January 6, 2005
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…immigrant woes…
Ok, so being an immigrant here sucks! I went to Wan Chai today to the Immigration Department so I could get my multiple re-entry visa to China, but it turned out to be a fiasco…
We arrived in Wan Chai at like 11:45 and apparently, people like to shut things down for lunch around here, so from 12-2, lots of government and university offices are closed. Anyhow, we decided we would go eat first, then head over to the Visa Office. We went into this one little eatery, but when we sat down, there weren’t any pictures, nor was there any English translation on the menu, so we were clueless. I tried to speak to them in Mandarin, but they didn’t understand that either, so we were stuck. We didn’t want to just eat anything, so we got up and left. So this is what it feels like to have a language barrier, a lot of cluelessness. Anyhow, so we find this one Japanese place with lots of pictures–good times. We decide to go in and eat there. Ok, pictures are only good if they’re accurate. All the items looked so good, but why was it that when I got my order, it was only like HALF of what I ordered?! I felt sooooo jipped, not cool people, not cool! I was still really hungry so we went to a bakery afterwards and I loaded up on baked goods. OMG, their baked goods were sooooo delicious! The bakery wound up being a constant part of our excursion…
So when we got to the Visa office, they told us that we couldn’t get a multiple re-entry visa unless we had a Hong Kong ID, which is only given to people who will be here for more than 180 days. Ok, so then we decided that we would go to the HKID office to try to get an HKID. I got an agent who wasn’t really paying attention to the date on my passport visa and got an application, but my friends decided to stand by me while I was getting this and proceeded to immediately ask for the same thing. I was just about to start filling out the application when the clueless agent finally caught on and had my friends call me back to give back the damn application! UGH! I WAS SOOOO CLOSE! I was really bitter because I knew that going in a group was going to decrease our chances of getting around this whole ordeal. Anyhow, so we got rejected then for an HKID, but she suggested that we go extend our visa so we could qualify for an HKID then. So we went down to the Visa Extension Office. When we got there, the retarded official told us that it’s not possible because our academic term ends in June, so there would be no reason for us to stay longer, and that if we wanted to extend our visa, we weren’t allowed to apply for an extension until a couple of weeks before it was about to expire. In short, no HKID, no multiple re-entry visa, SOOOO MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE! The Hong Kong government is sooooo retarded! Argh! If only my stupid friends hadn’t ruined it for me, I was soooo gonna slip through the cracks and get my HKID, damn! Oh well, I’ll try the travel agency next…
After the open-handed rejection by the Immigration Department, we all decided to go to Mong Kok. I wanted to check out their cell phones because Eva and I are going to get me a cellie tomorrow, FINALLY! Mong Kok was crazy as usual. We went to Ladies’ Market and then tried to find this one crazy cell phone plaza/mall that sold cell phones at like half the price, but Don couldn’t remember the location. After walking around in circles for over 2 hours, we finally found it, but I’m still not sure whether I should buy an expensive phone and bring it back to the States with me or just buy a cheapie phone and throw it away afterwards. Argh, indecision will be the death of me yet! Oh well, I’ll sleep on it tonight and figure it out tomorrow when I go with Eva. I just hope I can remember where it is. I wanted to get a new pair of tennis rackets as well, but for some strange reason, the malls here don’t have like sporting goods stores in them, ugh! Well, we’ll see if I can find any good rackets tomorrow…
All in all, today was a rather disappointing day. Didn’t really accomplish anything, so most of it was wasted, ugh! Whatever, I got to know Mong Kok a little better. I am still hungry though, hmmm…I wonder if the canteens are still open…damn, nevermind, they’re closed already, poo…
I just got my schedule, I wound up getting all the classes that I wanted, YAY! It’s good to know that all my walking and strife these past couple of days hasn’t gone to waste. I have my first Cantonese class tomorrow, I wonder what it will be like. A lot of the people here are taking Mandarin, but I figure I can just take Mandarin when I get back to the States. Besides, Cantonese will be much more useful to me here since that’s what everyone speaks here. I tried speaking Mandarin to some of the people today to ask where that cell phone mall/plaza was, but I got so many confused looks back at me. Ah well, yay for new languages! Ok, I’m hungry, time for food…
OMG! I almost forgot…
I SAW CUTE BOIS! THEY DO EXIST HERE!! WAHOOOO!!!
