Lost in the East

This monday I went to the Spanish embassy in Beijing after at least five months of varied excuses and too much work to even consider the possibility of dragging myself there.

The place is not very bad located: it's in the Sanlitun area, like all the rest of foreign embassies in this city. Moreover, going there from my university, although it takes a great deal of time (around an hour), is very convenient, since there's a bus that takes you to somewhere like 1 minute away from the building of the embassy on foot. After a one-hour trip, I was able to get off bus nº 801 and get up to this place:

Had it not been for the flag and the little plaque, I may have been fooled to think that the building was some sort of private school or institute, but I found it immediately. What I saw around the place, apart from all the snow around me, was a really quiet neighbourhood, with several security guards here and there. In front of the embassy, as you can see, there're some Chinese people waiting for having interviews for traveling to Spain or for international adoption issues.

The business that took me to this place was, basically, to register as a Spanish citizen in this embassy. On top of that, we have to consider that on 9th March Spain is holding general elections, so the reason for going there to gather information and register was not only for my safety and my knowledge, but also to fulfill my duty as a Spaniard. These elections are really important, and I hope nothing goes wrong... The service, although typically Spanish (that is, having to wait a quarter of an hour for them to give you your passport back, and so on), I have to say that the Spaniards with whom I had the pleasure to interact were very kind and helpful, as only Spaniards abroad can be.

So now I feel safer in this country... Well, just a bit... At least until I get to speak proper Chinese and I know the outcome of the general elections of my country won't be settled by a terrorist attack in a train station.