When I first set up my Google Voice account, I was living in the US and used my US cell phone.  However, I cancelled my contract with AT&T, so I didn’t even have that anymore.  If you’re in a similar situation and would like to continue to have a US-based phone while you’re abroad, feel free to follow along with my setup below.

My first step was to turn off SMS forwarding and enable ‘Do Not Disturb’ mode so that while I had no physical phone, my calls and text messages would not be forwarded to some stranger who ended up with my old number.

To do that, you need to do two things in Google Voice.  First, make sure your messages are sent to your email.  Go to Settings->Voicemail & SMS.  Within that tab, turn on Voicemail Notifications and SMS Forwarding.  Don’t forget to save your changes.

Forwarding Google Voice to Email

Next, turn on Do Not Disturb mode to prevent calls from being forwarded to your old phone number.  This is under Settings->Calls.

Do Not Disturb

Now, you can send and receive text messages, and you can receive incoming calls.  All the calls go to voicemail, but at least you can get messages.

To start making and receiving calls again for real, you need to set up a Skype account with the ability to receive calls.  A basic skype account is free, but to receive calls in the US, it will cost you $18 for 3 months.

Once you have a basic Skype account set up, to add support for incoming calls, go to Account->View Account from the menu bar.

Skype - View Account

Now that you have your Skype account page open, you want to buy an ‘Online Number’.  Go to that tab and set up a number in the US.

Skype - Online Number

Once you have your new Skype number, go back to Google Voice and add it as a telephone – Settings->Phones->Add a new phone.  I call mine ‘Skype’.  You don’t want to receive SMS messages on this phone, because you’re already receiving them in your email, so choose ‘Home’ as your phone type.  Make sure you’re signed into Skype right now.

Adding Skype Number to Google Voice

You’ll receive a call on Skype asking you to input a two digit number.  You’ll have to open the digital keypad to input the number.

Skype - Keypad Button

At this point, you should delete your old number in Google Voice and turn off ‘Do Not Disturb’, so that Google Voice begins forwarding your calls again.  If someone calls your Google Voice number, you will receive the call on Skype, as long as you are signed in.

What if you are not signed in, though?  Supposing you have a phone number in your current country, you can set up Skype to forward the call to your phone number.  To do this, you need to add some Skype credit and set up a forwarding number in the View Account page.

Skype - Adding Credit and a Forwarding Number

Now, if you are not signed into Skype, and someone calls your Google Voice number, the call will be forwarded to Skype, which will then forward it to your new phone number at regular Skype rates (for me, US->China is 2.1 cents/minute).

This is pretty good, but there’s one last optimization I made.  If you are worried about people calling who don’t know you’re out of the country and waking you up in the middle of the night, you can set up Google Voice to only ring your phone during the daytime in your timezone; otherwise, calls go straight to voicemail.  This has already saved me twice when my bank called to ask me some survey questions.

First, make sure your Google account is set up for the right time zone.  Go to Settings->Account and select your time zone from the drop down menu.

Setting the Google Account Timezone

Then, to set up a custom ring schedule for your phone, go to Settings->Phones->Skype and click the ‘Edit’ button.

Google Voice - Editing the Skype Phone

Finally, click ‘Show Advanced Settings’ and go down to the Ring Schedule settings.  Here, you can get as fancy as you want.  I have mine set up to not ring from midnight until 6am on weekdays and from 1am to 7am on weekends.

Google Voice - Custom Ring Schedules

That’s it!  You now have a US phone number that you can use anywhere in the world for about 2-3 cents per minute for voice and includes free, unlimited text messages.  To make a call, just use Google Voice as usual by calling your contact and selecting ‘Skype’ as the phone to ring.  If you’re on you’re computer and are signed into Skype, you will get the call on Skype and won’t have to pay for it at all.  If you’re not near your computer, your cell phone will ring and you’ll pay Skype’s international rate.  Incoming calls work the same way.

Hope this helps someone!

Eventually, I believe the idea is to turn them into podcasts that you can listen to as you run at 7-8 minutes per mile.

Anyway, I’m excited for her and thought I’d help her spread the news. Feel free to tell any of your friends in Boston or San Francisco to check out cityruntours.com.

