I got re-baptised by the Chinese!
February 8, 2008Ok, so I was never baptised since I am not Christian and was born in a Communist country. But the Chinese changed my name!
The Chinese Consulate decided to change my last name to Zlraisky. I turned in my Chinese visa application last Wednesday and asked a friend to pick it up so that I would not have to take a day off work and go to San Francisco. After getting my visa, my friend called to tell me that the Chinese misspelled my surname. I’ve had multiple bizarre stories with my passports before and I don’t want to get stuck in Hong Kong without being able to enter the largest Communist country in the world. I have a keen interest in Communist and post-Communist countries. In this case, I want to enter one. The last time I had an airport problem in a Communist country, I almost got stuck in Cuba because I misplaced my exit tax money. (In 1997, my passport self-destructed in the rain in Kiev, Ukraine. The next passport flew away at the airport in Tel Aviv.)
I didn’t want to get stuck in Hong Kong with a invalid visa. So, I had to take a day off work and go to San Francisco before the Chinese consulate closed for three days for Chinese New Year. today to get them to reverse their re-baptism of my surname and let me return to my maiden name. The consulate was packed with people. Luckily, I turned in my passport quickly to the Information Clerk. When I returned to retrieve my bulging travel document, I got a number from the number dispenser. I sat down on the steps inside the consulate and a kind Visa Service Company employee was sitting next to me. I told him my story. His number came up after a few minute and he took my receipt number and got me passport much faster than if I had just waited for my number to be called. Hallelujah! I am back to being Susanna Zaraysky!!!
I will spend a month in the Tainan area of Taiwan on an all-expense paid cultural and professional exchange through the Rotary Club. After that, I am going to Hong Kong and China and will return on April 4th. But the Chinese weren’t so keen on having me enter the territory of the Communist country with my current identity.
(These posts are out of chronological order and I will add the rest of my 2007 Asia and Europe stories before I leave again for Asia next Friday, February 15th.)