The entry/exit police told me what I needed. It was a filled out form, and a letter. Those were the only two things separating me from the stay permit. I got the form. I took a picture of it and my former colleague forwarded it to the person at school who refused to accept my WeChat information. Meanwhile, the entry/exit folks called someone at the school plus the woman who refused to friend me. I was told everything would be taken care of. I called my former colleague and told him what was going on.
He deflated my relief by telling me the school’s administration had gone on holiday. There wouldn’t be anyone available to help me in time.
I had tried to prepare in advance by securing a ticket to Thailand. It was a cheap place to stay, plus I knew someone who lived there and explained my predicament. I said it could take anywhere from two days to two weeks to get my work permit and could I possibly stay with him in the meantime. He agreed. I would have stayed in Hong Kong if I had a good chunk of money saved. I’d stay at my $50 a night hostel, and check out the touristy things I didn’t have the time to do on my first two trips to Hong Kong.
But I was very worried about money.
That was Thursday, July 26. I had resigned my fate to flying to Thailand the following Tuesday morning. I didn’t want to leave my flight to the last minute, and get delayed by a typhoon or some other problem.
Remember how my school said they wouldn’t help me get a stay permit? They had told me that. So that wasn’t the problem. The entry/exit bureau said because my school/employer helped me to get the residence permit, it was THEIR responsibility to give me a stay permit. I said they wouldn’t.
I called a former colleague. He put me in touch with someone at the school who he claimed had helped him get a stay permit. He gave me her phone number, and I’m not sure why. WeChat is the normal way of contacting people. WeChat has a translation feature, which makes it super-easy to communicate. But he said she knew some English. So I called her, introduced myself, told her of my situation, and of course it got all messed up. She thought I was a student. She said she couldn’t help me, so I contacted my former colleague who then gave me her WeChat contact card.
This was strange, because I’d been hired at jobs where I got my health certificate AFTER I’d started working. So I didn’t think anything of it when the new place applied for my permit. However, they said it had been turned down. Did I have a recent health permit?
Well, no. It’s not the sort of thing I get every six months or so, only when I get a new job. So I immediately got a health permit, got the results, took photos, sent them via WeChat, and they resubmitted the work permit application. I asked if they could possibly rush it, as July 31 was looming. Transferring the permit was of utmost importance. Because if I didn’t have paperwork in place saying that was being worked on, I’d have to leave the country.
I looked into the risks of overstaying the residence permit. I could be fined, imprisoned. I spoke with a lawyer. He said I probably wouldn’t be jailed, but I would definitely be fined. And it would be on my “permanent record.” Meaning, it would show I overstayed my visit in China, and it wouldn’t look good if I decided to visit other countries.
I thought I would just get a stay permit. I’d read on the internet that people in a similar situation did it. I’d just go to the entry/exit bureau and get one.
So, here it is, part one of the long-awaited, why July 21 to 29 was the most stressful week (and one day) during my time here in China.
It’s my fault of course. Everything is my fault. I should wise up and just accept no matter what, every decision I make is going to screw me up.
That being said, here’s the story…
I worked for a university, or rather a company that worked with universities, and it was coming down to the end of my contract. I’d asked over the course of three months or so, if they were going to renew my contract. Lesson learned: in China, if they put off answering you, it means no. I should know this by now.
Also, the job interviews were slow coming in. I wasn’t anticipating this, because in the past when I’d looked for work, I usually got a new position in two weeks. This time it took a month. (Jealous yet?)
I also should have heeded a co-worker who had heard I wasn’t going to be asked back for the fall. It’s hard to know who to believe/trust over here, but she’d heard the low down, and felt bad for me, so she let me know the situation. But also asked me not to let anyone in the office know she had leaked some information.
So I looked for work, and I was a bit panicked. I found a position, but held off on signing because I thought I could get a better deal. (Hahahahahahaha.)
In the meantime, I was told by my company, they wouldn’t help me get a stay visa. My residence permit wasn’t going to run out until July 31, so I thought I had time.
Lesson learned: it’s later than you think.
After being pushed to sign a contract quickly (usually not a good sign) I had to get my work permit cancelled from my old employer. I was leery about signing in a hurry. Another thing that puzzled me was the new school’s reluctance to email me the contract. Every other school sent me contracts electronically. Why the push for an in-person signing? They didn’t want to mail me the contract either, which I could understand. Eventually I took a train to sign the contract, with no reimbursement.
The new employer applied for my work permit, but it had been denied. The reason was I didn’t have a health certificate. Because they didn’t ask me for one. Had they included that bit of information, I would have gotten one. I can’t read minds, you know.
Malls are alive and well in China. A friend of mine criticized me several years ago about me hanging out at the mall. But if you’ve lived through the glory days of the American shopping mall, and miss how they used to be, come to China. The malls here are thriving.
