the word of the day is . . .

Registration at Nankai University began today. For some reason, I had it in my mind that it was going to be a rather quick, organized process. I even told Ben that I would pop downtown afterward and pick up a coffee maker, so it would be all set up before he got home from school. Heh. Yeah, right. I guess I temporarily forgot I was living in China. If there is one word that characterizes Chinese life, it is "bureaucracy."

In bureaucracy's defence, I kind of got off to a bad start. I originally thought I would ride my bike over to the building where registration was supposed to begin, but when I got outside, I found I had a flat tire. It shouldn't have been a surprise--the tire was flat when I inherited the bike from some of Sam's friends, and we suspected it had a slow leak. But, I haven't quite figured out where to have my bike repaired yet, so instead of taking it somewhere to be quickly fixed and then riding over to the registration location, I decided to just hoof it.

I mentioned before that our apartment is located very close to one of the gates of the university. This is true. However, it is not located very close to the building where registration (or at least the first step of registration) occurred. The gate is on the far southwest corner of campus. My destination was in the far northeast corner. So, the walk was about 45 minutes long (it probably should have been more like 30, but I got lost a couple of times).

When I finally made it to the room for registration, the smokestacks of bureaucracy began chugging along. First I had to fill out two, nearly identical forms. Then I had to attach photos to those forms. After standing in line for about 45 minutes, I had to sign my name a couple times, procure my passport three or four times, and fill out another form. That was all step one.

By the time all that was completed, the room was closing down for lunch, so they told me to go to a particular bank that was located on campus, and open an account there, so they would be able to put my monthly stipend directly into the account. That was a painful process I won't really go into. Suffice it to say, opening a bank account when you don't know the vocabulary involved in opening a bank account is a very difficult ordeal. But, I did find the bank, fill out another form, procure my passport once again, and was, through difficulty, able to open a bank account . . . I think.

The best thing that happened to me was that, while I was trying to fill out the forms to open the account, two American guys from Minnesota came in, and the had to complete the same process. They were able to help. . . a little. But more importantly, they informed me that, in order to complete the next step of registration, I would need to have at least two more passport photos than I had with me. Good call, guys. So, I walked most of the way back to the apartment (Ben met me part of the way there) and got some passport photos.

Then, on to another building, where once again I had to fill out a form. It seemed identical to the first ones I filled out that morning, but I may have been hallucinating at this point in the process, having been exposed to heat, wind, and lunchlessness. I showed my passport again, gave them some photographs, and was given a student ID card. Now we're talking--finally, something to show for all this walking and signing and standing in line.

I was then quickly ushered into an adjacent room for a "Chinese interview." Basically, it consisted of a woman asking me (in Chinese, of course):"How long have you studied Chinese? At what level would you describe your ability? How well do you write characters?" Based only on my answers (and no proof thereof), she then told me she would put me at "Intermediate II." That seemed about right to me, but what do I know? Also, I'm not really sure what purpose the interview served, because actually, I have to go back on Thursday for a real interview, where her decision to place me at Intermediate II will be either confirmed or proven inaccurate.

So, finally, five hours later, I'm done. Right? Wrong. Now it's back to the first building (which, by the way, is on the opposite side of campus from me once again) to prove I have opened a bank account, and provide my bank account number, so that deposits will be made on a monthly basis.

Whew! That was a long six hours, chock-full of walking long distances and standing in long lines. And in the end, Ben actually got home about 3 hours before I did. After all that, we rewarded ourselves by going downtown and picking up that coffee maker together.

Now, we just need to get our hands on some coffee . . . .