I fumble in the dark looking for my shoes. Earlier I had dropped my passport on the floor of the bus and the little girl below me pointed to where it was. Panicked, I jump out of my cot and searched the floor for my wallet containing my passport and money. I thought what would happen if... Now, I am fumbling to find my shoes and hurry to the front of the bus. I am more than a little nervous. I ask Colin to come with me. I hastily grabbed my coat, put my shoes on and stumble off the bus almost falling into a snow bank. At the door, heavy stale air is met with a dry frigid breeze. If it was not so cold it could feel refreshing. The cop was standing there in his dark blue sub zero jacket with his rabbit skin Cossack hat on. "You speak Chinese?" I'm thinking, I need to get a handle on this language. "No" I said and he starts to interrogate me in Chinese. This is when Colin shows up wearing nothing but jeans and T shirt. " It's cold" He says. The policeman turns from me and starts rapid fire to Colin pointing at my passport and getting agitated. Now I am thinking, maybe a few lessons before I left would have helped. Colin looks at me and says, "the police say you passport is wrong."
"What do you mean, wrong?"
Colin asks the cop to explain and with agitation in his voice he flips the passport open to the visa page and starts tapping on it with his finger, all the while his he is getting louder and speaking faster. Tap tap tap. Colin looks white. I want to know what is transpiring and I ask Colin what the policeman is saying. Colin says, " the police think my visa is expired. He say that visa expire in February." Now I tell the cop in my perfect English no no no, that that can't be! No way! He's looking at me with a quizzical look but not the ha ha look everyone gets when they get the joke. I point at the passport and say that that this visa is not the right visa. Earlier in the week there was some discussion of whether I would be able to go to Xinjiang Provence at all for the holidays. Doris, the foreign teachers liaison sent my passport off to Nanjing to get a resident working visa. When Doris found out where I was planning to go she said, You cannot and will not go anywhere with out your passport. Smart woman that Doris. Time is short and Colin has to get tickets to Urumqi. I tell Colin hold off on my ticket until I know I have my passport in time to travel. Colin worries because he thinks that I will not get a seat. Smart kid that Colin. I tell Colin then go without me and I will follow him the day after. That bothers him. The day after Colin buys his ticket, Doris goes to Nanjing and picks my passport up along with Alli and Andrews, two young American teachers, who couldn't travel without theirs either. The week before we had to buy tickets to travel, we all go to Doris and asked her if we could get our passports. She says that she was not sure when the passports are coming back from Nanjing but that everything will be OK if they come back soon. She does not know when soon was going to happen, and she stops talking about it. Colin has already been to the train station three times to buy tickets. Now I have to tell him I may have to leave later than he does. Colin doesn't like the idea of me traveling alone and he having to spend the night in Urumqi waiting for me. I was not relishing that either. So we wait a day. He decides to buy a ticket for himself on the twenty third. He is anxious. He is afraid if he waits too long he won't get a seat. The day after Doris makes a run to Nanjing and picks the passports up. I tell Colin to go buy my ticket. He is worried now because it is late and there may not be seats left only standing room. I tell him not to worry we get what we get and will work on upgrading later. In the meantime, the passport has to go to the local police for processing. Processing takes five to seven days. I need pictures for the paper work and get the passport to the police that day otherwise the passport will not be ready in time. I asked Doris what kind of picture she needs and she say any would do. So we take with us the shot of me with my glasses on my head and we all head down to the police station to hand in the paper work and answer some questions. The timing of all this has to be right. We drop everything off and everyone is happy. It now looks like all the pieces are falling into place at just the right time. Several days pass and everyone is getting ready to leave. Colin has both our tickets asks everyday if I have my passport. No, I tell him, it's coming. Two days before we are to leave, I go to the office to see if Doris has the passports. Time is short and everyone including myself are starting to stress. Doris tells me that the passports are not ready, end of discussion. I leave. My cell phone rings and it is Colin. "Doris is have a problem with you. You need to see Doris." Great. Why didn't she tell me this when I was there? I call Doris and ask her what the problem is. She says my picture is wrong. She sounds worried. The police will not process my paperwork without the right picture. OMG! Holy Cripe! What now! Knowing that now I must move quickly, I hightail it to the local photography studio and have passport pictures done. I rush the photographer and then I rush to the office with the pictures and Doris and I sprint away in a taxi to the police station downtown to hand them the right photos. When we arrive, we hustle to the visa desk. Doris says something to the policewoman, she yells at Doris. Doris points to a list on the desk with my name on it and says something back to her. There is a brief exchange of words and looks, the lady yells at her again, Doris takes the admonishment without saying anything and hands the woman the pictures. The woman, passes them off to another policeman working at the same desk yells something to Doris then ignores her. Doris head hanging waits. tick tick tick. The other cop finally looks up from what he is doing and says something to Doris and she perks up. He then tells me to stand still, he takes my picture and leaves. Two minutes and a small lifetime later he comes back, papers in hand. He passes them over to Doris and with relief in Doris' eyes, we leave. Upon leaving, Doris looks at me and says "I was not sure whether they reject your visa. I don't know what I do if they had" Ah, a moment of clarity passes between us. What if... Now, I am pointing at the passport and tell the cop the current visa is on another page. He looks at me. I look at him. He turns the pages. Nothing, brainy here forgot to bring his glasses outside with him, now I am desperately searching for the right page. Everything is blurry I can't see a thing. I am not turning around and leaving here after everything I have been through just to get here. He flips a page and I point. A yellow piece of paper marks where the visa is and the paper flutters. "Here it is." I am sweating under my coat. Colin is shivering. The cop looks at the visa and reluctantly nods. "What do you do in China?" I tell him I am a teacher and Colin is my student. He looks at me with suspicion. "A teacher? When you come to China? From where are you? Why you come to China? Why are you here in Xinjiang?" Colin explains to him who I am and that I teach in Wuxi. "Wait here," he says and leaves with my passport.
We're standing in the cold and Colin says, "I need to take a lake. "
I need to too. We crossed the street and climbed into a snow bank and pee.
On our way back, we stop at the check point tent to retrieve my passport. The cop looks up from the desk and asks me how long will I be in Yining. "I don't know." The cop gives me a blank stare. Somehow that is not the right answer. So I say, I would like to be here twenty days. He says nothing, Other policemen were watching me, their hands on their machine guns. He hands the passport back to me and tells Colin to tell me that when we arrive to town I must go to the police station and register. I say I can do that. We thank him and leave. Back on the bus, I feel uneasy. The door closes and the bus driver starts the engine. It startles me.