My family wasn’t wealthy by any means, but for me and my mom, one of my fondest memories is going with her to the mall Friday nights. I was an extremely unpopular teenager and very close to my mom. Sometimes we’d go to the mall and walk around together; other times we’d split up and arrange to meet later if there were things we wanted to look at the other wouldn’t be interested in. We frequently found stuff to buy; this was the 1980s/1990s. We had a bit of money then.
Why are American malls dying? PBS Newshour had an article about why malls were going down, and here were some of the reasons:
Stagnant income
Online shopping
Social media
The article closed saying consumers want experience. For malls to survive, there needs to be more than shopping.
Wanda Lugang shopping mall has five levels. Located near the Dianqian subway stop, it houses a horseback riding academy, an open-air Buddhist temple, a grocery store, and of course, McDonald’s. This rock-climbing wall was just one of several kid-friendly activities located there.
In contrast, China has gone through tremendous growth in the last 30-40 years. No matter how you feel about communism, consider that it has lifted millions of Chinese out of poverty. Many people have started their own businesses. And you have to live here to really see it, but culturally and politically, of the two countries, China appears to be kicking ass. I can count on the hands of both fingers the number of actual homeless people I’ve seen. This is in a country with a billion and a half people.
I love thrift shopping. I get so excited when I see a designer item in the thrifts or a consignment shop for cheap. I snagged an Emanuel Ungaro little black dress for $1.25 during a $5 bag sale at a church back home in Fort Wayne, many years ago.
Thrifts are all over the place in the United States, because people are struggling. With stagnant wages, people want the most for their money. That’s why discount stores like Dollar Tree, Dollar General, Family Dollar and Five Below thrive.
But the Chinese, who have been used to poverty for so long, are now more prosperous. They don’t want used stuff. I’ve only been to one thrift shop here in Beijing, China. I passed by one in Xiamen, but it looked disappointingly small. So I skipped it.
The malls here, on the other hand, are huge. Both in square footage and their impact.
Walk along the tree-lined path on the left of this photo to see the outdoor arena of Struggle Upwards, a riding school located at Wanda Lugang shopping mall. I was very impressed by this facility, which had a cafe, a small indoor arena, a large outdoor arena with retractible roof, equipment for rent, and enough stalls for 15 horses.
I’m working on a video on a handful of malls here in Xiamen. It’s not a big city by Chinese standards, but it’s a city I’ve come to love. But I went around some malls in Xiamen that I visit on a regular basis to get a few pictures. Bear in mind, the video will focus just on malls in Xiamen. It’s a great city, but small by Chinese standards. The malls, however, are mind-blowing.
Interior storefront of Struggle Upwards, a riding school located in Wanda Lugang shopping mall. It includes a cafe and seating area.
The Chinese seem to have the “experience” thing down. Yes, there are plenty of stores, both obsolete and famous. There are western brands and Chinese brands. Designer stores too. But they also have some “only in China” aspects that you wouldn’t see in American malls.
Main arena at Struggle Upwards. It doesn’t get really cold in Xiamen, and even on the coldest days, the weather is ideal for riding. The roof is retractable.
Baby spas, for example. Lots of sit-down restaurants; not necessarily fast-food joints. Movie theaters. Karaoke palaces. Go-kart arenas. One mall had a skating rink set up for about a month. It’s not uncommon for malls to use both indoor and outdoor areas for small children’s rides. There’s a trend I’ve seen here that I don’t necessarily approve of, and that’s animals as amusement. There are plenty of malls with pools, some six foot by six foot tanks, others are actual 20 foot by 20 foot wading pools filled with goldfish. Children can scoop them out, put them back in. There are also birdcages that children can walk around in trying to pet the birds. The animals’ behavior is telling. The fish will group in the middle of the tank/pool; the birds will roost at the highest perch.
One of the more disturbing aspects of children’s entertainment in China. To the left is a birdcage, the blue thing in the center is a large wading pool with goldfish. Children are allowed to interact with the animals, for a fee.
Probably the most jaw-dropping “experience” I saw at one mall was a riding academy. From the street on one side of the mall, it appeared to be on the top floor. However, the floor it was on was also street-level, with a few hundred meter walk to the street. Finding access to the stable within the mall itself was a bit of a mystery. The mall had plenty of escalators that seemed like they went up, but once you got to the next level, it was confusing how to get back down. Anyway, the riding academy was located on a floor of the mall where it was the only occupant, except for a small gym. The riding school had a storefront. You walked in the doors and were greeted by a desk on the right, and on the left was a café. The facility even had an actual indoor arena on the smallish side, and the main outside arena with a retractable roof. The stables seemed clean and comfortable.
An open-air temple between areas B5 and B6 of Wanda Lugang plaza.
I’ll talk more about this place later, but it didn’t make sense that in a busy part of the city, there was a horseback riding school at the mall.
But then, it DID make sense.
At this same mall was an actual Buddhist temple. It was near the airport, so it’s a bit hard to meditate with planes flying overhead once every five minutes or so. Wanda Lugang mall by far was the largest mall I’d ever seen in China.
