Visas and Bikes
I finally got my new bike! It’s ausome. An American brand, GT, Avalanche 2.0. According to anything I can find online, this bike does not exist or is not made in the USA. Its red all over, very good looking, matches with its rider. I want you all to know that I am riding it very carefully around this town- it’s a crazy town to ride in. But, if 11 year old kids and 85 year old grannies with grandpop in tow can do it, so can I. Today was the first day I rode it to work- only took me 25 minutes. As I cruised pass the bus station I was so happy to know that I would not have to feel the millions of Chinese bodies pressed against mine as we all packed onto the bus. Sometimes on the bus every part of my body is touching someone else’s. My elbow is in someone’s face as I hold onto the handrail, sorry dear, she gracefully moves it from her face.
Unfortunately today was a day the Chinese call ‘gua da feng’ - really big wind. There were times I was riding and not making any forward progress. By the time I got to work much of the cities dirt and dust was stuck to my face. Delicious. Still beats the bus. Tomorrow I will join the MOB [mountain bikers of Beijing] and go to the Ming Tombs [about 1 hour north of Beijing] and ride the mountains there, I can’t wait. Hope my bike holds up.
Today I also dealt with my visa situation. I went this morning and spoke to one woman behind the counter at the Public Security Bureau, I said, I want to extend my visa. What do I need? She directed me to go stand in a long line. I went to the line and spoke with another foreigner who was waiting in line who had a piece of paper called ‘application for visa form’. I went back to the woman, we’ll call her Dumbass for short, and asked, can I have an application form? She gave it to me. I went back to the long line, and noticed that my photo must be affixed to the form. I went back to Dumbass, and asked, can I have some glue to attach my photo? Oh yes, here. Gee thanks. So I say to her, ok, to clarify, I only need my passport, photo, visa form, that is ALL I need to get my visa extension? Yes, just go get in that long line.
Back to the long line, after waiting a long time, I talk to someone who says I must go with my roommate to the police station and get a temporary residence permit first. I wanted to go back to Dumbass and say, do you have any idea what you are doing here? What exactly is your job? Do you think you are helping China? She was text messaging the whole time, which must be a chronic problem with the Chinese and their jobs, the man I bought my bicycle from was telling me to ‘hold one moment’ [in English] while he read and responded to his text message. [For those of you out of the technology loop, you can write your friends messages on your cell phone, the Chinese love it].
This experience is what we refer to as ‘ma fan’. Ma, the character, is a pictograph of hemp fibers drying under a shed. They use this character to mean a variety of other words, including ‘numb’, the ‘ma’ of ‘mah jong’, and my dad’s favorite tofu dish, ‘ma po dofu’ [spicy tofu]. When put together with the character ‘fan’, which is a pictograph of fire in the head, together they mean ‘bother, trouble, inconvenience, pain, &*%$, a feeling experienced by foreigners when trying to get their visa renewed and talking to people who work at the visa place but have no idea what they are talking about… “Suan le!” [‘suan’ is a pictograph of bamboo and an abacus for counting shell money plus ‘le’ indicating past tense, put together to mean ‘forget it’ - or wasn’t the meaning obvious to you…]
Unfortunately today was a day the Chinese call ‘gua da feng’ - really big wind. There were times I was riding and not making any forward progress. By the time I got to work much of the cities dirt and dust was stuck to my face. Delicious. Still beats the bus. Tomorrow I will join the MOB [mountain bikers of Beijing] and go to the Ming Tombs [about 1 hour north of Beijing] and ride the mountains there, I can’t wait. Hope my bike holds up.
Today I also dealt with my visa situation. I went this morning and spoke to one woman behind the counter at the Public Security Bureau, I said, I want to extend my visa. What do I need? She directed me to go stand in a long line. I went to the line and spoke with another foreigner who was waiting in line who had a piece of paper called ‘application for visa form’. I went back to the woman, we’ll call her Dumbass for short, and asked, can I have an application form? She gave it to me. I went back to the long line, and noticed that my photo must be affixed to the form. I went back to Dumbass, and asked, can I have some glue to attach my photo? Oh yes, here. Gee thanks. So I say to her, ok, to clarify, I only need my passport, photo, visa form, that is ALL I need to get my visa extension? Yes, just go get in that long line.
Back to the long line, after waiting a long time, I talk to someone who says I must go with my roommate to the police station and get a temporary residence permit first. I wanted to go back to Dumbass and say, do you have any idea what you are doing here? What exactly is your job? Do you think you are helping China? She was text messaging the whole time, which must be a chronic problem with the Chinese and their jobs, the man I bought my bicycle from was telling me to ‘hold one moment’ [in English] while he read and responded to his text message. [For those of you out of the technology loop, you can write your friends messages on your cell phone, the Chinese love it].
This experience is what we refer to as ‘ma fan’. Ma, the character, is a pictograph of hemp fibers drying under a shed. They use this character to mean a variety of other words, including ‘numb’, the ‘ma’ of ‘mah jong’, and my dad’s favorite tofu dish, ‘ma po dofu’ [spicy tofu]. When put together with the character ‘fan’, which is a pictograph of fire in the head, together they mean ‘bother, trouble, inconvenience, pain, &*%$, a feeling experienced by foreigners when trying to get their visa renewed and talking to people who work at the visa place but have no idea what they are talking about… “Suan le!” [‘suan’ is a pictograph of bamboo and an abacus for counting shell money plus ‘le’ indicating past tense, put together to mean ‘forget it’ - or wasn’t the meaning obvious to you…]
posted by Claire at 6:49 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home