The Miracle of Hierarchy

I have alluded to our troubles getting our residency paperwork submitted in previous posts; let's just suffice it to say that on the last visit to PUMC, Peking Union Medical College, it seemed virtually impossible that we would have our residency permits submitted in time before our visas expired.  I was having visions of paying heaps of fines upon final submission, or even of having to return to the US (horrors!).  It seemed the school had not completed its duties in training its staff correctly at the Beijing Bureau of Entry and Exit, and thus the Bureau was withholding the appropriate forms from us until the school complied.  Kind of a power struggle over us but completely uncaring as to our actual welfare.

But, the poor graduate student who went with us the second time must have told the right people at CICAMS about our predicament, because 2 days later she told us that Teacher Wu was going to take us back to the Bureau.  I had never heard of teacher Wu, and it turns out that she was the lady in the office outside of Dr. Qiao's who I had assumed was his secretary.  On second thought however, I don't think she is anything of the sort, due to the rapidity with which she got our situation sorted.  At first I thought she was angry with Adam and I, as we had to trot to keep us with her across the CICAMS parking lot and she barely said a word to us until we were inside the Bureau.  I think it was mostly her lack of English which kept her from speaking, but still, it came across as quite intimidating!  

She marched right up to the window at the Bureau, the same window we had been rejected from before (but a different officer I think), shoved our paper through the slot, and started speaking in rapid-fire.    She had an extra letter with the official PUMC stamp on it which she added on top, flashed her PUMC teacher ID, and we were out of there with little 'accept' slips of paper in less than 5 minutes!  No questions asked.  It was amazing!  

Now, keep your fingers crossed...we are supposed to return in 1 week to reclaim our passports and residence permits...but I doubt Teacher Wu will be returning with us, so we need all the luck we can get!