Black Fingers

Today I went back to the police station to get my visa. I arrived with few expectations other than to be ready to wait. My expectations were met... I found the office at the police station was full of other people with passports and papers. There was one guard and one computer. Progress was slow going, but there was progress nonetheless.

Eventually, my passport was picked up by the guard. He began to ask me some questions; unfortunately for me, he spoke no English. Fortunately for me, there was a younger Arab woman in the office who spoke English. Apparently, at many of the universities here they have most of their classes in English, so her English was very good. She was a huge help to getting me through the whole process. The guard gave me a hard time about several things, but in the end he stamped my passport.

Before I could leave, he pressed my fingers in black ink and put my fingerprints on a form. At this point I had been in the office for over 2 hours, so I would've gladly given them whatever they wanted just so I could be done with it. Which reminds me, I didn't have to pay the extra fee because as it turns out I wasn't late. So fingerprints were nothing.

I'm just glad to have it taken care of. I won't have to worry about anymore visa junk for a few months. I hope that my next post will be a little more engaging. And as long as I don't write about more visa stuff, I don't think that'll be a problem in the slightest.

Getting the run around

So I knew beforehand that in this part of the world it is common for something simple to take days to accomplish. For example, getting a simple form stamped or checked or okayed through any sort of bureaucratic process will invariably take roughly 10 times longer to accomplish than in the States. That's not saying much since things in the US can take plenty long themselves; DMV anyone? That being said, at least in the US you kinda have an idea of when/if it's gonna get done. There's a consistency to the annoying waiting times. In the Middle East, I guess not.

Knowing this beforehand, and experiencing it firsthand are two different things. Today my visa expires. Knowing this I went to the big police station that I was told would renew my visa for another two months. (Crazy that I've been here for 1 month already!) I arrive at the police station with a friend and I'm asked where I live. My friend explains and then the guard looks at my passport and says "You must go to (such and such place). We cannot do your visa here." We know this to be specious since we both know several people who have had their visa renewed there. Rather than argue, we leave and head for the next police station.

We arrive there and are asked a few questions, after which they warily let us in. We find the office that "supposedly" issues visas and ask if they can help us. We chat for a few minutes, then we are told that the computers are down. Yes, the same computer that I'm pretty sure I just saw them using.... We are informed that we must come back - not tomorrow mind you, but Sunday. Three days after my visa expires at which point I will have to pay late penalties. I asked if there was any way they could do it now because I don't want to pay the penalty; I'm told by the guy behind the counter that I won't have to pay the late penalty. I would love that to be the case, but I seriously doubt that they will care on Sunday that I tried to get it renewed on Thursday. I probably will end up paying.

I wonder how often this happens simply because the people who are responsible for taking care of things like this don't want to deal with it. I think the mindset goes "I don't want to have to do this right now; I will push them onto the next person and he will take care of it." The problem arises when mulitple people do this in succession. Nothing gets done. Eventually someone has to reissue me my visa. I don't wanna be rude or culturally insensitive, but I really must insist that someone help me. If I don't get it done, in the eyes of the government the fault will lie with me and not its own people.

I'm not upset about it, just kinda curious as to how a lot of the world runs this way. I guess its my American mindset that wants things to get done relatively smoothly. I will play their game for the time being; like I said, at this point, I'm not upset or anything. I just don't want to be penalized for someone else's indolence.

To be continued on Sunday....