At any given time, it is almost guaranteed that someone in the office will be having a crisis, whether major or minor. Lately, it seems that everyone is having a crisis of some sorts, giving the office a surreal comedic quality that escapes definition, especially with a different nationality and personality to color each crisis.
It would also help to note, that with exams completed and the marking, reporting and student evaluations now in full force – all of us are working harder than we do most of the rest of the semester, or sitting around at a total loss for what to do with our work hours; the officers (secretaries) are in overdrive and what’s going on is as clear as mud as ever.
Without airing everyone’s dirty laundry and trying to avoid as many gendered pronouns as possible, and keeping in mind I am only discussing the foreigners, here is a sample:
•One of us has left, and been replaced twice. The parting of this teacher was a school wide crisis, though the teacher is actually on to better things.
•The first replacement teacher was sacked, and we gained a third replacement teacher mere weeks before the end of the semester.
•One of us is facetiously dating a bass guitar. They had a lovely Valentine’s dinner date. There are photos.
•One of us considered entering the monkhood to figure out what to do in life (for about 48 hours).
•One of us is suffering from insomnia.
•One of us has a trip to Europe beginning Friday. The necessary visa has not materialized yet, and has been months in the planning.
•More than one of us is at the top of the parent complaint list.
•One of us cannot decide whether to stay or go home. More than one of us is at a loss for what will happen next year even with a plan to stay.
•One of us is having a heck of a time registering a used motorbike recently purchased. I believe it’s up to fifth trip to a government office of some sort.
•One of us had a rather difficult medical issue recently, without a specialist available. It turned out alright at least.
•One of us decided to leave, and then the ‘plan’ for what to do next fell through just this week.
•Three fifths of us have dissatisfying love lives.
•One of us has a significant other who has three years to find a new nationality/citizenship or risk statelessness. This is not through criminal activity, I will just say the regulations of a certain former Soviet Bloc country in regards to long stays abroad is rather screwy.
•One of us is in debt for the first time.
•Two of us have had a very sickly semester.
•One of us just realized our contracts end in April not May if we are not staying on for the next academic year – and thus realized a month of expected income will not be there.
•One of us has decided maybe just a meditation class and not the monkhood. With a steak and a beer before and after that vegetarianism of course.
•One of us is unsure the school can renew a work permit due to national regulation change despite several years experience.
•One of us is still waiting on an airline ticket confirmation that has been two months in the making.
•At least three of us have significant problems from back home wandering over into the Land of Smiles.
While that is not an all-inclusive list, I believe I’ve reached the limit of what is acceptable to publish. So, here’s hoping for some health, some meditative guidance, some citizenship and valid visas and so forth to this motley bunch of farangs we are.
Showing posts with label work permit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work permit. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Labour & Immigration, Take Two
I can't stop coughing. I definitely have an upper respiratory infection at this point. I started myself on antibiotics after several days of holding out for my immune system. Yes, feel free to scold me for not going to the doctor - I don't have time for that right now, especially when it's mostly paperwork and here have drugs! Well, I have them already, I've had this kind of infection many times in my life, let's skip that part.
I take 4 or 5 medicines - over the counter and the antibiotics, and take fifteen minutes to pull myself together to go in. I put on jeans, t-shirt, my one long sleeved hoodie and tennis shoes. I won't be teaching today, we're going back to Labour and Immigration. The thought of doing so in my skirt and dress shoes while feeling like death warmed over is too much; and on our last trip my liaison and half the waiting room were in pants and t-shirts. I don't really care. I would have called in if we didn't have to make this trip today.
Traffic is awful - and I wonder if it's backed up from a yellow or red shirt protest or just the usual traffic chaos. The reds and yellows have both had protests this week - but before you start yelling danger! danger Will Robinson! This mostly just blocks intersections and stops traffic across town; and I happen to be in between the two main spots - so traffic comes to a standstill from both directions.
