2: So getting a Chinese visa is harder than one would think...

A few weeks ago, my sister, me, and a few of our friends all went across the border to visit Tijuana. On the way back, all we had to do was stand in line for an hour, and US Border Patrol just let us through after inspecting our passports. When we went to Turkey, we jumped off the plane, walked up to a booth, handed 20 bucks to a woman who then stamped our passports with a visa that allowed us in for a month. When I visited Japan, I filled out a form on the plane that claimed I was merely a tourist, and got a sticker in my passport good for 3 months.

So of course, when I got an email from my program director about getting a Chinese visa, I was a bit surprised. First, I had to wait for a form from the program that explained that I was a student who would be studying abroad in Beijing. Once I received that form, I had to fill out another form, this one four pages long, with information about where I'd be staying, my family members and their jobs, if I had any friends in China, and much more. Then, I had to drive up all the way to LA just to turn all these documents into the visa office.

In a way, I shouldn't have been surprised by this at all. After all, China is a homogeneous, authoritarian nation. Of course their visa process would be strict and intimidating. It was just surreal to be filling out my parents occupations on a four page application for one visa, after experiencing such easy visa processes. It's good experience, though. At study abroad orientation, they told us that we will guaranteed be stopped by Chinese police. So I guess this is just a small step up to that.

A side note: Tory and I were looking for the visa office, and a helpful Chinese woman pointed us in the right way. I thanked her in Chinese, "谢谢", and she looked surprised that a white dude knew Chinese. But she replied with "不客气！" which means 'no problem', and I understood her! It made my day.