Immigration...
I was planning to assist to the Ecocity World Summit taking place in San Francisco next week, and had already pay the registration, the air-ticket, and even made plans to meet other friends, fellow CSers etc... and was so looking forward to it. But!
The Japanese government for some weird reason only gives out student visas that last 2 years, so every 2 years we have to renovate it (as we all in Japan now), plus it is a visa just to stay in the country, so if we want to go out of Japan, we need to get a reentry permit otherwise we cannot come back in. 2 years ago it took less than 2 weeks to renovate the visa, so I figured out if I applied at the end of March by this time (3 weeks later) I should have already got my new visa, and I would just have to go and get the reentry permit and would be ready to go...
but I missed (yeap it was my fault) the fact that since the school year starts in April most people apply for the renovation in March so its the most busy time of the year. Now, that was ok, since yeap I guess it was my fault, but what really really pissed me off, was the fact that when I called to ask if there was something I could do about it (since in the end this summit is something directly related to my studies), the guy actually just told me in a very ironic way: if you really want to go then you can quit school, get a tourist visa, then get a reentry permit, and when you come back you can apply for a student visa again, but probably that will be too troublesome, right? what the f*ck!? yeah, it sounds like a great idea to quit school just because of your stupid paper work. I wouldn't be so pissed off he had just say, sorry there is nothing you can do. I really had to control myself, keep quiet and breath deeply before saying "wakarimashita, arigatougouzaimashita" instead of "what the %&#%%"&'&%#$(&'&&%#$%*>%%$#" to him.
But anyway, shit happens. And in the end, now I have more time to finish some work that was driving me crazy, can see my friend Flavia more before she goes back, see other friends, and go the CSing gathering in Chigasaki next weekend, as well as the earth day events this weekend here in Tokyo and probably meet people I haven't met for a while, so well, I just want to forget about it anyhow.
The Japanese government for some weird reason only gives out student visas that last 2 years, so every 2 years we have to renovate it (as we all in Japan now), plus it is a visa just to stay in the country, so if we want to go out of Japan, we need to get a reentry permit otherwise we cannot come back in. 2 years ago it took less than 2 weeks to renovate the visa, so I figured out if I applied at the end of March by this time (3 weeks later) I should have already got my new visa, and I would just have to go and get the reentry permit and would be ready to go...
but I missed (yeap it was my fault) the fact that since the school year starts in April most people apply for the renovation in March so its the most busy time of the year. Now, that was ok, since yeap I guess it was my fault, but what really really pissed me off, was the fact that when I called to ask if there was something I could do about it (since in the end this summit is something directly related to my studies), the guy actually just told me in a very ironic way: if you really want to go then you can quit school, get a tourist visa, then get a reentry permit, and when you come back you can apply for a student visa again, but probably that will be too troublesome, right? what the f*ck!? yeah, it sounds like a great idea to quit school just because of your stupid paper work. I wouldn't be so pissed off he had just say, sorry there is nothing you can do. I really had to control myself, keep quiet and breath deeply before saying "wakarimashita, arigatougouzaimashita" instead of "what the %&#%%"&'&%#$(&'&&%#$%*>%%$
But anyway, shit happens. And in the end, now I have more time to finish some work that was driving me crazy, can see my friend Flavia more before she goes back, see other friends, and go the CSing gathering in Chigasaki next weekend, as well as the earth day events this weekend here in Tokyo and probably meet people I haven't met for a while, so well, I just want to forget about it anyhow.
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