I hire a motorbike - I haggle for 30 baht not 40 baht, and we zip between the lines of traffic to get to school. Last time I hardly had time to be in the office before being whisked to the school van and setting off. This time, with traffic, the school secretary who will be my liaison this time has not yet arrived, so I have to sit in the office. My boss is interviewing a new student for next year, and her father is there. Suddenly jeans seem like a very, very big mistake. Soon the secretary arrives. She says to me, we will go after your class. To which I simply say, no, we will go now. But who will cover your class? Gen is covering it, we will go now. In fact Gen is only covering the second half of it, everyone has a first period class. But as many times as classes have been cancelled for lack of teachers (we don't have a sub system, teachers must cover for each other), events, or I've been pulled from a class I planned to teach for some other last minute reason with no cover, I simply don't care, this is more important. On occasions with many teachers out, classes are allowed to hang out, play guitar, connect their electronic music players to the sound system - they'll be fine. As it turns out the worst trouble they got into in my absence was they were about to play the movie EuroTrip over the projector when they were interrupted for actual grammar lessons. Oh well.
As we're walking out the students are walking in from the morning assembly, giggling at my attire and one asks me where are you going? Then who will be our teacher? To which I reply, "pretend you have a teacher." He grins. Not my proudest moment as an educator - but again, this is simply more important.
We get in the school van. I'm advised to dress professionally next time, but this time it's ok, you're a foreigner you don't know - that whatever my previous liaison told me, is not the right way to do things. I'm learning very quickly how much misinformation I've been given so far.
We drive, we nap, we're both coughing like crazy. We should both be home in bed. But my visa expires tomorrow, and if anything goes wrong we have to go back on the last day.
We go to Labour to pick up the Work Permit. This turns out to be fairly painless. I check the spelling of my name, sign the page, and pay for it. Then we leave. Less than 15 minutes. My partner in crime checks the details of the Thai writing and hands it to me to put in my file. Surely, that was too easy - and it was.
We get back in the van and drive to Immigration, well, are driven to Immigration. We go in, queue up, and I explain which additional forms from the counter I need. No, you don't need it. Yes, I do need it. No, you don't need it! Yes, I do need it. What? Why? This continues until I have my way. She's still confused - but I don't blame her, all this was explained to her by the previous, shortcut taking liaison, and improperly. I don't blame her, but I don't trust she knows everything I need, either.
Here's the thing. Do not believe the Thai government website, do not believe a Thai that doesn't personally work in Immigration about this paperwork. If you need answers about Work Permits and Visas, you need to personally ask another farang or go to expat web forums. That's where the information will be correct. And it doesn't help that they've recently made it much more strict, but most Thais are still operating in the previous regulations mindset.
We have several hours to wait for our number to come up, so we find a better place to sit and I fill out the forms she doesn't think I need. Then I lay down on the bench to curb my dizziness, at which point she tells me no no sit up this is Thailand, I don't know about other countries you can't do that here. Right.
Our number will be served after lunch, as last time. We go to the food court and each get some sort of noodle soup. I give her American cough suppressants and two Thai medicines. I'm not due for more yet. She looks even worse than I do - and I wish we didn't have to be here.
We go back to the Visa queue. She gives me Chinese cough suppressants. They don't taste good but they relieve the cough, she says. She's dead on. We're both half hunched over trying to nap sitting up between coughing fits.
Our number comes up ten minutes after lunch. We might even finish today. I hand over 1900 baht and we go back to wait. Over an hour passes. Finally we're called back. I have no idea what was said but I can tell there is a problem. We go back to sit down and she gets on the phone. She's calling the previous visa person - the one whose last day was Friday, whose signature she'll be foraging for the power of attorney over my paperwork. There is a form missing. One that she didn't bother to complete, saying oh, for the previous two people, didn't need it. It's a form that takes 15 days to obtain. My visa expires tomorrow. Liaison number one instructs liaison number two to negotiate with them. We try this several times. I'm informed I may have to go out of the country - tonight, or in seven days. I can't get any straight answers, and she's on the phone or talking to the Immigration officer. I call an English speaking colleague that actually knows the deal with this stuff. We discuss what it will take for me to leave for Laos tonight.
