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California - China Environmental Health Training Program
Survival Tips
These "survival tips" were compiled by the 1st two visiting Chinese scientists. They were found very useful. If you have any useful survival tips, suggestions and/or comments, please provide feedback.
| Food | Media | Places of interest |
You have choices of Bank of America, Washington Mutual, Citibank, etc. You can go to any branch close to where you live to open a checking account.
In order to open an account, please bring your passport, DS-2019 (formerly IAP-66) form, invitation letter, and stipend check with you. It is important to know the address of the apartment and the telephone number (i.e., you will need to provide this information to the bank teller).
You can withdraw money from your bank's ATM machines. Most banks do not charge a service fee for the transaction but if you withdraw money from other bank's ATM machine, there will be a service fee charge.
To deposit your stipend check, go to your bank and the bank teller will assist you. Please remember to close your bank account at the end of the training program.
There are three ways to call home to Shanghai from the United States.
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Buy a telephone card.
You can buy inexpensive telephone cards through Internet or in some groceries or most bookstores. Check out the stores in Pacific East Mall on Piece St. near Central Ave. You can even get a cheaper phone card in Oakland Chinatown.
Note: Please pay attention to the price, time limitation, expiration date, and monthly fee.
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MSN Messenger or Yahoo messenger
Log on to either sites, register to be a user, download software of MSN messenger or Yahoo messenger. Then, you can use messenger for messenger sending, talking, file sending and receiving and on-line video sending.
Note: You will need a phone and speaker. The people you are calling must be on line. This is the BEST way to call overseas because it is FREE.
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IPN of Shanghai online
Log on to Shanghai online, find IPN, download IPN software. You must buy a money storage card in Shanghai, and register for a telephone number at first. It costs RMB 30 yuan per month for unlimited connecting.
Note: You can call any local telephone in Shanghai, the phone rate is the same as making a local phone call. The people you call do no need to be on line.
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Pacific East Mall: Located on Pierce Street next to freeway I-80 and I-580. There are nice restaurants and a popular Chinese Supermarket--Ranch 99 in the mall. You can get almost everything you need from the Ranch 99 market.
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Oakland Chinatown:
It is a convenient place for purchasing Chinese produce, ingredients, spices, etc. Most of the Asian food markets are located on 7th and 9th Street (between Franklin and Broadway). Please note that most small Asian markets only accept cash.
Every Friday, from 8:00 AM to 2:00 PM, there is a Farmer’s market located on 9th street (between Broadway and Clay). There is a large selection of fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, cheeses, and spices etc.
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SF Chinatown is a very interesting place to visit. Plenty of Chinese food, ingredients, and spices.
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Berkeley Bowl:
Berkeley Bowl is a large food market; they have a large selection of fresh produce, cheeses, breads, etc.
On-line Newspapers:
Local TV Channels: 2, 4 (local news and weather forecast channel), 5, 7, 8, 9, 20, 26, 36, 44. Channel 9 provides excellent educational programming.
The China–California Environmental Health Training Program sponsors activities for the visiting Chinese trainees in order to provide them with a well-rounded educational experience. These activities reflect California’s rich and diverse cultural, historical and social environment. Listed below are some of the places that we have already visited. If you have any suggestions on great places to visit, please provide feedback.
- 17 Mile Drive
- Año Nuevo (Docent led tour to visit the elephant seals)
- Big Sur
- Birch Aquarium at Scripps
- Carmel Mission
- Chinese Historical Society of America
- 19th Annual Christmas in the Adobes (21 historical adobes opened to the public within Monterey State Historical Park. Evening of fun-filled cultural and historical activities set in the mid-1800s to early-1900s)
- Copia
- Filoli Mansion and Gardens
- Golden Gate Park and Golden Gate Bridge
- Jack London State Historic Park
- Monterey Bay Aquarium on the Historical Cannery Row
- Muir Woods
- 5th Annual Sacramento Museum Day (19 area museums were opened to the public free of charge. Day of fun-filled cultural and historical activities, such as, tours, living history reenactments, and hands-on activities).
- Wineries of Napa Valley
- National Steinbeck Center
- Old Faithful Geyser (Calistoga)
- Old Town San Diego
- The Petrified Forest (Calistoga)
- Pfeiffer State Park
- Point Reyes
- San Diego Zoo and Wildlife Animal Park
- Walking Tour of San Francisco’s colorful and ethnic neighborhoods (e.g., Japantown, Castro, Chinatown, Mission, etc.)
- San Francisco City Guides - Free Walking Tours
- SeaWorld
- Stanford University, Cantor Art Gallery, & Hoover Observatory Tower
- East Bay Regional Parks
The Bay Area Transit Information Project has created a website that contains public transit service information for all 9 counties in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Both the Oakland International Airport and San Francisco International Airport have useful ground transportation information (e.g., car rentals, shuttle buses, etc.).
Popular Online Airlines/Travel Sites (i.e., discount airfare, hotel, rental cars, admissions to amusement parks, etc; this list is not exhaustive and the prices can vary widely between the various sites):