The Chinese reaction to Swine Flu (sorry, Type A H1N1 Influenza) is to aggressively quarantine anyone suspected of having it, or of having been in contact with someone who may have had it. Also, to lock up all of Shanghai's Mexicans, regardless of whether or not they have even BEEN TO MEXICO in the past so many weeks ... So basically, having failed miserably to warn the world about Bird Flu and SARS, neither of which thankfully got off the ground in a big way, the Chinese pendulum now swings to the opposite side. I'm willing to bet that, like the word for "logic", traditional Chinese has no word for "middle ground".
In other news, I went to the post office to send a parcel to my girlfriend and the following conversation took place:
[In the room where you have to buy the boxes, opposite the International Counter itself]
Worker: Go to the counter to check you can send all that in one box. ("All that" is a DVD, an item of clothing, and a letter)
[At the counter]
Worker: You can't send this all together.
Me: Why not?
Worker: This is written stuff, and these are articles. You can send the letter on its own and the items in a box.
Me: Why? I've done it before! Look, I'm not blaming YOU, but every time I come here there is some problem and the workers here all say "Oh it's just the regulations", so today, right now, I would like to see these regulations please.
Worker: (perplexed) I'll just go ask my supervisor. Wait a moment.
[She comes back after a minute or two]
Worker: Just a moment I have to make a phone call.
[Another minute passes]
Worker: Okay you can send them all together.
What the hell was that all about? I'm going back with a Chinese friend and I'm demanding a copy of their regulations now, this is ridiculous, I'm willing to bet half the stuff they've told me is just made up by someone who simply didn't like the aesthetics of whatever it was I was doing (writing addresses in red ink for instance) ... In future I'm just going to hide letters with my articles and sod them, I can even declare a letter's presence on the customs form, since I'm almost certain they don't speak / read English at the International Counter.
What a barmy country. Im home in 71 days.
Showing posts with label hassle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hassle. Show all posts
Tuesday, 12 May 2009
Thursday, 9 October 2008
Various Happenings from the Last Few Days
i've given up trying to remember what happened recently and when, if it was that important i'd be writing about it ... here's some events from the past couple of days though.
My Residency Permit
Getting this piece of golddust was like ascending Everest, or attempting to find Nirvana. Seriously, the Chinese system is shit. About two weeks ago we applied for our permits (this was after getting the temporary permit from our LOCAL police station) from the main office in Urumqi. This took two days, because on day one we were turned away at 1330 when everyone buggered off to have lunch. At the same time. I got annoyed about it in a previous blog, so I'm not going to waste breath here. The receipt they gave us said to come back on the 30th of September, no problem, so we did. Only it was closed. So we went the whole of our week off school without our main form of ID. What would have happened had we needed to leave the country in a hurry for whatever reason, I don't know. We went back the other day (October 7th) to get them ... easier said than done. First we needed to take a ticket to determine our place in the queue (and hope the chinese would play nicely!) - but which one? Miss Stone-Face on the desk was very little help but she did show me which ticket I needed, and so Marta and I got numbers 4007 and 4008. Fortunately the queue was at 4003, and moving relatively quickly, so we didn't have too long to wait. While sitting there Tanya turned up and took ticket 4011, so at least she wasn't too far behind us. Approaching StoneFace I handed over my receipt. She didn't seem in a good mood, so I didnt bother with pleasantries, I'm growing quite calloused to public service officials here, if they're not interested in being polite, neither am I. She found my passport and then motioned me to her colleague at the next counter (literally 6 feet along the desk), who took my receipt, ran it through a machine, stamped it, and gave me two of the carbon copies back before telling me I needed to pay the 400 RMB fee at the bank next door. WHAT?! Do it over the damn counter, woman. (Tanya said the last time she did this, she just paid over the desk, none of this bank malarky). But that's how it works, so off we went and got one ticket for the three of us at the bank. It didnt take too long to get to our place in the queue (about 15 minutes) and there was minimal fuss with the actual payment. Back to the PSB, where the bank-charge woman stamped our receipts AGAIN, and then motioned us back to StoneFace. This is a really good example of Chinese stupidity. Finally we got our passports pretty much chucked at us by this unpleasant dour woman, and with that we were free to go, legal residents of Urumqi, Xinjiang. At last.
