Well everyone..it's official. I know it seems three months late, but I now officially work in China. We came here on a tourist (L) visa, and weren't going to get a work (Z) visa until we passed our trial. We went to pick up our passports today for our new visa, and I nearly lost it (not in a good way) when I saw that we didn't actually have a Z-visa, but a blue residence permit instead. I knew that we needed the residence permit, but I thought we had to get the Z-visa first. I asked Ms. Wang about it and she kept promising me it was okay, but I was skeptical, as I didn't see the word visa anywhere! We went to the police station and re-registered, and once we got home I got online and started my research to make sure we weren't about to be deported or something. Turns out the Z-visa only gets you to China (like the tourist visa, only they know your intent is employment with the Z-visa), but what lets you stay and work in china is the residence permit (as well as a few other documents that we do possess), so we're finished with this whole ordeal, and are allowed to stay. The process wasn't a walk in the park, so I'm SO thankful that it's over. We had to retrieve documents from the US like diplomas, fill out paperwork, and get physicals. Getting the physical was definitely an interesting experience! We had blood work done, an ultrasound (I toyed around with the idea of updating my facebook saying I had my first ultrasound, just to see if people would freak out and think I was preggers..in the end I decided against it), an endocardiogram, saw an ENT (which was a joke), had a chest x-ray, as well as general stuff like checking blood pressure, getting our weight, height, etc. All of these tests in America would have racked up thousands of dollars, and we paid about 600RMB (roughly $90). Again, I'm very happy we're done with this. I feel like a cloud has been lifted!
Yesterday Chris and I got to the orchestra hall early, like we always do, and were informed by Lee that we were getting a new roommate. Thanks for the heads up right? Eloy is the new principal trumpet player, and he is from Spain. I was a little nervous about living with a total stranger, and not too pleased about not even being consulted about this, but so far he seems like a very nice guy. He enjoys cooking a lot and I helped him make a Spanish dinner tonight. We had a "spanish tortilla." This wasn't like the tortilla we know in America that is used exclusively for fajitas, burritos, and quesadillas. It's similar to what I know as a stove-top frittata. We cooked thin slices of potatoes in olive oil, with a little onion and garlic. Once that was cooked we added about 6 eggs, cooked one side and flipped it. It was delish and very filling. I almost feel like taking a nap I'm so full...food coma. If this guy likes cooking as much as I do, I think we will get along just fine. I'm going to teach him some of the things I know and he'll teach me more of the Spanish cuisine. I'm also helping him with his English (which is good enough for basic communication purposes), and he's teaching me some Spanish. It's been forever since I took Spanish (about 7 years ago..wow I'm old haha), and taking French in my undergrad really messed me up, but it's starting to come back.
Tonight we're meeting up with a friend of Eloy's. He is the principal trumpet player of the Beijing Philharmonic, and I believe he is how Eloy was invited to play with our orchestra (not 100% sure about this). I'm always excited about meeting new people! I do feel like a grandma right now, so I think I may take a nap before going out.
Tomorrow we're going to help Eloy get his physical taken care of, then we're all going to see our orchestra perform tomorrow night. They're playing a Chinese opera, which is why none of us are playing on it, and our conductor was hoping we would attend the performance. The Opera is called "The Lady With the White Hair", or something close to that. It's supposedly really famous, and is one of the older Chinese operas. It should be fun. Hopefully I can do a little more shopping tomorrow too. I'm in desperate need of some winter clothes, and am starting to stock up. I could only bring two suitcases out here, and I'm sorry but my kitchen utensils came first! :) Plus, sweaters and jackets take up a lot of space. I brought a few light sweaters, but nothing for Beijing's notoriously freezing winter.
After Tannhauser next week, Chris and I have about 9 or 10 days off again. Now that we have our new visas, I'm hoping we can do some traveling, maybe outside of China. If it's cheap, I'd love to go to Hong Kong, maybe even Thailand, even if only for a few days. We'll see if I can do some convincing ;) I feel like this is a once in a life time opportunity and if I can go to Thailand for a couple hundred dollars, I should seize the opportunity! Carpe Diem! If we don't go on a big trip, we do need to see the Great Wall. This summer has been so miserably hot, and we were told it's better to do a lot of tourist stuff in the fall, when the weather is perfect, the pollution is minimal, and there are less tourists. As a result, we haven't done a whole lot of sight seeing in Beijing. Either way, I'm sure we'll get around to doing something.
One thing I love about China is the fact that you can buy "bootleg" movies for really cheap. At Jenny Lou's (the imported food grocery store) they have a video store attached and the movies are 15RMB each, or per disc when it comes to TV shows. I bought Kungfu Panda and Beauty and the Beast. Yes, I am 12 years old. There is another DVD stand in the mall nearest our house, and they are also the same price. I bought Kungfu Panda 2, Julie and Julie (love it!), and Water for Elephants. I just read Water for Elephants, so I'm excited to see the movie. I am however still on the quest for the Twilight movies. Last month I read all the books and am totally hooked. Jenny Lou's has them, but apparently the DVD portion of the store doesn't open til 6pm, and the last time we were there we were too early. I HAVE TO GET THESE MOVIES...and I will...eventually.
I guess I should address the title to this blog post. The Chinese say this word constantly and it means "this" I think ("nega" is also popular and I think it means "that"). It's a little confusing because even when they are thinking out loud I've heard some say "uhhh hmmm jega jega jega jega uhh". It's pretty much hilarious, and we decided that many responses can be replaced with the word jega. Jega is a great replacement for giggity or responses to that's what he/she said jokes, and it obviously works for blog post titles. Give it a try!
I believe that's all I have in me for now, plus we're getting ready to head out. This morning I posted about 200 photos on my facebook, so check those out too if you already haven't. Now that I'm not stressing about the visas any more, I plan on having more FUN!
-B
