I Love Korea

Long winded one here. As my Visa deadline approaches, I need to vent. Sorry.

Three months ago, new contract discussions started. This left the perfect amount of time to get things sorted. Nothing happened that first month other than agreeing to let me leave early so that I'll be back in Canada before next September.

Two months ago, I brought up the contract again hoping with a strong amount of time to get things sorted. I wanted to get things moving before the scholastic lull of summer vacation. It was at this time I had the following conversation:

Supervisor: Cam teacher, Gyoungi-do official manual say we need a new medical check up for you to get Visa. (They check to see you can walk and talk and more importantly that you don't smoke pot or have any contagious diseases.)
Me: OK. Do I need anything else? I heard I may need a new criminal background check.
Supervisor: Really? The list says it's OK we did before.
Me: I've heard they changed the laws though and it takes (arms shoot out wide to show the word long) a long time to get this. Are you sure?
Supervisor: I will check it out. (Co-teacher opens the official manual from the department of education but this time looking at the English side. She shows me the list of required papers to get the new Visa and no mention of a criminal check.)
Me: I had a friend who tried to extend her Visa and she couldn't because she didn't have the criminal background check. (Hi Shelly.) Is this book right?
Supervisor: It's 2008 manual.
Me: (Hesitantly accepting another governmental document for the truth.) Ah, Ah, (relieved I don't have to do any extra leg work) OK. (Smile.)

Turns out I should of taken stalk of my life in Korea and asked the all important question, "Can you check it out to make sure?"

This month (OK, late August.) Living here for a long time I know Korean style is to do things last minute so I let our first week back to school slip by.

This week, one week before my Visa expires, I jokingly urged my supervisor that I seeeeriously needed to sign something soon and get to immigration. This got the contract in hand but I got the jitters. I fell back into questioning if I had all the paper work in order. Anytime I deal with immigration (here, travelling abroad or going back to Canada) I get nervous. Even when things are straight, cool, on the level, and 100 percent fine I feel like I will be spanked. This made me ask my co teacher if she would give immigration a call. She did and came out with a different list from the needs for a new visa and #2 on that list included a criminal background check.

CRAP.

Today, we made the trek to Mokdong to see what would happen. We slipped in the old criminal check that got a five minute look over, a walk back to the supervisor and second good look and...it turns out, NO VISA.

NO SURPRISE HERE. The man working our kiosk was helpful and said that we should come back the last day of my Visa to get a two week extension for the wrong paper work. Hopefully in that time I will get the right paper work. Supposedly it takes a lot less time to get and by going to the local police force in Canada and asking for a Vulnerable Sector Check, it will all work out. It now falls on air mail and my amazing father to try and get it. If it still hasn't arrived in the allotted two weeks I can get another week extension. When and if this fails I have to visit Japan. Woe is me. I love Korea (at the moment, read with seven scoops fulls of sarcasm.)