Visa Process and Other Junk

Well, for those of you who were wondering, I did make it to Maine. Eventually. I stopped in New York City to stay with a friend for a couple nights, and that was fun. We walked around Brooklyn and Manhattan, went to Central Park, saw the giant Christmas tree (which was ugly), and went to a couple restaurants. Riding the subway was fun, and I got a lot of exercise doing all that walking.

I should have stayed another night. I ended up driving right along with the major storm that hit New England and didn't get too far. After I got out of the city, I got stuck in the worst traffic I've ever experienced--it was bumper to bumper for a large portion of CT's highways, and for at least 90 minutes I didn't achieve speeds higher than 10mph, mostly less than 5mph. I travelled only 165 miles after eight hours of driving, and then decided it would be best to stop at a motel for the night. Thanks for the help in setting that up, Dad. It was a very frustrating day. I even had to shovel out my own parking space at the hotel (a 45 minute endeavor). I'm told Pakistanis have different standards when it comes to customer service.

But, home at last.

I applied for my Korean E-2 visa the day after I got home. Then I found out that there was a new requirement being instated by the Korean government as of December 15th. I was able to get my other materials, like the local criminal background check and the medical checkup form that I made myself, before the new, stricter changes were made in the whole teaching in Korean process, but not this one. I was forced to drive to my "local" Korean consulate where I had mailed the application materials to complete an interview with the consul to determine my eligbility. This meant taking three hours to drive to Newton, Mass. for a ten-minute interview and driving all the way back. Had I known this (and they could have told me when I called and asked a bunch of questions about the visa process), I would have scheduled the interview and brought in my application at that time, instead of paying FedEx to overnight the docs. What a hassle. I went, though, and got even more angry that all the consul asked me was already written on my application, plus the question about why I want to teach in Korea, all of which could have been done over the phone (they refused a phone interview).

I was approved, though, and my passport was mailed back to me last week with the visa inside. I'm kind of wondering what happens if I fill up all the pages in my passport while I'm away, since Kenya took up a few pages and I only have a few pages left...

With the visa process complete, I now just have to get over there. I received an email from the company that serves as the liaison between me and the school, and they say I'll be departing January 17th, arriving the 18th, and starting at the school after a couple days of rest on the 21st. I really hope they fly me out of Portland, not New York.