It's visa time again

Our visas allowing us to live in China are soon to expire. Randy's HR department is working on our renewals. We are the only foreigners sponsored by his company, so unlike his previous employer, they don't have a well-established routine for getting this accomplished. Our first year here we ended up getting kicked out of the country, but last year's application went through smoothly. This year's applications have now been submitted. We'll know by next week if there's no problem or if we have to pack quickly for an unexpected Hong Kong vacation.

Of course this year, there are many events around the world and in China that could slow the visa process down. I haven't blogged about any of them recently (ummmm, it is visa time), but there is no telling if and how we could be impacted. The one thing that could not work in our favor is our Chinese names, or rather, Brigid's Chinese name.

We all have Chinese names. At first we had them as something of a courtesy, but in Changping the local security bureau prefers the foreigners to use Chinese names when registering residence. Randy received his at work, 韩云迪, Han Yundi, soon after he started working in China. The family name, Han, comes from "Callihan" and actually is the Chinese word for Korea, a name that seemed appropriate for a foreigner. Yundi sounded similar to "Randy." In the next few years Myles and I picked up Chinese names as well. Myles chose 威龙, Wei Long, meaning Mighty Dragon. My name, 娟, Juan, I had before I knew I had a Chinese name. The pronunciation is very close to "Jen," and several of my friends in Shenzhen called me that. I hadn't noticed, so when I started asking around for a Chinese name, they were surprised that I was unaware that they were already calling me 娟.

Brigid's name, though, was the only one that we chose before her birth, but might not look so good on the application this time around. Her name, 茉莉, Moli, means "Jasmine." Right now I am hoping that the Security Bureau notices in our files that she has had this name all her life and appears on all her Changping residency documents since 2009. Otherwise.....well, Hong Kong is nice this time of year.