Buying a Mattress (YAY)
I think everyone will be pleased to know that I finally found time (and could be bothered) to go and buy a mattress. I didn't think it would make THAT much difference - given that I've got used to sleeping on my makeshift bedding for the past 5 weeks - but it really does. And it was worth the slight hassle involved. In Urumqi there is a GIANT SHOPPING MALL - more of a market place but I digress - it's ridiculously large, the building from the outside is impressively massive in itself, and inside it stretches on as far as you can see ... not just this, but the site is split over two sides, it's incomprehensibly huge. Our first attempt, we went in the wrong side, and spent a while browsing what looked like very upmarket stores, not at all what we had been led to imagine it was like. We tried the other side however, and found an emporium of low-cost high-quality goods, all of which can be haggled over (joy). Although I found a mattress stall very quickly, I didnt have the exact measurements for my bed (d'oh!) and I couldn't risk it being too long, since my bed is a TIGHT fit in my room ... So we had to come back the next day, except I left my measure-strings (I dont have a tape measure, so I cut lengths of string, one for width and one for length, clever eh?) at home, which necessitated an extra taxi journey. Oops. Finally we made it, and I found a mattress I liked - in retrospect I could have had the cheaper, slightly more compressible one, but I didnt think it would fit on my bed, and this one felt nice so I just went with it. Like I say, my back is much harder and stronger than when I came here. They didn't hike the price up massively like friends said they would - actually they seemed really quite nice. There was some mild haggling, but I actually asked first if I could negotiate, and the owner of the store agreed, but within reason. We came to 550 RMB including delivery. Fair enough really. I was prepared to pay more than that overall!!! :) Getting it in the house was a struggle, because there was some car jam created by my driver arriving outside my flat, so he had to leave sharpish (in fairness I told him it was okay and I could manage) - but I underestimated the weight of this thing! I was struggling it inside when an old man came in the stairwell and offered to help; I turned the offer down because the guy was OLD, we're talking late 70s early 80s here ... but he insisted and together we got this thing inside my house (he offered to move it to the bedroom but I said a firm no, because my room wasn't tidy enough to get it in there, and also because he had more than helped!) - but the surprise came when I went to the stairs to get my water bottle, and picked up his bags for him. The old guy gamely walks with these HEAVY bags of shopping at least twice a week from what I can work out. Each carrier bag must have been about eight kilos, minimum. And this guy is not even uncommon around here - certainly the older generation in China knows how to look after itself!
Long story short, my room is now a lot more comfortable, the mattress is covered, I have a second, Chinese style thin mattress, also covered on top of it to make it cushy, and a duvet on top ... it's all bright colours (orange bunnies on the duvet and bright pink flowers on the Chinese mattress) so my room feels a lot warmer, and of course I now enjoy spending time in here. Viva Winter.
Settling Down A Bit
I sometimes got really homesick being here. It's never happened before, so I'm quite unused to dealing with it. But anyway, yesterday I had a wonderful day, which made me forget (mostly) about not being with people I love in England. As I went to my first class, a Chinese girl stopped me and asked if I spoke English (I love it when they ask that, as if they think I'm not a native speaker, I get a kick out of saying that not only do I speak English, I AM English) ... she wanted help with something, so I said okay (not even sure what she needed help with!) but please meet me after my class. 1200 and she was there, almost on the dot, thanking me in advance - haha, I didn't even know what I was supposed to be doing! We found a classroom that wasn't being used, and she introduced herself (Ava) and explained the situation. She's an English student, and there's a national English competition taking place, but to select people from each province there are obviously local rounds to take part in. Makes sense really. There are 3 parts to this competition - a prepared speech delivered from memory, an impromptu speech (not sure how it works), and a Q+A session at the end. Everything is done in front of an audience (both Chinese and native English speakers), and a panel of judges (of course!). She needed help tweaking her prepared speech before the competition (at the weekend!!! So soon!), and would I please assist? Haha, sure! I thought I was going to have to translate an email! Phew! Turns out there are no native speaking foreign teachers at XNU this year / semester, so unlike other universities she'd desperately been trying to find a foreign student. I spent an hour sorting her stuff out - her topic was nice and abstract so there was a lot of imagery to work around ... and finally it was done and she was happy, but would I also do her friend's work? Yeah, alright. Fortunately her friend (Annie) had chosen a much more literal topic and the writing was more straightforward, I only had to spend about 30 minutes smoothing it out and making sure she understood why I was changing bits and bobs. Mint, job done. They thanked me and I've now made 2 new Chinese friends (yay) - I hope they do well this weekend!
I then had lunch with another Chinese friend, a guy I met in a mobile phone store when I was buying my Xinjiang SIM card, who I had given my number to (wasn't sure about it but I figured I needed friends!) ... and so we met for the first time in a month and a half, and it turns out I made a really good decision giving him my number. The guy (Fei) is really nice. He's local, so I'm guessing he knows all there is to know about Urumqi, he's patient with my Chinese, and he's easy to get along with, which is good since I'm meeting up with him partly to improve Chinese and partly to help him with his English ... We had a really good lunch, and have plans to make this a weekly thing, with some topics to discuss so we can focus our learning. After this, as if I'd not done enough already, I went to the gym, had a good workout, and generally felt much better about being here. So maybe I'm settling in after all.
