Category: Life Tips

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China Life Tips Travel

China Trip Spring 2023 – logistics

Reading Time: 6 minutes

(Update 04-08-2025) After 2 years, the sim card I mentioned below no longer works. After the painful steps of taking pictures and so on, it gave an error message saying that “the number is already being used”. So, I no longer recommend it. We bought another sim card after return the not working one. Will post an update once we get the new one working.

(Update 04-28-2023) Please note the airlines no longer ask/need #COVID #testing from April 29: 4月29日起飞往中国不再需要核酸检测，自测抗原即可。登机前航空公司不再查验检测证明，只需海关健康申报二维码。source: #flychina https://flychina.com/update.asp || This is good news 🙂

(Original) I have a twitter thread here, and quite a few YouTube shorts or videos on this trip (hashtag: #ChinaTrip2023).

But I think it’s probably worth an article or two for me to put down the life cycle of the trip, from planning, buying the tickets, to execution (the trip itself, flights, transfers, and entering/leaving borders etc.), as those tips may be helpful for overseas Chinese or some other international friends to visit China. I think it maybe helpful for me to refresh my memory too, for example, today at #STL I forgot where should I wait for #Lyft or Uber: the Lyft app itself says where, btw. I had to admit that I haven’t flew for a while: I believe my last trip via STL is the PVG trip before pandemic (Nov/Dec 2019). Another example, related matter, I forgot the allowance of luggage is one, and I have to pay either 10,000 miles (Delta Skymiles) or $100 (United Airlines) for the 2nd luggage.

Air Tickets

I bought mine at Expedia.com on Jan 29, 2023. Other good place to buy/check ticket is flychina.com. I flew from my city to DTW, waited for 12+ hours, and from there flew to PVG (direct, no more stop at Korea/Seoul Incheon (ICN) ). On the way back, I took UA 858 that’s PVG to SFO, and later transferred at ORD(a redeye flight from SFO to ORD), before coming home. There was some hiccup in terms of changes and posting the miles to the frequent flyer miles. I believe after I booked the United Airlines Mar 29 flight from PVG to SFO, United likely added number of flight per week, thus making the Mar 29 departure flight no longer available. That’s why I moved to Mar 30 departure date, and have the SFO to ORD redeye flight. The change process in the United Airlines website was relatively smooth. Another small issue was it was long time ago that I bought air ticket on Expedia.com, and unfortunately I still had the old United frequent flyer number on Expedia, as you may know United adopted the Continental frequent flyer number post merger (which I have in my United account). Long story short, as of now, we can claim the miles via this web page. The miles were posted for me immediately after I submit the form 🙂 Update 04-10-2023 NYTimes has an article explains the air ticket shortage situation – China Has Reopened to Tourists. The Hard Part Is Getting There.

Get a China SIM card

(04-04-2023) I am reporting back: this card is decent. It worked on my iPhone 5 (initially I put the new sim card in this old phone), after I turned it off and back on when the airplane just landed. I quickly swap it into my iPhone 12 on the subway (Metro line 2 from PVG to SHA, and I stayed at hotel near SHA, Hongqiao Hub). A student with Tufts U was able to make call to her dad as her sim card was expired. This card is called 蜗牛移动 4G in China (a resller of China Unicom 中国联通）. I am guessing it’s small reseller: the idea here is similar to MintMobile vs T-Mobile in the US (mintMobile is a reseller of T-mobile). There was one glitch when I was trying to get 随申码（英语：Shanghai QR Code) at SJTU Minghang campus. The guard said probably my internet on the phone was too slow. It took me quote a few tries to get it work. There are one glitch: no caller ID (and I don’t know how to fix it). Another tip is don’t worry about the “warning message” in Chinese regarding data usage. It will ask one to 充值，I did not read the descriptions on Amazon. But I just trust the title or subject that says 30 days 3G data. So I just ignore the periodically message asking me to refill. As I don’t see the internet stop working after the “data used up” message.

Amazon associate link for the China Unicom 中国联通 sim 30 day card

Mandatory paperwork to enter China

Mainly we need the PCR test and also the health code (2D or QR code, commonly called 海关指尖码 in Chinese) via WeChat mini-program called “Customs Pocket Declaration“ or in Chinese: 海关旅客指尖服务. In order to fill out the form, one will need the flight number and seat number. This code has a an expiration time, but can be updated. Again make sure you have a smart phone and ideally the phone can get to Internet via cellular data, because WiFi sometimes is not very reliable at airports, and you don’t have to make this your weakest link for your carefully planned trip to see “long time no see” family and friends.  

