Visa Attempt Fail

Day 15

Thursdays are my long days. I have class from 9 - 10:30, 10:30 - 12, and then 3 - 5PM. Because of my Thursday schedule, I have to miss out on ladie's night in Wan Chai, but I suppose it's worth the one class on Wednesday and no classes on Friday! Things are starting to pick up and I find myself needing less reassurance from the internet.

Yesterday after I was done with classes, I ventured off into Hong Kong on my own. I traveled the MTR all the way to Wan Chai which is in central Hong Kong to meet Felicia to get our China visas. I was low on cash and was rushing to find an ATM to pay for my visa. We circled the Great Eagle Center about 5 times before realizing we kept passing it up. By the time I withdrew cash it was 4:30 and the China travel embassy is closing at 5PM. We hurried to the travel embassy going through a mini airport security check at the entrance. We filled out our forms and made it as one of the last people getting their visas. To our dismay, they have to keep our passports to process our visa until Monday. We had to cancel the visa since me and Felicia were both planning to go to Macau this weekend. Waste of time and energy. And the lady working at the front desk had a sour attitude and was not happy about canceling our application. Visa attempt fail.

I'm taking an Anthropology of Food class and it's rather interesting. I'm slowly gaining insight to the roots of my parent's values and beliefs. I never quite understood where some of their values came from but living in Hong Kong and then taking a social anthropology course has opened up my perspective. Today we talked about Hypergamy (marrying up your social status) and how in many societies, parents will push their daughters to marry a higher class. In some cases, sending their daughters abroad to meet potentially high status men. Marriage it seems is the end all because it defines your social standing which in turn defines the rest of your life. In Personality Psychology, my professor shows interesting correlations in the significant others that we select. There is a strong correlation in same education and social status, medium correlation in attitude and values, and a low correlation in similar personalities. It gives me the impression that social status is a more powerful concept that I realized. My parents' obsession with the type of guy they want me to end up with is evidence of ongoing hypergamy as it relates to my life.