December 5, 2012

• Report # 948

  I went for a second super long run at Fundidora Park on Sunday afternoon, running basically the same route as I did on Saturday. I am assuming it was about 10 kilometers as I finished in about 47 minutes and that’s more or less the time I did the Vancouver Sun Run in. I felt some pain in my side near the end, but I managed to finish. I came home and then walked up to Starbucks as I had to finish uploading some pictures to Xanga.

  The other day the man from the house told me that there was a new password for the strongest signal here and it had been reconfigured. There has always been an internet signal with full strength here but for whatever reason I was never able to connect to it before. I ended up using a connection with two or three bars and for that reason sometimes the internet was so horrible I really couldn’t do anything. So at least now I should be without internet problems !

  On Monday morning I went to the national institute of migration for some more information and the guy there gave me a sheet with the requirements and he told me that since November 9 of this year the rules have changed, and people can not change their visa status from Mexico or something to that effect. This would mean from what I understand, even though I have an address here, have been here for a few months, and have a job offer, I would still have to go back to Vancouver to do all of the paperwork.

  I explained this all to the lady from Teleperformance and she told me she talked with some people from the administration department and they don’t think that it would be necessary, but I think the company is just behind on the rule changes. Later in the day she sent me an email telling me my job offer letter was ready to pick up on Tuesday morning. So on Tuesday morning I went and was sent in after talking with the security guard.

  The lady there was asking me if I knew all the requirements and stuff, but I really just wanted her to give me the job offer letter, as the rest I’d be able to do myself. She printed the letter off and gave it to me and I thanked her and headed out of the office. Within a few minutes I read the letter and realized there were two errors on it. It said “La Sr. Kyle.” However “la” in Spanish is for women, so it should have said “El.” And it also said that my nationality is American. With these types of errors on a document like this I’d obviously not get accepted.

  I walked back to the place and the security guard let me pass, and I returned to her office and she was gone. A man was sitting there and he tried to call her, but she had gone back for lunch. They told me to return in an hour, which I did, and I waited more time, but the lady just didn’t return. So I told them I would return today in the morning as I had a friend to meet by Paseo Santa Lucía. I met my friend and we walked and talked lots, and we had dinner at an Argentinian restaurant called Neuquen.

  I had a big piece of veal cutlet with jam, tomato sauce and melted cheese….. it’s called Milanesa Napolitana and it’s my favourite thing from Argentina. We shared a dessert afterwards and then I returned home by the metro train. This morning I got up and headed to Teleperformance once again, and I waited and waited and finally the security guard put me on the telephone to talk to some lady. She gave me the number of the lady I had seen yesterday and told me to call her on Friday afternoon.

  This is really getting frustrating, as it just would take five minutes to sit down with her and correct the errors on the letter and get a letter that’s 100 % perfect. So now I have today and tomorrow to find out more information about exactly what I need to bring and do to process all of this stuff, and if I will have to fly back to Vancouver or not. What a long and frustrating process, the government people and the people at the company certainly aren’t making this a very easy task.

  I have decided though that if it turns out I have to return to Vancouver, I would do so within a few days of getting my job offer letter as it would only be valid for 15 days, and it would be very important to get everything processed to get any close to actually working. In that case it would be good to go home for a month and see my family and city and spend a bit of time there, but I really wouldn’t understand the point.

  I’ve been here since August, and I have an address here, and the job and job offer is here, and I have my passport so I don’t know why the people in the government wouldn’t be able to find a way to just process everything here, but at the end of the day rules are rules and I’ll have to do what they say I have to do if I ever want to get the work permit. I was thinking I could call my old job and see if they would need any help for 3-4 weeks while I wait for the my paperwork to be processed, as at least in that case I’d be able to pay off the plane ticket for going back and returning here and make a few extra dollars.

  However this is all still speculation as I really don’t know what will happen in the next couple of days, what I will do and where I’ll be in the next week. I asked my mom if her or my dad would be able to talk to the Mexican Embassy in Vancouver to see what they say, and I would return to the national institute of migration here one more time to be 100 % sure of everything, so there are still a lot of unknowns.

  I’m more disappointed right now in the sloppyness of the letter I was given. The people doing this stuff are university graduates, they aren’t stupid. However the errors they made, saying that I was American and putting a word in the letter indicating that I’m female are just ridiculous. They took almost three weeks to do this, and in the end they probably just copied and pasted my name to an already made letter from the past and failed to do the other changes necessary.

  I will try not getting too frustrated now as it’s really not worth it and my frustration won’t change anything. I just have to be sure I know all that I can know of what I have to do, and that I’ll be ready to do these things when I need to do them. So that’s basically where I’m at right now…. for the next question:

  What sort of errors made by other agencies have had effects on your life before ? Do you think it’s an issue of everyone makes mistakes, or more of government/employee negligence in terms of doing their jobs properly ?

  I will leave you all with some more pictures from Parque Azul in Guadalajara. Take care and I’ll talk to you all on Saturday, bye for now.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  • 2:36 pm
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