I returned home just before Thanksgiving last year and I figured that I would be home for at least 2 months before going to China. I figured I would leave sometime around the end of January, beginning of February. Not so! Since I still had to completely rebuild the kitchen from the studs up, I figured that had the greatest potential to hold me back. That actually went really well and I love my new kitchen!
Really, the problem holding me back turned out to be paperwork! I thought that the Middle East countries had a lot of paperwork to do but they have nothing on China. To start, I had to get a long form notarized copy of my marriage certificate which I then had to get notarized by the Secretary of State. Of course each step needed to be expedited (for a fee) otherwise I would still be in the states right now. Once I had the apostille from the Secretary of State, I had to take that to the Chinese embassy to be further certified. The closest one was in Los Angeles. Which was where I went and waited for over an hour to be told that because I was married in Nevada, I was under the jurisdiction of San Francisco and would need to go there. No exceptions. I contemplated going to San Francisco and doing this, but that is a 6 hour drive from Los Angeles and a 9 and a half hour drive from Las Vegas. I really don't see the logic of making me go to San Francisco especially since I was standing in the Los Angeles office!!!! Also, Las Vegas to Los Angeles is 4 hours. Las Vegas to San Francisco is again 9 and a half hours. I just don't get the logic. So I paid a visa agent to do it for me because it was much cheaper than my gas, time, and sanity.
When it finally came back, I found out that my Dad had to have surgery, which was a surprise to us all. So I guess it was a good thing that the marriage certificate took so long, (3 weeks) because I would not have wanted to be newly out of the country when I got that news. Luckily, the surgery went well and he is back home recovering.
After that, I booked my flight and then attempted to get my travel visa where I was again told that I would need to once again go through the San Francisco office because I have a Nevada ID and of course, the San Francisco office has jurisdiction. It takes 4 days for the office to process the visa so again, there was no way that I was going to be able to go do it myself so I went back to the same visa agent and she took care of it. I got the visa back 3 days before I was supposed to leave so that was good.
I had a very good flight and arrived in Xi'an on March 4th. It's a tad overwhelming but I suppose that is to be expected.
So this is probably one of my last blog posts here, however, feel free to join me over at my new blog.
Where To Next?
Really, the problem holding me back turned out to be paperwork! I thought that the Middle East countries had a lot of paperwork to do but they have nothing on China. To start, I had to get a long form notarized copy of my marriage certificate which I then had to get notarized by the Secretary of State. Of course each step needed to be expedited (for a fee) otherwise I would still be in the states right now. Once I had the apostille from the Secretary of State, I had to take that to the Chinese embassy to be further certified. The closest one was in Los Angeles. Which was where I went and waited for over an hour to be told that because I was married in Nevada, I was under the jurisdiction of San Francisco and would need to go there. No exceptions. I contemplated going to San Francisco and doing this, but that is a 6 hour drive from Los Angeles and a 9 and a half hour drive from Las Vegas. I really don't see the logic of making me go to San Francisco especially since I was standing in the Los Angeles office!!!! Also, Las Vegas to Los Angeles is 4 hours. Las Vegas to San Francisco is again 9 and a half hours. I just don't get the logic. So I paid a visa agent to do it for me because it was much cheaper than my gas, time, and sanity.
When it finally came back, I found out that my Dad had to have surgery, which was a surprise to us all. So I guess it was a good thing that the marriage certificate took so long, (3 weeks) because I would not have wanted to be newly out of the country when I got that news. Luckily, the surgery went well and he is back home recovering.
After that, I booked my flight and then attempted to get my travel visa where I was again told that I would need to once again go through the San Francisco office because I have a Nevada ID and of course, the San Francisco office has jurisdiction. It takes 4 days for the office to process the visa so again, there was no way that I was going to be able to go do it myself so I went back to the same visa agent and she took care of it. I got the visa back 3 days before I was supposed to leave so that was good.
I had a very good flight and arrived in Xi'an on March 4th. It's a tad overwhelming but I suppose that is to be expected.
So this is probably one of my last blog posts here, however, feel free to join me over at my new blog.
Where To Next?