Map of my trip in Korea and China

Best Places to get pictures taken:

1. Tiananmen Square (Beijing)
2. The Bund (Shanghai)

Tastiest food:

• Hongdong Garden (Gimhae, South Korea)

• Huangting in the Peninsula Hotel (Beijing)

Most surprising food:

• Duck Heads (Shanghai – I thought we were ordering shrimp)

Best meal for the buck:

• Jianbing (Beijing and Shanghai – almost a breakfast burrito for 30 cents)

Best Restaurant slogan:

Check out the logo - Mr. Pizza is a player

• Mr. Pizza – Love for Women (South Korea) Also winner of the best pizza ingredient: crust stuffed with mashed sweet potatoes.

Sketchiest transportation:

• Halfway between a vespa and a motorbike.  With three people.  And all our luggage.  But it was only 5 kuai! (70 cents?)

Most appropriate exit from a museum:

• Leaving the Urban Planning exhibit in Shanghai into a giant underground mall from which it took over 45 minutes to find an exit.

Most surprising meal (for someone else):

• Taking a girl I had just met ten minutes before to a 5-star restaurant (Huangting) because I had budgeted too much money and had decided to take the first person I met to the most expensive restaurant I could find.

Best hotel feature:

• Renting a cell phone for $1.50/day.  Wow, what a great idea.

Best Club:

• Coco Banana (best fellow dancers, too)

Most awesome and intimidating Chef:

• KungFu Pasta Chef making longevity noodles on my birthday.

Best Athlete:

• Michael Phelps

Best conversation:

• 35 minutes of talking to a taxi driver in Beijing who guessed that I’d lived in China for two or three years.  That was the moment when I really got Chinese.

Most frustrating 20 minutes:

• Getting stopped on the great wall by men from the army and not having a ticket because my tour guide was trying to scam us and having to speak for the two guys from the Netherlands as well because I spoke Chinese.  We eventually just paid them again, and then I had to convince the tour guide to give us our money back at the end.  Haha.

Best choice for what to pack:

• A week’s supply of Immodium AD

Place most likely to return:

• Beijing

Hmm, I guess that’s enough for now.  If you want, I’ll put more up later when I think of them!

Sorry for the unanswered expectations, guys!

I just got my Chinese visa!  I dropped the application off at A. Briggs Passport Expetitors near Downtown Crossing last Friday, then just had to wait.  I’ve heard some horror stories from people whose visas got stuck in the consulates for weeks or months, but I was optimistic (and perhaps foolhardy).  Today, it showed up at work at 10:00!  My passport is back with the actually-quite-attractive Chinese visa on page 12.

The only strange thing is that it was issued in 华盛顿 (Washington D.C.), even though I thought I’d have to get it from New York…

Regardless, it’s here, and this trip is really happening!

This time, however, I’m headed to East Asia. Specifically, Korea and China. My flight leaves Boston the morning of August 9th, heads to Chicago, where I’ll pick up my sister, Laura, then goes direct to Seoul. From there, we’ll head to Busan/Gimhae, back to Suwon, and Seoul again for one day. Then, I’ll leave Laura in Korea with her friend Diana, and I’ll fly to Beijing. I’m not going to stay long, however, because I’m going straight to Shanghai for a few nights, before returning to Beijing to watch a few Olympics events and visit my friend Mike from high school.

Right now, I’m trying to work out how to travel between Beijing and Shanghai. I’m thinking about the Z5/Z6 sleeper trains, but am unsure of how to book them online. I’ll make it work, though.

Finally, if anyone wants a postcard, just email me your address and I’ll put you on my list. Wish me luck!

The same company that runs the free Berlin walking tours also organizes free NewParis walking tours starting at St. Michel Plaza, so we wanted to go on it. Again, the tour guide was very eloquent and excited about her city. We saw Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Seine (we smelled it, too), more churches, the Champs d’Elysee, and more museums. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate this time, so partway through, the rand became unbearable and everyone was soaked. Soon after the tour was over, though, the sun came out again. We decided to walk to the Eiffel tower, since we were so close.

Well, the tower ended up being a bit more of a walk than it looked on the map, so by the time we were standing under it, we were all thirsty. Younghee bought a drink from a street vender, while Eunhee and I decided to get ice cream. One thing I noticed about the Eiffel Tower at this time is that it doesn’t disappoint. Sometimes I’ve found that getting too close to big landmarks makes them lose their splendor, but at no point did the tower lose my attention. It’s so much bigger than you expect from photographs.

Next, we thought we should find the jazz club that the tour guide recommended and maybe get dinner on the way. The club was back near St. Michel square, so we took the subway over there.

