WHAT'S NEW? QUOI DE NEUF?

When I talk to friends on the phone, they often ask me : "So what's new in your exciting life?". Well our Hong Kong visa is finished, and we cannot get a new resident visa till Mark has a new job, or becomes a consultant. So on January the 25th, last day of our visa, we had to get out of Hong Kong.

Quand je parle avec des amis par telephone, ils me demandent souvent: "Alors, quoi de neuf dans votre vie trepidente?".  Eh bien, notre visa Hong Kongais a expire, et nous ne pouvons en avoir un autre jusqu'a ce que Mark ait un nouveau travail ou devienne consultant Donc le 25 Janvier, dernier jour de notre visa, il nous a fallu quitter Hong Kong.

In such a case, the simplest solution is to go to Macau, so we took a Ferry Boat and an hour later we were in Macau. There we took a cab (they take Hong Kong dollars, so no need to change money) and went to Taipa, an island belonging to Macau but located south of Macau' island. You get there by fantastic long spectacular white bridges.

Dans ce genre de cas, le plus simple est d'aller a Macau, donc nous avons pris un Ferry et une heure plus tard, nous etions a Macau. Nous primes un taxi (ils acceptent les Dollars de Hong Kong, donc pas besoin de changer de l'argent) et nous allames a Taipa, l'ile appartenant a Macau mais situee au sud de Macau. On s'y rend par de fantastiques ponts blancs longs et spectaculaires

In Taipa, we visited old colonial Portuguese houses painted in pale green, facing a small lake and showing life of colonial Macau at the turn of the XXth century.

A Taipa, nous visitames de vieilles maisons coloniales Portuguaises, peintes en vert pale, au bord d'un petit lac, et montrant la vie du temps de Macau colonial a l'aube du XXeme siecle.

Then we had a delicious Portuguese lunch in one of the many restaurants cooking Portuguese dishes, and we strolled in the old streets, then we decided to go back to Hong Kong by the next ferry. Big mistake!

Puis nous dejeunames dans un delicieux restaurant Portugais, l'un des nombreux restaurants proposant de la cuisine portuguaise, puis nous nous promenames dans les vieilles rues, et nous decidames de rentrer a Hong Kong par le prochain ferry. Grossiere erreur!

In fact, we should have spent one night in Macau instead of coming back on the same day... but we did not know. We filled an immigration card as tourists, to get back to Hong Kong in order to get a stamp showing that according to the law, we had left the country, then came back and as European we were entitled to 3 to 6 months stay in HK.

Nous aurions du passer une nuit a Macau au lieu de revenir le jour meme...mais nous l'ignorions. Nous remplimes une carte pour l'immigration en tant que touriste, afin d'avoir selon la loi, un tampon attestant que nous avions quitte le pays une fois notre visa echu, puis etions revenus, et comme Europeens, nous avions droit a 3 ou 6 mois de sejour a HK. 

On arrival to HK, we gave our passports to the HK immigration officer, and the computer showed him that our visa had expired, so the immigration officer instead of chopping our visa, called his boss. They took us to a small room where many Indonesian and Philipinos helpers were waiting and we waited (without our passports for more than half an hour, not knowing what was wrong) 

Arrives a HK, nous tendimes nos passeports a l'officier de l'immigration, et l'ordinateur lui indiqua aussitot que notre visa etait echu, donc au lieu de tamponner nos passeports il appela son chef. Ils nous emmenerent dans une petite piece ou attendaient plein de Helpeuses Indonesiennes et Philippines et ou nous attendimes (sans passeport pendant okus d'une demi-heure, sans savoir ce qui n'allait pas).

I felt very excited and a bit scarred too... being an illegal immigrant at 64 of age... a thing which had never happened to me before!!! Would they deport us? and where to? England? Macau again? Did we need a lawyer, like in movies, to sort out that mess we had got in? I was sorry I had not gone to the loo...before taking the ferry, and I was also sorry not to have any bottle of water and sudokus in case we were kept there for ever. 

Je me sentais tres excitee, me retrouver immigrante illegale a 64 ans...chose qui ne m'est jamais arrivee de ma vie!!! Et si on nous refoulait? Et ou ca? Angleterre? Macau encore? Avions-nous besoin d'un avocat comme dans les films, pour nous sortir de cette pagaille dans laquelle nous nous trouvions? Je regrettai de n'etre pas allee aux toilettes avant de monter dans le ferry, et je regrettais de ne pas avoir de bouteille d'eau ni de sudokus au cas ou on nous gardait la pendant longtemps.

