Expats

I learned over the weekend that my Dad has to have a defibrillator implant procedure on Monday. Naturally, that’s a bit of disturbing news to hear. He is the ultimate Energizer bunny at age 76, but with his history of heart disease, he’s also a medical miracle to still be alive. His bio includes: a father who passed away of a heart attack, a personal quadruple bypass surgery over 30 years ago, a heart attack on the operating table, and congestive heart failure a few of years ago. Heart issues aside, there’s also beating the battle of prostate cancer, having early stage skin cancers removed, and managing diabetes over the last several years. Yet, he still goes skiing every winter and his social life makes mine look beyond boring.

• Read more

Living in China as expats, we’ve all heard stories about visa renewal issues, tax questions and other official document situations that come up. Now we’ve come across a new one – and would be interested in hearing if others have as well. Topic: renewing your driver’s license back home.

• Read more

Jennifer Thome, Managing Editor of our sister magazine Agenda, wrote an interesting blog on how Beijing's car policies will impact expat car owners. Here's what she found out:

• Read more

China Hearsay has an interesting piece discussing a recent China Daily/Xinhua story on the jurisdiction of divorce settlements between Chinese nationals and foreigners.

According to the China Daily article: "Chinese nationals married to foreigners will have to settle any marital conflicts according to the law of the country where they live most of the time under proposals that went before Chinese lawmakers Monday" -- a motion that clears up (somewhat) a long-standing ambiguity about how divorce settlement laws are applied in these instances. Or, as ChinaHearsay puts it, "The point is that this sort of thing tends to be messy, and judges here do not like dealing with foreign-related family law issues."

• Read more