More VISA woes.
I woke up this morning and finished putting together my Christmas DVD. I have burnt a bunch of copies and shipped it to my folks. During this time, Richard called me up to explain what's going on.
"Phil? Hey there, mate. Ok. VISAs....What a nightmare. [exasperated]I have been doing nothing but calling all morning and I finally got the info. U.S. Citizens are totally screwed by the new regulations. First off, U.S. Passport holders can no longer get an "F" Business VISA unless they have a letter of introduction by their U.S. company." [this means that I can no longer get a business VISA - one that would allow me to work in China.] "You can still get an "L" Tourist VISA though, however, will cause some problems since it is illegal to work on an "L" VISA." [i worked for 2 months on an 'L' VISA when I first got here because BOND are lying chinese snakes.] The only other way is to convert that to a "Z" Work VISA, however, with the new Regulations,you can't do that. But here is what we are going to try and do, the Zhongshan PR Office may be able to extend your "F" VISA for a period of time while we put in the change for the "Z" VISA, since they are still allowing for that to happen. So, this is what we will do. You will give all your information (certificates and diploma and photocopies of passport/visa) to Lynn who will have you fill out some residence slips and get some stamps from the Police station. Maria, who is new and here at teh office, will call the Zhongshan Office Monday morning at 8am to see if its possible for us to extend your "F" VISA. If on Monday, they say they can't extend it, you will need to hop over to HK and get an "L" VISA. Sound good?"
-I guess. Good thing you called, I was just trying to find a place to stay for the night.
"Ok, I will call you if anything changes."
The VISA issue is really making me hate China. Its a money pit. If I have to keep getting this stuff done, how the heck am I gonna save up for Japan and to get home. Ugh. Theoretically, the U.S. and China have reciprical VISA relations. If the chinese are doing all this junk it must mean the U.S. is screwing with chinese people. Obviously, the increased Nazi security in the U.S. is not really securing anything but pissing off Chinese and American VISA holders. Who really suffers from these two warring governments? The VISA holders. I want to spit in both of the leaders faces.
The rest of the day, I just ran some errands and took care of some stuff. John came over and we chilled and watched Team America cause he hasn't seen it yet. I swear, I still laugh hard at that movie. Peter showed up and the three of us decided to put up the fake Christmas tree. Its only 5 feet tall, but still, its funny. We drapped it with lots of fast blinking lights and these really ugly moon, tree, and star shapes that blink really fast. Totally gawdy. We also added three strands of shinny metallic looking boas. Silver, Green, and Red. Then we added some blue bells that are just plain ugly. We still need to put up the ornaments that we got, we need hooks to do that first. ITs also missing some other stuff. Fake snow. We don't have an angle or star for the top, so we grabbed a chinese fan and placed it on top. It looks terrible, it rules! Ha ha.
After we finished that, John, Peter, Echo (Peter's woman-friend) and I hopped a taxi cab and we went to the weird club in Guzhen that has dancers (not exotic, but just girls dancing....really badly) and body builders. This scrawny chinese guy, who is ripped, comes out and shows off on stage to really bad music. Its very funny.