Since my map wasn’t actually detailed enough to show the street with the club, we ended up walking around quite a bit. Things always turn out alright, though, as evidenced by the fact that Sam saw us from inside a crepery and yelled out my name. Sam was with two girls, Jen and Jenny, whom he met that day for MISTI. Everyone introduced themselves, then Younghee, Eunhee, and I left to find the club.

It was actually really close, so after we learned that there would be a show at 10:30, we decided to eat at the crepery with Sam. The MISTI folks were almost done, but they stayed to talk while we ate. I ordered a smoked salmon crepe, sparkling cider, and an apple crepe for dessert. Everything was good, but the smoked salmon became a bit overpowering, and I couldn’t finish my main course.

After dinner, we all went next door for ice cream and to continue talking. I felt a little bad for Younghee and Eunhee because we were all talking about MIT and people we knew, plus our English was probably too fast for Eunhee, if not Younghee. Everyone ended up talking until almost 11:00, so after that, we jsut headed back to the B&B, since we had to be home by midnight.

Back at the B&B, we talked with Lee a bit, then went to bed. I think all the Korean guys downstairs were a little surprised to see a set of white feet in sandals coming down the stairs at 12:30…

Perhaps surprisingly, I slept great. The basement was pitch black and all the Korean guys were very quiet sleepers. In the morning, I woke up at 8:45 to the sound of Hotel California resonating in the floor above. I was fairly well rested and didn’t know what time it was, so I got up for breakfast.

Upstairs, the kitchen table was full of girls and strange food. Lee indicated that I should wait until a seat opened up, then get a bowl of rice and a bowl of soup. Younghee and Eunhee weren’t up yet, but I decided to just go for it anyway. Lee didn’t agree with my choice of one and a half ladle fulls of soup and insisted that I fill the bowl completely (even though I then had more than any Korean…). I finally sat down and before I could reach for a fork, a friendly girl looked at me with a sly smile and handed me a pair of chopsticks. Haha! Thanks to many rebukes from Chen, Ling, and Sally, I wowed them all with my unlikely dexterity.

Over the next few minutes, I sampled tiny worm-like dried fish, bean sprouts, assorted vegetables (one of which I thought might be tripe, but was actually really tasty), spicy corn salad, and kimchee soup. I was very happy to find that what looked like pickled chicken bones in the soup were just pieces hotdogs. The kimchee soup was incredibly hot, but I had been so worried that I was relieved to find it bearable at all (at least with rice and water at my side).

Soon, Younghee showed up to eat with me and refill my water. She said that the kimchee soup was not very god and actually more spicy than it should have been, and that I shouldn’t feel obligated to finish. Still, I felt bad, so it wasn’t until another Korean guy spoke up and said that he wasn’t going to finish either that I finally stopped eating.

When Younghee was done cleaning our dishes, she told me what really happened. Her roommate saw me sit down and ran upstairs to say, “Wake up! Wake up! Mike’s eating breakfast by himself!” So Younghee got out of bed and came down to take care of me. Still, I thought I did alright, particularly when I learned that everyone had been talking about how great of a guy I was; both because of my skill with chopsticks, and because I didn’t complain about any of the food.

Today, the plan was to see art. Eunhee wanted to see the Centre Georges Pompidou, so we went there first. We looked at some sculpture outside, then decided to go in. Before we got to the door, though, we were stopped by a man wanting to draw my picture. We said no, we were on our way to the museum. He informed us that the museum was closed today, so surely we now had five minutes to spare so that he could paint my “funny hair.” We wouldn’t even have to pay unless we liked the drawing. Still, our response was no, so we left to get Eunhee breakfast at McDonalds.

I really wanted to see the extra museum by the Louvre with the moder and impressionist art, so we walked there next. Luckily, the weather was better than on Monday. Unluckily, this museum was closed, too… Isn’t Monday supposed to be European museum-closed day? Maybe it’s Tuesday in France. So, we kept walking. Eunhee, as a future museum curator, knew another good museum we could see.

Eventually, we found it, and this one was open. I think it must have been a private museum, though, because it didn’t offer the discount for art majors that Eunhee expected in Paris. Here, we saw three temporary exhibits and one permanent exhibition.

The first exhibit featuring the work of a Russian painter-turned-photographer Rodchenko (he switched after declaring that he had achieved all that was possible with paint) was my favorite. Most of his works were photographs. Some of the compositions were very striking, and some now seem a bit dated. My favorite was a picture of a woman carrying a baby up a set of outdoor stairs. I liked it because of the combination of the high-contrast geometric shapes (one of his trademarks) of the stairs and the more natural and organic image of the mother and baby (made more interesting by the choice of viewpoint above her head).

