Garrett and I had to get our visa application into the passport office before our current visa’s expired. Which meant we had to go today. Since neither, Garrett or I speak Chinese well enough (or at all) to do this task on our own, Garrett’s company provided us with an interpreter of sorts. Chris is a girl who works with Garrett and speaks decent English.

Garrett called me at 11 to let me know the plan: that we would meet there; that he had emailed me directions to the passport office and that we were meeting there at 2. Garrett would be going there from work, so we would meet at the main entrance. This meant I would have to figure this out on my own. Last time I tried figuring out where to go on my own, I ended up in a not-so-fun taxi ride.

I was a little nervous.

This is what I knew: I had to take Line 1 to People’s Square, transfer to Line 2 and get off at the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum exit, which was 3 exits after Lujiazui. From that station I would take Exit 3 and the address, which is 1500 Minsheng Road. Garrett also informed me that the Passport Agency is called “Shanghai Entry/Exit Bureau.”

Not so bad. I had a lot of info, and knowledge is power so I figured I would be fine.

About fifteen past one I headed out to the metro. I got my ticket, missed the first train but caught the second, got off at People’s Square, headed to line 2, missed that train as well but caught the second one. Not so bad.

I shared the platform with a group on young teenage girls who giggled and gossiped in a language I didn’t understand. Chinese. I sat starred blankly at the empty tracks and drowned the out to the thoughts of my head. “I wonder how long the next train would be? Will my beanie make my hair flat? Is my hair already flat? I am going to take off my beanie.” Until I heard “… Meiguo…” That’s American in Chinese. Garrett taught me that so we could figure out when street vendors were trying to swindle us because we were foreigners. I quickly turned my head to the group of teenagers who were all looking at me, smirking. They quickly turned their heads when they saw my reaction. They were talking about me! While I was right there! That’s pretty bold of them. I mean I could speak Chinese, how do they know. I mean I know nothing now but I know enough to know they were talking about me. At that moment in my mind the following scenario played out…

I turn when I hear them talking about me walk up to them and in PERFECT Chinese I tell them off. I tell them that it is rude to talk about people (in not so nice terms). They look at me in shock and awe. They apologize profusely, the train comes, I glide on via the clear path made for me by the herds of people and watch the wind of the train taking off leave them behind, alone on the abandoned platform.

In reality I gave them a look, rolled my eyes and continued to wait for the train. But boy do I need to learn Chinese.

While I was on the train heading to my final destination I decided to lean up against the railing since there were no seats available. Now this railing was connected to a bench where people could sit. It obviously wasn’t meant for them because it was connected to the wall at the very end of the bench, which is about 2 feet taller then any comfortable armrest would be. It was meant for the few unfortunate people who did not get seats and needed to keep balance. Well no one told the guy sitting at the end of the bench this, because as he dozed in and out of sleep, his head wobbled, up, down, side to side. Until, of course, it rested comfortably on my arm that was holding onto the rail for support. As the weight of his head hit my arm, I realized he was not doing this to be rude but because he was asleep. My arm had become his pillow, the warmth of the crowd his blanket, and the cushion of his jacket his mattress. What should I have done, move my arm, wake him? My stop was still a bit away. I needed something to hold onto. I could of let him lay there but that’s so gross, I didn’t know this guy. I needed a plan. I needed to move my arm and act like I didn’t realize he was even laying on it. I needed to be slick, polished and completely emotionless. So, quickly I moved my arm to the back of the handle and watched his head make a clunk sound as it hit the metal bar. That woke him up, no doubt. He perked up looked up over at me. I stood there emotionless, staring blankly at the wall in front of me, as if I hadn’t noticed a thing.

Inside I felt bad but also an uncontrollable desire to laugh. The guy fell asleep and hit his head. The desire grew stronger the longer he looked at me. His 3-second glance felt like days. I wanted so badly to just laugh, crack a smile and chuckle. The eternity that was his glance finally ended when his embarrassment got the best of him. He turned his head to look around to see if anyone had seen his head clunk. Finally, when it was safe, I cracked a smirk and silently giggled. Ah.

