La Migra
Well it's been a while since I posted anything, but I have been a little busy. I was an illegal alien in the PRC for period of about 6 weeks, my residency expired during one of the biggest festivals in China. Most people can't be certain of the dates because the government doesn't announce them until it's almost upon us. In actuality the holiday spans about two weeks (some years Chinese new year is included in this holiday so it's a little longer), the dates being different every year, most places get 5-7 days off but they span the entire length of the holiday so it's nearly impossible to know who is going to be open or not. You also need certain documents to procure another job (Health certificate, Foreign Experts cert, passport, and recommendation letter). I took vacation from my last job as it was obvious that dad and Patrick wouldn't be coming, so I decided to take my time. I really didn't think to go looking for a job then because I was under contract until the 2Nd and wouldn't have the documents I needed until the 5Th from my previous job.
Janice then found out the dates and informed me of them, it turned out that this year the first day of spring festival was going to be the 6Th, so by the time I got all my documentation I wouldn't be able to find a job for God knows how long. I went out to try and find a job a few places before spring festival hit, but most places weren't interested in talking to anyone so close to the holiday, the places that were interested were to busy to deal with me at the time. There was nothing I could really do at that point, i should have tried to find something well before I was leaving my other job, but I was busy myself trying to keep them from screwing me out of my vacation time.
So I decided that the best thing to do was try to enjoy the extra time I had off, but I wasn't provided a very suitable bonus and some of my bills were a little high as we were just coming out of a very cold winter, I believe Tom and I were both running our heaters, and my computer is generally busy 24/7 so I had an electric bill that was really high, two months rent due, and more bills were coming up soon. I had less to live on than I normally would for a month, I had also taken to going to the arcade quite often to spend time with Tom and My girlfriend. I quickly became addicted to a driving game there and began putting a few more coins in it than normal. It was also around this time that I realized Tom had re upped his contract and we weren't leaving at the same time. I was suddenly in the country illegally with very little I could do about it as immigration has the entire holiday off (This has to be the most stupid bullshit I have ever heard of), and my stack of pink Maos was growing thinner and thinner by the day as my girlfriend had taken a liking to western food, being that I didn't want her to know that anything was wrong I tried to provide as best I could as I figured getting a job would be a snap once everything was over.
Once the holiday was more or less done with, i am not really sure when it was over as again no one really has a good grasp of the dates, I went to the place I wanted to work and filled out an app, it was a few days before they called me. (I also filled out apps with other companies as well but they weren't contacting me.) I was set up for an interview, when I went to the interview they hadn't communicated well and it turned out I had to be all the way across the river in hankou for the interview, so it was rescheduled for a couple days later. it was a couple days after the interview before they called and asked for a demo class, and it would be a couple more days until i had it. At this point the company knew I was not here legally but were sure they could work something out, but by the time they managed to work everything out I was way past the 10 day grace period, the cops wanted 5,000 RMB from me for a fine, because I am a westerner they naturally assume that my bank account it teaming with money I don't need so they wouldn't negotiate with me.
I had far less than that so I had to go about borrowing money, Family couldn't help, Tom was going home for a while so he couldn't loan it to me (but i have every belief that my little brother would have helped out, and in the long run he did). Long story short, after borrowing from a very good Friend, and another local friend, and here and there from a few other people I am now a legal and working Chinese resident ... who can barely afford to eat for the next 5 weeks, my first paycheck is only going to be half what is should be as I only worked half a month. And I owe more than I am getting, not sure what I am going to do really. As always I'll have to figure it all out on my own, and I will ... somehow.
My new job is much better than my last one, my classes are closer together and aside from a Friday I get done at 7. The students are cooler for the most part, and for the most part I don't have to work with a psychopath. My salary is really good, and the school is using me as a reporter of sorts as they heard I enjoy writing
Janice and I are making some headway ... guys I have a splitting headache I gotta go ... oh and I have had food poisoning for an unreal amount of time
Janice then found out the dates and informed me of them, it turned out that this year the first day of spring festival was going to be the 6Th, so by the time I got all my documentation I wouldn't be able to find a job for God knows how long. I went out to try and find a job a few places before spring festival hit, but most places weren't interested in talking to anyone so close to the holiday, the places that were interested were to busy to deal with me at the time. There was nothing I could really do at that point, i should have tried to find something well before I was leaving my other job, but I was busy myself trying to keep them from screwing me out of my vacation time.
So I decided that the best thing to do was try to enjoy the extra time I had off, but I wasn't provided a very suitable bonus and some of my bills were a little high as we were just coming out of a very cold winter, I believe Tom and I were both running our heaters, and my computer is generally busy 24/7 so I had an electric bill that was really high, two months rent due, and more bills were coming up soon. I had less to live on than I normally would for a month, I had also taken to going to the arcade quite often to spend time with Tom and My girlfriend. I quickly became addicted to a driving game there and began putting a few more coins in it than normal. It was also around this time that I realized Tom had re upped his contract and we weren't leaving at the same time. I was suddenly in the country illegally with very little I could do about it as immigration has the entire holiday off (This has to be the most stupid bullshit I have ever heard of), and my stack of pink Maos was growing thinner and thinner by the day as my girlfriend had taken a liking to western food, being that I didn't want her to know that anything was wrong I tried to provide as best I could as I figured getting a job would be a snap once everything was over.
Once the holiday was more or less done with, i am not really sure when it was over as again no one really has a good grasp of the dates, I went to the place I wanted to work and filled out an app, it was a few days before they called me. (I also filled out apps with other companies as well but they weren't contacting me.) I was set up for an interview, when I went to the interview they hadn't communicated well and it turned out I had to be all the way across the river in hankou for the interview, so it was rescheduled for a couple days later. it was a couple days after the interview before they called and asked for a demo class, and it would be a couple more days until i had it. At this point the company knew I was not here legally but were sure they could work something out, but by the time they managed to work everything out I was way past the 10 day grace period, the cops wanted 5,000 RMB from me for a fine, because I am a westerner they naturally assume that my bank account it teaming with money I don't need so they wouldn't negotiate with me.
I had far less than that so I had to go about borrowing money, Family couldn't help, Tom was going home for a while so he couldn't loan it to me (but i have every belief that my little brother would have helped out, and in the long run he did). Long story short, after borrowing from a very good Friend, and another local friend, and here and there from a few other people I am now a legal and working Chinese resident ... who can barely afford to eat for the next 5 weeks, my first paycheck is only going to be half what is should be as I only worked half a month. And I owe more than I am getting, not sure what I am going to do really. As always I'll have to figure it all out on my own, and I will ... somehow.
My new job is much better than my last one, my classes are closer together and aside from a Friday I get done at 7. The students are cooler for the most part, and for the most part I don't have to work with a psychopath. My salary is really good, and the school is using me as a reporter of sorts as they heard I enjoy writing
Janice and I are making some headway ... guys I have a splitting headache I gotta go ... oh and I have had food poisoning for an unreal amount of time
posted by goemonronin at 5:16 AM
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