Check in at my local airport and get boarding pass at DTW

My local airport agent asked for all the paperwork, but she still has trouble check in my luggages all the way to PVG. Her senior colleague (who looks like a Japanese descent) was able to fix. I also tried to get boarding pass for DL389 at the Delta Helpdesk: it was a fun experience for the two agents there as they don’t usually do that job. It’s usually the DTW DL389 (DTW to PVG) gate agent’s job. The latter gate agent talks a lot about the PCR tests and the health code before departure. They actually check all the relevant documents including the PCR test, before put a “checked” sticker on the passport. The boarding identity verification is done by facial recognition, btw, which surprised a senior Chinese citizen a bit. More on facial recognization latter.

Entering China

Show the QR code the 海关指尖码, then proceed to border agent. After that it seems pretty smooth, and I only saw the customs people check a (I assume) service dog.

Leaving China

Boarding pass plane open at 4:30 pm for UA 858 for 9:05 pm departing time. An older gentleman asked my help (borrow my Visa credit card) to pay the $100 extra bag fee (they don’t take cash or Chinese credit card). Note one still need to do a new health code (2D or QR code, aka 海关指尖码) and scan the code when entering the international boarding gate. The United gate agents checked in some carryons free of charge as they worry the overhead bin space is not enough for all the carryons. Similar thing happened to me (my carryon) for my SFO to ORD flight (in my case, once checked in, it goes to final destination without my intervention). So make sure you take out essentials (paperwork, phone, battery park, water bottle etc.) as you will need them for the remaining of the flights/journey.

Re-entering the US

One only need to show green card (for permanent resident), and their camera look at the face, as well as some finger printing scan. The agent who serviced me was not nice though. Note for those hold B and F visa, they will need to show the vaccination records when getting the boarding pass. This is not required for US citizens and GC holders.

Tips for travel in China

Mobile phone with data plan, here is one possibility to get a local number (Amazon Associate Link).

Apps nice to have: WeChat (and WeChat Pay 微信支付) or Alipay 支付宝。#高德地图 (GaoDe Map) for navigation and get #网约车which is similar to Uber/Lyft in the states. I know WeChat and Alipay can get the 网约车too, similar for #滴滴出行。All those apps will need a mobile phone (likely with a Chinese cell phone number) as well as identity verification (not sure how it works for a US passport holder).

Useful links and resources

回国机票价格表和检测规定: https://www.flychina.com/update.asp (in Chinese).

Also look at 美国-中国 直飞航班专区 section: right now there are direct flights between 6 US cities and mainland China (note the flights are not daily, the most frequent one seems to be the SFO to PVG flights, 5 times a week). The 6 US cities are: LAX (Los Angles), JFK (New York), SEA (Seattle-Tacoma), DTW (Detroit), DFW (Dallas Forworth), and SFO (San Francisco).

If you live in or near those 6 cities, consider yourself lucky. Because the connection time for people from other cities can be long, and number of connections are usually more than compared to 2019: e.g., I usually transfer at ORD Chicago O’here before pandemic because both AA and UA offered daily flights to PVG. In fact, now I recall I took the United Airlines flight last minute in Mar 2007 to see my then girlfriend (now my wife, I have an old blog post dedicated to this). Did you notice anything interesting regarding the blog post’s published date 🙂

What’s next and upcoming

I think I will write up some of my observations and thoughts for my trip as well, e.g., the emergence of EV which is much more than just Tesla here. Or to be more precise, I understand it’s Tesla plus a few more here, such as Polestar, Ford Mach E, Lucid, Rivian and Ford F-150 lightning, but in China, it’s BYD (Build Your Dream) in the leading position, with Tesla following, and followed by Nio/Xiao Peng/Li Xiang (all 3 companies stocks listed in the US, they are $NIO, $XPEV and $LI), as well as many players such as 零跑汽车(Leap Motor, it’s traded in HKSE as HKEX: 09863): their C11 is very impressive, btw, I would trade my Sienna with it in a second. Too bad I live in a country there is really two choices: model 3 and model Y (I hate model X’s funky doors). What I really want is something like Leap Motor’s C11 (small SUV with 600 km which is about 400 miles range 🙂 || Incidentally I came across this article abut China EV industry – China auto show highlights intense electric car competition.

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Life Life Tips

不在国/华人里面扎堆

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Google search: 不在国人里面扎堆 （不在华人里面扎堆）: this talked about the Chinese students abroad like to confine among themselves, in terms of social interaction etc. I can sense it when I saw my niece was here for her high school and undergraduate study.

