Visas

Thought that applying for a Visa would be one of the easier steps in this process: just fill out the paperwork, photocopy some records, and send in your passport.  Not so, apparently.  First of all the Chinese embassy, for some reason, does not accept Visa applications in the mail.  Any Visa application must be handed in by a human being.  At first I feared that I would have to either hire a travel agency or go down to Chicago personally to hand in our applications, but, as it turns out, the embassy doesn't care who hands in your application as long as its physically handed to them by a human being.  It could be a travel agency, your aunt, your best friend Max, some Joe Schmo off the street, anybody, just so long as its not the postman (they are, after all, no longer considered human beings).  I'm not particularly interested in hiring someone to hand in an application (I could be wrong here, but it just seems too easy a task to be paid for), but I do happen to have the aforementioned friend named Max who lives in Chicago.  Hopefully he will be able to turn this paperwork in for us. (one phone call later)  Yes, he can.