Viva la Visa!

Not only have we signed up for a new year at our school, we also got an early start at getting all the paperwork done. For everybody outside of Thailand: getting a new visa is not a going-to- the-right-window-and-taking-a-number-kind of affair. It requires skill and especially determination. Just so you won't think I'm biased. Here is a completely factual and full length play by play.

December
We start asking the school to make sure that this year all the paperwork is set in motion before the end of March. Several of us are going on trips abroad and if you leave the country without a new Non Immigrant B visa, you'll have to start the whole thing from scratch: tourist visa, leaving the country, applying for a Non-B and so on.

January
We check what we need to bring as well as we can. Information online and in real life is often vague or contradictory. Especially because we do not only need a new Non-B visa. We need a work permit extension and a re-entry permit (because we're going out of the country).

February
Nothing much happens. Except of course for teaching assistants preparing documents we sign.

March, week one
We start pushing for an as near as possible date to go to the immigration office and the labour department. We find out that the school has already booked the school van for the visa run for the last week of March (!). If even the slightest thing goes wrong, there will be no time to correct it.

March, week two
Not only have our prayers been heard, when we push for this Friday, the school says 'OK' (Yaaaaaaay). But then says: 'wait a minute' and makes it Monday (Awwwwwwww).

March, week three, Monday
We show our work permit at the office, evidently this year we do not have to have the visa first. Good. Not so good: There is no one available to sign for the use of the school van trip to Udonthani (1 hour), where there is an immigration office. Trip postponed to Tuesday. Tess reminds us all to bring pictures and no matter who we ask, no body is sure about the size.

March, week three, Tuesday
We all jump aboard the school van at seven AM. Because it is Tuesday, we have to go to the main office in Nong Kai (a three hour trip). Half way trough we are asked if be brought everything on a list. Miraculously Everybody has everything. Pictures in all sizes, passports, work permits and a unbelievable stack of forms per person (each page copied three times).

We arrive before the crowd even though we had to stop in the city to shop for a present to give to the immigration officer. He has a reputation of disliking farang (which is fair enough because he mostly sees the wrong kind). So a big box with the huge ribbon is bought to smooth things over. Legend has it that there is a big bottle of Thai whiskey in the box, but our questions about its content are met with silence and smiles by the Thai teachers.

We start filling in the forms give our passports and for a moment it looks bad. The officer is tearing pages out of stacks and saying that there is stuff missing. But suddenly (after muffled discussions with the head of our delegation) I have to hand in my forms. I'm not even done with the second one. But ten minutes later I'm holding my passport with all the right stamps.

Then it's time to pay up. Of course we asked if we should bring money. The answer was 'no'. But apparently the treasury department of the school refused to fork over the dough. We painstakingly gather just enough money by borrowing the odd thousand Bath from the Thai teachers. Then it turns out that we have to pay more for our re-entry permit. Twice the price stated on the form. When we point that out the officer simply says: 'That is the old form.'

After some shopping and making sure that the school is going to pay us the money back, we arrive back in Khon Kaen.

March, week three, Wednesday...
Hand in our work permit to get the stamps and signatures.

March, week four, ...Sunday
Write this all down on the blog. Still hoping my work permit will be back before I leave for Bangkok. I have to say that it's looking pretty good. Mind you: this is actually the smooth way of getting your paperwork done. If you do it without the help of a government school and let's say you don't speak any Thai at all... Good luck!

Exams, strike and some driving

I am not sure why, but Thai kids in primary one get exams (and tons of homework ). Being the one giving most of the exams (and yes, the homework), I now say that that's a good thing. It gets the students used to performing under a certain degree of stress. It gets them to review the material, it gets them to focus and: it gets them to cheat. That also is a good thing. Studies have long shown that kids learn faster when they cheat. Something about quickly storing the essential info and stuff. Of course I tell them they can't cheat. And that they lose points when I catch them. Some in fact do. Which is totally different from the Thai exams, because those are done in a cooperative manner. Answers are readily provided by the teacher if kids don't know. Not on my watch though. No stress means, no real cheating, and therefore no learning. Can you spot the cheaters in this picture? Not easy, is it?


By now all the exams are done, everybody passed (because in Thailand nobody can actually fail and the exams were pretty easy) and we're leisurely planning the new year. Gives you time to snap some quaint pictures. Like this one. Saw it laying there a million times, but never had a camera with me. It submit to the world a little piece of art I would like to entitle: Steeeeeeerike! It's a work of art that evokes memories of years gone by perhaps, or the essence of humanity cut down by the big black ball of Fate, an inner child in a world all grown up or ehm... Well, you figure it out!



Speaking of the big black ball of Fate: here's a shot of Tessel driving a car for the very first time. Don't worry, this is not the open road but the grounds of our neighbour's school (and more importantly, it's also his car). You gotta do something on Sunday. Why not try some driving on the left? It sure beats bowling!