The Cost Of Working Where I Work

Okay, for the purpose of memory, yours and especially mine, I am going to sum up the past three visa runs I've made from China to Korea and try to give you an idea of the level of frustration I have achieved in my quest for the oft-promised work visa. If you scroll back to my post entitled "Vacation 2017," that was in January. I had to get out of China for the second time since getting my business visa for my work at Renmin University. (not for, but AT)

I had a really great time with my friends in Korea, as I always do. And when I got back to China, I was still living in Beijing in the hostel where I couldn't cook or refrigerate anything. But I had already agreed, (while in Korea), to take a job in Taiyuan. So it could be said that this visa run/vacation allowed me to remain in China, move to Taiyuan and since I started working February 15th, it was the first time I paid to work for my new company. The trips to Taiyuan for interviews, moving, moving my stuff, ALL bills footed by me. The big one was paying the first three months of rent on my apartment. Again, no help from my employer. So I went broke in order to start working this job.

The March 2nd post, "New Place," was after I had been living in this apartment for about a month, and just a couple of weeks before my third visa run to Korea. My first from Taiyuan, but my second that would allow me to work in Taiyuan. I had finally made my apartment livable. It was not pretty when I moved in. That combined with the move and living for the first month in Taiyuan completely exhausted all my pay and holiday pay from Renmin.

On March 17th, I made another visa run. I had made a plea to management for help with this one. I cited all my expenses and told the second in command that I was flat broke. But payday was March 15th, (supposedly), and I was positive that I could cover the visa run with my first paycheck. Neither the help from management, NOR the paycheck came. I had to borrow money from the saintly HR co-ordinator, Faith, who had been instrumental in getting me settled in Taiyuan. So I stayed only two days in Korea and got back as soon as I could. I bought as little as I could in Korea too, just in case I didn't get paid as much as expected, or didn't get paid at all. This WAS a new company after all. The blog post, "Near Perfect Trip" describes how I was going to ask for a 4000 RMB advance on my end of contract plane fare. I did, and the request was ignored. The paycheck finally came, a week late, and it was only half a paycheck. You see, my new company does the old 2-week withholding of pay deal, (and, I'm sure I don't need to tell you that they don't mention it in their contract), so really, I was being paid in March for the 2 weeks I had worked in Feb. Nowhere near enough cash to pay Faith back, do a visa run to Hong Kong, for my work, (Z), visa, AND cover the next three months of rent, which would be due during that pay period.

So, it was arranged that I would be paid on April 10th, the FULL paycheck this time, and then I could go to HK and get my work visa. Well, in the mean time Faith and Samantha from HR both quit. I got a full paycheck, but it wasn't early and there was no visa run. Half of that paycheck went to cover my SECOND three months of rent and the rest went toward surviving another month. Some time around mid April I met the new HR rep. that was going to be doing Faith's job and would be in charge of negotiating my work visa. Her name was Miss Jang. I sent Faith a text about her saying, "She looks like she's in over her head." I also met Grace. She is the boss's P.A. And, I met the boss, Diana. I mentioned to every one of them how I needed to get out of the country by mid May and was hoping, practically BEGGING, that it would be on a Z visa run, NOT to re-re-REnew my business, (M), visa. Every one of them assured me there would be no problem. I think you probably know what's coming.

For the past month I have been HOUNDING all three of these ladies to the point of almost becoming obnoxious. The very last day, (May 18th), that I could be in the country of China without overstaying my business visa was fast approaching. I was frantically trying to find information on the visa run, the Chinese embassy in Hong Kong, hotels nearby, papers needed, flights, reservations, everything, I mean E VRE THENG was left up to me. All anyone else seemed like they were going to do was get my foreigner's work permit number and official letter of permission both dox from agencies I could not have gone to myself and both with company stamps on them. This will be important later in this tale of woe.

