The sun in Shanghai rises incredibly early - at the moment it rises about a quarter to 5 in the morning. Since my roommate went back to the States I've been waking up earlier and earlier, then dozing until 7 or 8, whenever I force myself to get out of bed. Part of it is I'm not used to being in the apartment alone, but part of it is the fact that the sun is up and my body clock tends to sync with the sun.
China is on a single time zone, "Beijing Standard Time." I've heard a couple of theories about this: 1)It is a holdover from the days of the emperors and since the emperor was in Beijing that was the official time; 2)Mao insisted that since all people were equal in China, everyone should have the same time.
Like anything, there are pros and cons. You can schedule a meeting with representatives from anywhere in the country and not have to worry about time zone changes. There's also no daylight savings time, so as far as programming computers and clocks it is more straightforward. Train, bus and airplane schedules don't require conversions because "local time" is the same everywhere. But, if you live in Tibet in December the sun won't rise until almost 9am. Talk about going to work in the dark!
I love late summer twilight but since it the sun rises so early it gets dark about 6:30pm. I remember late summer evenings as a kid, softball games ending at 9pm in twilight, long walks for ice cream, sitting on the hill waiting for the fireworks to start at 10pm. It's a different rhythm here.
Question: What do you do when you can't sleep?
Happy Belated Memorial Day to you all! No holiday here, obviously, but this Sunday is Children's Day and a week from Sunday is the dragon boat festival. Then that week my parents come!
Cheers!
G
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Red Tape
One of the people I have met here works as an auditor for one of the big accounting firms. He told me that Chinese people feel very comfortable going to the police or to the government. If there is a problem, it is much better to go to them with the problem and work out a satisfactory solution on both sides instead of trying to conceal it or correct it on your own. This is almost a 180 from the views in America and he said his first six months here it really made his head spin. It was a difficult concept for me to grasp at the time, but I have developed a theory. The police and government here really are public servants. It is to their benefit, and yours, to keep everyone happy – even those foreigners who are living here. Since rules change so often, there is more space to tweak or bend them a little bit to complete a deal. It also helps if you speak a little Chinese.
When you live in China, you must register at the police station. I remember the walk behind my realtor at the beginning of my trip, as I tried to keep up and absorb where I was going. At the time the police station was a very overwhelming place – there were no lines and I had to use my elbows to prevent several women from getting in front of me – and the man who led me there spoke no English. The result of the registration is your “pink paper” – also known as your Temporary Residence Permit. I then used that to convert to my Residence Permit, which I have had ever since.
Due to the Olympics, China has been changing their visa policies. Certain types of visas, including F visas, are no longer available and durations have been shortened. Some of my friends have had problems or have had to go home to renew visas. Luckily, I haven’t had to worry because my work visa “Z visa” is one of the hardest to get and I pay taxes so there is no desire to change those rules but as I come to the end of my trip I must convert to a tourist visa. That’s an adventure for next week.
Two nights ago when I was getting home from work about 10:30pm there was a policeman at the front door of my complex on a motorcycle. He stopped me and handed me a half sheet of paper with some English on it. It basically said that I needed to go to the police station to register for a Temporary Residence Permit and gave three possible reasons why. I read it, thanked him, and went home. Then I started to think – could I have done something wrong? Possibly, with the way the rules keep changing, you never know. The next day I texted one of my coworkers who had recently gotten a new permit because she had moved and she told me what I needed to bring – pretty standard stuff – copy of the lease, copy of passport, copy of visa…and she said I needed a passport picture. That one I didn’t remember and I didn’t have any pictures left, so I had to procure more pictures.
My Wednesdays are very busy, so I didn’t have time to go to the station, but at work I made all my necessary copies and also got 9 passport photos made at the subway station. I was ready. At work, I asked my friend why they needed pictures now and she realized that she had typed the wrong thing in her text message. She apologized profusely. As I only paid 20 RMB for all 9 photos (about $3), it wasn’t a big deal and now I have lots of photos.