Thanks and General Appreciations
I'd like to thank some people without whom my trip so far would have been pretty much unbearable. Sorry if I miss you out, this is being done off the top of my head:
Mum - for the numerous letters, photos and aid parcels (more on that next post). I've not received your cake yet, but I live in hope!
Lucy - for writing at least 10 sides of A4 every time you send me a letter, which comes at the ridiculous cost of £1.22 each time (I wonder how the recession will change that?!), for the emails, texts, and long phone calls, even the ones that wake me up in the morning.
Nana - I know you don't read this, but your letters and that phone call are all very much appreciated. :) I've replied too!
Mariamelia - for the comments and postcard that now forms part of my growing wall decorations! My regards to your daughter, wherever she's got herself now ... !
Fiona - who would have thought I'd still be in touch with someone I lived with for just 3 months in first year at uni? And who would have thought the same person would be sending me coffee and chocolates from Northern Ireland to China?! If I've got money next summer (and I hope I do), I'm coming over NI for sure, let me know if there's something Chinese you want! I can't wait for your parcel :)
My Postman
- Zhou Qi Ming is a godsend. The guy calls me when there's a package for me, arranges a time to meet me at the depot, has a chat, speaks nice and slow, helps my friends out when they don't know where their depot is (because the postmen scribble Chinese on their missed-call slips), and seems easy going with a sense of humour!
Anyone Who Is Going To Send Me Stuff - I can't wait! Thanks in advance!
My Residency Permit
Getting this piece of golddust was like ascending Everest, or attempting to find Nirvana. Seriously, the Chinese system is shit. About two weeks ago we applied for our permits (this was after getting the temporary permit from our LOCAL police station) from the main office in Urumqi. This took two days, because on day one we were turned away at 1330 when everyone buggered off to have lunch. At the same time. I got annoyed about it in a previous blog, so I'm not going to waste breath here. The receipt they gave us said to come back on the 30th of September, no problem, so we did. Only it was closed. So we went the whole of our week off school without our main form of ID. What would have happened had we needed to leave the country in a hurry for whatever reason, I don't know. We went back the other day (October 7th) to get them ... easier said than done. First we needed to take a ticket to determine our place in the queue (and hope the chinese would play nicely!) - but which one? Miss Stone-Face on the desk was very little help but she did show me which ticket I needed, and so Marta and I got numbers 4007 and 4008. Fortunately the queue was at 4003, and moving relatively quickly, so we didn't have too long to wait. While sitting there Tanya turned up and took ticket 4011, so at least she wasn't too far behind us. Approaching StoneFace I handed over my receipt. She didn't seem in a good mood, so I didnt bother with pleasantries, I'm growing quite calloused to public service officials here, if they're not interested in being polite, neither am I. She found my passport and then motioned me to her colleague at the next counter (literally 6 feet along the desk), who took my receipt, ran it through a machine, stamped it, and gave me two of the carbon copies back before telling me I needed to pay the 400 RMB fee at the bank next door. WHAT?! Do it over the damn counter, woman. (Tanya said the last time she did this, she just paid over the desk, none of this bank malarky). But that's how it works, so off we went and got one ticket for the three of us at the bank. It didnt take too long to get to our place in the queue (about 15 minutes) and there was minimal fuss with the actual payment. Back to the PSB, where the bank-charge woman stamped our receipts AGAIN, and then motioned us back to StoneFace. This is a really good example of Chinese stupidity. Finally we got our passports pretty much chucked at us by this unpleasant dour woman, and with that we were free to go, legal residents of Urumqi, Xinjiang. At last.