Recently I realized some Chinese parents like to gather among Chinese parents as well. It’s not surprising and to some extent understandable for people like to gather among their races. I saw that during pandemic. But at the same time, as we gradually go back to the new normal, we should strive to step out our comfort zone.

My take

No need to be that absolute. Ideal scenario: now that we are in Rome, (for the most part) let’s do as Romes do. Otherwise why we came here at the 1st place.

When I was in Rolla during my graduate school, I stayed at Fraternity with undergraduates mainly to learn more about the English language and American culture. At my first US employer after the graduate school, I was the only Chinese at the branch and I learned all the computer programming topics in English.

Now that my kids go to middle and elementary school, I encourage my kids to play with the kids from all background. At the same time, I acted as the permanent DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) rep in the PTA/PTO organization. There are always something to learn from other cultures. And we are not always the best, the smartest, or most hard working.

One downside solely gathering among Chinese people

One word (in Chinese): 卷。Look no further than the San Francisco bay area, among the Chinese kids. Many parents either went to ivory colleges (or other very good universities) for graduate school, and for them if their kids don’t go to good universities, it’s a failure both for the kid and the parents. I have friend who moved from bay area to Miami and one reason was to reduce some competition for his kids. This is true in the school district my kids attend, although they are still a bit young (7th and 3rd grades, respectively). But I can see the pressure going up as they progress through their grades.

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Life Life Tips

“He can go to technical school” and teachers’ impact on students

Reading Time: 2 minutes

When I was in the 5th grade in village elementary school, once a teacher said to my dad (they probably knew each other): your son (me) can go to a technical school (they are like technical high school), but he needs to work harder if he wants to be admitted to college/university. This is a not too bad assessment for my dad, because in my case, going to technical school or 中专 means I will get out of the village and be a white collar worker down the road. This is a big jump for kids in village due to the China hu’kou system: essentially a person jumped from the lower class to the upper class. Also, I don’t think he said it out of a strategy of 激将法 (a way to motivate me), he was mostly giving an honest assessment at the time.

Eventually I didn’t disappoint the teacher and my dad, I was able to attend college in China, via gao’kao. There are probably a lot horror stories on gaokao in China. Mine was I could not fall asleep as I was nervous, but nonetheless I was able to carry through. As my now deceased uncle (my mom’s big brother) liked to say: he (me) drunk the wines to help sleep before gaokao (I stayed at my uncle’s house during gaokao).

I think I talked about my strict teacher somewhere in my blog (search for: “a very well-known counselor”). So I am not going to repeat it. I think overall my teachers had an impact on me (search: “When I was a middle schooler”) made me a better person both academically and otherwise.

My old daughter is a 7th grader now, and she knows some good colleges and wants to go to one when it’s her time. And I just realized her homework load is not light, to say the least. And she has some very good teachers too. Once she told her she may fail the class, which was a bit surprising. Later I realized her teacher was mostly to make sure the kids do their work. Another time, she got this red carpet award, I am the proud dad here :-), and she told me winning the award was easy: she followed the teacher’s directions while some other kids don’t (yesterday she told me some kids using AirPods in the class, she did not give specifics re: which class). Now I realized with the tiktok and smartphone, today’s teachers have a much tough job than our time in middle school.

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Life Life Tips Saint Louis

Car Accident 车祸

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Car accident is probably much more frequent than shooting in the US. But the latter usually gets more news coverage and much more attention. Here in St. Louis we know the shooting situation is bad. But the car accident and car/pedestrian accident are bad too.

(Update 08-22-2023) Came across this car accident involves school bus in Ohio – UPDATE: Student killed, over 20 other students injured after school bus crash in Clark Co.

(Update 27-Feb-2023) This one got national attention recently: ‘I can still hear the roaring of the engine,’ says father of teen injured in downtown St. Louis. Basically a 17 year old girl who came to St. Louis to play volleyball tournament and stayed at downtown hotel, was hit by a car and got both her legs amputated because of the injury. || And this one just come over the weekend: 4 killed, 4 critically injured in crash at South Grand Boulevard and Forest Park Avenue. || It seems aggressive/careless/reckless driving are the culprits for both cases. We know drunk driving is usually another cause. Other causes include totally avoidable issue such as “traffic signal got turned” (but people got killed in this scenario none the less, I guess the only preventable tactic is to avoid the intersection if known before hand, or drive slowly or carefully at every intersection pretending there is another car will not care about the red light).

I heard about non-fatal accident too. I know a friend’s wife was recently involved in a car accident with school bus, on a snow/slippery day/road surface, when she was dropping off kids to school.

