Little Blue Book

I have a little blue book, which tells me I am an American. No, that isn't entirely meant, that my passport alone identifies me as an American. I have met many people in my life who have literally grown up in other countries and cultures and the only thing American about them is their passport. This is often the result of America's unique law, that if you are bown on American soil, you become an American citizen.

In fact if there is one thing i HAVE learned in China it is that I am more American there than i have been at any time in my life. In Europe I always felt like i COULD fit in; if i dressed appropriately, refrained from smiling, watched my language, I could probably get away with people not guessing my nationality. But in China there is no hiding the fact of who I am- no possibility of fitting in. Dismaying at first, but in a way very freeing.

So anyways- this little blue book. More than anything else, it has accompanied me on my journeys, since Apr 29, 1999. It is fraying, the picture is bulging out and looks doctored as a result of my passport having been in my pocket in numerable bus journeys, gotten wet in the rain, gone on camping trips, etc... It is chock full of various stamps and visas. It has been appended twice now, and the little book isn't so little anymore, but its also in pretty bad shape. I had trouble leaving both Romania and Poland with it this week.

So I intended to go to Vilnius to get a new passport. The Lithuanian embassy is i think america's most accessible and friendly embassy in the world, and i love doing stuff here. Normally its no problem to get a new pasport. one catch- my chinese visa, which i need to reenter china, is in my old passport. China does not accepted still valid visas in invalid passports- something all the sane countries of the world accept, so naturally China doesn't. So I can't get a new passport, until I get to China.

Getting a new one China not only requires taking up to four days off work, to negotiate the 24 hour train ride to Shenyang for the all of 20 minutes a week that the American embassy is open to the public, but also presents me with another problem. I have to get a new Chinese visa 2 weeks after my arrival in China. Not enough time to get a new passport. And if i get the new visa in my same old passport, then I am stuck again in the same situation- i can't get a new passport without jeopardizing my right to return to China.

So my only hope is for accomodating border guards for the rest of 2007. I will have to some how smile my way along on my old passport until at least July, the first chance I will have of returning to the US, getting a new passport, and if I return to CHina, applying for a Chinese visa, also in the united states, even though it is MUCH more difficult there. I am caught in a teufelskreis that i can't get out of.

So pray for the integrity of my little blue book. It has been a faithful little companion to me :)