I started teaching the big boss, the owner, Diana, during this time. Grace also sits in on our classes as an emergency translator and a third participant in some exercises and games. I like Grace. She seems quite capable. And I am not hating teaching Diana. She's a great student! At the end of most classes I usually reminded them of my visa status and they both gave me updates and assurances that it was going to happen before May 18th. I found information on visa runs to HK VERY difficult to find. No real big surprise there. What I DID find describes the trip as a pain in the fundamental orifice! Evidently, the embassy is super picky about everything and applicants get refused for little things one at a time. Like the Gwangju Immigration Office in Korea. It sometimes stretches a three-day visa run into a week or more. This is NOT what I wanted to hear! But, with a full paycheck on May 15th I should be able to handle a few days, even a week in HK. The 18th was a Thursday so I knew I wouldn't be getting my visa in one day and would have to spend the weekend there. I told the gals that the visa run really SHOULD be made on a Monday or Tuesday so that it would be ready on the Friday, but I was okay with going at an odd time. I even found two phone numbers for visa information at the embassy, one was recorded info and one was an operator you could talk to. I don't know if it was English, Chinese or both because I tried to call the numbers and neither worked on my phone. I got a message saying I don't have long distance on my plan. ANOTHER thing I'll need HR's help in changing.

Anyway, I give these numbers to Miss Jang, because it would be a huge help to her being new to this and all. She tells me to shut up. He exact words were, "Honey, please be quiet!" This was texted so I was able to refrain from profanity. Then she actually went so far as to GUARANTEE that I would be getting the papers and going to Hong Kong by or before the 18th. Toward the deadline she even suggested I buy a ticket to HK, go to the airport and she would heroically deliver the papers to me before boarding. I said, "No. We will not be doing that."

The morning of the 18th she arranged a time to give me the documents at the school in my office. I got there on time, she was half an hour late. And didn't have the papers. I magnanimously told her that we'd chalk this up to a learning experience and that immigration offices all over the world were the same. She was apologetic saying I was right and she was wrong and all, but I have seen far too much of this Asian lie now and apologize later bullshit to feel anything but anger. I later said to Grace that Miss Jang's education was going to cost me a lot of money. I even said to Grace that I thought she wasn't capable of handling the position, particularly since I've been told that next semester there will be 5 new foreign teachers and this will need to be done for all of them. If they are new to this sort of career or traveling, it will be even MORE difficult than it had been for me. And I said to Grace that Miss Jang doesn't look like she can handle that.

So I then explained to Miss Jang and Grace that without the Z visa I couldn't get a bank account or a card that enabled me to buy a plane ticket online. I tried, I think it's called "C-Ticket" with my Beijing bank card and it didn't work. The reason I was given, you may remember, was because I am a foreigner. So Miss Jang wasted 2 hours of my final legal day in China trying and failing to do something the students I teach could easily do. I texted Faith and within minutes she had me a plane ticket and a train time. I would have to take the train to Beijing then fly to Korea from there. It was last second, expensive, and the schedule would be tight, but it was all that was available. Just before rushing home to pack and leave Miss Jang asked if I could fly from Korea to Hong Kong if they faxed or emailed me the documents. I said I'd be in touch with them but in the mean time they should get the documents and find out if copies were acceptable.

I bought my train ticket and met Faith's husband across the street from the train ticket store and paid him the money for my plane ticket. Again, Faith to the rescue! She even called me and told me how to tell the taxi driver to go to the train station. I got to Beijing and decided to go from the train station to the airport by shuttlebus. In LIGHT traffic that takes an hour and a half, but Beijing rarely has light traffic. I was sitting in gridlock watching the time tick away and envisioning the money for that first ticket going down an imaginary toilet. But luckily, my terminal, (T2), was the first stop on the shuttlebus and it got there 20 minutes before my flight was scheduled to take off. I had NEVER before had a flight into or out of Beijing Airport that was not delayed. In fact I was counting on this flight being delayed. I got to the check-in counter and asked if it was still possible to get on my flight. To my surprise, the girl at the counter said it was! Then, (of course), I checked my bag and it set off an alarm. I had to open it up and show everything in it. They didn't find the battery or bomb they were looking for. That wasted 5 minutes. I now had 15 minutes. I went to the scanner luggageless. The girl said, "You'd better hurry, your flight is boarding." Then Mr. Overkill, maybe BECAUSE I was late and he knew it, felt, fondled and passed that metal detector wand over me so many times I thought he was trying to cast a spell. He put his finger into the waist of my shorts in the back, pulled and looked down the crack of my ass! This is just getting out of hand, folks! The personal rights and freedoms violations we allow at airports because we just want to get where we are going are one sure sign that Big Brother is taking over.

