Not a big deal here but a helpful story for some I suppose.

I went to Harbin last weekend to meet and have dinner with a few buddies whom I hadn't seen in 5 months. Had to rush from a Friday class to catch my ride but made it and arrived in Harbin by 6pm.

Went to the hotel with my pregnant wife and to my dismay, I had forgotten my passport. I was pissed. My wife was angry too.....at me. The hotel staff refused me but said my wife was welcome to stay. We talked, not angrily and they suggested we go back outside and find the nearest police station to get some sort of letter saying I was legal. I know they could've squeezed me in but for some reason they took the hard line. The two of us walked for 30 minutes in the freezing cold and now I was ready to tear someone's head off. My wife was cold and her back was hurting but she is a trooper and we finally found the cop shop. We went inside and she explained everything....they looked at us and told us they could do nothing and turned their backs on us. Unless we could call my wife's mother and tell her to go to our home, find my passport (which I then remembered was at the Foreign Affairs Office as my new residence permit was being processed) copy and fax it to the police station. Remember we were in Harbin, just 1.5 hours from Daqing, where we live. There was absolutely no way that was going to happen.

Then it hit me!!!!! I rooted around in my bag and produced a USB. I motioned to the cop to put it in the computer and viola! My passport image which I had saved for whatever reason. Our stress went away immediately and we all had a good laugh.

**However, I am sure it will take a few more days to make this up to my lovely wife****