Rainy Days at the Consulate

Yesterday we made a special trip to the U.S. Consulate to have some papers notarized. We are working on the final paperwork to sell our house. It's been a special challenge with us being in China and the house and the buyers being in the U.S.

Two days prior I had been searching for 'legal-sized' paper on which to print out all the documents. The paperwork came to us as PDF email attachments and we were advised to have it printed on 'legal-sized' paper. The U.S. doesn't use the metric system nor does it use the same paper sizes as much of the rest of the world. Don't get me started on clothing sizes. In Europe and here in China, the standard paper size is A4, which is pretty much the same thing as the standard 8½x11-inch paper used in the U.S. We followed everything to the letter as best as we could so there wouldn't be any unnecessary delays with the house sale. We thought we needed 8½x11-inch as well as the 8½x14-inch paper. Of course, the response I got from various shop owners was the same: "Mei you" (don't have it). Fortunately, the secretary at Eric's office was able to source the right paper for us.

We took the bundle to the U.S. Consulate, which has the citizen services in an office tower attached to a mall. Once there, you show your passport to the security guards who then point you past a long line of Chinese people waiting to be admitted to the consulate. Inside you walk through a metal detector and put your purse and pocket contents through an x-ray machine. It's much like the airport. You surrender your cell phone, camera, and PDA to the guard at the front desk. He puts your belongings into a cubby and hands you the key. You are then free to enter the U.S. citizen services room. This room is separate from the main waiting room where dozens of people sit waiting for a turn with the consulate. Once you're in the citizen services room, you take a number and wait. The wait wasn't long. We handed over our paperwork, which the woman behind the counter looked over and stamped in preparation for the notary. We sat back down briefly and returned when the notary was ready. We needed witnesses for a few of the documents so we got a couple of people waiting there to help. All in all quite easy. We bundled everything up later that afternoon and Fedexed it to America.

It's still raining today. It has been for much of the week. Today I went to the foreign languages bookstore. It was nice to sit amongst books in a language I could understand.