Buying a Mattress (YAY)
I think everyone will be pleased to know that I finally found time (and could be bothered) to go and buy a mattress. I didn't think it would make THAT much difference - given that I've got used to sleeping on my makeshift bedding for the past 5 weeks - but it really does. And it was worth the slight hassle involved. In Urumqi there is a GIANT SHOPPING MALL - more of a market place but I digress - it's ridiculously large, the building from the outside is impressively massive in itself, and inside it stretches on as far as you can see ... not just this, but the site is split over two sides, it's incomprehensibly huge. Our first attempt, we went in the wrong side, and spent a while browsing what looked like very upmarket stores, not at all what we had been led to imagine it was like. We tried the other side however, and found an emporium of low-cost high-quality goods, all of which can be haggled over (joy). Although I found a mattress stall very quickly, I didnt have the exact measurements for my bed (d'oh!) and I couldn't risk it being too long, since my bed is a TIGHT fit in my room ... So we had to come back the next day, except I left my measure-strings (I dont have a tape measure, so I cut lengths of string, one for width and one for length, clever eh?) at home, which necessitated an extra taxi journey. Oops. Finally we made it, and I found a mattress I liked - in retrospect I could have had the cheaper, slightly more compressible one, but I didnt think it would fit on my bed, and this one felt nice so I just went with it. Like I say, my back is much harder and stronger than when I came here. They didn't hike the price up massively like friends said they would - actually they seemed really quite nice. There was some mild haggling, but I actually asked first if I could negotiate, and the owner of the store agreed, but within reason. We came to 550 RMB including delivery. Fair enough really. I was prepared to pay more than that overall!!! :) Getting it in the house was a struggle, because there was some car jam created by my driver arriving outside my flat, so he had to leave sharpish (in fairness I told him it was okay and I could manage) - but I underestimated the weight of this thing! I was struggling it inside when an old man came in the stairwell and offered to help; I turned the offer down because the guy was OLD, we're talking late 70s early 80s here ... but he insisted and together we got this thing inside my house (he offered to move it to the bedroom but I said a firm no, because my room wasn't tidy enough to get it in there, and also because he had more than helped!) - but the surprise came when I went to the stairs to get my water bottle, and picked up his bags for him. The old guy gamely walks with these HEAVY bags of shopping at least twice a week from what I can work out. Each carrier bag must have been about eight kilos, minimum. And this guy is not even uncommon around here - certainly the older generation in China knows how to look after itself!
Long story short, my room is now a lot more comfortable, the mattress is covered, I have a second, Chinese style thin mattress, also covered on top of it to make it cushy, and a duvet on top ... it's all bright colours (orange bunnies on the duvet and bright pink flowers on the Chinese mattress) so my room feels a lot warmer, and of course I now enjoy spending time in here. Viva Winter.
Settling Down A Bit
I sometimes got really homesick being here. It's never happened before, so I'm quite unused to dealing with it. But anyway, yesterday I had a wonderful day, which made me forget (mostly) about not being with people I love in England. As I went to my first class, a Chinese girl stopped me and asked if I spoke English (I love it when they ask that, as if they think I'm not a native speaker, I get a kick out of saying that not only do I speak English, I AM English) ... she wanted help with something, so I said okay (not even sure what she needed help with!) but please meet me after my class. 1200 and she was there, almost on the dot, thanking me in advance - haha, I didn't even know what I was supposed to be doing! We found a classroom that wasn't being used, and she introduced herself (Ava) and explained the situation. She's an English student, and there's a national English competition taking place, but to select people from each province there are obviously local rounds to take part in. Makes sense really. There are 3 parts to this competition - a prepared speech delivered from memory, an impromptu speech (not sure how it works), and a Q+A session at the end. Everything is done in front of an audience (both Chinese and native English speakers), and a panel of judges (of course!). She needed help tweaking her prepared speech before the competition (at the weekend!!! So soon!), and would I please assist? Haha, sure! I thought I was going to have to translate an email! Phew! Turns out there are no native speaking foreign teachers at XNU this year / semester, so unlike other universities she'd desperately been trying to find a foreign student. I spent an hour sorting her stuff out - her topic was nice and abstract so there was a lot of imagery to work around ... and finally it was done and she was happy, but would I also do her friend's work? Yeah, alright. Fortunately her friend (Annie) had chosen a much more literal topic and the writing was more straightforward, I only had to spend about 30 minutes smoothing it out and making sure she understood why I was changing bits and bobs. Mint, job done. They thanked me and I've now made 2 new Chinese friends (yay) - I hope they do well this weekend!
I then had lunch with another Chinese friend, a guy I met in a mobile phone store when I was buying my Xinjiang SIM card, who I had given my number to (wasn't sure about it but I figured I needed friends!) ... and so we met for the first time in a month and a half, and it turns out I made a really good decision giving him my number. The guy (Fei) is really nice. He's local, so I'm guessing he knows all there is to know about Urumqi, he's patient with my Chinese, and he's easy to get along with, which is good since I'm meeting up with him partly to improve Chinese and partly to help him with his English ... We had a really good lunch, and have plans to make this a weekly thing, with some topics to discuss so we can focus our learning. After this, as if I'd not done enough already, I went to the gym, had a good workout, and generally felt much better about being here. So maybe I'm settling in after all.
Thanks and General Appreciations
I'd like to thank some people without whom my trip so far would have been pretty much unbearable. Sorry if I miss you out, this is being done off the top of my head:
Mum - for the numerous letters, photos and aid parcels (more on that next post). I've not received your cake yet, but I live in hope!
Lucy - for writing at least 10 sides of A4 every time you send me a letter, which comes at the ridiculous cost of £1.22 each time (I wonder how the recession will change that?!), for the emails, texts, and long phone calls, even the ones that wake me up in the morning.
Nana - I know you don't read this, but your letters and that phone call are all very much appreciated. :) I've replied too!