Some tips I like to share: don’t drink and drive; don’t drive when I am really tired; drive defensively, don’t get upset or emotional when other drivers go crazy, ignore them and pretend nothing happened; last but not least, watch this YouTube video “5 Defensive Driving Strategies To Become A Safer, Smarter Driver” which is about defensive driving.

Looking back, I think I did a few stupid things such as “fatigued driving”: once we drove from STL to Yellowstone NP overnight, we didn’t stay at the hotel in the night, just driving continuously. I forgot whether it was on the way to YS NP or on the way back, but the check engine light came on. And that’s not the end of the story, I recall on the way back, I was the driver between 1 am and 3 am, and I was really tired. Eventually I had to pull aside and take a break. I did a similar thing when I was a new driver, driving back from the training at West Lafayette, IN (where Purdue U is) to Rolla, MO (where my graduate school Missouri S&T is), and when I drove past STL metro area, it was between 1 and 3 am, and it was the 2nd time I drove past St. Louis 🙂 I recall changing the lanes for the right highway was both exciting and scary 🙁 Now I think I will tell my daughters don’t do this sort of things when they get driver licenses.

(Original) Here is one just happened last night, a pedestrian was hit/killed by a semi truck on highway 44. I first noticed it from Twitter.

Here is another one in which two cars were involved.

And one more recent accident: “The Saturn was hit on the passenger side by a Ford transit van.”

And this “A preliminary investigation revealed a gold Chevrolet Cavalier was traveling southbound on Halls Ferry Road and was attempting to turn left into a parking lot near the intersection of Halls Ferry and St. Cyr Road, when it was struck on the passenger side by a gray Toyota Camry traveling northbound.”

……I don’t want to add more. Or compare car accidents with shooting victims. This is not my point, my point is mainly on the safety and precautions in terms of driving or walking. Also, from the incidents above and common sense/stats, I think we should strive to get a car that’s proper sized (my personal opinion is Toyota Camry/Honda Accord or above).

Personally I have involved in car accidents, mainly two collisions and one self induced accident (my own car, snow, slipped into ditch, good thing nobody was injured, and car was fine too). I am briefly explaining my accidents and also I like to emphasize the insurance rate will go up after we file claims (regardless who is at fault or the other party has insurance or not, something I realized yesterday).

First my self induced accident. It was about 20 years ago. Christmas night. After dinner at friend’s house, we drive home amid snow. I was driving the 2001 Nissan Altima, and on the outer lane. I lost control of my car near an exit, and I ended up went out to the exit (not my intention, I intended to stay on 270), and ended up in the ditch off the exit ramp. No injury and no damage to the car. But eventually needed AAA tow truck and we cannot get out even with a few pass by driver’s help.

A few years later, on my way home (get off work), I was hit by a left turn vehicle, again it was Nissan Altima. My bumper etc were damaged. The lady hit me had no insurance and my main loss was the deductible plus rising insurance rate after that. Initially the lady also ran away from the incident but I was able to find her the following day with some detective work (not recommended).

Lastly it was last Oct. I was rear ended at a red light near Costco west county, it was my 2012 Toyota Camry. It seems I wasn’t hurt but the car was totaled.

My takeaway is be careful when driving and try to drive defensively when possible. Don’t cut the lanes. Don’t react or be emotional when others drive crazy. Take needed breaks during long distance trip. Be alert and focus on road and surroundings when driving, don’t look at the phone etc. Listen to music (calm ones) or podcast. Remember the most important part is come home alive, and this applies to pedestrians and bikers too.

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Fun Life Life Tips

Some random thoughts on teen sports

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Something random came to my mind the other day. I think overall our middle schools, high schools and some colleges *may* have emphasized too much on sports, especially team sports. I can see that from the NCAA Division I sports, basketball and football, etc. The reason I am saying that is twofold. We have limited resources, and I think compared to making sure every kid has some sports he/she likes/plays, team sports only draw a certain number of students (because it’s a selected team). And I think “make sure every kid has some sports he/she likes/plays” is more important, although it’s obviously less glamorous. Another phenomenon I saw is some kids started to specialize in some team groups fairly early (let’s say middle school, grade 6, or 7), at the same time they may not pay enough attention to academics and other things such as knowledge on “personal finance”. This obviously does not make much sense. But in this FB/Instagram/Reel/TikTok/YouTubeShorts world, I can certainly understand. Again no judgment here. This reminds me of a friend/neighbor who joked with me once: he volunteers at Human Society. He said, someone, paid $100 to adopt a dog, feels good, put it on FB, and never thinks about the long-term cost/commitment of taking care of the dog.

