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.