from a distance away a long screeching of the railway tracks, the crowd inevitably moved towards the ledge I almost thought they were going to jump down to the railway.

The carriages are literally like sardine cans. Passengers are standing so close to each other that there is no space to move at all. Even when the carriages seem to be full, passengers still manage to squeeze in when the train stops at every station. Squeezed in from the side, center, or even crawl in from the top and below to be the first to get into the train. Some of the passengers engage in a short 5 meter sprint just as the door opens and try to barge in. It gets warmer, crampier, and tighter inside the carriage.

Beside squeezing, pushing and hurling… passengers have to take note and be careful though. The rush hour period represents a good opportunity for thieves. There have been a few occasions where passengers find their valuables (mobile phones, wallets etc…) missing when they alight from the packed carriages. Ladies beware as there are bound to be some people who will take advantage. 

It would be nice if the metro can introduce1 or 2 ladies-only carriages like in Japan. 

The Shanghai metro can be the most crowded thing that I’ve ever seen in my entire life, with tremendous amounts of pushing and squeezing.

Popularity: 10% [?]

On Wednesday, I went to the Shanghai Visa Bureau in Pudong with Ron to extend his working Z-Visa & Resident Permit. In the past years, we never needed to go there in person to get an extension, but because of the new and tighter visa rules that you have probably read here, here, here and here, you now have to appear yourself for a computerized photo shooting.

We went there to apply for the visa extension by ourselves. Ron’s HR personnel was supposed to accompany him but she didn’t. Her reason: she did not want to spend the time waiting at the bureau and was afraid her superior would blame her for wasting company’s resources! We thought that’s her job!

In our car sleeping…

Ok, reached our destination!

Exit & Entry Administration Service center Public Security Bureau of Shanghai Municipality

It’s on the 3rd floor!

It’s queue number 302 when we reached, and ours is 337.

Camera in front of you.

Waited patiently at the waiting area, and everyone is looking at one direction…

YES! They are watching Olympic games…

Documents…

When it finally was our turn the procedure went “quite” fast. Ron’s HR had already filled out the forms and he had all required documents with him. The officer at the counter took a look at his documents and appeared surprised that he was applying for a 2 year visa. She also asked him to write an application form and acknowledge it.

We were a little surprised because Ron has been told by his HR that the documents he had should be the complete set. On top of that, he was supposed to draft the application form in chinese by himselves. We had no idea what to write and asked the officer.

She grumbled a bit and told us to copy the content in the application form the company had prepared. Now… here cames the most bizarre part. The only difference between the 2 application forms is that one is from the company (computer generated), and one is from us (handwritten). Both have the same content.

Ron drafted it, signed it and handed it to her together with his courier envelop. She took the forms, was satisfied… and folded it. Not just into half, but also diagonally and in all directions. She then insert the folded forms into the courier envelop, peel off the stickers, stick the receipt at the front…. and we can go now…

Photocopying, translating, faxing and courier service counter.

Name cards and advertisements distributing in a SHANGHAINESE WAY! You can find this scenario everywhere in Shanghai.

At the gate, there were quite a number of guys distributing small cards promoting air tickets. They are pretty active because lots of foreign expats come here to get their visa done. These guys can be very persistent and irritating. They shove the cards to you literally. They will place the cards in your bags, in your shopping carrier, throw it into cars with their windows winded down…. anywhere they can find. Before I knew it, they managed to slip 7 cards in my bag!

Popularity: 15% [?]