reply to Ysabelle

Congratulations on getting your visa! I hope everyone has already gotten theirs by now and without much difficulty.

So my cell phone is my dad's PDA. It's a glofish. The glofish can take a SIM card which you can buy here in China for pretty cheap ($15 USD ish) We ordered mine online on ebay so I received it in the mail and got the number to my friends and family before I left the country.

I'm not sure how to go about unlocking things, and I can't say I understand cell phones here. One thing for sure, cell phones are "cheap" here. Like, not expensive like home, but still maybe not something you'd like to purchase here. Brent knows a couple good places to buy one if you need to.
Otherwise, I believe that if your phone has "3 channel capability" or something like that, it can be used all over the world provided that you have a sim card and connection to a tower. The girls said that phones in America can take sim cards (minus verizon, which is what I use). But doublecheck with your provided on how to go about using your phone here.

I went with ChinaMobile as my SIM card (which is much like a debit card). There are a few text messages you can send before the end of the month to activate some discounts. Remind me to let you know what they are later.

Also, for home's information, cell phones here have no voicemail.

I went in the girl's apartment today, it's nice :) I'll post more about it later.