When I went to work yesterday I got the only gift that I had asked Santa for this year: My work visa.

It has been over 2.5 months since I started the process of acquiring and then filing the paperwork and running all across Beijing to various ministries to get required documents. Lots of trials and tribulations were experienced, including: I had made a stupid mistake that got my 1-year/2-month-per-entry tourist visa cancelled. I got some bad information from the Security Bureau that caused me to have to pay some “renewal” fees twice. Then my company delayed filing for the visa last month causing me to have to fly to Hong Kong to get a NEW tourist visa.

Honestly, I was starting to think that my insanely good luck here in China had finally run out, or that all of the good fortune that I have experienced was going to be balanced out by a denial of the visa, or maybe just interminable delays.

Not only did this not happen, but the date of issuance on the visa ended up being December 25. My own Christmas miracle.

When I got that visa in my hands last night I was so giddy! I felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. It has been impossible to think about the future without it. I mean, how can I plan vacations, or ask friends to plan trips to visit me, if I don’t know if I will be here after my next 30-day window of tourist visa validity?

I sure as hell haven’t spent any money buying things for my apartment, such as pots and pans, curtains or any other accoutrement of life. I haven’t bought a stitch of clothing because everything that I have just barely fit into my luggage when I came over in August. If I’d had to travel home suddenly I wouldn’t have been able to bring anything back with me. Why waste the cash?

All of that ends now. I am an official, legal resident alien with a permit to hold a job. And so long as I am gainfully employed I can renew that visa every year.

I’ve got the next 5 days off. Tonight is New Year’s Eve. I’ll be heading out with a huge group of friends to a massive warehouse to party in style. Tomorrow, Friday & Saturday I’ve got plans to party as well. I really, really have something to celebrate this year. My future in China begins now.

So here I am in Beijing. It doesn’t feel all that different yet. This is probably because I’m sitting in a Starbucks, sipping a mango-passion fruit smoothie as I type away on my laptop. The crowd is very international (I am only 1 block away from the Worker’s Indoor Gymnasium and 4-5 blocks from Worker’s Stadium) so it might as well be Harvard Square. This is a far cry from yesterday though.

The flight was a dream, but my biggest problem with long-haul trips is that I simply can NOT sleep on planes. Heck, this time I had barely slept during the previous 2 days (only 3 hours/night) as I rushed to finish everything and I still couldn’t do more than catnap for about an hour. This left me absolutely exhausted when I landed.

What happened when I entered the airport was, quite simply, amazing. I have always been impressed with Chinese efficiency. This is especially true at airport security lines and when entering the country. But yesterday… Good Lord!

I was through customs in FIVE (5) minutes! Then, when I went down the single flight of stairs to the baggage area, the luggage was already off of the plane and waiting for us!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The Chinese are NOT messing around when it comes to the Olympics. I actually landed on the day that they were set to begin, with spectators and foreign dignitaries from across the globe arriving amidst the biggest security zone that the world has ever seen and I got through the airport arrivals process in 10 minutes!

So why do I have to wait in line for 1 hour when I come back to the States? A question for another time, perhaps.

All of this seemed like a surreal whirlwind in my sleep-deprived state. Thank the heavens that my good friend Alex met me at the airport and took me to my new apartment for the lease-signing and settling in. I honestly don’t think that I would have been able to handle everything without him, I was so out if it. Then, after I was all set, he brought me out to get some food and to pick up a few essentials (sheets for the bed, food for a couple of days). What a great guy, eh?!

The worst part of all of this is that I simply could not summon the energy to head out to a sports bar and watch the Opening Ceremonies. Instead, I crashed in my new bed at 7:30pm and did not get up until 8:00am today.

So today, now that I have slept for 12 hours and recovered, I can start to figure out what I want to do now that I am here. I am meeting some local friends today and we’ll see which events look like the most fun to check out. I know that I am really pumped for the USA vs. China basketball game tomorrow.

Stay tuned!

NOTE: The internet connection in my apartment will not be set up for a week, so my postings might be a bit erratic until then, as I have to walk a few blocks from my place to get to this Starbucks. Also, some postings -like this one- may go up without photos, but they will be added later.

Sorry that my blog has been bereft of posts this week. I promise that this will not be a trend. I was merely buried with the task of packing up my entire life into 2 pieces of not-too-oversized luggage and 2 carry-ons. Quite a job, that.

Anyway, its done and I’m on my way! Here at Newark Liberty Airport the anticipation of the crowd is palpable as the plane that will take us all to Beijing just in time for the Opening Ceremonies is… Aw, who am I kidding. This pace is dead, and I’m too exhausted from the past 2 days of frantic last-minute rushing around to be pumped for anything anyway.