This morning I got up, ate and then prepared to go to the police station with my copies, the slip of paper and my passport. I headed out of the complex and at the side gate there were two police officers. “Passport, please” said one in English. Then, the other in Chinese said, “red paper.” I had everything all together in a folder, so I just pulled it out. They looked fairly surprised. I answered in Chinese and so the conversation switched into Chinese at this point. They asked me my building number and my apartment number, wrote some things down on a slip of paper and then told me I could leave. In my broken Chinese I asked if I still had to go to the police station as I pulled out the notice. They said no, I didn’t have to because I already had my Temporary Residence Permit (at least a copy of it) and my visa was fine.
The slip of paper must have been given to everyone who looked foreign that day, even if all of your paperwork was in order. The younger police officer was very friendly, he even walked me to the main gate and we talked a little bit. He asked why I was in China and where I planned to travel to after my job was finished. He then verified with his colleague at the main gate that I needed to go to Pudong to transfer my work visa to a tourist visa and that I should bring several things with me and that as long as I went before my work visa expired it should be a very easy conversion.
I didn’t go to the police station today.
Question – When have you gotten tangled in red tape? Football ticket lottery? Driver’s license? Passport? Travel papers? Share your story.
When you live in China, you must register at the police station. I remember the walk behind my realtor at the beginning of my trip, as I tried to keep up and absorb where I was going. At the time the police station was a very overwhelming place – there were no lines and I had to use my elbows to prevent several women from getting in front of me – and the man who led me there spoke no English. The result of the registration is your “pink paper” – also known as your Temporary Residence Permit. I then used that to convert to my Residence Permit, which I have had ever since.
Due to the Olympics, China has been changing their visa policies. Certain types of visas, including F visas, are no longer available and durations have been shortened. Some of my friends have had problems or have had to go home to renew visas. Luckily, I haven’t had to worry because my work visa “Z visa” is one of the hardest to get and I pay taxes so there is no desire to change those rules but as I come to the end of my trip I must convert to a tourist visa. That’s an adventure for next week.
Two nights ago when I was getting home from work about 10:30pm there was a policeman at the front door of my complex on a motorcycle. He stopped me and handed me a half sheet of paper with some English on it. It basically said that I needed to go to the police station to register for a Temporary Residence Permit and gave three possible reasons why. I read it, thanked him, and went home. Then I started to think – could I have done something wrong? Possibly, with the way the rules keep changing, you never know. The next day I texted one of my coworkers who had recently gotten a new permit because she had moved and she told me what I needed to bring – pretty standard stuff – copy of the lease, copy of passport, copy of visa…and she said I needed a passport picture. That one I didn’t remember and I didn’t have any pictures left, so I had to procure more pictures.
My Wednesdays are very busy, so I didn’t have time to go to the station, but at work I made all my necessary copies and also got 9 passport photos made at the subway station. I was ready. At work, I asked my friend why they needed pictures now and she realized that she had typed the wrong thing in her text message. She apologized profusely. As I only paid 20 RMB for all 9 photos (about $3), it wasn’t a big deal and now I have lots of photos.
This morning I got up, ate and then prepared to go to the police station with my copies, the slip of paper and my passport. I headed out of the complex and at the side gate there were two police officers. “Passport, please” said one in English. Then, the other in Chinese said, “red paper.” I had everything all together in a folder, so I just pulled it out. They looked fairly surprised. I answered in Chinese and so the conversation switched into Chinese at this point. They asked me my building number and my apartment number, wrote some things down on a slip of paper and then told me I could leave. In my broken Chinese I asked if I still had to go to the police station as I pulled out the notice. They said no, I didn’t have to because I already had my Temporary Residence Permit (at least a copy of it) and my visa was fine.
The slip of paper must have been given to everyone who looked foreign that day, even if all of your paperwork was in order. The younger police officer was very friendly, he even walked me to the main gate and we talked a little bit. He asked why I was in China and where I planned to travel to after my job was finished. He then verified with his colleague at the main gate that I needed to go to Pudong to transfer my work visa to a tourist visa and that I should bring several things with me and that as long as I went before my work visa expired it should be a very easy conversion.
I didn’t go to the police station today.