I got through a lengthy immigration line and had a couple of minutes to find gate 11. Beijing Airport signage and layout is not the best. I saw signs that said, "Gates 1-11" and had arrows so I followed the arrows. They had those moving walkways that everybody here STOPS on and turns into moving STANDways to my never-ending irritation. Baggageless, I was able to deek out these blockers and get to my destination more quickly. I got past gates 1 through 10 and the airport ended. Where the HELL was gate 11? Luckily a young, pretty stewardess had seen my OJ Simpson impression and followed me shouting, "Incheon? You are going to Incheon?" So I followed her ALL the way back to gate number 11. Which comes before gate number 1. Chinese math.

I was the last person on the plane and I sat down almost exactly at the correct take-off time. The very first plane EVER to be on schedule in my experience at the Beijing Airport. Of course! But then we all sat in the plane on the runway for 50 minutes waiting to take off, so the airport's record remains intact.

I got to the Incheon Airport, which, incidentally, a fellow expat who lives in Korea posted an article online about. It was on the facebook page called OINK, which stands for Only In Korea. It bragged on and on about how awesome the Incheon airport was and how they've won the award for best in Asia. I posted, (and so did MANY others), that Changi Airport in Singapore can't be touched. Then I posted that the award was probably based on an internet poll. Koreans are invincible at those. I blasted through customs and immigration and waited patiently for my bag. I needed to get my Kindle and send Amber a facebook message letting her know I was there. Amber lives in Incheon and may have allowed me to stay at her and DB's place. But I hadn't had time to message them before leaving China. I hadn't had time for much. I just grabbed any clothes I could and threw them into my bag. Again, thanks to Miss Jang.

It was about 11 PM so I thought Amber and DB would probably just be going to bed. But I watched the baggage go round and round the carousel. Never saw my bag. An attendant or security guard or something comes up to me and barks, "Where you come from?" I said, "Beijing." He says, "Manila? Baggage not here." I said, "Not Manila, Beijing." He doesn't hear me because he's overvoluming me with, "Flight number. Flight number. Flight number." I point to the sign above the carousel that clearly says whatever the flight number was and from Beijing and read it for him. He says, "Go to lost and found." World class service right there, Incheon Airport!

I go to lost and found thinking that because I had checked in so late back in Beijing, and then had trouble with the alarm, they probably hadn't had time to put my bag on the plane. I reach the lost and found and the guy says, "Maybe next counter." MAYBE?

I go to next counter and there's a lady there talking to a guy from Fiji. She stops talking to him and looks directly at me. I say, "Hi. I can't find my luggage..." She says, "Wait your turn. I am talking with this man." So I apologize to the Fijian and we spark up a conversation about how frustrating it is to lose baggage. He was from the same flight as me. Then a THIRD guy from our flight shows up. He interrupts the lady to say, "Hey, this is my bag here, can I take it?" She says he can and then finally talks to me. She asks if my bag is in the pile of baggage behind her desk. I hadn't thought to look. And sure enough, there it is. Baggage handling at Incheon Airport - top notchi!

I get my bag and go through customs and out into the airport. It's now after 2 AM. I am instantly accosted by the sketchy taxi drivers that you expect in Jakarta, Manila, Bangkok etc., but not from the "best airport in Asia." I tell them I don't need a taxi when I want to tell them to fuck off and dig out my Kindle. I wonder if it's even worth contacting anyone. All buses and subways from Incheon Airport are now finished. It is close to exactly NOTHING this airport, so a "nearby" hotel is a 20 or 30 dollar taxi ride away and who knows how much it will cost. But luckily I check my phone and WeChat is working. I see a message from Amber that I am welcome to stay at her place. I try to send her a message. Incheon Airport wifi is down. Best airport in Asia in the most wired country in the WORLD and the wifi sucks. But I got intermittent coverage and managed to send a message that I was on the way. A 40=dollar cab ride later, I arrived at Amber and DB's by 3. They got up early the next morning too. I watched hockey and napped.

