Lost at sea

As far as today went, I've accomplished what I set out to do

1. Get a mobile number
2. Open a bank account

However, I'm not too sure about my mobile number - I've got SOME sort of mobile number, but I had to pay a RMB1000 deposit. And they don't have blackberry access for the normal consumer - apparently it's only for corporates :( I wasn't able to understand enough to actually register for that, I'll do that when I have somebody more fluent in the language than I am. Does that sound like a plea for a language partner?

I was told to choose a different bank from ICBC as ICBC charges a huge fee to withdraw from it's ATMs outside Beijing. So just in case (which is unlikely, but still) I go out of the city, I opened an account with Bank of China and happily dumped in all my money... I do hope that I opened the right account. I'll test it out tomorrow when I see an ATM machine.

Note: Foreign cheques and bank drafts take up to 2 months to clear....

I went to register at the Foreign Students Affair Office, however they're unable to convert my visa as I paid with a bank draft and that takes time. They also required to see my testamur before they fully register me, so I'll have to do that tomorrow again.

A whole new day tomorrow, I wonder how much more Mandarin I'll learn...