I said what I said, and I understand sports has its meaning and importance too. For that matter, academic as well. It’s hard to be the best nowadays, on one thing. I learned sports is hard when I was young, in my 1st year of high school. In China middle school was 3 years, and high school was 3 years too. We have the annual sports festival which is basically a track and field meet for the whole school. Because our school then is a combined middle and high school, and each grade has about 4 grades. It’s a big deal for the whole school, I vaguely recall probably when I was in the 1st grade at middle school, our class even has a mercenary of sorts, because technically a girl who specialized in sports (yes, in China there was sports school for kids talented in sports even when they were 12, or 13, they go to this sports boarding school, with everything covered by the government). So basically this girl got all the gold medals she can get, in our grade’s competition. Now you decide whether it’s fair or not. This girl probably spent 4 or 5 hours training, and I think she is in Heptathlon (https://www.topendsports.com/…/athletics-heptathlon.htm), so basically she can earn us quite a few gold medals (things such as long jump, high jump, 100 meters, 200-meter dash, etc.) for our class.

Note I don’t have that kind of talent. But I found a quick trick to earn some points for my class. I was doing okay for 200 meters sprints during middle school, likely because I got to adolescence a bit earlier than some other kids. During my freshman year in high school, that edge was going away. So I did the 400 meters. It was a tough race. Eventually, I got the No. 4 spot among 8 classes of my grade (yes 8 classes, with 50+ students each; assuming boy/girl 1 to 1 ratio, I was competing against probably 8 fastest boys out of 200). I was almost dying, as I hear my classmates cheer for me at the last 100 meters. Later on one of my friend told me I was really close to the bronze medal winner and I did give him some scare. He said: when you push hard, the other guy was scared of you as well. That’s something I learned out of that race. Psychology is definitely interesting topic including in the sports/competition. 

Other benefits I can see from doing sports (or any other activities that we can see quick progress) are the feel of accomplishment and self-esteem. Please note this does not have to come with “beating the opponent” or “winning”. In a sense, as long as we did better today than yesterday, or we learned something today, that’s a win. Self-esteem or pride should not come at the cost of “beating down others or opponents”, again this is something the recreational or competitive sports/athletes need to keep in mind. In that sense, we all can learn a good lesson in terms of how to be a good teammate from the Cincinnati Bengals’ loss of game last Sunday.

(Update 09-14-2023) Came across this post “Elite Club Sports Teams and the Dramatic Shift in High School Athletics” via FB. I agree. Quote the article: “Youth sports, now a $17 billion dollar a year industry in this country, has skyrocketed into a galaxy that is close to being insanely unrecognizable. ” (my comment: are NCAA sports similar?) || Personally I hope something like our 8th grader cross-country running for fun/exercises can continue. For team sports, I am aware of something like this – (I heard from Dr. Wipke our Superintendent, and some other parents about this). || Last but not least, it seems that in the 10th or 11th grade, they would have a really heavy course load, prep for college, etc., so finding time for team sports may not be trivial. That being said, a habit of exercise is beneficial both in the short term and in the long term.

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iPhone app Life Life Tips

Keep fit

Reading Time: 2 minutes

I am trying to keep fit and I have been doing this for a while (before pandemic). This includes both the physical fit, weight and most recently, the iPhone addiction. Also as the weather is getting colder, and I am thinking doing a bit more swimming. Last but not least, I am thinking slowly going back to office: my office is about 5 minutes away.

About 5 years ago, I started running (joggling), initially doing a few 5K races. I still remember I ran out of breath quickly after running probably a few hundred yards. I did better and ran longer over the time, until I ran a half marathon with about 2 hours 23 minutes before the pandemic shutdown. Did a few 10k and 5K, and trail runs too. But since pandemic and reopen, I did not do as well as I thought and hoped. Due to various reasons. This year I did two half marathon: the Creve Coeur (near CC lake and the bridge to St. Charles Katy trail and back), and the St. Charles (near research park at Weldon Spring). I finished but the time is not as good as 2020. I also signed one or two races last year and this year, and eventually bailed out at the last minute. Last March (year 2021) was due to the 2nd Covid Vaccine shot, this Oct (2022) I did not do the Inns Brook HM at the last minute as I felt my right leg is not perfect the day before. I do have a few frost bite series paid for but not sure if I will do it this winter eventually.

