Well, I am in a much better mood right now than I was earlier today. First of all, this VISA situation just keeps getting worse and worse. Finally, everything is pretty much straightened out right now, minus the amount that I am going to have to pay in the end. That, we don�t know as of yet.
I have been to immigration three times now, and to the police station twice. Everywhere we went took forever and we were waiting for goodness knows what, seeing that there wasn�t even anyone in front of us. First, at immigrations, we were told that we needed to go to the police station to file a report. We did this, but the person we needed to talk to was not there. I�m not going to go into details, but our coordinator here explained some things to us about the way things are done here in Mexico. She says that everytime she goes down to the immigration, their procedures are different from the time before. Rules are just made up as we go along. No one really knew what to do about my situation, regarding the lost VISA, so they were just making things up, like unneccessary paperwork and whatnot. For example, I was told to go make four copies of my passport and bring them back. Why on earth would anyone need four copies? They don�t-it just sounded good. The thing that is annoying about this is that I am going to get charged for losing my VISA. This is ridiculous because just because I don�t have it in my hands doesn�t mean it doesn�t exist- they just don�t have a copy of it. I asked Jessica, our coordinator, if there wasn�t at least some computer record of the VISA somewhere, and all she said was, "This is Mexico." The police station we went to was in a little town next to our college and it looked like a barn. There was one computer and it looked ancient.
Anyhow, yesterday a man quoted to Jessica (who has accompanied me as a translator everywhere) that the VISA would be about 40 dollars to replace, plus 20 to extend. Well, today, they told us to come back tomorrow because they didn�t know at the time how much it would cost! This is insane! People are making up prices, now! Jessica said that there is probably no set procedure for this situation because it doesn�t happen much and that we just have to go along with whatever they say.
I guess the thing that gets me most is the fact that I don�t even think I would get caught. Jessica says that if the University got caught with illegal students then they would be fined. Also, she says that they do deport people. My reply is, as slow and unorganized as that office was, there is no way they would catch me before I�m gone in May. It just makes me mad because I�m going to have to pay $60 in fees for something that I don�t even think matters. A friend of mine said he stayed in Spain for 3 extra months and when he arrived at the airport they told him that he was supposed to be gone three months ago and he said, "Ooops- I didn�t know that- I don�t speak Spanish very well," and all they told him was, "Don�t do it again."
So, that�s what�s going on. Hopefully, I will get lucky and won�t have to pay much. Somehow I doubt that. At least now I�m though with going to immigrations- Jessica is going to go back tomorrow for me. I have already missed four classes this week because of this, so I really can�t afford to miss anymore. All I have to say about this whole thing is, "NEVER, EVER, EVER, throw away anything they give you, no matter how unimportant it seems. According to my super-intelligent friend, Kahunya, from Kenya, "These are all life experiences- make the best and learn something." Well said, Kahunya.