Then I find out my liaison has called my boss. My boss is negotiating with the Immigration officer. Somehow I wonder if this won't just make matters worse - but again, it's out of my hands. After over two hours of all this back and forth - my boss has negotiated a 7 day extension of my visa, she doesn't want me to leave the country. I both appreciate this and fear this fix won't actually prevent a border hop, just delay it - and I'm apprehensive that on our next trip the quick-fix seven day extension will not be honored by a different Immigration officer. This could result in a fine, not deportation or anything, and if it happens my school will be paying for it, not me. I think they've already planned that, but I will make sure of it.
My liaison is talking to the Immigration officer. I don't speak much Thai, but I've learned numbers below 100 - and I can tell she doesn't believe I'm 25. I point at myself and say "yi sip ha" and nod up and down yes, I am 25. I highly doubt wearing business attire would have convinced her of this either. For Immigration Take Three, I will be dressing to the nines. Should I pencil on some wrinkles too? Honestly. There's no way to know if business attire would have been the push to get around that missing form - but the fact is the form is on the list and my school didn't take care of it. It's not a form I fill out, it's a form the school must submit. We leave Immigration - with my passport and it's seven days of negotiated, borrowed time and without the 1900 baht. That extension should have been 200 baht, and I protest. I'm assured my boss will take care of it. This had better be the case, this is not my fault.
The two of us are seething with anger and trying to hide it from each other, as required by Thai culture. I consider the school secretary, my liaison number two, my best Thai friend. This has definitely put a strain on things. We open up and discuss our anger that the previous person cut corners and made things difficult. That we couldn't just do it properly the first time, that it doesn't have to be this difficult. But we are the 'younger sisters,' we are lower in rank than many of the people we needed to get stuff done; and though liaison number 1 is also our age - this was her job, so from a task standpoint - hers to take care of.
We nap and talk on the long drive home. We return to school. I explain the days events to a colleague. My boss pulls me aside and further explains how she will take care of it. The other teacher, the secretary and I discuss the fact that I have a seven day extension for a fifteen day piece of paperwork. That I may still have to make a border run. That my boss plans to call on the influence of parents of our students who work in the Ministry. In any case, nothing more will be done today, and I don't have to leave tonight. I'm taking more cold medicine, going home and going to sleep.
I take 4 or 5 medicines - over the counter and the antibiotics, and take fifteen minutes to pull myself together to go in. I put on jeans, t-shirt, my one long sleeved hoodie and tennis shoes. I won't be teaching today, we're going back to Labour and Immigration. The thought of doing so in my skirt and dress shoes while feeling like death warmed over is too much; and on our last trip my liaison and half the waiting room were in pants and t-shirts. I don't really care. I would have called in if we didn't have to make this trip today.
Traffic is awful - and I wonder if it's backed up from a yellow or red shirt protest or just the usual traffic chaos. The reds and yellows have both had protests this week - but before you start yelling danger! danger Will Robinson! This mostly just blocks intersections and stops traffic across town; and I happen to be in between the two main spots - so traffic comes to a standstill from both directions.
I hire a motorbike - I haggle for 30 baht not 40 baht, and we zip between the lines of traffic to get to school. Last time I hardly had time to be in the office before being whisked to the school van and setting off. This time, with traffic, the school secretary who will be my liaison this time has not yet arrived, so I have to sit in the office. My boss is interviewing a new student for next year, and her father is there. Suddenly jeans seem like a very, very big mistake. Soon the secretary arrives. She says to me, we will go after your class. To which I simply say, no, we will go now. But who will cover your class? Gen is covering it, we will go now. In fact Gen is only covering the second half of it, everyone has a first period class. But as many times as classes have been cancelled for lack of teachers (we don't have a sub system, teachers must cover for each other), events, or I've been pulled from a class I planned to teach for some other last minute reason with no cover, I simply don't care, this is more important. On occasions with many teachers out, classes are allowed to hang out, play guitar, connect their electronic music players to the sound system - they'll be fine. As it turns out the worst trouble they got into in my absence was they were about to play the movie EuroTrip over the projector when they were interrupted for actual grammar lessons. Oh well.
