Well, hello from the Hotel Royal (Or Royal Hotel...) in Macau!

I am unsure of which version of the hotel name is correct, so I wrote both!

WE MADE IT TO MACAU!!!

They tried to not allow me to check in for my flight from LAX to Taipei because I had a one way ticket. At 200am, in at least one of the time zones I've been through in the past couple days, that is NOT funny, may I tell you that? Instead, I had to use father's credit card to buy a $330 ticket out of Macau. To Taipei. I was supposed to be allowed 45 days in the city without penalty. May I just tell you, after further inquiry, that I am the only person that has happened to? Of course I am. Typical.

But we are here. I have shown my face at HQ (what I'm referring to Dragone's offices as) and recieved my passport, which was sort of kidnapped yesterday to get my chop.

What's that you ask? What's a chop? Well, readers, thanks for asking. I can inform you what that is, actually. A "chop" is a stamp that the visa office puts on your passport to say "yes, this person has applied for a blue card/work visa on the island, and yes, we are processing it." I will be fingerprinted by the government on July 19th (SCARY), and after that I don't know what happens.

So today our goal was to get an apartment, a cell phone, and a bank account. I was denied a bank account (even though the office told me I was all set to go) because I don't have a slip of paper from the gov't saying my blue card has been approved. The chop was clearly not good enough for them. The cell phone place was scary scary so we left. The apartments were also scary scary and the riggers I met today advised me of three things when apartment hunting: check for mold behind the curtains {it's a problem in lots of apartments because of the constant humidity that lesser people are unused to : ) }, roaches {unless Emily and I care for a pet, which we don't...}, and see LOTS of apartments. My agent had two. So we are working on getting a new real estate agent. And as a result, NOTHING but frustration got accomplished.

But that is OK, because tomorrow is a new day in this crazy, foreign city that I now call a semi-permanent residence. But never home.

Silver lining: there IS a great restaurant across the street from the hotel. Not the side of the street that has the giant courtyard where the locals practice Tai Chi and line dance (yes, seriously, line dance-there were like 12 people line dancing as a semi-organized group) at 7am. The side of the street with the Chinese 7-11. This place the people speak broken English, but everything we've had so far has been delicious. Fried beef and peppers, wonton soup, honey milk tea, watermelon ices... All delicious. Fried rice is even better actually IN China, well, at least in this SAR or Special Administrative Region of China. And if the fried rice keeps being excellent, I plan on not starving to death after all!

This post has been very educational. I hope ya'll learned something. Because when we stop learning, we stop living. Or something inspirational like that.

So for now, I would say good bye in Cantonese. If I knew how... But since there's lots of Portugese on this island, let's say "Hasta luego," or "See you later," as seven years of Spanish prove most helpful in attempting to translate the Portugese signs here. Honestly, it's about time those Spanish lesson paid off!

XOXOX

PS. I attempted to shave today to be presentable and got razor burn up my calves. You didn't NEED to know that, but I felt like it should be shared for some reason. Back to no shaving. (You people miss me, don't ya'll???)

Don't be fooled by whatever time this post says it is...

Because I THINK it is 720am Taipei time. Please don't ask me if that is accurate. Or what time it is in the States, because I honestly have no clue. I also have no clue how I am going to get to any of my appointments on time this week. That in itself is terrifying.

But the point is: we made it to Taipei. That is step (I was going to say one, but really it's like step 10) 10 and the flight to Macau boards in 45 minutes. Hopefully I don't get deported before I even get there, but that in itself is an excellent story that I will save for my next post, as the battery is dying on my trusty Mac.

Gotta Start Somewhere...

Ok, so. I'm moving to China. Saturday. Like 2 days from now.

And I am terrified. Excited, but terrified.

So what do I do? Post it on the internet for everyone to read. Because that's what we should all do with our innermost thoughts, yes? No. But I do want people to know that I am still alive while over there, so my goal is to keep it updated with some regularity. So that ya'll all know I'm still alive.

I'm fairly sure I'm expected to sign a confidentiality contract when I get to Macau, so I may not be able to write much about the show (at least before it opens) but I will write about my misadventures in the city, of which we all know there will be many.

The Basics:

I'm living on an island called Macau. It is approximately 11 square miles and the population density is somewhere around 48,000 people/sq mi. That's a LOT of people. In an ITTY BITTY living space. It was a Portugese holding until 1999 and under the terms of cession to China, it is a special administrative region (or SAR) of China and mostly autonomous until at least 2049. Which is good. Macau itself is known as the "Las Vegas of the East" which is also good because I don't speak a lick of Cantonese. Or Portugese. Both of which are official languages on the island. It's a HUGE tourist destination, with a lot of ex-pats from what I understand. The island operates on military time and the metric system. Neither of which I am comfortable with. (BREAK OUT THE FLASH CARDS.) I can get peanut butter at the grocery store (SCORE). Hair care products are labeled in Chinese (so not a SCORE). There is an area called the Cotai Strip that I will be working on, in a complex known as the "City of Dreams". It consists of 3 hotels, the theater, a couple multimedia theaters (including a "vitrual aquarium"), and a casino, shopping, etc. The Cotai Strip houses a bunch of casinos, hotels, and touristy destinations.

I have packed my life into 3 suitcases, a duffle bag, and a backpack. It's not a lot. I do have to leave some stuff here. God bless my parents for putting up with me. Thanks for holding off a little longer on that sewing room, Mommy.

Confession: I'm sad to leave Louisiana. I'll miss my friends (and those from everywhere, not just here), my family, my pets. But I'm sad every time I leave it. It's my home and I love it. For better and for worse. But when my friend was applying for a job in Macau (SCORE for built in roommate, because she got the job!) I kep telling her she couldn't say no if she got the job. I can't be a hypocrite. But I can still be sad.