June is named after the Roman goddess, Juno, wife of Jupiter, from Roman mythology. It is the month with the longest daylight hours of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and the shortest daylight hours of the year in the Southern Hemisphere. The traditional June birthstone is the pearl and the traditional June birth flower is the rose which is the reason that June is also sometimes called the 'Rose Month'. This month is also known for the large amount of marriages that occur over the course of the month in North America when many young girls wish to be "June brides". This can be attributed to the Goddess Juno who, according to folklore, makes June the month for "good luck in marriage". In some countries, June is also the month when Father's Day is celebrated.
Using Services
During my years of living in Beijing I have needed to obtain many services. In this blog, I will relate my successful experiences with gaining and using some of these services. I know that other foreigners have had success in using others service providers and I am not offering these as the "right" ones or "only" ones which may be good to use, but I am offering these to share my own experiences in obtaining some needed services.
Using Western Union
I usually transfer funds on the Internet and pay bills which I need to pay in Canada using my Canadian account by Internet banking. However, I had need, lately, to send funds from RMB cash to Canada which I could not do by Internet banking. I decided to send the funds using Western Union and this was as easy process to complete. For this service, I went to my local branch of the Agricultural Bank of China where there was a designated teller with a Western Union sign above the wicket. I filled out several forms and paid her the required RMB money which she stated was the equivalent to the amount which I wished to send in foreign funds. A small service fee was required. The funds would be received in US dollars. The branches of the banks which have Western Union may be found on the Western Union web site where information may also be found about the nearest locations where the service is available in Beijing and the addresses in the receiving city. I thought I would need to go through the steps of changing my RMB into US or Canadian dollars but this step was not needed. The receiver of the funds in Canada was able to access the funds in US dollars at their nearest Western Union outlet later that same day using their ID and with no problems. Local China Post Offices also have this Western Union service but I used the China Post service for Western Union several years ago and have found that the Agricultural Bank of China service is much easier to use. The service at most banks is only available in Chinese so a friend should accompany you to fill out the forms to send the money for the initial transfer process, if you are unable to fill out the forms in Chinese.
Using Long Distance Telephone Cards from Home Land-Line Phones
Lately, I have been very thankful for the use of long-distance telephone cards which save a great amount of money on my monthly land-line telephone bill. Many foreign friends use Skype which is a low-cost service which you can buy from their Internet site in one month or several month packages. Skype allows calls to worldwide locations to land-line or mobile phones and can be paid by Internet banking. Having tried this service, I prefer, instead, to use the local telephone cards which may be purchased at the local newsstands. (continued on next page)