Mariamelia - for the comments and postcard that now forms part of my growing wall decorations! My regards to your daughter, wherever she's got herself now ... !
Fiona - who would have thought I'd still be in touch with someone I lived with for just 3 months in first year at uni? And who would have thought the same person would be sending me coffee and chocolates from Northern Ireland to China?! If I've got money next summer (and I hope I do), I'm coming over NI for sure, let me know if there's something Chinese you want! I can't wait for your parcel :)
My Postman
- Zhou Qi Ming is a godsend. The guy calls me when there's a package for me, arranges a time to meet me at the depot, has a chat, speaks nice and slow, helps my friends out when they don't know where their depot is (because the postmen scribble Chinese on their missed-call slips), and seems easy going with a sense of humour!
Anyone Who Is Going To Send Me Stuff - I can't wait! Thanks in advance!
Wednesday, 17 September 2008
Pissup in a Brewery, Anyone?
*There was an alternative title to this post. I'll leave it up to your imaginations, suffice to say it was clean but very much taking the biscuit*
Will it never end? Seems like we get a couple of days when things run smoothly, and then everything hits the fan again. Two examples from the past two days.
POSTING A PRESENT ABROAD
How hard can it be to find a post office with an international service? This is a big deal - every other country I have been to has a facility for international postage in every post office, regardless of size, location, or how often this function is required. Sending a package to another country is as simple as going to a desk, filling out the required forms, and watching your post disappear into the black hole of the post office backroom. Here, it's enough if I can find a place that's open when I want it to be. Doesnt help that on the most recent holiday (Mid Autumn Festival?) the post offices stay closed but the banks open. Kind of like an odd bank holiday. So my second attempt to send this parcel was scuppered by poor timing (my first was ruined by the post muppet telling me that the present - a mug, yes you guessed correctly Lucy - was for drinking tea, and the letters -rolled up inside the mug for convenience - were for posting; actually I thought this was quite insulting and I wanted to hit the bloke square in the face for being so obnoxious, I was already having a crap day). Anyway, finally the post offices were open and I thought I would get this sorted once and for all. I went in and was informed there was no international service at that office. Honestly, what is wrong with this stupid place? I asked where I could find a branch to send my package and they said Hongshan. I asked if that was the one near the Xinhua Bookstore and they said yes, take the 101 bus (yes, yes, I know THAT). So I took the bus, it was the middle of the day, blazing hot, and I wasn't feeling good at all. But I got there, and it was a lot cooler inside, and then the fun began again. Turns out they don't have an international service. And after I got quite frustrated with them, it turns out they aren't the Hongshan branch, it's another 2 stops up the road. Gaaaaargh. I asked why they couldnt just have an international service in all branches like in England (or anywhere else for that matter) and was told (in English), "Ah, but that is your country and ... this is China" (yes, it IS China, which is fast becoming synonymous for "difficult" and "hopelessly slow" - aptly I learnt a very good Chinese word this week, δΉ± (luan) which means "messy" or "disorganised".) Feeling even worse, I went to the Hongshan branch, where (after a LOT of hassle, rewriting my address on the parcel, and filling out various customs forms - acerbically I might add, the frustration by this point becoming tangible) the package was good to go and all that remained was the small matter of RMB 86 to pay for it. WHAT?! GBP £7.00!!!!!!! for a small parcel?! Gobsmacked, and with no other option, I paid for this service, but really, that is extortionate. I think post day is going to be a once a week, maybe once every ten days affair, and will mainly be limited to sending letters, certainly nothing much bigger if that's how much I'm going to have to pay!
On the plus side I wasn't required to show my passport (a first, maybe?)
OBTAINING A RESIDENCY PERMIT
It has been about 10 days since we got our temporary residents' permits, which took about 18 days from arriving in China (there was a 30 day limit, it wasn't exactly optional, but the process took forever). Now we need the permanent ones (apparently we have another 30 days to get this sorted, good, we'll probably need it), which are both a sheet of paper and a sticker in the passport (I think). This morning we finally got the uni to give us all the necessary documents for this permit, and off we went to the PSB office. For the record, our handbooks state that a member of the international school staff should accompany us, but I didn't see anyone offering, and like most other things I'm beginning to suspect it was a load of mouth and not much trousers. We got to the PSB offices at about 1220, took a ticket when we went in and noted the number ... 1070 ... the display was reading number 1032 or something ridiculously far from our turn, and as usual a massive crowd of people was aimlessly shoving and trying to plonk their docs on the table first (despite this numbering system, it would seem the Chinese attitude of "just barge and shove and get in front of everyone else" has infected foreigners now) ... so we decided to go for lunch and see what the numbering system was doing when we got back. about 45 minutes later and it was all the way up to 1042. hardly an improvement, and quite frankly shocking - if these people would actually QUEUE and follow some sort of discipline, I'm sure it would have gone a lot quicker. And finally, at 1330, the guard from the front door comes along and starts making a cut off point, because the office stops working around then (WHY?!) and informs us they will reopen at 10 the next day, please come back then. So we are skipping classes (I sent my teacher an apologetic text, explaining this), just to get this stupid bureaucractic rubbish done, when it should have been sorted weeks ago, we should have had more assistance, and it certainly shouldn't have taken longer than today to finish.
