Command Central...

With three phones, a couple of internet boxes, and a Vonage box, 

this is now command central.

I guess it would be more accurate to include the computer with its video chat

and Skype, but you already know what that looks like.

The gray phone is our home phone.

Feel free to call it if you want international calling charges.

The black phone is our Vonage-connected phone.  With a Cedar Falls, Iowa, phone number,

you can talk to me right here in our apartment in China like it was a local call.  

But please, only call during American evening hours.  

(Email me for the phone number--and be patient when I'm answering.  All the buttons are in Chinese characters and kind of weird--I haven't yet memorized which is the call back button, which is the speaker phone, etc.).  And it takes a moment to recognize which phone is ringing.

Then there is the little black iPhone.

We knew we needed cell phones here, but negotiating the Chinese system was daunting, at best.

First you buy your phone.  Anywhere.  Kiosks, stores, etc., but beware of buying a cheap knock-off.  

You don't want to buy an iBone or an iFone.

Then you decide which phone carrier.  Good coverage but no support for data?  Why would I buy a smart phone and choose that carrier??  (But that one is the major Chinese phone company.  Good thing we found out before signing up.)
Then you buy a SIM card.  (Allows the phone to work with the carrier.)

And you buy a phone number.  There were several to choose from.  I was lucky and got one with an 8

in it, and it wasn't even more expensive than the others.  ("8" is a lucky number, 4 is an unlucky number).
If you decide later that you want to change carriers, you have to buy a new phone number.  No transferring numbers here!

Then you choose a plan.  All the phones here are prepaid.  How many MB do you want to download each month?  How much talk time?  Any texts?  Then if you pay the monthly fee, your phone works.  And it's easy to tell when it's time to pay again--there's no ring tone.

And did I mention that all this is in Chinese?

So I'm not actually sure what our contract says--who knows? We might have sold our first-born.  (Sorry, Catherine!)   Every once in awhile I get a text in Chinese characters, and I have figured out the part that says 96 (RMB).  So I know it is time to pay up again.
 By the way, that translates to about $18 dollars a month.

That kind of makes up for the fact that the phone cost 4999 RMB to begin with.  (roughly $900).

Which brings me to the rest of the story.

I now feel like a "ten cow wife".

When we saw how expensive these phones were, I just figured I would go with a cheap one.

But a couple of the other wives had iPhones, so Kevin bought it for me.
He didn't want me to feel like a "Samsung wife" or an "AnyCall wife".

Such a sweet guy!