Mark was pale and in shock. I told him "Adventure, hey! Isn't that exciting being illegal immigrants?" He did not think so at all, he thought we should have asked some lawyer about the procedure to follow, and felt very bad. So I teased him, "Do you think we are going to sleep in Stanley's jail? Waouh, I have never been in jail.." but he was not in the mood for jokes. So I tried to comfort him : "Come on what can happen, as long as we have credit cards for a good hotel in Macau or London! and for a phone call to a very expansive lawyer!" That made him smile... 

Mark etait tres pale et sous le choc. Je lui dis: " C'est l'aventure, hein! Tu ne trouves pas ca excitant de nous retrouver immigrants illegaux?" Il ne trouvai pas ca drole du tout, il pensait qu'on aurait du s'informer aupres d'un bon avocat sur les details de la procedure a suivre et il prenait ca tres mal. Alors je blaguais :" Tu crois qu'on va dormir en prison a Stanley? Whah! Je n'ai jamais ete en prison!".. Mais il n'etait pas d'humeur a rigoler.. alors je le reconfortai : "Allons, que peut-il nous arriver? tant que nous avons des cartes de credit pour un bon hotel a Macau ou a Londres, ou pour un bon avocat tres cher!" Ca le fit rire malgre tout.

A few minutes later an officer came to fetch us, he held our passports, showed us the touristic visa inside them and told us that we were not supposed to come back on the same day and that they should have sent us back to Macau which was stupid so they had managed to make it legal. He was very charming, no whip, no handcuffs, and he asked Mark about his former job and his futur plans.

Quelques minutes plus tard, un officier de l'immigration vint nous chercher, il tenait nos passeports et nous montra les visas de touristes dedans, et nous dit que nous n'etions pas censes revenir a Hong Kong le jour meme et qu'ils auraient du nous renvoyer a Macau ce qui aurait ete stupide et qu'ils avaient reussi a legaliser tout ca. Il etait tout a fait charmant, pas de fouet, pas de menottes, et il posa des questions a Mark sur son ancien job et sur ses futurs plans.

Mark said that we wanted to travel in Hong Kong and in Asia for a few months (which he was too busy to do while he was working so hard) and that later he will look for a new job in Hong Kong or somewhere else, we did not know yet. 

Mark dit qu'il souhaitait voyager a Hong Kong et en Asie pendant quelques mois (ce qu'il n'avait pas eu le temps de faire tandis qu'il travaillait tellement) et qu'ensuite il re-chercherait un travail a Hong Kong ou ailleurs nous ne savions pas encore.

Mark apologized for our mistake and our misunderstanding of the situation.

Mark apologized pour notre erreur et notre meconnaissance de la situation. 

I said nothing because I do not exist outside Mark who is the one who has (or has not) a visa, I am just here as his wife...so rather shut up... which for a feminist is quite painfull.

Moi, je ne dis rien du tout car je n'existe pas en dehors de Mark qui est celui qui a (ou n'a pas) de visa, je suis seulement la en tant que son epouse... donc mieux vaut se taire...ce qui pour une feministe est tres douloureux.

We went through immigration in company of the charming officer, then we said good-bye to him. He wished Mark (I told you I don't exist which I really hate) so he wished Mark to have a nice time spending his money in Hong Kong.  (He must have talked to our Tax department in HK before letting us through) then we went back home still under sock, home where Kai Phong welcomed us happily.

Nous passames la douane accompagnes du charmant officier, nous lui dimes aurevoir. Il souhaita a Mark (je vous dis que je n'existe pas et que je deteste ca!)  il souhaita a Mark de bien depenser son argent a Hong Kong (il a du parler au fisc avant de nous laisser rentrer!) et nous repartimes encore choques, a la maison ou Kai Phong nous fit bon accueil.  

I thought I had been relaxed and had found the situation funny, but a few days later, I had to take an appointment with my masked Hong Kong GP because I had palpitations and a very high tension. Mark recovered more quickly than me! 

Je croyais avoir pris ca legerement et trouve la situation comique, mais quelques jours plus tard, je dus prendre un rendez-vous chez mon generaliste Hong Kongais masque, car j'avais des palpitations et une tension tres haute. Mark s'est remis plus vite que moi!