After the museum, we had dinner, then decided to buy some wine, fruit, and chocolates to have back at the B&B. When we got back, Lee joined us. We talked for a long time about Korea, languages, B&Bs, America, etc. I learned about a Korean word ‘zhang’ that describes a relationship in which two people feel connected and will provide favors for one another and miss each other when they are apart. The Koreans spent a long time explaining this concept, but I couldn’t think of one single English word to describe the same thing. Perhaps someone who knows both languages can help.

At the end of the evening, Lee invited me to try some Soju, a special Korean alcohol, and another Korean boy joined us. I had already had three classes of wine, because everyone else claimed to be weak drinkers while insisting that I have more, so I was happy (I could probably end the sentence here, but I won’t) when Soju turned out to be much weaker than I had expected. All-in-all, it was a pretty fun day.

Last Sunday, Sam, Younghee, Eunhee, and I agreed to meet at the Louvre again at 1:00.  I arrived a few minutes early because I didn’t want to appear to be perpetually late.  Sam soon found me, and we started to wait together for the girls.  This time, they were the ones who were an hour late.  Turns out, they had some trouble moving from the hotel to the B&B where they planned to stay for a while.  However, they did say that the B&B was nice, and the owner had beds available for 18 Euro/night including breakfast, internet, etc.  It sounded too good to be true, so I said I’d check it out.

We got in line for the Louvre and bought two tickets for 10 Euro from a couple that was done for the day.  This saved us 4 Euro per ticket and them 5 Euro per ticket.  After getting over our skepticism and realizing that the tickets really did work, we decided that the man selling them was a genius like Simon.

First, we went to see the Mona Lisa (of course).  From the vantage point that the Louvre provided, though – three feet away with a hundred people snapping pictures – I couldn’t appreciate it or see why it is so famous.  Many other paintings in the same room are just as striking, but received little or no attention (for example, in the back left behind the Mona Lisa is one of the Passion of Christ from a unique viewpoint.  The painting looks down on Jesus carrying the cross, with people crowding all around him, while Jesus looks plaintively up at the viewer.).

At this point, we were all starving, so we decided to eat lunch.  After crossing the Seine River, we found ourselves in a maze of art galleries and no cheap restaurants…  The only things we could find were pizza and bad-looking Chinese.  Since the pizza store closed right as we tried to go inside, we were stuck with Chinese.  Still, it’s always fun to practice my Chinese, particularly when the server doesn’t even bat an eye at my pronunciation

Finally, we went back to the Louvre until closing.  Afterwards, Sam went to his hotel to get ready for MISTI interviews on Monday, and I followed Younghee and Eunhee to the B&B.

Earlier, they had mentioned that it was a Korean-style B&B, and I’m not quite sure what I thought that meant, but I certainly didn’t understand that it was going to be in a Korean man’s house with 25 other people who hardly spoke any English.  Still, at 18 Euro per night and a unique experience, how could I say no?  Mr. Lee (the owner) gave us some beer to drink (for free!) and I said I’d be back on Monday.

At 2:30, there was a train at the station, but I couldn’t figure out if it was mine or not, because the number on the side didn’t match my ticket. I decided to ask someone official standing near the door. He said no, pointed down the track, and told me that my train was 10 minutes behind this one. Although I was a little upset at the delay, what could I do but wait?

A few minutes later, the doors closed, and the train started to leave. Four or five cars went by, then two connected engines, and more cars. I suddenly realized that the cars on this part of the train all had the right number… The man didn’t mean my train was late, he meant it was literally behind the first one! How could I be so stupid?! I spent the next twenty minutes kicking and berating myself over how dumb I must be to arrive five hours early, then miss my train by standing next to it and watching it leave. Dumb, Dumb, Dumb!

So now, I had to wait another hour to get the next train. I thought about asking if my ticket was still valid, but decided it would be better to get on the train adn sort it out there; at least then I’d be on my way for sure…

The next train was on time, but again, every seat was reserved, so I sat on a folding chair in the luggage compartment between two cars. When the ticket inspector came by, he looked at my ticket (and me) disapprovingly, but didn’t say anything, so I figured I was alright. Still, I would now be arriving in Paris at 5:08, so I resolved to get a taxi straight to the Louvre and not try to find my hotel first.