NEWS FLASH!: The economy is tanking, folks. Its 9:30am- just past rush hour when most business travelers are already gone and Continental’s main terminal here in Newark is anything but crowded. If you want a clear indication of the state of monetary affairs here in the US, head to your closest airport. I’m in a lounge built to hold several hundred people and there are *3* people in my section. What’s even more disturbing, is that my rush-hour flight from Boston to Newark was over half empty. Yikes.

But I can kiss this tranquility goodbye pretty soon. From all indications, Beijing is set to throw the biggest party in their 5,000-year history. They are NOT messing around. If I can avoid delays at customs and get my apartment logistics settled quickly I will be attending an Opening Ceremonies bash here. You folks in the States will have to wait 12 hours for the re-broadcast but if my internet connection in my apartment is up, I’ll be sure to post updates as soon as I get home.

Until then, farewell, America!

P.S: Bob Ryan wrote a great piece on the Olympics in today’s Boston Globe. Check it out.

This is all very new for me. Since I have lived in Boston all of my life, I have never had to go through the ordeal of packing up my life and moving it somewhere else. (Going from Savin Hill to Neponset doesn’t count because that’s just down Morrissey Boulevard.) Furthermore, while I’ve known people who have come and gone into my life, I have never faced the prospect of saying goodbye to everyone and everything that I hold dear. That’s why the last 2 days were so fun/exhilarating/sad/scary for me.

On Friday I spent one last evening in the embrace of an old friend, Fenway Park, watching my beloved Red Sox. I worked in the stands of the ballpark for 9 seasons as a vendor (’91-’99) and while I was a Baseball/Sox fan before then, those seasons spent huffing it up and down through the rows, cheering for the team and interacting with fans, changed my ordinary fandom into what I like to call a “Field of Dreams” devotion to the game, the team and the ballpark itself. So every visit is special for me and Friday was no exception; it was an amazing night that saw the end of the Manny Ramirez era and the coming of Jason Bay. The welcome that the crowd gave Bay on his first day was astounding. When the lineup was announced (before the TV cameras were on), he was one of only 2 players warming up on the field and he looked absolutely stunned when the entire stadium erupted with a thunderous, sustained 90-second standing ovation. He got the same treatment when he came up to bat in the second inning. It was very affirming to see once again just what Boston baseball fandom is all about.

For all of the affection that I have for Fenway, the Red Sox and the game of Baseball, the thing that I will treasure the most from Friday is that I got to spend it with my new dear friend Alisa. Meeting her is one of the best things that has happened to me in years and parting from her so soon after making our connection is one of the saddest things about my move. I don’t know what I’ll do without her…

Thank the gods for Skype!

As for day #2, I held my last hurrah at my favorite bar, The Good Life. As the song goes, it’s nice to go somewhere where everybody knows your name. The owners and staff are all great people and I consider them friends. It was a night of 80s dancing (my favorite kind) and the crowd is always great there. Among them were my best bud Bry, along with several new friends that I have made this summer via CouchSurfing. They are all awesome and they have convinced me that CouchSurfing is one of the best online communities since it has it’s roots in -and facilitates- real-world connections and cultural exchange. The biggest benefit of making friends with Surfers? They are very apt to visit you no matter where you are. All of them are welcome at my place in Beijing!

My next days will be spent going through the detritus of my life, sorting out what can come with me, what must be left behind, what can be saved and what will be given away. Its all downhill from here.

It all begins with a first step, just like the saying goes. When you think of it like that, today’s purchase of my plane ticket to Beijing doesn’t really seem that monumental. After all, this is a path that I started walking just over 2 years ago so buying a seat on an airplane is really one of the last steps of my journey. Like Remo Williams, my adventure has only just begun…

I take off at 8:30am from Boston next Thursday, August 7 and I’ll be landing in Beijing right when the shit is hitting the fan: Friday, August 8 is Opening Day for the Olympics. Wow. Frankly, I expect a lot of chaos and a lot of fun!

But before all of that, I’ve still got some things to sort out; like what clothes to pack, how to distribute my few worldly goods (anybody want my homemade Doogie Howser, M.D. DVDs?), and how to part ways with my extensive collection of comics and my beloved personal library.

Oh, and my friends, too.

The good part of having made this decision over 2 years ago is that everybody who means anything to me -except you, “A-Bomb”- has had ample time to get used to the idea that I would be jetting off to the Orient. Like them, there were times when I thought that  I might not go through with it, but there has never been any doubt that this was the right move for me. China is where its at right now and its where the next big things are going to be springing from in the coming years.

So as I take these last few steps past the point of no return, I am surprised to find myself not lamenting or obsessing over the past and connections that will be strained or broken, but excited -and slightly scared- about the new experiences and people that are waiting for me over in the Northern City.

More to come…