Macau and Hong Kong

We are leaving for Macau tonight at 5:30. Yes, we know we just came back from Singapore, but we thought it would be good to take another trip at the end of the month before we get paid and spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars. Ok, not really, we have to. Andy hates my school and I can't blame him, they have made life very frustrating. It all started 6 months ago when I told my office manager I wanted to come a month early. She said that would be ok because we had a 3 day weekend (last weekend) and I could leave the country and get my Visa before it expired on the 28th. So I took off a day of work (because they are only open from 9-11 on weekdays) and went to the embassy in LA. In less that 2 minutes I was told I could not get a multiple entry Visa with out a work permit and was handed back my papers completely denied. So I emailed the TCIS office manager. She said, "ok, well go back and try to get a single entry visa, you have to, because if you come as a tourist you are only allowed to stay 7 days." So I took another day off from work and headed back. Oh, and this all was happening 2 days before I was leaving so it was much more stressful than I'm making it, but you probably all remember that. I was successful this time and got my non immigrant B Visa. Months have gone by and as planned Andy I were heading to Singapore. Two weeks ago I emailed my office manager and said "I'm, leaving for Singapore on our three day weekend, please advise me on what I need to do to get my Visa."

No response.

Andy and I bought our tickets and once again I emailed her.
This time she said, "come see me it is very complicated".
I went to her office and she sat me down and said, "the paper work isn't here yet. If it doesn't come in time you will have to leave the following week." She then asked if I could change my plane ticket. She knows as well as anybody here that plane tickets can't be changed in Thailand. So then she gave me 2 options:

1) Buy another plane ticket home from Singapore a day later and take a personal day and (SURPRISE!) lose my 6,000bht perfect attendance bonus
2) Leave the country the following week, take 2 personal days,and again, lose my bonus.

I opted for the 4 day weekend.

I emailed our superintendent explaining how I felt like I was being punished for being misinformed and how it wasn't fair that I had to use my personal days, lose my bonus for issues out of my control, and I should have been told all this 6 months ago, blah blah blah. I really like(d) my superintendent. I saw her and she told me I needed to talk to my office manager directly because if she talked to her, our office manager would know I had come to her first. So that wasn't helpful. I was hoping she would see how unfair it is for them to take my personal days and my bonus! So now, I have absolutely no incentive to not miss work! (Well, besides the kids) Which actually is nice. I will explain. A few weeks ago I asked my principal (as directed by my superintendent) for 2 days off either before our April break or after for my dad's retirement and other obligations. At the start of the school they said, "please get permission to take off days connected to a break." I thought 7 months should be plenty of warning and I'm doing the responsible thing. We have parent conferences the Fri before break and Stanford 9 testing the week after. I asked if she thought that the testing might be changed since it was right after a break and the students wouldn't have spoken any English for a week and since they are being scored and compared to American students it seems like they might reconsider the testing dates.(Does any teacher think it is a GOOD idea to have a high stakes test that we have been analzing last year's scores from on a Monday returning from a week long holiday?) She laughed at me because "it's not like it's the beginning of the year." I wanted to say, "it's not like our kids know how to speak English when they are here for weeks in a row, or years for that matter, going a week with out it will probably help their scores I'm sure."

So then I offered to stay late each day the week before and set up conferences at parent's convenience, during my prep times and after school. As you know I only had 4 parents at Open House and Parent conferences are optional so to even expect double, eight is asking a lot. I'm sure I could schedule with parent's who wanted them. She said she would only consider that if this was an emergency and it is clearly not. Then she got very excited to give me her solution:

Take a personal day two weeks before our vacation so I could be home on a Saturday, then there is a holiday that Monday so school is closed, then I could fly back Tuesday (take more personal days)to make it home Thurs. night so I could be back at school for that Friday of parent conferences. Then I just have a week of vacation the next week and obviously not go home. So basically take all these days off to be home for 3 days instead of 7. I was so shocked I smiled and said "I hadn't even thought of that, thank you so much for thinking about my options." And then I left realizing I was not going to be able to be home on a weekend for my dad's retirement.

UNTIL, our office manager gave me wrong information for the 5th time. Now, I will happily take as many days off as I want, after all they have given me zero incentive not to. The bonus is a complete lie. Oh, and another funny thing my principal told me, "You have to think of what is more important, being home for your dad's retirement or getting to spend more time with the new babies." Ha! Like that is what I have to decide between. Pretty sure family comes first and TCIS is about 5th. So now, I will happily accidentally "miss" my flight back from LA in April.

Sorry for the ranting, it's been a hard couple of weeks. I'm excited for our new adventure to Macau and Hong Kong though!
Oh, but there's a good chance I may be stuck in Hong Kong because my Visa expires Fri and everything has to happen perfectly with the embassy in order for me to be able to come back.