Tuesday was a “China Day”.
If I haven’t explained China Days they are the days where
everything that is annoying, or wrong, or mind boggling about life in China
combines on a single day and slaps you in the face. Twice.
Let me backtrack to the beginning, so that you can see why
it was particularly annoying.
Here, in China, I have a visa. For some reason, or no reason
at all, I can only get temporary visas. My first visa expired 60 days after I
entered the country. That was Monday. Yes, Monday. Now, I’ve been bugging my
agent for three weeks about getting me a new visa. She just kept telling me that she’d get in
touch with me about it later. On Monday morning she called the school’s phone
wanting me to meet her at a subway stop on line 10 during my lunch break to
sort out my new visa. I agreed, of course. Not even an hour later she texted me
saying that it’d be better to meet after work.
As I was under the (misguided) impression that everything
was going to be sorted out then, and there, I agreed.
She wasn’t at the subway station, but sent me off to go get
the requisite photos, the ones that no one had mentioned before.
Finally, after standing around for a while outside the
subway station, she appeared and we made our way up to some office building
where my presence was about as necessary as stubbing your toe.
I wasn’t needed, at all.
But what we learned is that there were no more visa pages in
my passport.
I had been previously assured that the “amendments” page was
perfectly acceptable for attaching visas, but the lady from the agency insisted
otherwise.
So, I made an appointment to go to the U.S. Embassy.
Which leads me to Tuesday.
Now that I recount it, it wasn’t all that bad.
Pointless, yes.
A waste of time? Yes.
But, not so terrible.
I had a 10:30 appointment at the embassy, so I didn’t have
to wake up at 6:30, which was nice. Although, even though my alarm was set to
8:30, I woke up at 7. I lazed around until around 9, when I dressed, looked up
directions to the embassy, and set off.
Isn’t it interesting, though, how it feels luxurious to laze
about in bed on a Tuesday, but isn’t quite as luscious on a Saturday? It feels
like a mini-vacation.
I took this picture with my iPhone, so that I would remember how to get there... Herumph
Anyway, the road that Google maps told me to turn down was
closed, so I ended up walking about a kilometer out of my way, making a giant
circle around the embassy. Once inside everything went smoothly. As a citizen,
with an appointment, I was able to bypass the horde of visa seekers standing in
long, winding lines and proceed directly up to Citizen Services. Adding pages to a passport only takes about
30 minutes, and costs $86, so while I was waiting I took the opportunity to
vote.
I voted in the 2012 presidential election.
From China.
Squeeee.
After getting my passport back I was supposed to go to my
local police station to get an “emergency” registration (because by Tuesday my
visa had already expired, and I needed one for just that day, apparently). But
those offices are closed from 11:45 to 2pm for lunch. So I walked over to the
Starbucks that I had seen on my meander around the area and was finally able to skype with my sister.
Not that the connection was very good, but still, it was better than nothing.
I rode the subway back and got the registration from a very
nice lady who spoke enough English that I didn’t have to call my feckless agent
(who had said on Monday that she would be doing these things with me, acting as
translator… I didn’t see her all day. I did it all on my own. Because she’s
worthless).
Then I made my way, on the subway again, to the Lama Temple
stop, the conjunction of lines 2 and 5, to the PSB: Public Security Bureau.
Which is a building full of foreigners getting their visas.
I waited there for 90 minutes before the agency that my
agent paid lots of money to expedite these things finally showed up, led me
over to a desk, told me to sit in a chair, and then told me I could leave.
That was it.
So, now I’m waiting the seven business days for the return
of my passport, with it’s visa that wont expire until the end of January. Or,
perhaps even the beginning of February, depending on what day that actually
stick it into my passport.
Wednesday was Halloween, but I had no desire to go to work
with a sunflower on my head again, so I improvised a bit and with a scarf, some
sunglasses, and a strand of pearls I was generically “Movie star”. Grace
Kelley, maybe, except she’s blonde. A little Audrey Hepburn, because she wore
jeans.
Super Husband joined Zach, Scott and I for lunch, as well.
They berated him for not having a costume. Zach was “America’s last hope for
ping pong gold” and Scott was a very convincing Dr. Who.
Super Husband isn’t very “into” Halloween. I’m steadily
working on bringing him around to the absolute best holiday there is, ever.
I told them his costume was Clark Kent, as his new briefcase/messenger
bag looks very “reporter chic”.
Side Note: My iTunes Genius has decided that “Stop” by Spice
Girls is a good match for “Tiny Dancer” by Elton John. I haven’t decided how I
feel about it yet, but I only downloaded “Stop” because it was in the running
for my Bumblebee Showtime performance… I am, admittedly, singing along, though.
I even remember the moves my friends and I choreographed to it in fourth of
fifth grade.
But, that conveniently brings me to my next point: Elton
John is coming to Beijing this month!
I’m really, really excited.
All of the cheapest seats are sold out, so it’s going to be
a bit of a splurge, but Elton John deserves a splurge.
Tonight, Friday, Super Husband and I are meeting his friend
from UH in Wudaoko for pizza. But first, we’re going to investigate the mall
that’s close by. Super Husband keeps calling it a mall, but I have no idea if
that means something along the lines of The Galleria, or Pondok Indah Mall, or
a maze of tiny stalls hawking everything from real pearls and fake diamonds to
hair dryers to mattress covers.
I need some new scarves.
And winter shoes.
And a jacket.
People keep giving me weird looks as I walk to work in Super
Husband’s oversized gray hoodie, and I realized, this is a very fashion conscious
society. I might not understand, or enjoy some of the choices they make:
platform sneakers, an abundance of frilly ruffles, weird color choices… but
they certainly don’t wear their husband’s hoodies.
The teachers and helpers at work even come dressed up, some
of them quite fancy, and then change into sweats for the day. At around 5:15
you’ll see them all tromping back out, wearing their fancy getups again.
I don’t know if it has anything to do with being ashamed of
being a kindergarten teacher, or if this is fairly common practice.
I really need a bicycle.
There’s a woman that rides by the school every morning at
around 8:15. She rides a beautiful red bike, with a matching red basket.
I want to steal it from her.
I even figured out where I would park my bike during the day.
The apartments next to the school have a covered walkway
where people lock their bikes, so I can park my bike there, and then dash
quickly to the front of the school. Now, I just need to procure said bike, and
all will be well.
I’m a little nervous about riding through Beijing traffic,
but people do it with babies on their bikes, so I’m sure I can do it on my own.
It’s time to get ready for work.
They sky is grey again.
It’s supposed to rain tomorrow.
If it doesn’t, and decides to clear up and be lovely, Super
Husband and I are going to
The Summer Palace.
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