Back to swimming

At the same time, I decided to go back to swim a bit since Sunday (this past weekend). I used to do it for a few years from 2012 to 2017, at local JCC. My initial reason for running in 2017 was mainly to make sure I don’t gain more weight. From year 2004 I gained quite a bit weight, probably from 135 lbs to 155 lbs. I did quite a bit Tae Kwon Do back in 2002 to 2004 and lost some weight. The tough part is to keep it that way. One good thing about swimming this time: now I have Apple Watch (series 5) and it can track swimming (previously between 2012 to 2017 I didn’t have something like that). The other day I did the steam room, it’s probably the 1st time I went back since pandemic. Once I was interviewing for jobs in Seattle (in early fall / Sept 2014), I decided against it one Saturday morning when I was enjoying the outdoor pool with my family.

Pandemic

Working from home is probably not the best for me as I am not best at disciplined myself in terms of snacking. That’s one reason I decided to go to office, another reason is to be more focused.

iPhone

It seem the screen time for me is just way too much. I am using 2 apps to help me: Off Screen and MiiDii clock. I paid $20 total for both. I like the gentle reminder from Off Screen regarding “don’t use phone when walking”, as well as “pickup challenge” (default limit is 50 times a day). Basically I need to get off WeChat and other frequent used apps.

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Life Life Tips Technology

Alternatives to Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter

Reading Time: < 1 minute

The three legacy social networks 🙂

I have been using the 3 for a while, since 2008 to be precise. I started using LinkedIn after I switched job in Nov 2008 (amid financial crisis), because I realized I want to look for a developer job quickly after I jumped ship. I cannot remember the reasons I joined Facebook and Twitter. But both companies are under tremendous pressure nowadays, and both have lots of issues in terms of “doom scrolling” as well as their business model: the longevity of companies. For Twitter, bought by the worst richest person Elon Musk could have many implications as he was very much unpredictable. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg is in full control of the company (Meta) and there were lots of controversies in recent years as well.

I think some people probably just live on FB, LinkedIn or Twitter. I don’t use much the newer and cooler social media such as TikTok, instagram or Snapchat. I may be too old for these. In addition to this blog, I am explorring the following, both on written and video contents:

  1. Medium
  2. YouTube (video and community). YouTube has a feature of custom handle: I still need to think about it (major1xu or oliveCapital)
  3. Substack (noticed Substack has some relationship with Twitter).

PS: I am thinking minimize the use of WeChat too, and use LINE instead.

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Edu-and-Ladue-School kids Life Life Tips

Rain, umbrella and persuade preteen wear jacket

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Seven years ago, when my 12 year old was 5, and we sent her to a summer camp. One day she came back in the afternoon with wet clothes, and we were upset and I sent angry email to the camp lead counselor (adult who is in charge). At the beginning of last school year (fall 2021), at the middle school, they had similar incident, in which kids wait in the rain for the bus, I recall there was a heated discussion thread on the FB private group (on Ladue Community Connect: more precisely the Aug 26, 2021 post). When I grew up I was taught in a culture to avoid rained on, and more importantly don’t wear the wet clothes for an extended period of time, as it will be bad for one’s health. On the other hand, until recently I started to appreciate that got rained on is not necessary bad. Something like described in this tweet.

Yesterday morning, it rained, and we told our 12 year old to bring umbrella. She was reluctant, and later told me she doesn’t know how to open and close umbrella. I let her practice a few times. She took it.

Dressing warm or put on jacket is more a struggle. Sometimes I was successful, other times I decided it’s not the fight I wanted to pick that day. Like this morning. It was about 40 degrees fahrenheit, and she was the only kid with a T-shirt. She probably put her jacket in the backpack. I waved to her, and did not ask her to put it on. I wish her well today. Hope she doesn’t get cold (I heard getting cold is not necessarily from lack of clothes 🙂

PS: I posted it on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. With a hashtag #preteen (daily struggle etc). And I got warning from the Twitter: “We put a warning on one or more recent Tweets because they might have sensitive content. If you think this warning is a mistake, you can appeal.” || I deleted the tweet.

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Fun gadgets Life Life Tips

My cars over the years

Reading Time: 4 minutes

(Update 11-08-2025) 美国二手丰田太贵啦！日系SUV车价/市场/行情/TOYOTA/车市 RAV4/4Runner/Highlander/Grand Highlander/CH-R

(Original) No I don’t drive the Rivian but I drive the Toyota Sienna next to it: owned it for 9 years now (since summer 2013). It was the main car (minivan) I drove in last 9 years, with the exception of sometimes I drove my wife’s Camry for the purpose of saving gasoline, or taking care of maintenance issue.


