Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Don't Eat My Visa!

     Last night I was sitting here with Ray flipping back and forth between the Bears/Lions Monday night game and game 2 of the NLCS (Cardinals/Brewers) when I checked my email and found a note from Korea which contained my visa number. I contained my joy for a few minutes thinking of all the stuff I'd now have to get done. Then I told Ray and we toasted to the beginning of the end in this marathon visa process.
     A few minutes later I was filling out the visa application I printed a week ago and then got all the stuff together that I needed to take to the San Francisco Korean consulate: the number, the application, a consulate checklist, a heath check form, a copy of my degree, a sealed copy of my transcripts, my passport, a passport photo, a copy of my driver's license, and forty-five bucks. 
     Ami and I drove up to the consulate today where we had an interesting experience in that it was completely uninteresting. I thought I'd probably have an interview with questions like "Why do you want to move to Korea?" and "Do you enjoy teaching English?" and "How long to you think you'll be there?" and perhaps "How do you feel about Kim Jong Il?" But there was no interview and no such questions. Instead, I walked up to the window that said "Visas" and upon my request for a visa was met with "It's three minutes until lunch so give me your forms quickly." 
     As I didn't want to make the woman hungry (and therefore angry--what is it about hunger that makes the female also experience anger?), I handed over my forms and paid the money and was told to come back on Thursday after one to get my passport and visa. And that was that. I'm pretty sure I could have had a gun and she would have told me that I was cutting in to her lunchtime. 
     Anyway, I will go back Thursday and get the visa. In the meantime, Ami and I have booked a flight for Saturday. Lots of stuff to do in the next three days, but if all goes well, I will be arriving in Korea on Sunday evening (Korea time) and heading off to the new job on Monday. 

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