The open-air temple. I sad a quick prayer between airliners coming in for a landing. This one is China Eastern.
There were two areas of this mall that had small children’s rides. One area had what looked like a Habitrail for kids, tubes to crawl into and slide down. A short walk away were huge slides. Tucked underneath was a giant sandbox.
So can malls in the United States become the magnet they used to be? I think so, but some creative thinking has to be done.
This little guy was brazenly scavaging the sidewalk for an early supper. Stopped me and some little kid in our tracks.
Obviously, what is the local market missing in terms of entertainment?
On Facebook, I’ve seen ideas to turn malls into retirement communities. It’s not a bad idea. People need places to live. You could refurbish the interior according to budget. I don’t mean making all the living facilities luxurious. You could have a few luxury apartments; they could be in one area, you could have a mid-range area, and you could have a budget option for seniors on a very limited income.
I got sick again, but considering what I’ve gone through in the past two weeks, it’s not very surprising. That story is coming soon, but I’m not ready to tell it yet.
Two weeks ago, I got sick. The week after that I was fine, but under a terrible amount of stress. Then, after the worst was over, I got sick again. I’m not sure if that was because of the swimming pool, or if there’s a nasty cold bug going around.
But this cold had an added bonus: my left eye was oozing pus.
Yesterday, about once every half hour or so, I’d feel there was something in my eye. Usually I get eyelashes in my eye. Whenever I’d go to check, it would be these globs of pus.
I had several hours of this, then it stopped. Then, the coughing started up again. The coughing was so bad, at one point, I threw up. It’s annoying, this coughing. This itchy, tickly feeling that makes me want to gargle with bleach to get the crap out of my throat.
So I changed the sheets on my bed.
I’m getting better, I can tell. My throat is just a little bit sore, I’m not coughing as much, I’m not sneezing as much, and my nose isn’t running. I still feel like the cold germs are there. I still have an annoying click when I swallow. I’ve barely eaten in the past three days.
But I probably shouldn’t have gone swimming in that cloudy pool.
This has easily been the worst week of my life in China.
It’s not really over yet. But at least some, SOME of my worries have been taken care of. And I’m trying to look at the positives.
A great computer guy who speaks English who set me up with a newer iPhone (13) that is lightning fast compared to my Stone-age iPhone 6, which I bought from the same guy. The important apps seem to be working, and I can buy stuff from the Apple App store. I couldn’t remember my password, but somehow was able to reset it and the password. I THINK it’s okay. I was able to get Google Translate for my new phone, and I’m grateful for that.
I know, I know. After five and a half years here, my Chinese should be better.
But for reasons I don’t want to go into right now, my Chinese learning has been lax. My Spanish is a bit better. But not much.
More positives include a former colleague who is trying to explain Chinese culture and behavior to me during a week when no one wanted to be accountable—or to help.
Another friend is baffled by my situation and said he’d help. And he has already.
Understanding friends, both Chinese and foreigner, who are questioning the situation as well. Just the fact that they can’t quite believe what is going on is helpful to know.
I’ve also learned the importance of time the hard way, and the saying, “He who hesitates is lost.”
It’s just a cold. And usually, they are mild colds. But not in China.
They come on the same way they do when I was back home. My throat always feels scratchy. Usually a couple days of that, then either the coughing or the sneezing starts.
But I got lucky this time. I was off work, plus it was the weekend.
I don’t know why I’m so bothered by this. I think it might be because I have so much I want to get done this summer. I’m accomplishing stuff little by little, but in very small increments. I think that’s part of the reason why. I’m spreading myself among various projects.
And what are they?
Curating photos for PicFair.
Thinking about putting together a Patreon.
Editing my novel.
Putting up a website to promote my white paper services.
Cleaning my apartment and getting rid of stuff.
Getting ready to move.
I still have several weeks, but I feel overwhelmed.
But I need to relax, because things usually turn out. I get started on those projects and I get stuff done.
And maybe this was the universe’s way of saying, “slow down.”
I’ve had pneumonia before, so I’m taking it easy while I can.
The last time I was sick, it was awful. It was extremely hot, and I was feverish. Why didn’t I stay home?
Because when I’d gone to Hong Kong in 2023 to renew my visa, my pay was docked, even though my employers made the appointment for me to go, and knew I’d be gone. I’d called off work every day while I was in Hong Kong to tell them where I was and to let them know how things were going.
When I came back from Hong Kong, a couple weeks went by and I got sick.
I knew well enough not to ask for additional time off, but thankfully, there was one week where I didn’t have to teach any classes at all and I took advantage of that to rest.
That amount of docked pay came to nearly half my paycheck.
Why they couldn’t schedule me during the week when I didn’t have any classes scheduled, I have no idea.
I knew better than to ask.
Hey! Do you know what chicken feet taste like? I do! Check out the video I made about it here!
No Way! Laowai! 
You must be logged in to post a comment.