Recently I also bought a certified pre owned Toyota Camry for my wife as I totaled her older Camry during an accident (I was not hurt).


The clear water blue 2012 Camry was the one we had for 10 years: we owned her from new. Serenity (when she was 2 years old) liked the color. The girls (my wife and 2 daughters) liked her very much too, at the day before the car was towed away, I told my girls to take some pictures. And they did. I was hoping Serenity can learn to drive on the 2012 blue Camry, but sometimes things unpredictable do happen, and the accident was not the worst as I was fine (I was the only person in the car). I think she will likely learn to drive on the white (ice cap) 2020 Camry, or if she likes, hopefully I can get her whatever cool car / SUV she wants when she is 16 (or 15 and a half 🙂

Again we all liked blue Camry very much, especially my wife. It was my wife’s main car, and since she preferred Camry, I got her replacement Camry in a week. The only complaint she had so far is the noise during initial acceleration, which from google it seems quite normal. Camry was known for its quietness, btw. Both Camry and Sienna were fairly reliable. I make sure fixing necessary wear and tear, things such as oil change, tire, wiper blades, breaks and battery. And some other occasional breakages: for Sienna, one recent example is the drive shaft.

Before those 2012 Toyotas, I owned Nissan Altima 2001 (from new) and Subaru Forester 2006 (bought used from Craigslist, in 2010). I regret bought the Altima, at the time I liked its leather and lower price tag compared to Camry. But it’s also a bit smaller than Camry, and it has more maintenance issues in the later years, also the resell value was not as great. Below is the email I sent to the owner of Subaru back in 2010 when I was trying to buy it:

=======

Minjie Xu minjie.xu@gmail.com
Thu, Jul 22, 2010, 11:38 AM
to sale-p5b98–1854914704
Hi, there,
 
I saw the Ad at St. Louis Craigslist, I would like to know whether the vehicle is still available, and if yes, when is a good time to take a look?
 
http://stlouis.craigslist.org/cto/1854914704.html (this link is no longer available, btw)
 
BTW, from the picture, it is a stick-shift (manual transmission), correct?
 
Thanks,…

========

In Summer 2013 I traded in the Subaru for the Sienna I mentioned above. I recall I did not lose money from it, because like Toyota, Subaru also holds value pretty well.

Old Cars

Before those two, when I was in graduate school in Rolla and was new to the USA, I drove a 1991 Toyota Corolla manual (stick shift). And before Corolla (about $3,000, bought in 1998 or 1999), my first car was black 1984 Toyota Celica 1984 ($450, paid in 1998, also stick shift). I learned how to drive on the Celica in early 1998. I got pulled over by police a few times due to various reasons, one occasion was I could not stay on the lane very well, it was probably in the middle of night, I drove from Rolla Walmart to my fraternity. Now I think about it, if I had the 2020 Camry LDA feature (lane departure alerts, YouTube video – How does Toyota’s Lane Departure Alert With Steering Assist work?), this won’t happen.

EV next?

I think my next car could be either a hybrid or an EV (Rivian hopefully :-). Joking. I think in general, if money or the gasoline is not an issue, one should get a car or a SUV (a truck) as safe as possible. That’s another reason I bought Camry, not only it her the most popular car (sedan) in the USA for many years, it’s also one of the safest: if you could ignore all the white noises in which the US government haul in the CEO / Grandson of Toyota founder, it’s only for the show (for the consumption of some ignorant US TV viewers or let’s just say some Americans. Some people in my humble opinion, should not be allowed to drive: this was the consensus I had with a few graduates at the fraternity when I was in Rolla. Sorry sometimes I have to be blunt. Especially if you consider I was hit by someone from behind recently in a traffic light intersection. Btw, it’s the 2nd time I was hit in an intersection. The first time, the other driver fled, unfortunately. I was able to do some freelance detective work myself, and unfortunately squared, the other driver had no insurance 🙁

Last but not least, I shared some of my recent car shopping experience here:

https://twitter.com/stlplace/status/1580768430755500033

Categories
Edu-and-Ladue-School Fun Life Life Tips

A run group for LMS 7th grader kids (or 6th, 8th grade kids, or kids, siblings in similar age range)

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Any questions please let me know || Mobile: 314 540 2721 || Email: minjie.xu@gmail.com

(Update 11-18-2022) We ended the daylight saving time for the year. The sunset is usually at about 5 pm, thus 4:30 pm starting time will give about 30 minutes time. More importantly, the weather is becoming a bit cold as the winter sets in. I think we will pause the run / walk for now. I will thinking about and we can discuss what’s the best suitable activities in the winter months.

