Passport Mafan

Ma fan is this great Chinese word that means trouble, hassle or inconvenience. Its one we hear a lot, and one that locals appreciate that we understand. Really though, every culture has ma fan, and today we experienced it with our own.

Qingdao is a lovely city to live in. Fresh air, clear skies, friendly people, a tolerable climate (in fact, one of the English phrases taxi drivers where to learn during the Olympics was, "Qingdao has a perfect climate. It is neither too hot in the summer, nor too cold it in the winter!" Quite a mouthful for guys who usually just grunt even when communicating in their own language!) But for all its wonder, as expats in Qingdao we feel our city lacking in two areas: health care and citizens services. Now, don't get me wrong, I know many readers are living in much more remote areas. I really do appreciate what we have experienced here. On the whole though, expats living outside of Beijing or Shanghai know what I'm talking about.

We got a note last Friday from the US Embassy saying they would be in Qingdao for ONE HOUR on Thursday of this week. They would be closed Monday, and all paper work would must be submitted by Tuesday. The girls passports are soon up for renewal, so Mr. Johnson dutifully replied to the e-mail notification THREE TIMES, and received no response. He lined up all the necessary paper work, we got photos taken, and had everything in order for the renewal of the girlies passports. We pulled the girls out of school, and drove 40 minutes to a hotel by the airport.

When we arrived a courteous bell man helped Bei Bei from the van, and just as he put her down, an over zealous taxi driver zoomed into the same area of the carport and near enough to where my kids where to make me angry. I stomped over to his window, tapped on the glass and told him: Be careful... Watch for kids ... This is a pedestrian area ... shook my head and gave him a bu hao (literally "no good" ... another phrase equally used with ma fan). Inside that cab, I later learned, was the Consular rep... we were off to a great start.

They had no record of our appointment.... Our photos were the wrong size... (we had had the standard pics for Chinese passports printed, not the US 2x2 inch) ... we needed photo copies of existing passports (information not included on their site or in any of the literature we had pulled down), and it seemed everyone who had made the trek out the airport was feeling equally frustrated. All of our queries were met with crisp responses. It felt like we were wasting their time (and not the other way around).

We were face to face with American red tape. Ma fan, if you will. And we combated it China style.

Sean went off the business center to make copies, and I went to the concierge to check out available photos shops. The super accommodating concierge actually hopped in our van with me, and off we dashed to a random photo shop several blocks behind the hotel. I pulled out my thumb drive, pointed to the two by two square on the application form, and the lady went to work, photo shopping the kids shoulders to make them wider for the larger format, measuring with her Chinese ruler against the US dimensions. We discovered Bei Bei's photo somehow didn't make it onto the thumb drive at the last photo shop, so our ever faithful driver dashed off to fetch her, and she had her second photo shoot for the passports. Thirty minutes later I was back at the hotel just in time to have our name called.

We sat opposite the Consulate Rep in the hotel lobby, the autumn sun warm on our backs, the with the familiar, acrid smell of cigarette smoke curling in our direction. We laid out our paper work, our 2 inch by 2 inch photos, and cold, hard RMB. We raised our right hands and swore that these were our children and that to the best of our knowledge everything on the forms was true.

We went back out to the van, and wondered how we'll cope in America. The photocopies were 14 cents each in a 3 star hotel business center. The photos (including having Bei Bei's re-taken) all of them re-sized, and printed (2 sets each) was $10 and took less than an hour. Everyone we asked for help was helpful and courteous. No one expected a tip, but were incredibly grateful when they got one.

But, its not just about the money. Its also the attitude. No questions, or stalling, no come back tomorrow... just doing what needs to be done without any ma fan. I've asked lots of Chinese people over the course of our time here how they feel about their jobs. Its a country of over 1 billion, so of course there will be exceptions, but most have a simple approach. Its my job. I do it. What's to wonder about? They value their time differently and today they saved the day! Which brings to mind another great Chinese phrase Bu cuo! (Not bad... not bad at all!)

The girlies original passport photos from October 2005