Life always has something in store. This is a blog about the little interesting things in life. I work in the insurance field and travel the world when possible.
The Texas non-resident adjuster license application came back again. This time the FBI couldn’t read my fingerprints so my rap sheet is blank. Hum, could it be that there is nothing on it?
I called the company who Texas hires to do prints and they said that I couldn’t do the more reliable and quite digital because one state cannot send digital prints to another state still. I was tempted to ask if they would like to use my computer as I have no problem sending messages and attachments anywhere in the world. Somehow I don’t think they would be amused.
To add insult to injury the letter said that if the rejected print card was enclosed with their stuff then I would not need to pay the $44. Fee again. Guess what? It was not enclosed. Are they trying to make some $$ here? So after $132 in fees and 6 months later I wonder if this one will work.
The Sheriff who did my prints again wondered if my prints had significantly changed to make it necessary to try again.
I wanted to get an external drive to save my photos on but they are way too expensive since I haven’t been working lately. I saw memory cards like mine at Costco and decided that just having several cards might just be the way to go.
I went to Costco yesterday to pick up the memory cards and remembered a couple of things we needed. As I went thru the store I then remembered that China has the squatty potties with no toilet paper hence the need to carry packets of Kleenex. Also many things are quite dirty so a hand cleaner is very important.
It is better to buy a package of Kleenex packets to take; the leftover packets can be used for packing souvenirs for the trip home. Also a bunch of packets of hand cleaners are easy to throw into the backpack.
A trip to the local drug store will be in order for tomorrow to buy small toothpaste, travel deodorant and other small items. Don’t want to spend precious time shopping for necessities that I can bring from home.
Early this morning I left and drove to Lancaster to pick up my mom, then off to L.A. again. This time we didn’t need the GPS, we knew the way.
We were at the Chinese Embassy by 11:30 and found a parking place in the shade. A good sign!
Once in the embassy we went to the 3rd floor where ones apply for the visas. The room is a large room with one wall of windows at which embassy people help those of us needing visas or passports or whatever else one needs there. The room was full of Chinese old and young, Americans of all races and ages and Buddhist monk looking people.
We took our number, A-198; there are numbers for visas, passports, and a couple other things but don’t remember. We found seats and got comfy, as comfy as one can get on a metal seat anyway. We saw that they were only on the A-140’s, a long way to go.
By 1:15 they were only up to the 160’s so I sent my mom out to put more money in the meter. She came back and we settled in for the long haul. Then all of the sudden they started calling out the A numbers and we knew that there was hope.
In the meantime we were watching the soap opera around us. One lady was at a window and started alternately yelling then pleading to the woman behind the window. She was yelling in Chinese so we didn’t know exactly what she was saying but my guess is that she wasn’t getting the visa in time to leave. The guard had to come and escort her out while she yelled all the way out. Another lady was pounding on the locked door leading into the room where employees were working behind the windows. No one ever opened the door.
Finally our number was called and we rushed up to the window. I couldn’t turn in the apps for Nate’s group, as we had not received the Declaration from each person but I did have the one for my brother and myself. As the woman helping us told me that we could pick up our passports on Wednesday my mom said I had a huge sigh of relief.
So it is back to L.A. on Wed. to pick up our passports and we will be set to leave.
The lesson here is check the embassy website for last minute changes. Don’t get caught off guard when doing a trip like this.
As I’ve mentioned before we will be going to China with my son’s tour company and leaving on the 15th.
When the swine flu hit we thought that we’d wait until this past Sunday to make a decision on whether to go or not as China was starting to quarantine people and we didn’t want to 1. Get stuck in China, or 2. Not get into places that we wanted to see. By Sunday we’d decided that we could go.
Since Nate has another tour going to China we decided that I’d get the visas for the people in the other tour as I was getting ours.
I checked the site Monday night to check the address as it has been some time since I’ve been there. What a surprise to see that they were not issuing any 1 day visas, and had extended the time to process visas from 4 days to 6 days.
Today, Tuesday, I planned to pick up my mom then drive to near Nate’s to pick up the visa apps from his tour group. I would drive to the city near his place as he had worked all night. Then we would get to the Chinese Embassy and turn all of the visa applications. Great Plan.
1st as I was almost at my mom’s, 1-1/2 hours away, I realized that I forgot my passport at home. UGH. I picked up my mom and drove back to my house, the opposite direction from everything to pick up the passport and discussed the situation with Nate. From my house we went south to L.A. and met Nate close to L.A. where we got the visa forms. My Mom and I held Zaya MeiJin while Nate got the forms together.
The info online said that the Chinese embassy closed at 3pm so we knew that we would barely make it in time. We took off and drove like bats out of hell. Then about 1 mile from the off ramp we ran into major traffic. We couldn’t get to the off ramp fast enough. Fortunately we had the GPS on so we didn’t have to worry about getting to the right place.
We found a place to park, broken parking meter, but parked anyway. Ran to the building, opps the wrong address listed on the site. Guard said good luck; the embassy closes at 2pm. We then ran to the Embassy, just up the hill and across the street, hopped on the elevator and up to the 3rd floor.Sure enough the doors were closed and locked. We got on the elevator discouraged with a bunch of other people who we found were mad. As we went down the 3 floors one said she’d been there on Monday but it was closed, went back today and found that she couldn’t get her visa in time and had to change her flight. Another was mad because now the people she was getting visas for had to fill out new documents.
We went back up to the 3rd floor and asked the guard about these forms that had to be filled out. He told us that the forms were online. We had to let Nate and Mike know about these forms, can’t get any visas without them.
So it is back to L.A. tomorrow to start all over with the process and the big concern, can we get our visa before we must leave.
Monday, May 4, 2009
I'm sending this by my phone trying to set everything up before departing for China on the 15th. See if it works.
Last week when I helped Nate with his almonds we worked at the kitchen in Ventura he was renting. This was his last week at this kitchen as it had been sold and the new owners were making new contracts and Nate found a spot in a kitchen in Santa Barbara. The old owner was selling items that the new one did not want which included a commercial size smoker. Nate bought the smoker and I brought it to our house because of the lack of space at his place.
Last night after lots of internet searching I bought some salmon filets and a pork shoulder roast, only .69/lb, a very cheap cut of meat. I made some rum based brine for the salmon and chili/paprika based rub for the pork.
Today we started smoking the pork early in the morning and then added the salmon by 11am. Salmon was done by 12:30 and we each ate ½ of a filet. By 7pm we took the pork out of the smoker, it was moist and pulled apart easily.
Dinner was pork roast with some Hanna Rose Wine 2006 and a salad.
For additional details you may visit my blog at g-maskitchen.blogspot.com.