(Update 09-30-2022) Last Friday the shower ruined it. Let’s resume today, it seems the weather will be nice. Of course with #stlwx, weather forecast is really hard, as it could change in 5 minutes 🙂

(Update 09-19-2022) We had 3 kids + myself for second run last Friday 9/16. I ran a bit but the girls mostly walked. I understand this past Friday we have hot balloon race at FP and other activities for some LMS 7th graders. || We plan to run again this Friday 9/23 at 4:30 pm, same location. Looks like we will have two 3rd graders joining us 🙂

(Update 09-12-2022) First run was a success! We have 9 kids: eight 7th graders and one 2nd grader (sibling), and a few parents (grand parent?). The boys are more determined 🙂 || We plan to run again this Friday at 4:30 pm, same location. Looks like we will have two 3rd graders joining us.

(Update 09-08-2022) We plan to run at Malcolm Terrace park (11370 St Paul St, Creve Coeur, MO 63141) on Friday 09/09/2022 at 4:30 pm. Everyone is welcome to join. Bring a water bottle, or a towel for wiping sweat, and note the restroom at the park is open.

(Original) I moved the “running” discussion from the FB Ladue parents community group here. I said 7th grade because my daughter is a 7th grader. The runner2runner program cutoff is 6th grade. At 8th grader I noticed LMS has a program for cross country. Our intention is NOT to compete against other programs.

Note this group is open to everyone in the community in this age range; so please feel free to forward to anyone may be interested too.

Goal – our main goal for our kids is to get some exercise and also have some fun. The main goal is not to prep for a competition or for a race. This is organized by parents and we don’t have formal accompanying materials such as “Girls on the run” etc. If our kids can breeze more fresh air and get close to nature more, that’s a big win for all of us.

Venue – I am thinking Malcolm Terrace park (a trip from the parking lot near the playground then back is about 1 mile, 80% of the trail is not paved); Venable Park (0.5 mile per circle, paved trail). Another park I can think of this the Tilles park trail (paved). Stacy park can be a choice when the renovation is done. I think we (coach Huang and parents) can jointly decide the location. My thinking is we take baby steps to get started. The reason I am thinking parks or tracks is I want to avoid running on the roads with car traffic.

Time – we need to agree on a time slot (or 2 time slots) each week, and hopefully with two time slots it will make it easier to get the busy middle schoolers / parents to participate. I understand pretty much everyone is busy: due to other extra-curricular activities. At this time it seems Friday afternoon is a decent compromise for some kids. As of 1:40 pm 09/06 Tuesday it seems we have at least 5 kids, 3 boys and 2 girls for Friday afternoon run. We will likely have some grownups joining us too.

Items needed – running shoes, if possible (also depends on where we run, trail running shoes, we can talk more later), water bottle, running shirt / shorts / pants suitable for running. Most important of all though, is an open heart and mind to participate.

Coaches
Jiansheng Huang: proud Laude dad. His older daughter (LHWHS alumni) graduated from medical school at Wash U this year and is starting her first year of fellowship. His younger daughter is currently a senior at Ladue High. Coach Huang ran a few Marathons including Go St. Louis, Chicago Marathon, NewYork Marathon, and he qualified for the prestigious Boston Marathon in recent years. Mr. Huang will teach all things around running including prep and cool down, safety etc, and he will likely lead the pack during our run too. Note: coach Huang will show up once we get more serious about running. He probably won’t show up if we just walk.

Minjie Xu: yet another proud Ladue dad (Serenity 7th Spartan, Sophia 3rd at Spoede). Minjie started running (or jogging about 5 years ago, with the main goal to keep weight in control (and be healthy and fit). So far Minjie ran 3 half marathons in St. Louis area (1st run was a week before pandemic shutdown in March 2020). Minjie will likely run and walk at the end of the pack to keep things in check.

It will be great to have mom(s) participating, especially if the most participants we have are girls… 🙂

Thanks and please let me know what you think.

Minjie Xu

mobile: 314 540 2721

email: minjie.xu@gmail.com

PS: note other kids in age range in the nearby schools in the community, my only ask is whether you can help look for outdoor facilities for the kids to run safely (outdoor track etc). We will likely start on the parks at the beginning though, at least this is my thinking.

Other running groups or resources for the kids

runner2runner: for kids from 1st grade to 6th grade (peachjar flyer here).

GirlsOnTheRun: in addition to run, there are some talks (or accompanying materials) They have two levels: 3rd to 5th, and 6th to 8th.

Let Me Run: boys equivalent of Girls on the Run above.