Police Interview

This afternoon Gavin and I went to have our police interviews in order for us to get our residence working visa. We were told it was really no big deal. It really is just a formality they have to do in order for us to get our visas. We were warned though about the female police officer. They said that she can be a little tough but if you just act confident then you should do fine.

We went with a group of about 20 other teachers to the police station and they sent us all into a conference room to wait for our interviews. It was pretty nice with leather couches all around the room. I thought this shouldn't be that bad. They had two officers come into the conference room and they had us come up one by one and conducted the interview right there in the same room. They had another guy in another room as well. The female officer was in the conference room and I listened to her questions. She seemed fine, although she never cracked a smile.

Gavin went before me and was interviewed by her so I figured it might be easier to go right after him because we basically had the same information. I listened as he answered the questions and thought "no problem". After she finished with him she left the room so I thought she was done interviewing and I would get one of the other guys that were easier. The other teachers said that the guy in the other room didn't even ask any questions. He just looked over all your paperwork and would make a funny comment and that was it. So when it came my turn I was asked to go in the other room and I thought great I won't have to say anything but when I walked into the other room it was the woman. She did not make it easy for me at all. I thought she would make the connection that I was married to Gavin who she had just interviewed but she didn't. She started out asking if I came here with my husband and I said yes you just interviewed him. She then asked how we met. I thought that was strange. I wanted to say "Why?" because I didn't think it was relevant at all but I couldn't. I answered and she didn't understand at all so she kept questioning about how we met. I kept repeating through our church but she would ask another question and then say "So you met your husband at school?" I was like no I've told you several times at church. I think she was trying to test me to see if I would change my story or something.

She then asked if I came with my three children. I said "No, I came with my four kids". She looked puzzled and shuffled through my papers looking at the passport copies of our kids and then at my work permit that has their pictures in it with mine. She said "No you only have three kids here" I corrected her again and said I have four (I think I would know how many I gave birth to). She looked through the pictures again and was shaking her head. I finally realized that she thought Rachel's picture was me so I pointed out that she was my daughter and showed her the page with my picture on it. She finally got it and said we look too similar. That's a compliment to me but I really don't see how they could confuse us. They did the same thing at the border when we came. They were looking at Rachel's passport and comparing me with her picture. It took the guy a few minutes to figure out that it was Rachel's.

Anyway, it wasn't starting out to well. She then questioned why I wanted to be a teacher and why I changed my mind after getting my degree in Finance. She also asked if it was easy to get a job here. I said it really wasn't that hard and explained how we went to a job fair and interviewed with the school and they hired us. She then asked again "So it was easy to get a job?" I said it wasn't too hard. She then said "So they aren't very strict in their hiring?" I could see by now that she was trying to trick me again so I said "No, they are very strict but because we were qualified and experienced they wanted to hire us" I was getting a little annoyed by now but had to just answer politely.

Her last question was "Did you register your kids with the police when you got here?" I had no idea what she was talking about because the school had done all that for us. I said "I didn't know". She thumbed through my papers and said "Here is your registration with the police. Where are your children's?" I truthfully didn't know so I said that the school arranged all that and that they must have them. She didn't seem too satisfied and wrote something down on my application then just dismissed me.

I thought great! I'll be the one and only that doesn't pass because of some misunderstanding. I thought she was a little tougher and rude with me. She didn't seem that way at all with the others in the conference room and figured she went into a separate room where nobody else could listen in. I was very annoyed but had to stay quiet and just answer the questions. Of course we all passed as far as I know. The secretary from the school who arranges all this had to go back later to pick up our papers for us to take to the visa office tomorrow and I haven't heard anything so I'm assuming I passed. I asked her about the kids police registrations and she said she had them all but since our kids aren't interviewed she didn't have to bring them. I just wish I had known that.

So there's another Chinese experience that I will never forget. At least they only did a police interview and not a body search. I guess it could have been worse. (Coree)