My visit was a lot of fun, as it always is with Amber, DB, and the Peet/Spiwaks who were elbows deep in a walkathon raising money for cancer research. I had arranged to stay until Wednesday this trip because that two-day turnaround over the weekend is horrible. Mostly because of the horrendous trip back to Taiyuan. Last visa run I had to wait 3 hours in the waiting room for my train. But I talked with a nice guy who was in the coal industry. Taiyuan is China's main coal city so I'm not so sure I should cheer for its prosperity even though the rich families are the ones whose kids I will be teaching. After the weekend I sent a WeChat message to Miss Jang saying that I could go directly to Hong Kong on Monday or Tuesday if she did three things: acquired the two documents I still needed, (which she assured me she had), emailed them to me, and found out FOR SURE if Hong Kong would accept copies of documents such as these. Remember, they are stamped. What good is a stamp or even a signature if it's photocopied? She gets back to me a day later with, "Are you going to Hong Kong? Have you renewed your Korean tourist visa? I've been working very hard so I'm replying to you now." A DAY LATER!!! I again ask if she's got the dox and if I can use copies in HK. She replies, "You need print it yourself. Must be color print."

I then take a deep breath and dive into an explanation of one of the picky, picky rules I've read about. The visa application needs to be downloaded onto a computer and filled in with typing. You can't print out the application then fill it in in pen. Even though it must be signed in pen. So I filled out as much of it as I could but there were some blanks for my alien work permit number, which was one of the dox Miss Jang told me she had acquired, and one for the name and address of the employer. I only had that in Chinese on WeChat and had tried to copy and paste from WeChat but couldn't do it. So I told Miss Jang I would send her the application and she could type in the Chinese and the number for me and send it back to me. Long silence from her. I sent, "So I need your email." She sends me her email. I send her the application and let her know via WeChat that I've sent it. She replies, "OK." FOUR hours later I send her a message, "Never mind, I will just fly back to China." Remember, she wasted Monday not replying to me. It's now Tuesday and I'm in the same boat she put me in in Taiyuan: I have one day and don't know what ticket to buy but I know it's going to be a crappy, expensive one because it's last minute. So I booked a ticket to Beijing. The next day I got a message from the travel agent saying that my flight was cancelled.

So I go back to the travel agency, (Unique Travel in Itaewon is the one I like), and the agent is pulling out her hair trying to find ANYthing but everything is full. Why then the flight I had booked was CANCELLED??? Maximization of profits. So I ended up deciding on another ticket. In the time it took to book that ticket THAT flight filled up. I had to take a flight on Thursday and arrive back in Taiyuan a day late. Well, not my fault. That day I got about 15 or 20 WeChat messages from Miss Jang asking if I'd decided to go back to China. Explaining that an interpreter, (Grace), would contact me. Apologizing AGAIN at her handling of the visa. Saying that she has been, "re arranged" and won't be in charge later. Then letting me know how nice it has been to know me and not to hesitate to ask for her help with anything in future and she hopes we will see each other again. She probably got the position the same way she handled it: assuming that SAYING you can do things is just as good as being able to do things. Then assuming that an apology will make everything all right when you can't do the things you are hired to do. Unbelievable! Well... in my experience in the ESL industry, BELIEVABLE!

