Pick Pocketed

 So, this is one of the Beijing police stations.  This one happens to be around the corner from our apartment complex.  Last week, Jeff and I had the pleasure of coming here to file a report for my missing phone.  We actually think I was pick-pocketed, which is not uncommon,  while I was out with the kids.  When we realized it, we tried calling the phone and it had been turned off.  Jeff said that they do that, remove the sim card, and re-sell the phone. 

The next day, Jeff decided it would be best to go with me to buy a new phone, I'm so glad he did instead of going to work.  We went to the cell phone company at first and the employee that spoke English explained to us that if we wanted to keep the same cell phone plan agreement and not buy a new two year contract, then we needed to get a police report, then go buy a new phone and bring it back in for a new sim card.  The cell phone company as well as all of Beijing are sold out of the type of phone we wanted, so we had to go to the Apple store. 

First, we went to the police station to file our report.  Here is a copy of the report filed for "Travy Elaine Caton".

The Apple store in Beijing is huge and has long lines every day.  They have lots of security too which seems to be needed because we saw someone get escorted away from the check out registers.  We had to take a number to talk to someone. When our number was called they told us that we could come back around 3:00 and they MIGHT have a cell phone we could buy. So, Jeff waited at that shopping area and did some work from Starbucks so that he could be there right at 3:00.  I think because my phone was stolen, we were able to get a phone that day, it seems that if you want to buy one for the first time, you might have to wait a few days.

So, I picked Jeff back up after he got the cell phone and we returned to the cell phone company.  Everything worked out really well!!  We kept our expectations low the whole day because you never know what the process is going to be in Beijing.  We owe a lot to Mr. Li once again who went in to the police station and cell phone company with us to translate for us.  Until you know Mandarin fluently, there are just some things you could not do on your own.