Question – When have you gotten tangled in red tape? Football ticket lottery? Driver’s license? Passport? Travel papers? Share your story.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
“I just thought it was really windy!”
“I felt dizzy, then strange.”
“Did you hear there was an earthquake?”
“My wife’s office got evacuated.”
All of the above were reactions that I heard on Monday, May 12 within a couple of hours of the earthquake. I personally didn't feel anything, but Shanghai did feel the aftershocks and if I had been teaching that afternoon, the building was evacuated because it was swaying by about a foot. From what I heard if you were above the 10th floor at the time you could feel it, if not, you couldn't. I was taking my Chinese classes on the first floor of a building, so my reaction was, “Really?”
I kind of feel like I missed the big event, but am glad at the same time. There were no deaths in Shanghai, but at this point over 30,000 people are dead, over 200,000 are injured and another 10,000 are reported missing in Sichuan. A quake of 7.9 (it was initially reported as 7.8) is huge. The news is full of pictures and some of them are truly horrific. China has just declared three national days of mourning for the dead beginning tomorrow. During these days the Olympic torch relay is going to be postponed, there will be moments of silence and other events. The television is full of fundraising programs for the victims. There are already two separate competing songs for the tragedy that are being shown constantly on television and red donation boxes are sprouting up everywhere, including in my apartment complex.
Watching a country reunite in the face of a tragedy is something unique. It also causes me to marvel at the power of the government over the media. Sometimes the same program is playing on five or six channels simultaneously. Freedom is relative here.
Question – What tragedy do you remember witnessing? What questions did you want to ask at the time? How did your community react to the tragedy?
Thank you for the emails, comments and kind words after the deaths of my grandparents. I appreciate and am comforted by your concern and prayers.
G
“Did you hear there was an earthquake?”
“My wife’s office got evacuated.”
All of the above were reactions that I heard on Monday, May 12 within a couple of hours of the earthquake. I personally didn't feel anything, but Shanghai did feel the aftershocks and if I had been teaching that afternoon, the building was evacuated because it was swaying by about a foot. From what I heard if you were above the 10th floor at the time you could feel it, if not, you couldn't. I was taking my Chinese classes on the first floor of a building, so my reaction was, “Really?”
I kind of feel like I missed the big event, but am glad at the same time. There were no deaths in Shanghai, but at this point over 30,000 people are dead, over 200,000 are injured and another 10,000 are reported missing in Sichuan. A quake of 7.9 (it was initially reported as 7.8) is huge. The news is full of pictures and some of them are truly horrific. China has just declared three national days of mourning for the dead beginning tomorrow. During these days the Olympic torch relay is going to be postponed, there will be moments of silence and other events. The television is full of fundraising programs for the victims. There are already two separate competing songs for the tragedy that are being shown constantly on television and red donation boxes are sprouting up everywhere, including in my apartment complex.
Watching a country reunite in the face of a tragedy is something unique. It also causes me to marvel at the power of the government over the media. Sometimes the same program is playing on five or six channels simultaneously. Freedom is relative here.
Question – What tragedy do you remember witnessing? What questions did you want to ask at the time? How did your community react to the tragedy?
Thank you for the emails, comments and kind words after the deaths of my grandparents. I appreciate and am comforted by your concern and prayers.
G
Monday, May 5, 2008
A Tribute to Two Travelers
As long as I can remember, my grandparents were telling me stories about their travels. They traveled extensively within the US and in the 1980s and 1990s extensively abroad, eventually going to all of the continents except Antarctica. While on their trips they bought rugs, baskets, fabric, jewelry and other handicrafts that were unique to their destination city. Each souvenir had a story and each time we went to the house in Frankenmuth we would hear one, "When we were in Egypt we..." "The time we went to Russia..." "I remember that I wanted to try bungee jumping when we went to Australia, but..."
As I got older, I would learn about the trips before they went instead of after. Before heading to Greece my grandmother asked me what souvenir I wanted. The movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" had recently come out and I told her, "Bring me back a handsome Greek man!" She smiled, but a couple months later when I saw her she presented me with a small statue of a handsome Greek man in traditional Greek clothes. We laughed and laughed.