In brief, I would suggest the following changes to improve efficiency and keep people happy:
* Make your postal service, just that.
* Do the same for your banks (remember the hassle we went through earlier?)
* Work proper hours, and don't send everyone off to lunch at the same damn time, that's what SHIFTS were invented for.
* Research, and subsequently enforce, the idea of queues in public offices (at least, if not everywhere)
* University, if you say you are going to provide a service, provide it.
As soon as we have this stupid permit sorted, we are going out to celebrate in a small (but very nice) restaurant near our house. And we're taking at least one of our teachers with us, we have two absolute stars to thank.
Will it never end? Seems like we get a couple of days when things run smoothly, and then everything hits the fan again. Two examples from the past two days.
POSTING A PRESENT ABROAD
How hard can it be to find a post office with an international service? This is a big deal - every other country I have been to has a facility for international postage in every post office, regardless of size, location, or how often this function is required. Sending a package to another country is as simple as going to a desk, filling out the required forms, and watching your post disappear into the black hole of the post office backroom. Here, it's enough if I can find a place that's open when I want it to be. Doesnt help that on the most recent holiday (Mid Autumn Festival?) the post offices stay closed but the banks open. Kind of like an odd bank holiday. So my second attempt to send this parcel was scuppered by poor timing (my first was ruined by the post muppet telling me that the present - a mug, yes you guessed correctly Lucy - was for drinking tea, and the letters -rolled up inside the mug for convenience - were for posting; actually I thought this was quite insulting and I wanted to hit the bloke square in the face for being so obnoxious, I was already having a crap day). Anyway, finally the post offices were open and I thought I would get this sorted once and for all. I went in and was informed there was no international service at that office. Honestly, what is wrong with this stupid place? I asked where I could find a branch to send my package and they said Hongshan. I asked if that was the one near the Xinhua Bookstore and they said yes, take the 101 bus (yes, yes, I know THAT). So I took the bus, it was the middle of the day, blazing hot, and I wasn't feeling good at all. But I got there, and it was a lot cooler inside, and then the fun began again. Turns out they don't have an international service. And after I got quite frustrated with them, it turns out they aren't the Hongshan branch, it's another 2 stops up the road. Gaaaaargh. I asked why they couldnt just have an international service in all branches like in England (or anywhere else for that matter) and was told (in English), "Ah, but that is your country and ... this is China" (yes, it IS China, which is fast becoming synonymous for "difficult" and "hopelessly slow" - aptly I learnt a very good Chinese word this week, δΉ± (luan) which means "messy" or "disorganised".) Feeling even worse, I went to the Hongshan branch, where (after a LOT of hassle, rewriting my address on the parcel, and filling out various customs forms - acerbically I might add, the frustration by this point becoming tangible) the package was good to go and all that remained was the small matter of RMB 86 to pay for it. WHAT?! GBP £7.00!!!!!!! for a small parcel?! Gobsmacked, and with no other option, I paid for this service, but really, that is extortionate. I think post day is going to be a once a week, maybe once every ten days affair, and will mainly be limited to sending letters, certainly nothing much bigger if that's how much I'm going to have to pay!
On the plus side I wasn't required to show my passport (a first, maybe?)
OBTAINING A RESIDENCY PERMIT
It has been about 10 days since we got our temporary residents' permits, which took about 18 days from arriving in China (there was a 30 day limit, it wasn't exactly optional, but the process took forever). Now we need the permanent ones (apparently we have another 30 days to get this sorted, good, we'll probably need it), which are both a sheet of paper and a sticker in the passport (I think). This morning we finally got the uni to give us all the necessary documents for this permit, and off we went to the PSB office. For the record, our handbooks state that a member of the international school staff should accompany us, but I didn't see anyone offering, and like most other things I'm beginning to suspect it was a load of mouth and not much trousers. We got to the PSB offices at about 1220, took a ticket when we went in and noted the number ... 1070 ... the display was reading number 1032 or something ridiculously far from our turn, and as usual a massive crowd of people was aimlessly shoving and trying to plonk their docs on the table first (despite this numbering system, it would seem the Chinese attitude of "just barge and shove and get in front of everyone else" has infected foreigners now) ... so we decided to go for lunch and see what the numbering system was doing when we got back. about 45 minutes later and it was all the way up to 1042. hardly an improvement, and quite frankly shocking - if these people would actually QUEUE and follow some sort of discipline, I'm sure it would have gone a lot quicker. And finally, at 1330, the guard from the front door comes along and starts making a cut off point, because the office stops working around then (WHY?!) and informs us they will reopen at 10 the next day, please come back then. So we are skipping classes (I sent my teacher an apologetic text, explaining this), just to get this stupid bureaucractic rubbish done, when it should have been sorted weeks ago, we should have had more assistance, and it certainly shouldn't have taken longer than today to finish.
