September 16, 2010 - Xi'an, Shaanxi Provence, China
Sigh. Today was exhausting. With our visa deadlines quickly approaching, Jordan and I made plans to go to the security bureau to drop off our passports and paperwork. Jordan picked up his documents from the Foreign Student's Office yesterday, so I stopped by to get mine today. The office is always full of people, and the one or two people who are actually working there are stressed out beyond belief. I sat down with one of the counselors, the other was out, and she thumbed through my paperwork:
"Did you turn in four photos?"
"Yes, almost a month ago."
"Copies of your passport?"
"I turned them in at the same time."
"A copy of the receipt for your housing?"
"Yes."
"None of that is in here. Can you just come back next week? When does you visa expire?"
"Monday."
"Monday?!"
Yes, Monday. Which wouldn't be a problem, except for the fact that your office lost everything I had already turned in. It's not as if I could do any of this earlier, since I didn't get my health exam results until last week. So, I spent the morning running back and forth from the school to my room trying to find the items I needed to complete my visa documents. I missed one session of my second class (we have two sessions per class per day), in order to accomplish this. After I got everything I needed, I sat down in a chair while she v-e-r-y s--l--o--w--l--y c---h---e---c---k---e---d o----v----e----r t-----h-----e f------o------r------m------s....I was worried that her speed would cause me to miss the second half of my class. Luckily, she finished just after the bell rang, 15 or so minutes later.
This would be mirrored in my later experience at the security bureau. Let's cut past the fact that we left two hours late, and that I didn't get to eat lunch because we were waiting on others to go to lunch who were apparently at lunch and didn't bother to mention it. We'll also cut past the 20 minutes it took us to get a taxi during this sudden September heatwave, and my complaining about how they won't pick up foreigners. We'll cut right to the security bureau, where we waited in the un-air conditioned building in a long line while one woman poured over every single person's documents. ONE! This is so typical of China, there are 8 million people here, any given store employs 30,000 of them to jump on you if you seem remotely interested in buying something. But banks? Or government offices? There will be dozens of desks and one person running the whole show. If you need to get something done, it's probably not happening today. Other employees even came in while we were waiting, made a joke to/at the lady and then walked off. AND she took, like, three phone calls while we waited. You know, just hanging out in a line sweating to death.
God we were sweaty. Anyway, the actual document "interview" consisted of sitting in a chair while she looked to make sure everything was in order. It was, so we went downstairs and paid (400RMB, by the way, on top of the fact that we paid $200 to get our visa already).
We hunted for food or water or a taxi, and found water. Then a taxi. This driver was actually quite a change for the better. He was so friendly. And, he explained to Angel, our Chinese friend, that he had been going on his lunch break but decided to take pity on us.
We ended up eating at Subway, which was not my choice, but I was starving. I ordered a foot long, and they cost about the same comparatively. I got somewhere around 2/3 of the way into it and didn't think I could make it. Chinese food has shrunk my stomach.
"Come on, finish it, you wimp." Angel said.
Hayden
The adventures of an American college student in China.
Showing posts with label bureaucracy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bureaucracy. Show all posts
18 September 2010
26 August 2010
Day 5
August 25, 2010 - Xi'an, Shaanxi Provence, China
Ok, let's try this again. Another early morning, although this one slightly later as I had begun to correct my sleeping patterns. Xiao Liu agreed to help me catch a taxi, so she met me at the Shi Da gate at 7:30am. She seemed excited: She gave me a big, enthusiastic wave as I walked up.
We would have the same amount of luck I had had on my own, which was none. Another group managed to get a taxi, but not us. The method for procuring a taxi goes a bit like this: Stand in the middle of the world's busiest highway in the middle of morning rush, and wave at cars as they pass by, hoping one might stop. This, as you can imagine, is equal parts dangerous and fruitless.
