China Visa: Seeing Red!

Well I'm not sure I mentioned but my Christmas present for Ji this year was flights for us to Shanghai for Lunar New Year (from February 2nd-6th). For the record, she got me a nice wee netbook that is no doubt going to come in pretty handy during the summer when I'm casually (!?) typing up my dissertation in various little cafes around Seoul. Anyway, I have been to China before (Beijing for Lunar New Year in 2007) and getting the visa was a pretty straightforward process. So I wasn't too worried as I went to Jonggak to sort it out with Ji's travel agent. Turns out, you have to have six-months remaining on your Alien Registration Card (ARC) to be able to apply for a visa. There are a few other loopholes, none of which helped me out much. Who knew? Cue frustration, bitterness, the blame game, cursing modern-day bureaucracy, and (sometime after all of the above) trying to find a way round it. As it happens, xanadu travel in Itaewon have some kind of dodgy way round it, so I'm headed there first thing in hope. Most people I have mentioned this to already said, "yeah, I know" but in case you are as in the dark as I clearly am: DON'T BOOK A FLIGHT TO CHINA UNLESS YOU HAVE AT LEAST SIX MONTHS REMAINING ON YOUR ARC! So there.

Incidentally, my search for a solution brought me back to good old Dave's esl, where I posted a query in the travel section, hoping someone could shed some light on xanadu travel for me. Unsurprisingly, no bites. If you're looking for a response on Dave's, just suggest that Korea is the best place you have ever been and that working here is a constant cause to be thankful. That should get them going. While I was there I thought I'd see what the whining losers have been on about of late. This post should tell you all you need to know. Apparently China is now the place to go, and Korea is hell on Earth, even though all the people posting so appear to still be in Korea. If you get past the third page, you've done better than I did.

Anyway, to what's going on in life. I was supposed to sign my next contract (pay raise, woo!) today but I noticed that they have called me BrAin Craig. That would make it 4 out of my 4 teaching contracts in Korea. I think it's easy enough to see why the confusion arises. Once that's done I start applying for my next job in August, hopefully in an International School. In my current 'what's-going-on-what's-it-all-about-what's-it-matter-anyhow' state, I'm probably going to blanket apply to social studies jobs around the world and let circumstances decide my next move. Once I break through those January blues, I'm sure I'll focus it a little more than that. Gig coming up on Friday at a new venue (for us) in Gangnam called 'Readers' then we have rehearsal on Saturday and it seems to be about a million peoples' birthday that night. The following week we play at the 5th birthday party of 'Speakeasy' in Gwangju (hopefully with Feed The Boats), which I am genuinely looking forward to. Cheon has just had a work skiing trip thrown on him, which will probably mean that he'll have to drive to Gwangju on his own and be there just on time to start playing. Anytime foreign teachers are getting it tough in Korea with last-minute changes of plan, there's always the guarantee that Korean workers are getting it worse.

Any lethargy you may detect these days probably comes from the fact that:

a. January is depressing, and

b. I'm finally reading 'On The Road' by Jack Kerouac.

Really great book that I'm flying through, but definitely should come with a disclaimer: don't read if your head is already up your ass. Mind you, that might mean I'd never get to read it. Let me leave you with my song of the day, which doubles up as another shameless piece of self-promotion. Have a good one everyone.