In brief, I would suggest the following changes to improve efficiency and keep people happy:
* Make your postal service, just that.
* Do the same for your banks (remember the hassle we went through earlier?)
* Work proper hours, and don't send everyone off to lunch at the same damn time, that's what SHIFTS were invented for.
* Research, and subsequently enforce, the idea of queues in public offices (at least, if not everywhere)
* University, if you say you are going to provide a service, provide it.
As soon as we have this stupid permit sorted, we are going out to celebrate in a small (but very nice) restaurant near our house. And we're taking at least one of our teachers with us, we have two absolute stars to thank.
Sunday, 7 September 2008
Bureaucrapcy
Not a spelling error there, sorry, just a rubbish pun. Honestly, the amount of stuff that needs signing and photocopying to get anywhere in China is ridiculous. I bet they lose half the stuff we give them anyway, and why nothing is done electronically is beyond me. In order to register for a temporary residence permit we have to do the following:
1. Get forms from XNU
2. Make sure we make 4 photocopies of all the documents
3. Fill them out and take them back to the International Office for the school stamp
4. Take them to the Police along with copies of our landlady’s ID and rent contract
5. Don’t forget passport photos!
6. Obtain a residency permit from the local police station
7. Take it back to the University
8. Have it signed and stamped, and take it to the main Police office in the city
9. Here, they will issue us with actual residency permits (not sure, don’t ask) and include a stamp in our passports.
So, why can’t we just go straight to the main Police office? And why did we only get told about these other forms (specific to the University, regarding living off campus) after we had been to the Police station with our landlady’s ID and rent contract? And why is there no one to help us fill in one of the forms which is completely in Chinese? This is madness. The local Police office pretty much just waves us past the gate security now, we’ve been back so many times (and still have to go back again). I have about 15 days left before I am considered an illegal resident in China. I have no desire for this to occur, let’s hope some people pull their fingers out for us and get us these residency permits. I bet they don’t allow entry to China though, so if I want to travel internationally I will need to get another visa from someplace – or just not travel internationally. I hate the Olympics and all the heightened security measures that surround them.
On another note, I have finally completed my medical examinations and been registered for classes even though I’ve not yet received my student ID. The medical exams were not great but not the end of the world either – we had to fast for about 12 hours beforehand (and people that know me know I can pass out when I’m having my blood taken even on a full stomach), and in the morning we had to spend some time at the uni taking some language tests for class placements … I didn’t do as well as I wanted on those tests, but I didn’t do so badly either. I’ve been put in an intermediate class, and I know at least one other member of the group, there are only going to be about 15 of us total, I hope the others are good students or I will have to do more complaining (both here and formally!) … The medical exams were simple though – a blood test (a quick confirmation of blood type and then a sample or two to be sent to a lab for overnight testing, things like, white / red blood cell counts, HIV, Syphilis, Plague, and so on), a urine test (blood sugars and so on), X-ray (mobile not static, they sort of move the X-ray box around and it scans you in real time), 12 SL ECG, blood pressure, heart rate, vision, and an abdominal / lower chest ultrasound. Apparently I have type O blood – this I did not know. Now it’s possible, but mum always seemed sure I had type B. And Marta’s blood also showed up as O, but she is sure she has type A … whether the Chinese test was botched or not, we don’t know … but at any rate, at least O can be given to anyone, so if we have to receive maybe it’s just easiest! The X-ray was interesting, the doctor refused to sign off my sheet fully until he had seen my ECG report (which came back with the notes, “sinus bradycardia with sinus arrhythmia”, which they ummed and ahhed over for a minute or so, made a note on the paper, and then he signed me off as “healthy”) – really great for my confidence, eh. Blood pressure was stupidly low on the first reading (94 / 48) and not much higher on the second (103 / 58) but that’s hardly surprising given that I usually have it quite low, and that I’d not been eating for ages. The tests lasted about half an hour, and we paid RMB 283 (about £22.50) for them all, came back the next day and collected our health examination booklets which have our photo and all the results printed on the inside – they look like little passports, and have to be taken with us if we go travelling, inside or outside China I am told. At least we got all the results quickly – next-day service in the UK? I don’t think so, you’d have to wait a week. But it would be free I suppose. Swings and roundabouts really.
