Deport Report
So I thought I had my Visa, but I was wrong. I have my Foreign Expert’s Certificate (a form of ID), but my Temporary Visa actually expired 12 days ago. Shh … don’t tell anyone, I’m living here illegally.
Zhan was right … China is full of many rules, but nobody knows how to follow them. I’ve been to 2 different police stations 3 times to get my Visa, and each time there is confusion, missing paperwork, and even policemen and administrators that they cannot seem to find. When they can find the right forms, they never fill them out completely, and everyone seems to be late with everything. I suppose that it’s a land where grace abounds!
Until it doesn’t anymore, of course …
September 12th, 2006 at 12:55 am EST
I’m telling!
September 12th, 2006 at 5:30 am EST
ahh dont julz!!
clever title by the way
September 12th, 2006 at 8:31 pm EST
So today, my liaison took me to the main Loudi police station today, way on the other side of town. When we got there, we discovered that the entire block didn’t have electricity. Don’t ask me how that works, a police station without electricity.
Regardless, the uniformed man told us that we still needed four things in order to apply for a Visa. First, my Chinese Governmental Physical Form is apparantly not good enough … even though I went to my American physician 3 times, had bloodwork and an EKG, and tested numerous things, it doesn’t have an official Chinese government seal on it. So I’ve got to go to the hospital sometime soon and have “check me over”. Hey, as long as they scrub the needles well before my bloodwork, right?
Another complication is that the school changed it’s name this year … from Liangong Middle School to Loudi #5 Middle School. Because of the change, all of the school’s paperwork is apparantly invalid … including the permission that they have from the Chinese government to host a foreign teacher in the first place.
So, though it looks like it’ll be a few more weeks until I’m legally in the country, I have an informal promise from the unidentified uniformed man, saying that he “won’t throw me in jail.”
I was laughing all the way down the street from that one …
September 13th, 2006 at 1:03 pm EST
in most of the factory districts i visited on my trip, rolling electricity blackouts were regular. like every friday, no work because of no electric, etc. it was a fact of life. China’s infrastructure build out simply can’t keep up with the pace of growth.
September 14th, 2006 at 6:49 pm EST
Thanks for the congrats. Hopefully it’s gotten better for you in the last few days. If it’s any comfort, they do use fresh needles at the clinic (I saw them take it out of the sealed bag).