So I got up at 5, said my goodbyes to everybody and was off at 6 AM. I got a 25-dollar taxi to Gimpo Airport, the one IN SEOUL! I can only imagine what it costs to get to Incheon by cab. The taxis used to be cheap in Korea. Now they are almost like Canadian taxis. Everything goes smoothly to Beijing. Even, to my surprise, immigration. I thought they'd give me some hassle knowing that this was my 4th renewal of my business visa and I HAD to be working in China. In Indonesia after my 4th renewal of my business visa there, I was almost refused entry. But the guy in Beijing didn't even flinch. I took the shuttlebus from the Beijing Airport to Beijing West Train Station from stop #7. The tickets can be bought right beside the information circle in front of the hallway that leads to the Airport Express. The bus comes every 30 minutes or less. It takes 1 1/2 hours or so and probably could take more than two in heavy traffic. I didn't have my train ticket yet, so I was not on a deadline like I was on the shuttlebus from the train station to the airport days before when I nearly had to eat my ticket. So after a much less stressful and not so trafficky ride of about an hour and 45 mins, I was at the train station.

I go into the entrance marked misleadingly as "Tickets Entrance," a hard one to find really, and after the requisite Chinese line-up I find out that if I want the fast, 3-hour trip I have to wait till 9 PM. It's about 11:30 AM. I ask if there's anything else and there IS one at 3:29 but it's a slow train that makes more stops and takes about 4 hours, and here's the kicker: standing room only! So I take that ticket and proceed to waiting room number 11. It is JAM PACKED with humanity! No seats available and very little standing room. And I've got a 4-hour wait followed by a 4-hour stand on the train. I DID get McLunch and sat in the crowded eating area of McDonald's for maybe half an hour but stood the rest of the time and stood in the dining car for the whole 4-hour train ride. It was even more nightmarish than it sounds since the dining car was packed with other standing passengers and I was leaning on one of the small tables from time to time and once during the trip a dude bought a meal and ate it, NOISILY, about 4 inches away from my head where my ears are. Grace had offered to get the school driver to pick me up at the station when I arrived, but this was when I had foolishly assumed I could just buy a train ticket to Taiyuan and go there. Instead of arriving around 2, when I could have been picked up, I got to the station at 7:30. I sent Grace a message saying that I would find my own way home and for some reason my WeChat wouldn't work. I was accosted by the sketchy taxi guys and went to the genuine taxi area. I said the name of the school, showed the driver the Chinese writing which says, "Please take me to Taiyuan number 5 High School," a landmark in Taiyuan and the driver says, "Hmmmm wo bu jr dao..." like he doesn't know. Just then, like a superhero, I get a call from Faith! She asks how things have gone and I get her to explain to the driver where I'm going. We then have a nice conversation until I reach my place. It's now after 8 PM and I make some Kraft Dinner, with hotdogs with relish. The KD and relish Heather got me from post. Can't find either in Taiyuan. So I ate supper with relish.

The next day I met the new HR co-ordinator, Amy. I had met her before, but she wasn't the HR co-ordinator before. Her English is much better than Miss Jang's and she seems like she may be able to handle the job. But she says to me, I will get the documents from the ministry tomorrow and give them to you. TOMORROW! Meaning STILL nobody had retrieved the damn documents! They had just lied to me and said they did.

I did get the documents! STANDING OVATION for Amy! But now we have to arrange a time to go to HK. I wanted to go this Monday, (tomorrow), but we can't for a few reasons. First of all, (of course I was the one who checked this...) Tuesday is a holiday in Hong Kong so I probably wouldn't be able to get the visa on Friday, so I'd have to spend a week in Hong Kong. Also, when I got back from my previous visa run and plans had been made to get me my work visa from Hong Kong back in April, the company drew up some new contracts. I think I will need to bring a contract from my employer and show it to the people at the embassy in HK and, obviously it can't be dated from February. That way the embassy will know I have been working without a Z visa. So they drew up new contracts. I guess I never got my copy of the new one because all I can find is one dated from February. So we're gonna probably need to draw up a THIRD batch of contracts. I will be doing a camp here as well as my normal classes for June so there is only a small window for me to do this trip properly. That will be on June 12. That gives the company 15 days to do the contracts and arrange flights and hotel for me. What do you want to bet they start on this June 11th?

But at least I'm working.