Back to my classes, I’m not sure what all of them comprise – I couldn’t translate all the Chinese – but I know I have quite a few! First class runs from 0930 – 1130, second from 1140 – 1330 and third class from 1600 – 1750, all Beijing times. Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays I have all three classes (oh fun), Wednesdays and Fridays I finish at 1330 (woop) … altogether I think I have something like 24.5 hours a week, much much more than I am used to in the UK! Although all the classes are in Chinese (as far as I know), I think four of them are not language classes per se – two are in Chinese culture, and two are for the HSK – a sort of exam to show what level of Chinese you have, internationally recognised (I think) … oh and one, I think is homework session, it’s the only one Marta and I share.
1. Get forms from XNU
2. Make sure we make 4 photocopies of all the documents
3. Fill them out and take them back to the International Office for the school stamp
4. Take them to the Police along with copies of our landlady’s ID and rent contract
5. Don’t forget passport photos!
6. Obtain a residency permit from the local police station
7. Take it back to the University
8. Have it signed and stamped, and take it to the main Police office in the city
9. Here, they will issue us with actual residency permits (not sure, don’t ask) and include a stamp in our passports.
So, why can’t we just go straight to the main Police office? And why did we only get told about these other forms (specific to the University, regarding living off campus) after we had been to the Police station with our landlady’s ID and rent contract? And why is there no one to help us fill in one of the forms which is completely in Chinese? This is madness. The local Police office pretty much just waves us past the gate security now, we’ve been back so many times (and still have to go back again). I have about 15 days left before I am considered an illegal resident in China. I have no desire for this to occur, let’s hope some people pull their fingers out for us and get us these residency permits. I bet they don’t allow entry to China though, so if I want to travel internationally I will need to get another visa from someplace – or just not travel internationally. I hate the Olympics and all the heightened security measures that surround them.
On another note, I have finally completed my medical examinations and been registered for classes even though I’ve not yet received my student ID. The medical exams were not great but not the end of the world either – we had to fast for about 12 hours beforehand (and people that know me know I can pass out when I’m having my blood taken even on a full stomach), and in the morning we had to spend some time at the uni taking some language tests for class placements … I didn’t do as well as I wanted on those tests, but I didn’t do so badly either. I’ve been put in an intermediate class, and I know at least one other member of the group, there are only going to be about 15 of us total, I hope the others are good students or I will have to do more complaining (both here and formally!) … The medical exams were simple though – a blood test (a quick confirmation of blood type and then a sample or two to be sent to a lab for overnight testing, things like, white / red blood cell counts, HIV, Syphilis, Plague, and so on), a urine test (blood sugars and so on), X-ray (mobile not static, they sort of move the X-ray box around and it scans you in real time), 12 SL ECG, blood pressure, heart rate, vision, and an abdominal / lower chest ultrasound. Apparently I have type O blood – this I did not know. Now it’s possible, but mum always seemed sure I had type B. And Marta’s blood also showed up as O, but she is sure she has type A … whether the Chinese test was botched or not, we don’t know … but at any rate, at least O can be given to anyone, so if we have to receive maybe it’s just easiest! The X-ray was interesting, the doctor refused to sign off my sheet fully until he had seen my ECG report (which came back with the notes, “sinus bradycardia with sinus arrhythmia”, which they ummed and ahhed over for a minute or so, made a note on the paper, and then he signed me off as “healthy”) – really great for my confidence, eh. Blood pressure was stupidly low on the first reading (94 / 48) and not much higher on the second (103 / 58) but that’s hardly surprising given that I usually have it quite low, and that I’d not been eating for ages. The tests lasted about half an hour, and we paid RMB 283 (about £22.50) for them all, came back the next day and collected our health examination booklets which have our photo and all the results printed on the inside – they look like little passports, and have to be taken with us if we go travelling, inside or outside China I am told. At least we got all the results quickly – next-day service in the UK? I don’t think so, you’d have to wait a week. But it would be free I suppose. Swings and roundabouts really.
Back to my classes, I’m not sure what all of them comprise – I couldn’t translate all the Chinese – but I know I have quite a few! First class runs from 0930 – 1130, second from 1140 – 1330 and third class from 1600 – 1750, all Beijing times. Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays I have all three classes (oh fun), Wednesdays and Fridays I finish at 1330 (woop) … altogether I think I have something like 24.5 hours a week, much much more than I am used to in the UK! Although all the classes are in Chinese (as far as I know), I think four of them are not language classes per se – two are in Chinese culture, and two are for the HSK – a sort of exam to show what level of Chinese you have, internationally recognised (I think) … oh and one, I think is homework session, it’s the only one Marta and I share.
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