So, Xiao Liu suggested we try the bus. I mentioned to her that the buses were quite full the day before. "Of course, in the mornings many people use the buses to go to work." She said, assuming I was unfamiliar with the idea. We waited for some time for the appropriate bus to pull up, and when it did we jammed ourselves into it as best we could. The bus was literally filled beyond its capacity. The door closed, narrowly missing pinching my butt. We squished in as tightly as possible: I used a handrail to keep from smashing poor Xiao Liu flat. "It is OK," she told me every time I apologized. None of this was out of the ordinary, apparently.
The Bus (公共汽车). Standing room only? Not even.
About the halfway mark on our journey to the medical facility, the bus stopped suddenly and the driver exited. No one was quite sure what happened until he came back and told us all to get off the bus. In the middle of the highway. There had been a small accident, it turns out, and a car had hit the bus. Again, not that anyone noticed. Xiao Liu asked where the nearest bus stop was or the nearest taxi stand. There were none, so we had to walk the last half hour across Xi'an.
The Accident. Everyone off the bus.
The walk wasn't too bad, but involved fighting traffic REPEATEDLY. Although there are lights and crosswalks here, they are no guarantee that you can go safely onward. We dodged cars and buses as we made our way through the city's large central roundabout.
The Sights. Some of the fun signs in Xi'an.
Finally to our destination, the paperwork began. Honestly, it was just one page of paperwork...that I had to fill out in Chinese. Simple stuff, like my birthplace, is pretty hard in a completely different language. The hardest part isn't the paperwork, though, it's the waiting. There were, maybe, two people ahead of me in line to pay and it took more than 20 minutes to do so. Why? I don't know, things just move more slowly here. Except cars.
The Medical Facility. If you're traveling in Xi'an, you have to go here.
The medical exam consisted of getting some blood drawn, an x-ray, an EKG, a simple eye test, and blood pressure. The x-ray was digital and it popped up on the computer screen as I was walking out: I had never seen my lungs before. "好不好？" ("good or bad?") I asked the nurse. "很好."("very good.") she replied.
I may have failed the eye test. The nurse put up shapes and asked me "How are they open." The first was like the letter "E" and I said "It opens from the right side" as I pointed left (into the shape) with my finger. "Wrong," she said. I think, in hindsight, I was supposed to say it opened right and done without the hand gestures.
The total cost for my health exam was the exorbitant 392RMB ($57.44), which isn't really much for a medical exam but it's a lot when you didn't know you'd have to spend it.
X-Rays. I enjoy the fact that they still use the letter "X."
The lobby of the hospital had a number of sculptural pieces. Liu Xiao read the plaque and said that they were from the Han Dynasty. Yep, 2000 year old sculptures in the lobby of a hospital.
Hospital Sculptures. Thousands of years old and just hanging about the place.
The trip home was uneventful: The bus picked us up, there was room to sit, and it made it all the way to our destination.
The Bus 2. Ah, seats.
We made it back in time for lunch. I had been craving meat and I went down the line asking Xiao Liu what each food was. She didn't know some of them, but she told me one item was "牛肉" ("beef"). I suppose it might have been beef, although it was more like bologna or spam in a vinegar bath. Still, it was protein, and the saltiness made it a good compliment to the rice. I also had some rice noodles which I quite enjoyed.
Lunch (午饭). Nothing fancy: rice, noodles, and vinegar spam.
The rest of the evening was pretty mild. I went back to my room, watched TV, became sad over cheeseburgers and ice, and went to bed. Also, I bought some instant coffee to try it out. Not too bad, really. Plus the guy on the package seems to like it:
The Coffee Guy. Nothing like Chinese preppy to make the coffee go down smooth.
Hayden
Comment Replies:
@Jenn: Its not quite an automat, unfortunately. Its really just a counter with a fancy system for ringing things up.
Ok, let's try this again. Another early morning, although this one slightly later as I had begun to correct my sleeping patterns. Xiao Liu agreed to help me catch a taxi, so she met me at the Shi Da gate at 7:30am. She seemed excited: She gave me a big, enthusiastic wave as I walked up.
