RLPF.ar

#1 errand today: Go to the Chinese visa office in Washington and present my "foreign expert" certification, to have the working visa required for my teaching job stamped into my passport. This went as smoothly as could be hoped, apart from a brief moment of panic upon entering the office and reading a sign:

Note: We are suspending same-day service from August 5 to August 10, for technical reasons.

"Suspending"? But I needed that! Then I realized, it's August 4. Whew!

There was absolutely no problem with the papers. I'm not entirely sure, but it almost seemed that the young lady helping me became more respectful (or impressed?) when she turned to the foreign expert page. Or it could be that I'm going over to teach music -- Jimmy told me musicians and artists are seen as somewhat exotic.

I went back in the afternoon and indeed, my passport was ready.

So that's it! I'm ready to go back. Well, not quite. I have some shopping to do (things to take back to China), a Linux-capable laptop to buy, and 50 pounds worth of stuff to cull from everything we left behind from the earlier departure. And people to see! The next few days are likely to pass in the blink of an eye.