Registered

Once upon a time when I first came to China 3 years and 3 days ago I stayed in a little apartment with 2 bedrooms and 1 living room; a kitchen and a small toilet/bathroom. There were 4 people living there (me in the living room). 2 and a half months later, just before my visa was to run out and i had to get it extended, I went to the local police station to 'register'. Unfortunately I turned up on a Saturday, and the man who could register would only come to work on Monday.

On the Monday I went back to the police station to register only to be told that I need to register within 24 hours of moving into the apartment, and since I had been there since Saturday, unregistered, I would be punished for breaking the law. This is, of course, absurd -what was I to do? In hindsight the lesson is never try to register on a weekend! My punishment was to sit for 1-2 hours with a friend translating for me, though neither of us had to say or do anything. Instead we watched as the special man wrote out pages and pages of stuff bout what i had done wrong. He literally wrote about 8 pages by hand. Then, for some totally unknown reason declared he had to make another copy of his essay (not sure why the photocopier was not used...) by hand.

I had to 'accept' my punishment and make sure to register within 24 hours of any apartment i ever stay in ever again in China (unless it is a hotel where you register at the hotel). I was even told if i broke the rule again i might not be allowed into the country, so i am sure there was no computer involved (and my essays were just filed in some backroom) so noone would know.

None the less I was sufficiently scared to have NOT registered in any of the 2 places in Beijing or 3 places in Xi'an I have lived since (and the many many other friends' places i have spent a few days in Shanghai and elsewhere). But I decided, last week, in my new place in Beijing to register (because someone put a sign on our front door telling me to!). And since the place i live is fancy and there are other foreigners living there (there are quite literally more than 100 buildings in the complex), it was relatively painless: Ask the office responsible for area D for instructions. They direct me to the office responsible for areas A-E for a note that takes 5 minutes. They direct me to the police station, where 10 minutes later I was registered.

The main problem was the fact my passport was at the Vietnam embassy. I had hurried off to show may face as soon as the sign appeared on the door with a photocopy of my passport; only to have to ask the question "If i come back in 2 days to register properly will I be fined/punished?" Deja Vu anyone? Anyway the police woman almost laughed at me, like she really gave a monkey and when i returned 2 days later, all was good :)

And now I am back in Xi'an again; in 8 days time I will be on holiday in Vietnam. Such is life. And the highlight of the last couple of weeks? coming to the office today and being able to see the mountains 10 miles away (for the 4th time in a year). Actually the highlight was me running 15km (once) and 12 km (once) as part of my preparation to run (and hopefully complete without stopping and within 2 hours) the Beijing half marathon in a month's time.

The worst part of the week was hearing of the death of Anita Roddick. 1 of the few people that comes to my mind as a real role model who really made a lasting difference in the World and kept to her values as well as spreading those values across the World. But, having amassed a fortune of 100+ million pounds, what a shame she will not be alive to spend it on all the good causes she has helped over the years.