Hong Kong: The Business Side
Finally. Made the trip to Hong Kong and got the accursed Z visa.
But let's back up to last week. Obviously, I had to book the flight and the hotel. I started with the flight which, egads, was more complicated than you'd have thought. I went to HR to make the booking in front of them since, on account of the paperwork delays and postponing the original time line, I'd have to miss school. Which I mentioned when they first suggested postponing. And brought up again just before I headed off on Christmas vacation. It seemed, you know, like a big deal - it's not as if there are oodles of other Canadian teachers hanging about in the wings to swoop in and sub for me. So, yup, brought it up a lot. And then there I am, in their office, booking the flight, getting the dates confirmed, and I bring up the whole my-class-will-need-to-be-covered thing. Again. And HR calls in the principal to ensure she's aware of what's going and get her approval for my impending absence.
Cue freak out.
*sigh* Just call me Cassandra, folks.
On the bright side, I'd planned ahead on the lesson front so all that was needed was someone to actually teach them. The principal generated a timesheet for my scheduled and passed it around among the Canadian and Chinese teachers until everything was filled up.
Which brings us to Saturday. My flight left Sunday at an absurdly early hour in the morning, so Saturday morning I got in touch with the school's librarian and asked her to help me with booking a taxi. Ended up with her booking me a car. That was nifty. Fast forward to 3 AM (whine!) when I met the taxi outside the gate (at more like 3:30 because the driver had fallen asleep and didn't respond to my text messages) and was driven to Beijing International Airport. On account of the whole no-sleep thing, I slept through the flight (it was delayed an hour so was even longer) and landed in Hong Kong without incident. Very boring.
Took taxi to the hotel then walked over to grab lunch at McDonald's. Felicity (Arrow) was right - it IS comforting to know wherever you go in the world, fast food will taste the same everywhere. Checked into the hotel (my room was literally a short hall with a bathroom on the right that had a sliding wooden door that I couldn't open or close and a double bed and a mini fridge - talk about cozy) and walked the route to the visa centre.
Monday morning, bright and early, I went to the visa office. I admit I got a little lost trying to get there, despite walking the route the night before. Turns out you walk through the building, talking the far elevator down one floor, then exit the building and walk around the corner to where the visa office has its own entrance. *sigh* Whatever. Stood in line, went through a security check, filled out the application paperwork and made a copy of my Hong Kong visa (they don't stamp - they give you a little piece of paper that says your name, passport number, date of entry, and deadline for exit). Handed that all in to the agent and got a receipt with a time to return - ta da! - done!
Not so hard after all.
Went back the next morning, paid the $500HKD fee and it was accomplished, done, over, finito.
Thank all the gods and goddesses in Heaven, Hell, and in between.