We got to the consulate at 8 am for my 8:30 appointment. Only those with an appointment can enter the facility, so my adoption agency representative who drove me to the appointment explained in great detail everything that I would need to do in his absence. First, there is a block long, 10-deep collection of people trying to get to the area where you wait to go through the security line. American Citizens have their own line at security - we could see it across a gated off plaza. No one was in that line. The agency rep was excited about this. He said that I needed to get myself to that spot. I should locate the point in the barricade where people were allowed in and then push through all the Chinese people so the guard will see me and wave me through. To draw moe attention to myself, I should should hold my US passport high in the air, wave it and yell "American Citizen" so that the baracade guard would see me and let me in.
People trying to get their place in the visa line are more persistent (and harder to push through) than those in a packed subway car. The people near the front of the mob were also waving papers at the guard and yelling. In the end, my subway experience along with my citizenship, served me well and Danny and I made it through. I was indeed the first person in the honkie security line and then also got the first number of the day in the special "I'm an American" DMV-style waiting area inside the office. About 10 other families had the same appointment time. After everyone arrived, a state department employee gave us an explanation of the process and had all the parents in the room take an oath that their paperwork was accurate. They called my number, reviewed my paperwork, took my fingerprints as an electronic signature, asked me again if everything was accurate, and we were on our way. Essentially, the objective was to drop off Danny's Chinese passport to get his US visa affixed to it as well as to get a sealed brown envelope that I will then give to immigration at the airport in the US. I will get Danny's passport and the brown envelope this afternoon.
With that behind us, we went back to our hotel and relaxed for awhile. We ventured out again in the late afternoon. We got something to eat and the bought some walking-around snacks. Then, we took the subway to the outskirts of town to go see the circus. We were in our seats and ready half an hour before the 7:30 show time because I had read that you need to be there that early to get a good seat. It seemed that this was quite unnecessary because the seats were only 20% occupied.
It turns out that our early arrival was indeed necessary. At about 7:05, the arena started to get louder and louder and hoards of identically dressed school children (navy track suit with white side-stripes and a school crest on the jacket) started pouring in. Each group was following an adult leader/teacher who was holding a paddle with a number on it in one hand and waving a 3 ft long, 2 inch diameter glow stick in the other hand. There were at least 25 leaders and each group had at least 50 kids. One group of kids enthusiastically stared to pack in around us. As many of the passed me, they said "hello", "hello lady" or "Nice to meet you". They also used these phrases later on circus cast members (many of whom were not Asian) that came close to our section. As the only white person in the arena audience, perhaps they mistook me as being part of the show.
The circus show was quite good. It was kind of a mixture between Cirque du Soleil and Ringling Brothers. There were elephants, horses, pigs, flamingos, some sort of horned deer, clowns and show girls. The acts included trapeze, diving and trampoline, guys in body suits trimmed with neon lights doing flips on bungee cords about 30 feet over the audience seating, horse riding acrobats, guys riding little motor scooters in a big spherical cage and a girl who was shot out of a cannon. There was also multiple segments of "aerial ballet" with music, nice lighting and sometime water, snow or fire shooting from various directions.
Proceeding over all of this was, well, I guess the "queen" of the circus. She was dressed like a circus version of Victorian royalty. Sometime she just was escorted on stage between acts, but sometimes she traveled in a giant oyster shell with her entourage which consisted of 2 guys, a lion and a white tiger.
Not sure about the quality of the video links as I'm doing everything fr my phone. They looked ok when they were tiny and before I uploaded them to Youtube.
Aerial Ballet
Animal parade - directly in front of our seats
Acrobats
We reversed our journey back to the hotel and arrived back on our neighborhood around 10:30 pm. This is by far the latest that I have been out, and I learned a couple of things. First, the subways are just as busy at 10 pm as they are at 6 pm. Also, some time between 9 and 10:30 pm, most of the brick-and-mortar stores close a and the streets become filled with food carts and people selling stuff. Many of the vendors have a single garment rack with he any duty wheels. Each rack has a single price and usually a single item ( like pajama pants, vests or sweaters). I assume that the arrival of the street stores must coincide with the end of scheduled bus routes because the vendors didn't seem to be mobile enough to react to the honking buses that marshal the pedestrian use of the streets during the day.
2 comments:
OMG, OMG, OMG. I can just see you with your arm in the air telling "American Citizen!" I'm sure this was even more difficult than Jeff Burrill telling me I had to get past the Swiss Guards at the Vatican; oh this makes for good memories for you and Danny!
At the circus, I hope you have the crowd something to look at! Could you at least have juggled?! - Can't wait to watch the videos! I can only imagine...
Wow. Great circus!
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