Actually, this worked out well. The taxi ride was pretty short and only cost 7 Euro. After being dropped off, I ran to the pyramid and started to walk around it because there were so many people and I didn’t see my friends right away. Soon, Sam yelled my name and joined me. He said he was about to leave, when he saw me running in. We continued to walk around the other side of the pyramid together, and I felt someone grab my hand. Turning around, it was Younghee! She hadn’t gotten my email about being late, but stuck around anyway for an hour and a half. I introduced everyone quickly, but because I still needed to check in, we agreed to meet at the Arc de Triumph at 7:00.

Checkin was find; I had a booked a single room for two nights because everything else was full. The only problem came when I realized that there were only two toilette seats for the entire six-floor hotel, so I had to climb to the fourth floor and wait to go to the bathroom. I met Sam at the Metro at 6:45 and we were a few minutes late to the Arc.

A few minutes soon turned into half an hour, though, when I realized that the Arc is in the middle of the biggest and busiest traffic rotary we’d ever seen. There seemed to be no way across, either, even though many people were standing under the Arc. Sam and I felt really bad to be late again, especially when we realized that the tunnel to the Arc was right next to the exit where we came out of the subway…

After finding our Korean friends, we all decided to get dinner before watching fireworks. Dinner was tasty, though the steak was a little underdone. After dinner, we tried to find a good view of the Eiffel tower, but everywhere seemed to be blocked off by buildings or police barricades. Once the fireworks started, we realized that it was because that section of the city is where they were launching everything. So, we ended up on the wrong side of a very long fireworks show in a huge crowd. I could tell that everyone sort of wanted it to be over, because whenever there was a slight pause, the crowd would cheer and one or two people would start to leave… But it kept going and going and going…

After washing my clothes, I had a bit of trouble getting the dryer to work. Luckily, two friendly French-speaking men decided to help me out. I bought the wrong token for the dryer – the 3.50 Euro one, not the 0.60 Euro. After I bought the right one, they were even nice enough to buy the other off of me, when I offered it to them for free (since I won’t be coming back).

Next, I went sightseeing. First, I saw Manneken Pis, a famous statue of a boy urinating into a fountain. I was fairly surprised by the size of the statue; pictures make it look huge, but in reality, it’s tiny. I must say, I’m glad I’m going to be getting out of the Conner 3 environment next year; my exact thoughts at the statue went, “Woah, it’s so small; I thought it would be much bigger… That’s what she said.”

Nearby is a famous courtyard, the Grand Place. The architecture is all 1700s, so it looked very scenic. I also wanted to see the Royal Palace and the European Parliament, so I started to walk that way.

One of the best things about Brussels is the fact that they have signs everywhere explaining the sights nearby, so as I walked, I could tell what I was passing. In front of the Royal Palace, there is a large garden where I decided to eat a waffle with cream and relax in the shade next to a fountain. The street vender’s waffle was absolutely delicious. I don’t know how they made it sweet, crispy, and tender all at the same time, but it worked. In fact, I think I’m going to stop writing for a little while to go find one (I’m currently in a train station)…

Well, that one wasn’t as good as the last, but I did get to put Belgian chocolate ice cream on top, which was quite a bonus. Anyway, after the park, I continued on to the European Parliament complex, but only saw it from the outside. I couldn’t tell if there was a tour/guest entrance, but I was alright with that.

Actually, I just realized that I missed a stop. In between Grand Place and the park, I went to the Museum of Ancient Through Modern Art. Personally, I think that just makes it a general art museum, but who am I to say? I decided to only see the modern (19th Century – Present) sections this time, both to save on time and because I haven’t seen much of it yet on this trip. Really, even though I’ve grown to appreciate art much more than when I was younger, I still didn’t see a large percentage of the works that impressed me. Only three or four even made me want to stop and think.

Finally, I wanted to see the Atomium and Mini-Europe, but because they were on the last Metro stop, I also didn’t think I had time at 4:00 to go and see much. Instead, I took a short nap at the hotel, then walked around the city and took photos in the botanical gardens.

For dinner, I decided to go with Thai again; it really was delicious before, plus they were really friendly. This time, I ordered without Nam’s help, and ended up with rice, green curry, beef, coconut milk, and peppers. Nam told me that it would be too spicy for my sensitive Western palate, but I insisted. Yes, it was spicy; the coconut milk, however, calmed the peppers a little and made the whole dish bearably delicious. At the end of dinner, it was 9:30. I took a picture of the sunset and went to bed.