Now that we've applied for our residency permits, it seems Ian's gone full native:
We got up at ten to six yesterday to meet up with our liaison, Shane, and two other foreign teachers (Kelly and Ray from Canada). Our purpose was to set up our bank accounts and then to head over to the immigration police to apply for our residency permits. We got our banking taken care of, but by the time we made it to immigration, it was too late. There were too many people in front of us for it to be possible to get through. I guess that within the last year or so Jinan went from having 500 foreigners to roughly 3000 of us. I have to assume that some of that is run off from the larger cities. I mean, Jinan is a cool place, but 3000 expats seems like a lot for a city so small (by Chinese standards).
So, we got to try again today! I got up at 5:30am and we were out hailing cabs between 6:30 and 6:40. Unfortunately, we were unable to catch one until after 7:00am. The population in Jinan keeps increasing (of course) but the government hasn't approved any new cab licenses for a few years, so it's pretty impossible to grab one during rush hour (which is perpetual).
Long story short, despite traffic, we all made it to the immigration office in time. Mostly we sat around waiting, then we were called in to talk to an officer. Except there was no interview, they just flipped through our paperwork for a few minutes, entered data, took our pictures and dismissed us. Kelly and Ray told us that they used to ask you the usual "Where are you from?" "What's your occupation?" etc. I suppose with so many new foreigners, they're trying to hurry the process along. I'm not complaining, it was all quite painless.
The only bummer is that they'll have our passports for 15 business days (because of the national holiday that means we won't get ours back until October 21st). It's illegal for foreigners to travel within China without their passports (copies won't do), so we'll be staying put until then. Oh well, we'll get to know Jinan pretty well in that time!
So, we got to try again today! I got up at 5:30am and we were out hailing cabs between 6:30 and 6:40. Unfortunately, we were unable to catch one until after 7:00am. The population in Jinan keeps increasing (of course) but the government hasn't approved any new cab licenses for a few years, so it's pretty impossible to grab one during rush hour (which is perpetual).
Long story short, despite traffic, we all made it to the immigration office in time. Mostly we sat around waiting, then we were called in to talk to an officer. Except there was no interview, they just flipped through our paperwork for a few minutes, entered data, took our pictures and dismissed us. Kelly and Ray told us that they used to ask you the usual "Where are you from?" "What's your occupation?" etc. I suppose with so many new foreigners, they're trying to hurry the process along. I'm not complaining, it was all quite painless.
The only bummer is that they'll have our passports for 15 business days (because of the national holiday that means we won't get ours back until October 21st). It's illegal for foreigners to travel within China without their passports (copies won't do), so we'll be staying put until then. Oh well, we'll get to know Jinan pretty well in that time!