San Francisco Chinese Consulate

This was day 1 in San Francisco. I had arrived the night before, late on a Thursday. I started the day with breakfast — eggs, spicy bacon with pepper flakes and brown sugar and coffee. It was good, but arrived at the consulate about 10 a.m. Then I stood in a super long and slow-moving line for at least 2 hours.

Friday I went to the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco to get my documents (police check and highest degrees — two master’s) apostiled (this means verified) by the Consulate. I had emailed a bunch of times, and called and just wasn’t getting a clear answer. They said I needed a pre-authorized code to submit, but they weren’t replying with the code, even after 2 weeks. I need my visa by ideally June 23, at the latest, end of July, so I don’t have time to waste.

Somehow, I won some amazing lottery, after telling the security guard about my documents, my move to Guanzhou soon, and got to go straight to the window to meet Joyce. After a trip on the Uber to USPS to get $5 more for my fee, and UPS to make copies, and back, they took my documents. When I send in my postage hopefully the documents will return to me next week. Fingers crossed.