As we're walking out the students are walking in from the morning assembly, giggling at my attire and one asks me where are you going? Then who will be our teacher? To which I reply, "pretend you have a teacher." He grins. Not my proudest moment as an educator - but again, this is simply more important.
We get in the school van. I'm advised to dress professionally next time, but this time it's ok, you're a foreigner you don't know - that whatever my previous liaison told me, is not the right way to do things. I'm learning very quickly how much misinformation I've been given so far.
We drive, we nap, we're both coughing like crazy. We should both be home in bed. But my visa expires tomorrow, and if anything goes wrong we have to go back on the last day.
We go to Labour to pick up the Work Permit. This turns out to be fairly painless. I check the spelling of my name, sign the page, and pay for it. Then we leave. Less than 15 minutes. My partner in crime checks the details of the Thai writing and hands it to me to put in my file. Surely, that was too easy - and it was.
We get back in the van and drive to Immigration, well, are driven to Immigration. We go in, queue up, and I explain which additional forms from the counter I need. No, you don't need it. Yes, I do need it. No, you don't need it! Yes, I do need it. What? Why? This continues until I have my way. She's still confused - but I don't blame her, all this was explained to her by the previous, shortcut taking liaison, and improperly. I don't blame her, but I don't trust she knows everything I need, either.
Here's the thing. Do not believe the Thai government website, do not believe a Thai that doesn't personally work in Immigration about this paperwork. If you need answers about Work Permits and Visas, you need to personally ask another farang or go to expat web forums. That's where the information will be correct. And it doesn't help that they've recently made it much more strict, but most Thais are still operating in the previous regulations mindset.
We have several hours to wait for our number to come up, so we find a better place to sit and I fill out the forms she doesn't think I need. Then I lay down on the bench to curb my dizziness, at which point she tells me no no sit up this is Thailand, I don't know about other countries you can't do that here. Right.
Our number will be served after lunch, as last time. We go to the food court and each get some sort of noodle soup. I give her American cough suppressants and two Thai medicines. I'm not due for more yet. She looks even worse than I do - and I wish we didn't have to be here.
We go back to the Visa queue. She gives me Chinese cough suppressants. They don't taste good but they relieve the cough, she says. She's dead on. We're both half hunched over trying to nap sitting up between coughing fits.
Our number comes up ten minutes after lunch. We might even finish today. I hand over 1900 baht and we go back to wait. Over an hour passes. Finally we're called back. I have no idea what was said but I can tell there is a problem. We go back to sit down and she gets on the phone. She's calling the previous visa person - the one whose last day was Friday, whose signature she'll be foraging for the power of attorney over my paperwork. There is a form missing. One that she didn't bother to complete, saying oh, for the previous two people, didn't need it. It's a form that takes 15 days to obtain. My visa expires tomorrow. Liaison number one instructs liaison number two to negotiate with them. We try this several times. I'm informed I may have to go out of the country - tonight, or in seven days. I can't get any straight answers, and she's on the phone or talking to the Immigration officer. I call an English speaking colleague that actually knows the deal with this stuff. We discuss what it will take for me to leave for Laos tonight.
Then I find out my liaison has called my boss. My boss is negotiating with the Immigration officer. Somehow I wonder if this won't just make matters worse - but again, it's out of my hands. After over two hours of all this back and forth - my boss has negotiated a 7 day extension of my visa, she doesn't want me to leave the country. I both appreciate this and fear this fix won't actually prevent a border hop, just delay it - and I'm apprehensive that on our next trip the quick-fix seven day extension will not be honored by a different Immigration officer. This could result in a fine, not deportation or anything, and if it happens my school will be paying for it, not me. I think they've already planned that, but I will make sure of it.
