One small step for man, one giant leap for Franklicious!
frank
December 10, 2008, 03:54 AM posted in General DiscussionI'm doing it. I'm moving to Shanghai!
Well, for at least three months or so. Hehe. We'll see how it goes from there. I'm looking at the L (tourist) visa to start, and I spent an hour on the phone with some poor customer service rep at Cheaptickets.com about having my return trip ticket be exchangeable for a later date. I'd buy a one-way ticket if I hadn't heard it would look bad coming in.
I've even tracked down a cool place to live! Nice little apartment, decent price, not too far from things. I'm almost set to go!
Right now I'm looking at February 14th for my departure date, landing in SH on the 15th. I'll be there until mid-May, at the very least. Any other Poddies living in Shanghai? I mean, I'm sure the folks at Praxis HQ will be glad to see me... for the first week or so. LOL After that, they're going to start asking me to make new friends. I figured I'd start now. :-)
Joachim
December 10, 2008, 05:48 AMGot yourself a nice valentine's gift (Feb. 14th)!
kimiik
December 10, 2008, 10:57 AMJoachim, It could also be a nice valentine's gift for someone else. ;o)
frank
December 10, 2008, 03:35 PMPete - Thank you, sir! Looking forward to meeting you and seeing the new offices!
calkins - Very interesting! Thanks for the tip! I'll definitely look into it. My plan currently has me buying the round-trip ticket and then paying the $300 fee to change the flight later on. Your way sounds like it has a few extra steps, but it might save me a few bucks!
Joachim - This IS my Valentine's gift, my friend! Haha.
kimiik - This is my V-Day gift to other people, too. Hahaha.
azerdocmom
December 10, 2008, 03:48 PMThat's wonderful, Frank. I'm happy for you. Can't wait to hear of your adventures and (hopefully) great successes...perhaps a "Shanghai'ing for Dummies?"
frank
December 10, 2008, 04:10 PMDoc, that's a brilliant idea! I'll approach my publisher about that! There may be something there they'd like to explore. I'll make sure to give you credit in the acknowledgements. :-)
amber
December 10, 2008, 04:34 PMFranklicious is going to be King of this town.
frank
December 10, 2008, 05:14 PMIf only you'd be my queen, Amber. :D
Joachim
December 10, 2008, 09:44 PMA King and a Queen in communist China are somehow out of fashion, I presume.
King = 国王 ?
Queen = 女王 ?
Btw: You had A. Queen at Cpod some time ago ...
:-)
calkins
December 10, 2008, 04:32 AMFrank, congrats on the big move! I know you'll love SH, and we all will love more of your photos of China:)
Regarding your ticket, I'm not sure if mainland China is the same as Taiwan, but this is how I did it to avoid purchasing a return flight. To get my 60-day Visa, I...
- purchased a flight to Taipei through a travel agent.
- I had the travel agent reserve a return flight back to the states (within 60 days of the outgoing flight).
- the travel agent emailed me the itinerary showing that I had a flight to Taiwan and a return flight.
- I printed it out and submitted it to the Taiwan Consulate for my Visa. Wahlah, next day I had my Visa.
Again, not sure if you can do the same with China, but I can't see why not. And the price I got through the travel agent was actually less than anything I could find online. Worth looking into.
Anyway, enjoy your new adventure!!!
henning
December 11, 2008, 07:23 AMFrank:
Congratulations. Any connections to your diverse movie / video projects? Or is that still top-secret?
cassielin
December 11, 2008, 07:29 AMFrank,
Congratulations, wish you good luck too!
Maybe you can be a guest movie star when you visit chinesepod!hee hee
Joachim
December 11, 2008, 01:47 PMcassielin:
Movie title "A Royal Visit to the humble Dwellings of Internet Language Educators for Chinese as a Foreign Languages serving Ladies & Gentlemen of His Empire" ... ;-)
lunetta
December 11, 2008, 02:31 PMGreat to hear you're making your dreams come true. I'm looking forward to hearing more about your adventure. And I want all the details. :-)
frank
December 11, 2008, 03:16 PMhenning - I will be bringing my film equipment, so I'll definitely be shooting while I'm there. I'm hoping the CPod folks will let me do some profile pieces and promotional ads while I'm in town. Still working on the film, and the move pushes up the timetable a bit, so that's good!
Cassie - I'll make YOU a movie star! That smile lights up the whole hemishphere. Astronauts can see it from orbit! :)
lunetta - Haha. I'll do what I can. Sometimes I have to keep my secrets to protect the innocent. And the not-so-innocent.
sebire
December 11, 2008, 06:49 PMGood luck with the move, Frank. Yes, turn Cassie into a movie star!
frank
December 11, 2008, 10:00 PMsebire - Thanks, hon! And see, Cassie? You already have fans! ;-)
frank
December 10, 2008, 09:54 PMThey did indeed! You can still hear his voice on the end of some lessons. I liked the work he did for them. I miss having him around the joint. :-)
pearltowerpete
December 10, 2008, 04:13 AMHi frank
Well, you're right, we at CPod will be happy to see you!
Swing by and visit us anytime!