Finally we made it to my stop, realizing the time (5 past two) I hurried through the crowd to exit 3. As I made it out the main gates I realized I could go two ways. Crap. Once you actually exited through exit 3 you could go left or right. I had no idea. I looked at a map; it was all in Chinese characters, which I for sure could read. Not even the street name would help me with this. I looked left, the road looked sad and I could see a clear path to the next intersection. I looked right, and there seemed to be more people (who am I kidding the whole place was crowded) and I could see the next intersection. So I headed right. I figured if the next intersection didn’t give me a street name I could read, I would turn around and go the other way. So in the mist of rain I headed towards an intersection. Because of the rain, I had worn my ultra comfortable teal knee length pleather rain boots. They’re easy to wear, the bold color makes them noticeable even on gray days and they grip the floor so that I don’t fall and break my head open.

As I walked I noticed a lot of foreigners, this was a good sign. More confident I headed closure and closure to the intersection. Until I got there and realized that neither street was the street I was suppose to be on. Crap. The green light for pedestrians had turned and since I wasn’t sure where I was going, I figured I would just cross, since the light had turned and they normally take forever.

That was a GREAT move on my part because as I crossed, I noticed a sign which was previously covered by a tree, which read “Shanghai Entry/Exit Bureau straight.” Perfect. So I walked straight. The weather was awful. It was the kind of rain where you couldn’t justify an umbrella because it wasn’t actually raining but it also wasn’t dry. It was as if a cloud of mist was following you around. It was ::sarcasm:: perfect hair weather.

My hair was for sure flat.

Garrett called as I approached the building I thought was the Shanghai Entry/Exit Bureau and let me know that they were still five minutes away. At least I wasn’t late.

I asked the guard, with a pleading look, “Passport?” He pointed to the giant building in front of me and said “this way.” So I walked through the courtyard to giant rotating doors. When I made it in, I wiped the winded look off my face and headed to the closest bathroom. I bypassed the line, straight to the mirror, where I took my beanie off and noticed the pancake that sat on top of my head.

I don’t understand how such a cute beanie can make a travesty out of my hair. It’s a thick black beanie with black sequins all over it that glitters when it hit the light. Fashionably functional, I like to call it, except for the natural disaster that it leaves behind when I take it off. There in the bathroom, I stood in front of the mirror, trying to put life back into my mane. Under my beanie I wore a thin back headband with a bow. The bow was just big enough that it popped out a little, but just barely noticeable. Not too over zealous, and it easily fit under by beanie with out creating any odd lumps.

With my fingers I did the best I could to brush all the tangles out, I put my headband back on, adjusted my scarf and decided whether or not to leave my jacket on. I was still cold from being outside but often it gets too warm inside. I could leave it on, but I run the risk of getting hot, taking it off and not being properly adjusted. Since I was wearing so many layers, it would be easy for me to get something tucked or bunched that wasn’t supposed to be. Since I was still cold, and I had worn my black leather bomber jacket (which isn’t super warm) I decided to risk it and leave it on. I adjusted my scarf one last time for good measure, pulled out the three layered pearl strand necklace so that it peeked out from under the scarf and headed out.

I stood by the door until Garrett and Chris arrived. From there we headed to the third floor, to wait. For about an hour we waited for our number to be called. When we arrived they were at number 405, we were 458. Awesome.

Garrett and I used this time to interrogate Chris on Chinese words and phrases. I asked her how to say Manicure (zhi jia you), expensive (pronounced, tie gue), and cheaper (pronounced, pien y y tien). We must have looked like fools, but we didn’t care, we asked away. Chris let me know that when I went and got a manicure for 100rmb I over paid by about 70rmb. I paid more then 3 times the going rate. Awesome. She told me that manicures are usually 30rmb, when I told her how much I paid, her jaw dropped. I felt like an idiot. Next time though!!

Finally our number was called and Chris rattled some info to the guy. He took our forms, pressed some buttons and we were done. Don’t know what they said or did but it wasn’t more then 5 minutes until he was calling the next person. We have to go back in a week to pick up our visas and until then they keep our passports. So hopefully, we don’t need them in that week.