My liaison is talking to the Immigration officer. I don't speak much Thai, but I've learned numbers below 100 - and I can tell she doesn't believe I'm 25. I point at myself and say "yi sip ha" and nod up and down yes, I am 25. I highly doubt wearing business attire would have convinced her of this either. For Immigration Take Three, I will be dressing to the nines. Should I pencil on some wrinkles too? Honestly. There's no way to know if business attire would have been the push to get around that missing form - but the fact is the form is on the list and my school didn't take care of it. It's not a form I fill out, it's a form the school must submit. We leave Immigration - with my passport and it's seven days of negotiated, borrowed time and without the 1900 baht. That extension should have been 200 baht, and I protest. I'm assured my boss will take care of it. This had better be the case, this is not my fault.
The two of us are seething with anger and trying to hide it from each other, as required by Thai culture. I consider the school secretary, my liaison number two, my best Thai friend. This has definitely put a strain on things. We open up and discuss our anger that the previous person cut corners and made things difficult. That we couldn't just do it properly the first time, that it doesn't have to be this difficult. But we are the 'younger sisters,' we are lower in rank than many of the people we needed to get stuff done; and though liaison number 1 is also our age - this was her job, so from a task standpoint - hers to take care of.
We nap and talk on the long drive home. We return to school. I explain the days events to a colleague. My boss pulls me aside and further explains how she will take care of it. The other teacher, the secretary and I discuss the fact that I have a seven day extension for a fifteen day piece of paperwork. That I may still have to make a border run. That my boss plans to call on the influence of parents of our students who work in the Ministry. In any case, nothing more will be done today, and I don't have to leave tonight. I'm taking more cold medicine, going home and going to sleep.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Slowly
I'm learning slowly. Some things have been easier to learn than others. Some of the bus routes most useful to me, for instance - I've picked up on. With over 500 bus routes, that's not a small feat. I've been called the 'bus queen' already, though I hardly think I know that much. Mostly I'm determined to learn to use the public transit I have access to (the sky train runs parallel to where I need to go); and I've been frustrated by enough taxis and tuk tuks that if I have time I'll sometimes wait an hour for a bus instead of hailing a taxi when traveling alone; despite relatively small savings between the two for shorter trips.
Other aspects of culture and adjusting have been more difficult. For instance, advance notice does not really exist in Thai culture for every day activities. The general time frame for finding out your presence is required somewhere, is to be told ten minutes after it starts, or after it's already over, and this is a recurring theme. After school today I was informed I was starting some private lessons, for example, approximately ten minutes after they should have started. I agreed to start private lessons previously and asked to know a day or two ahead of time when they would begin - knowing to a degree of about 50% that receiving notice probably wouldn't happen, but still hoping. Even when you request notice for things and are told yes, sure we'll tell you - it won't happen very often. Aside from such official things as weddings - time is very fluid, and even then.
School convocations are a similar need-to-know sort of thing. You might or might not have advance warning when there will be a school convocation - and unlike such events in the states where classes are herded to the event by their teacher, watched over during the event, and then escorted back - here the school is pretty much turned loose to attend the event, even for half the school day, or allowed to simply leave school for the day if they wish. Teachers are given the option of whether or not to release their students for a convocation. Though when a classroom of 12 year olds hears the head mistress tell you, "it's up to you whether to have class or let them go and take a look," the sound check of the concert has bass that is vibrating the entire campus, and they see you are the only thing standing between them and 'sanuk,' it's kind of a losing battle to even try to have a class.
I'm glad I didn't do much advance lesson planning before arriving. The bulk of my English class is grammar drills straight from the book - and though I'm trying to work more into it than just going straight through the required book, it's slow going. In computers class, for one of the videos the students did - they parodied my grammar teaching for about ten seconds. I would best describe their impression of my teaching as "Past Perfect Grammar Nazi." Oh well, I'm trying guys - though I laughed out loud when they first showed me the video.
Since they have another section for reading, and another section for speaking, I can't make the class too heavy in either of those areas - but it's also not practical to do it without those aspects at all. Computers class is another story - though the future computer room in our new building, as opposed to the cross the school yard commute to the 'old' building, is looking good so far - now there is flooring AND tables AND the beginnings of electrical and internet connections; and it's a really good sized room - not barely fit all the students and desks in as many classrooms are. Yes, you have to account for the equipment, it still looks promising. I stopped asking when it would be finished over a month ago - we'll just see. Computers curriculum is a story for another day.
