Do not lose your bank card in China...

After getting our first China pay packet this week and reimbursement for our relocation allowance - the first shopping trip in the huge malls in town was insight. Until... I lost my bank card! So, over here, when you go to an ATM the cash comes first NOT the card! So you have to press a few more options to get the card returned. I did not wait for this, I had my cash so off I went! Only to find that in the next shop I did not have my card!!! To cut a long story short, I wasted 2.5 hours in a bank queue on a Saturday, admiring this view (when I could have been shopping I hear you thinking...) trying to get proof of identity from my bank to go and get my card from the other bank where the ATM was. The school admin team were brilliant and provided me with written Chinese of what I needed but they would not unfreeze my card until I came back later with my card... Honestly, so complicated. As I write this (Sun 10th Sept) I still do not have it back as now the Visa is being put in my passport and I need that to get my card unfrozen. Thank you to the bank of Matthew for the time being and I will pay you back!!

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