July 24, 2013

• Report # 1025

  Hey everyone, I hope that you’ve all been having a great week so far. I’ve now been in Mexico for 11 days and I’m still not working, but I have gotten closer to that step. Yesterday I went to the migration offices, thinking that I could just go in and have them review a few things and give me the visa, but I was wrong. The lady at the front desk gave me another sheet of paper with what I had to do, and it felt like I had just received a lot of homework. I had to print off and fill out more forms, have more photos taken of me, take a copy of my passport, and pay another 3,130 pesos (256 dollars) … much more than I originally thought I’d have to pay. I was feeling pretty discouraged with having to do so many more things after already going through so much before, but obviously I had to get them done.

  At first I was thinking that this would mean I’d have to leave and go around town trying to find places to get all of this done, but luckily there was a place next to the migration office that helps with all of that stuff. I went in and right away a girl was able to get my pictures taken and then I asked if there was a place I could use the computer and print off all of the forms. One of the employees there filled out all of the forms for me and printed them off and that helped a lot. They also knew that I had to go to a bank to make the payment before going back to the offices. I had to pay about 20 dollars for all of their left, but it definitely was worth it as I was able to get it all done right away.

  The bank wasn’t so close, so I had to walk about 15 minutes to find a Bancomer. On the way out there were some Jehovah’s Witnesses waiting with their books in many languages, obviously waiting for someone to talk to. Those Jehovah Witnesses always have a habit of coming up in the most inconvenient of places. I told them I was in a hurry and that I would stop by later and take a look at the books…. which of course I didn’t do ! I was in the line at the bank and made it up to the counter when the lady told me I couldn’t use my credit card, so I had to go out, withdraw money, and line up again. Luckily it didn’t take too long and I was able to get back to the migration office and head into that line.

  There I was told that I needed one more copy of my receipt from the bank. I was told three copies, so I was thinking the original and two more, but nope, they wanted the original and three copies. And I hadn’t photocopied the right page in the passport, they wanted the Mexican Visa photo instead of the main photo page. I asked the lady if I could just quickly use the photocopy machine in the building, but she told me that I had to leave and use a public photocopy machine. So back I went running outside to the other building, and getting the extra copies I needed before running back into the migration offices.

  I got another lady this time, and she gave me even another form to fill out ! I filled it out at the desk, but there were a few things I didn’t know such as the address of the company where I’ll work. I asked if I could check it on my cellphone, but before I could find it, she just told me not to worry about it. I was given a paper with another password and user number to follow the process online, but this time the process should not take more than 20 days. Later on I sent an email to the lady from Teleperformance to inform her that I had went to the migration offices and that it would be about 20 days, and she replied asking if I could send her the password and number so she could follow the process as well, which I did.

  I took a taxi to Paseo San Pedro and I had lunch at IHOP before going to see the Hangover 3 movie. I hadn’t seen the 2nd one, but that’s ok as I often see movies out of line. I saw Mission Impossible, and Mission Impossible 3, but not the others. I’ve also seen the 2nd Matrix movie, but not the others, one of the saw movies, but not the others, one Harry Potter, one Twilight (though I certainly didn’t want to) and one Fast and the Furious. So I seem to have no problem seeing some movies but not others from the same series. The movie was just like the first one, just stupid humour from a bunch of grown men, but it managed to be entertaining. I was the only one in the whole theatre, which was probably only about the 4th time that’s happened before.

  After the movie I walked to Plaza Fiesta San Agustín so I could take a bus back downtown and then take another bus back to a plaza to meet the girl I’ll be renting an apartment with. Apparently I have to pay another 500 pesos (40 dollars) to help with some contract or something… everything costs money ! In the last few days I paid the 256 dollars for the visa, and over 500 dollars for the first month of rent and the deposit. One of these days hopefully I can start making something instead of always spending it. I took the wrong direction of the bus though, and I had to pass all the day through San Nicolás. There was no way I was going to make it back by 5:30 pm, so I just called the girl, and she said that is ok and that we could meet on Friday.

  I did meet her on Monday when I went to see the apartment, and it was a lovely place. Inside was completely modern and very clean. I will definitely have to learn a bit more about the buses around here as it’s in a completely different neighbourhood and area of the city then I was living before, but it shouldn’t be too hard. I’m thinking it will be possible to move there on Saturday sometime. Right now I’m still staying in the room that I’ve been paying about 8 dollars a night to stay, though Arturo told me not to pay for Thursday as they will be back for Cancun. So I will give him a call tomorrow and ask what time he’ll be back, and maybe then I’ll go back to his house for two nights before finally getting into the apartment.

  It’s kind of tiring moving around so much, but at least all of these places are in the same general area and after Saturday I will just be able to stay put. I just really hope everything works out with this visa thing. It’s now been so much effort and so much money and so much time, so I just need it to work out ! In the last couple of days I have just been walking around, and I had lunch at Cabo Grill again, and Tacos Féliz, which is a very good and cheap Taquería close to the house. On Sunday I saw a Spanish movied called Amantes Pasajeros, which was about passengers on a plane bound from Spain to Mexico City who find out that maybe the plane will not be able to make it to Mexico City and they’ll have to go back to Spain and try and find a safe spot to land. It was very out there as there was a married pilot who was having an affair with a male flight attendant, the other flight attendants basically all drunk and serving drinks to get the passengers drunk, and crazy stories from people on board… I never saw a movie quite like that before.

  I have been trying to keep up with the news of what is going around at home and around the world, and there was one story that caught my attention more than any other story. A 24 year old Norwegian woman in Dubai, UAE who told police she was raped, was arrested for having sex outside of marriage and for drinking alcoholic beverages. I always thought UAE was a more open minded country than some of the other Islamic nations, but apparently not. This story is just absolutely disgusting. To be treating a raped women like the criminal, actually arresting her after everything she has been through is just not only plainly wrong, sexist, and downright appalling, it lacks any common sense.

  I will say if Dubai does have laws against drinking alcohol, then of course people should follow those rules, but that is no reason to arrest and press charges against a woman who was just raped and treat her as if she is the criminal. Obviously a case like this will be getting a lot of attention, and it can’t be good news for Dubai and the UAE in general, and from what I’ve read now, the woman is back in Norway and the charges were taken away. So in the end things have worked out for this woman thankfully, but the fact that the police in Dubai and the whole way their system handles such cases is deeply troubling. And using religion as an excuse just don’t work here. I don’t think what has happened to this woman could be condoned by any religion…. it’s just the backward and twisted rules of some of these Middle Eastern countries that need changing.

  They can hide behind religion all they want as an excuse, but it’s plainfully obvious these rules have nothing to do with Islam, but they are their own twisted sexist rules that exist in a society that still fails to grant woman standard rights. Hopefully a story like this changes things in the future, but I wouldn’t bet on it. Until then tourists and people working in these countries have to exercise extreme caution and know what they have got themselves into. I do hope that this situation at least raises awareness around the world to how women are treated in some of these countries, and that those places can be pressured into at least trying to modernize their laws and backwards way of thinking. After so much wrong has happened, it would be hopeful that at least something positive can happen, but only time will tell. For the next question:

  What are your thoughts on what happened to this woman ? What changes need to be made to ensure something like this doesn’t happen again ?

  That is all I have for today. I will leave you all with some pictures from Cholula and Puebla. Take care and I’ll talk to you all on Saturday, bye for now.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  • 1:11 pm
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