I've learned that when a Thai tells you, in English, 'tomorrow,' a more correct English to English translation is: "someday between tomorrow and six months from now." I'm learning to ignore the Thai concept of 'tomorrow' and mentally replace 'tomorrow' with "someday, not today" because otherwise I go crazy. I've also learned of many more stories of visas and work permits - and that my current conundrum is not only very common - it's much, much better than many other situations. I recently met someone whose agency keeps their employees illegal indefinitely. And yes, plenty of teachers have taught illegally in Thailand for years - I'm not messing with that. From the sound of things everyone works illegally for at least three months at some point. Talk about complete culture difference.
I finally have my computer back, so I'm slowly catching up with photos, lessons, and the like. There's only so much you can do in an internet cafe. I've also finally gotten a chance to get out and meet some people outside my apartment building and school. Why so long? See what I said about advance notice in paragraph two. More later.
Other aspects of culture and adjusting have been more difficult. For instance, advance notice does not really exist in Thai culture for every day activities. The general time frame for finding out your presence is required somewhere, is to be told ten minutes after it starts, or after it's already over, and this is a recurring theme. After school today I was informed I was starting some private lessons, for example, approximately ten minutes after they should have started. I agreed to start private lessons previously and asked to know a day or two ahead of time when they would begin - knowing to a degree of about 50% that receiving notice probably wouldn't happen, but still hoping. Even when you request notice for things and are told yes, sure we'll tell you - it won't happen very often. Aside from such official things as weddings - time is very fluid, and even then.
School convocations are a similar need-to-know sort of thing. You might or might not have advance warning when there will be a school convocation - and unlike such events in the states where classes are herded to the event by their teacher, watched over during the event, and then escorted back - here the school is pretty much turned loose to attend the event, even for half the school day, or allowed to simply leave school for the day if they wish. Teachers are given the option of whether or not to release their students for a convocation. Though when a classroom of 12 year olds hears the head mistress tell you, "it's up to you whether to have class or let them go and take a look," the sound check of the concert has bass that is vibrating the entire campus, and they see you are the only thing standing between them and 'sanuk,' it's kind of a losing battle to even try to have a class.
I'm glad I didn't do much advance lesson planning before arriving. The bulk of my English class is grammar drills straight from the book - and though I'm trying to work more into it than just going straight through the required book, it's slow going. In computers class, for one of the videos the students did - they parodied my grammar teaching for about ten seconds. I would best describe their impression of my teaching as "Past Perfect Grammar Nazi." Oh well, I'm trying guys - though I laughed out loud when they first showed me the video.
Since they have another section for reading, and another section for speaking, I can't make the class too heavy in either of those areas - but it's also not practical to do it without those aspects at all. Computers class is another story - though the future computer room in our new building, as opposed to the cross the school yard commute to the 'old' building, is looking good so far - now there is flooring AND tables AND the beginnings of electrical and internet connections; and it's a really good sized room - not barely fit all the students and desks in as many classrooms are. Yes, you have to account for the equipment, it still looks promising. I stopped asking when it would be finished over a month ago - we'll just see. Computers curriculum is a story for another day.
I've learned that when a Thai tells you, in English, 'tomorrow,' a more correct English to English translation is: "someday between tomorrow and six months from now." I'm learning to ignore the Thai concept of 'tomorrow' and mentally replace 'tomorrow' with "someday, not today" because otherwise I go crazy. I've also learned of many more stories of visas and work permits - and that my current conundrum is not only very common - it's much, much better than many other situations. I recently met someone whose agency keeps their employees illegal indefinitely. And yes, plenty of teachers have taught illegally in Thailand for years - I'm not messing with that. From the sound of things everyone works illegally for at least three months at some point. Talk about complete culture difference.
I finally have my computer back, so I'm slowly catching up with photos, lessons, and the like. There's only so much you can do in an internet cafe. I've also finally gotten a chance to get out and meet some people outside my apartment building and school. Why so long? See what I said about advance notice in paragraph two. More later.
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