When they traveled they most often took bus tours and the people that they traveled with became part of the story. "The Sari Group" was the people they traveled India with and one of the members was very good friends with two up and comers in the world of politics at the time named Bill and Hillary Clinton. For many years after the trip the sari group rejoined from corners of the United States to tell of more stories and tell of more travels.
My grandma always had good packing advice when I started traveling abroad. Her list of necessities always included a roll of toilet paper and a roll of duct tape. She told me that you could fix anything with duct tape and the TP normally came in handy somewhere. Another tip was to take your oldest underwear on the trip and then after wearing it, throw it away so you had more room in your luggage for souvenirs. Makes sense right?
My grandparents traveled to China in the mid80s. Since then my grandmother has always said, "China is the future." So few foreigners were in China at that time that their group was the center of attention where ever they went. There was one woman with long red hair and whenever she sat down on a bench or at a restaurant people would form a circle around her to stare and touch her hair. I remember a story about my grandfather eating an entire bird that was presented to him at a banquet (bones and all) because that was how to eat it. Another one was that they went to a high school auditorium to see school children do a performance. The gym smelled strongly of paint and when they left they realized that the walls had been freshly painted only minutes before they came so that everything would be neat and clean for the foreigners. A lot has changed since then, but I still get stared at occasionally, even in Shanghai, and as you know from my blog, eating interesting things remains possible.
Last week, both of my grandparents went on their last trip. My grandfather passed away on April 27th and my grandmother passed away on May 1st. My grandmother was a huge fan of my blog and would clip articles about traveling from her newspaper and send them to me while I lived here. I received the last one on April 29th. The travelling gene must be hereditary and the stories and example my grandparents set have influenced me. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa.
Question - Who has encouraged you to travel?
As I got older, I would learn about the trips before they went instead of after. Before heading to Greece my grandmother asked me what souvenir I wanted. The movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" had recently come out and I told her, "Bring me back a handsome Greek man!" She smiled, but a couple months later when I saw her she presented me with a small statue of a handsome Greek man in traditional Greek clothes. We laughed and laughed.
When they traveled they most often took bus tours and the people that they traveled with became part of the story. "The Sari Group" was the people they traveled India with and one of the members was very good friends with two up and comers in the world of politics at the time named Bill and Hillary Clinton. For many years after the trip the sari group rejoined from corners of the United States to tell of more stories and tell of more travels.
My grandma always had good packing advice when I started traveling abroad. Her list of necessities always included a roll of toilet paper and a roll of duct tape. She told me that you could fix anything with duct tape and the TP normally came in handy somewhere. Another tip was to take your oldest underwear on the trip and then after wearing it, throw it away so you had more room in your luggage for souvenirs. Makes sense right?
My grandparents traveled to China in the mid80s. Since then my grandmother has always said, "China is the future." So few foreigners were in China at that time that their group was the center of attention where ever they went. There was one woman with long red hair and whenever she sat down on a bench or at a restaurant people would form a circle around her to stare and touch her hair. I remember a story about my grandfather eating an entire bird that was presented to him at a banquet (bones and all) because that was how to eat it. Another one was that they went to a high school auditorium to see school children do a performance. The gym smelled strongly of paint and when they left they realized that the walls had been freshly painted only minutes before they came so that everything would be neat and clean for the foreigners. A lot has changed since then, but I still get stared at occasionally, even in Shanghai, and as you know from my blog, eating interesting things remains possible.
Last week, both of my grandparents went on their last trip. My grandfather passed away on April 27th and my grandmother passed away on May 1st. My grandmother was a huge fan of my blog and would clip articles about traveling from her newspaper and send them to me while I lived here. I received the last one on April 29th. The travelling gene must be hereditary and the stories and example my grandparents set have influenced me. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa.
Question - Who has encouraged you to travel?
To my grandparents and to you all:
May the road always rise to meet you
May the wind be always at your back
May the sun shine warm upon your face
and the rain fall softly on your fields.
And until the time that we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of his hands.
-An Irish Blessing
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