Better than Vegas?

Today in Macau I am on a visa run of sorts. I had to leave Hong Kong in order to re-enter so that I can initiate my work visa. I have just come for the day and decide to check out the new casinos that are making the news. The Wynn has just opened, down the street from the gargantuan Sands resort.

It is all in the news how Macau is beating Vegas in table revenues each week. That seems pretty amazing as Vegas is so much huger and popular than Macau. Vegas has several more hotels and casinos and has the business down pat!

A visit to the new casinos sheds some light: There is a palpable difference in the ambiance here. First of all, the casino floor is PACKED with Chinese people crowding around the tables, smoking, and, on one instance, spitting right there on the floor in front of me. These are serious gamblers.

The hotels have a few attempts at entertainment, but the awkward dancing girls and second-rate magicians are all but ignored as the potential for making money gathers all attention.

The décor is what Vegas was like in the 70's- seedy, low-rent, dingy, and all about the gambling. These places have not wasted money on secondary pursuits of happiness that has made Vegas so popular with all walks of life, including non-gamblers. The casino is only that- a casino. The place makes me uncomfortable.

The Wynn is not as bad as some of the others. It has a little more of the feeling of sumptuousness that the others are lacking. Indeed, there is a different target audience here. If I were to stay in one of the new hotels I would stay here. Cleaner, brighter, less smoky, more welcoming.

I know that more hotel/casinos are planned. Stanley Ho, the grand poo-bah of gambling in Macau, the guy who has owned the only casino for a generation, is also planning on opening a new hotel and casino next to the old one. His offspring also have their hands in several ventures as well. The Venetian, which will open later this year on a peninsula of reclaimed land out between the two outlying islands- also promises to be a behemoth.

Macau has changed practically overnight from a sleepy fishing village most famous for its old temple and charming colonial square into a major destination.

The Office- Chinese Style

Today in Hong Kong I went to my first day at work at IVE. Like every other experience I have had with the education system here, there was a lot of unnecessary frustration. I arrived at 8:10 after practically running to get there by 8 as I didn't know what time they wanted me to be there. This week is prep week so there aren't any classes or time schedules.

No one was there. No one would open the door for me. Finally someone came out of the staff room but looked at me suspiciously and wouldn’t let me in, shielding the entrance with her body.
So I was stuck there dialing various numbers to get in. I finally went to the back door and knocked hard until someone let me in.

I had received some materials for "lesson 1" on Monday, but no instructions or information about anything to do with the classes I would be teaching. Nothing about when, or where, what level, or what discipline! I had no idea how to prepare since I had no idea about the classes, just some random materials that had obviously been downloaded from the internet on meetings.

Where is my desk? No idea. Where are all of my colleagues? Not arrived yet. The secretary tells me that she will talk to me later but she is too busy now. But she does come by twice to tell me AGAIN (she has already iterated this issue several times) that she doesn't pronounce my name correctly and she is sorry. I again explain that she can use my Chinese name. She again says, "I always make mistake." I again say, "It doesn't matter.'"
Then she scurries away because she is too busy.

But, she does tell me that the school has heard nothing from the immigration department about my visa and that I have to deal with it. But she is too busy to talk to me about it now so she will give tell me what I need to know later. After the meeting.

I call the immigration department again (I had already spent hours waiting to get through before I left Hong Kong) and fax them to their Hot Line. This is also after I have already emailed them enquiring about whom they will contact when my visa is ready. Of course I never get through. Besides, they don't actually have a touch tone number to dial for visas.

3 ½ hour meeting later, I finally can run to the immigration office to find out what is going on with my visa. Of course I have to go home first to get my passport.

I go to where I dropped off my application and they tell me to go to the 7th floor.
I go to the 7th floor and have to chase down an officer to help me. He is very helpful but obviously doesn't know what to tell me. He says go back to the 2nd floor to enquire.
I know that is wrong so I go to another window where they deal with student visas. They tell me to go to the 24th floor. I have to go down to the ground floor first to get to the elevators that service the 24th floor. I get to the 24th floor and sure enough, it is the “employment visa” department. And guess what? They HAD sent the letter to pick it up to the school. So now I can pay for the visa, but actually it is a temporary visa to enter Hong Kong, but I can't actually work until I have left the country and re-entered so that they can start an official work visa once I have entered the country. So now I have to go to Macau or Shenzhen or something.

Anyway, I think my day is over when I get a call from the secretary saying that I have to bring my visa in TODAY.
Can I bring it Monday? No.
Can I just give the number? No.
Can I just fax it? NO.
So I have to go all the way back to school to give her my passport. She makes a photocopy and that is all she needs.
Can't fax it though.

I am now told to go to the general administration office to get the ball rolling on my direct deposit of my paycheck. Again, no one answers my knocks. The guard/receptionist of the school looks at me. I ask him to help me get in. He speaks NO English. I ask him in Mandarin to call them and ask them to let me in. It is unclear if he understands, but no action is taken.
Finally someone answers my knock, but again it is shielding of the entrance with the body and the suspicious look at me like, “what do you want in this highly secure/sensitive/valuable place?”

Fortunately I have the name of the woman I am supposed to talk to so I am begrudgingly let in.
Actually, I can do it on Monday and they give me some papers to fill out and return on Monday. So, again, a big waste of time. Oh well, I THINK things are on track. We'll see Monday when classes start and I have no idea what exactly is expected of me. Are the materials that were sent to me for week 1? Or for a month? Or the whole semester? It is unclear. As is everything.