We would have the same amount of luck I had had on my own, which was none. Another group managed to get a taxi, but not us. The method for procuring a taxi goes a bit like this: Stand in the middle of the world's busiest highway in the middle of morning rush, and wave at cars as they pass by, hoping one might stop. This, as you can imagine, is equal parts dangerous and fruitless.
So, Xiao Liu suggested we try the bus. I mentioned to her that the buses were quite full the day before. "Of course, in the mornings many people use the buses to go to work." She said, assuming I was unfamiliar with the idea. We waited for some time for the appropriate bus to pull up, and when it did we jammed ourselves into it as best we could. The bus was literally filled beyond its capacity. The door closed, narrowly missing pinching my butt. We squished in as tightly as possible: I used a handrail to keep from smashing poor Xiao Liu flat. "It is OK," she told me every time I apologized. None of this was out of the ordinary, apparently.
The Bus (公共汽车). Standing room only? Not even.
About the halfway mark on our journey to the medical facility, the bus stopped suddenly and the driver exited. No one was quite sure what happened until he came back and told us all to get off the bus. In the middle of the highway. There had been a small accident, it turns out, and a car had hit the bus. Again, not that anyone noticed. Xiao Liu asked where the nearest bus stop was or the nearest taxi stand. There were none, so we had to walk the last half hour across Xi'an.
The Accident. Everyone off the bus.
The walk wasn't too bad, but involved fighting traffic REPEATEDLY. Although there are lights and crosswalks here, they are no guarantee that you can go safely onward. We dodged cars and buses as we made our way through the city's large central roundabout.
The Sights. Some of the fun signs in Xi'an.
Finally to our destination, the paperwork began. Honestly, it was just one page of paperwork...that I had to fill out in Chinese. Simple stuff, like my birthplace, is pretty hard in a completely different language. The hardest part isn't the paperwork, though, it's the waiting. There were, maybe, two people ahead of me in line to pay and it took more than 20 minutes to do so. Why? I don't know, things just move more slowly here. Except cars.
The Medical Facility. If you're traveling in Xi'an, you have to go here.
The medical exam consisted of getting some blood drawn, an x-ray, an EKG, a simple eye test, and blood pressure. The x-ray was digital and it popped up on the computer screen as I was walking out: I had never seen my lungs before. "好不好？" ("good or bad?") I asked the nurse. "很好."("very good.") she replied.
I may have failed the eye test. The nurse put up shapes and asked me "How are they open." The first was like the letter "E" and I said "It opens from the right side" as I pointed left (into the shape) with my finger. "Wrong," she said. I think, in hindsight, I was supposed to say it opened right and done without the hand gestures.
The total cost for my health exam was the exorbitant 392RMB ($57.44), which isn't really much for a medical exam but it's a lot when you didn't know you'd have to spend it.
X-Rays. I enjoy the fact that they still use the letter "X."
The lobby of the hospital had a number of sculptural pieces. Liu Xiao read the plaque and said that they were from the Han Dynasty. Yep, 2000 year old sculptures in the lobby of a hospital.
Hospital Sculptures. Thousands of years old and just hanging about the place.
The trip home was uneventful: The bus picked us up, there was room to sit, and it made it all the way to our destination.
The Bus 2. Ah, seats.
We made it back in time for lunch. I had been craving meat and I went down the line asking Xiao Liu what each food was. She didn't know some of them, but she told me one item was "牛肉" ("beef"). I suppose it might have been beef, although it was more like bologna or spam in a vinegar bath. Still, it was protein, and the saltiness made it a good compliment to the rice. I also had some rice noodles which I quite enjoyed.
Lunch (午饭). Nothing fancy: rice, noodles, and vinegar spam.
The rest of the evening was pretty mild. I went back to my room, watched TV, became sad over cheeseburgers and ice, and went to bed. Also, I bought some instant coffee to try it out. Not too bad, really. Plus the guy on the package seems to like it:
The Coffee Guy. Nothing like Chinese preppy to make the coffee go down smooth.
Hayden
Comment Replies:
@Jenn: Its not quite an automat, unfortunately. Its really just a counter with a fancy system for ringing things up.
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