Tractor blockage to the Canadian Embassy - Back off government!

Yesterday we performed what will hopefully be the final official requirements needed to bring Alice home. All we had left was the medical check required by the Canadian government and a fee payment of $75 CDN to be made at the Canadian embassy and we'd be done.
The folks in our group who were applying under the old system, where the children will be entering the country as immigrants went off in the morning while those of us whose children are, according to Mr. Harper's new rules, fully Canadian citizens went in the afternoon. The medical check at the international clinic was great and we had the same doctor who checked out Gracie two years ago! She's a Chinese Canadian from Montreal who as been at the clinic for 10 years and has adopted two of her own children. She gave Alice the once over and everything is fine. Alice is a bit small by North American standards (6% on the charts) but only slightly small by Asian standards and her weight is exactly right for her size - perhaps a bit plump. We had a bit of a delay at the clinic as they were quite busy and then walked over the embassy (a five minute walk at the most) to pay the fee. This is where things fell apart.
First of all they were a bit fussy about letting us in. The embassy closes up at 3:00pm (even the Scotiabank in Perth stays open until 4) and since we arrived at 2:45 they seemed to think it would be better if we came back tomorrow (wouldn't want to get caught up in Beijing traffic after all). Eventually they decided that one person per family group would be let in (this was with all of us standing outside the gate waving our Canadian passports in the air). Of course we weren't allowed in the front door (after all, we're only a bunch of taxpayers) and instead were led around to a back entrance and down a dingy set of stairs to a clerk's window where you make your payments. The fee was $75 CND and I had on me about $80 CND in cash, $100 US in cash, $1000 RMB in cash, travellers checks, VISA, and interact - and NONE of this was acceptable. As of March 1st you can make payments at the Canadian Embassy in Beijing only with a CitiBank of China card. You have to pre-deposit your payment amount and then bring the card to the embassy to pay. Of course Children's Bridge had checked with the embassy before hand about the new system and fees, but somehow no one had passed on the info about the "special" payment methods. Chia, a Children's Bridge person who has accompanied us on this trip to assist with the new Citizenship process, began trying to negotiate with the clerks while the rest of us stood around looking contrite. But as I pondered the fact that Canadian currency wasn't acceptable in a Canadian Embassy, a tiny little Lanark Landowner, sort of like a little Yosemity Sam character, started pushing his way into the front of my brain. I started hearing a little voice saying that if Canadian currency was good enough to build the embassy, it damn well ought to be good enough inside the embassy. I start to feel like Bill Bixby right before he hulks out, only in my case I'm afraid of morphing into Randy Hiller, complete with red suspenders. The words "Back off government! Back of government!" started ringing in my ears and I could only keep things together by thinking happy thoughts about Tommy Douglas and other left-wind icons. I had resolved to wait another 5 minutes before demanding to see a consular official when they decided that we could (just this once) pay by VISA, which they would convert to RMB. We would lose on the exchange rate and there would be an extra service charge, but all we wanted to do was get our new kids (now full citizens) into their country of citizenship. We paid our fees, gritted out teeth, smiled and left, but it was the single most frustrating experience we had in this whole adoption process. We arrived pointing to the embassy and saying to the kids "look, look, Canada, Canada!" and left mumbling to the kids "Canada %$&*@ Canada" and somehow resisted the urge to heave the maple syrup bottles we bought as gifts at the flag.

Home stretch now ..... hurray!!!