account of a travel worn gung-ho

the title might not fit in today's blog but i kind of like the sound of it...

the past couple of days had been a very tiresome experience, all because i want and needed to go to australia. it was a few weeks (or even a months!) ago when my superior at work had decided that i should go with them on a meeting to present the results of my work. however, the company sort of doesn't want to spend much on my travel and so decided that the partner company should be the one to shoulder my travel expenses. after all, they were the ones who are requesting my presence in the meeting. for the next couple of weeks, this had been mentioned but no final decision had been made.

until last thursday afternoon....

our contact in the other company asked if my passport was updated and i just realized that it wasn't valid anymore (well, it is still valid but not valid for travel because of the 6 months validity of passports countries require a person to have once they enter their country). so i was told to renew my passport the next day...

the next day, friday (it wasn't friday the 13th but it felt like it)...

at the department of foreign affairs, i headed straight for the courtesy lane, the one used by government employees to expedite their passport applications. i was excited because i kept thinking that i'd be finish before lunch. the last time i applied for my passport, it took me the whole day to finish the submission of documents because of the long queue (probably around 600 to a thousand people apply for passports everyday in manila). but this was not what happened to me that day. as my name was called for the submission of my documents, i was told by the dfa officer that they wouldn't process my papers because i needed to have my government scholarship cleared first! but i argued that that scholarship was terminated before i graduated college and so, the government has no hold on me and had cleared my name from the dfa "hot list." they said, yes, it is so because they were given a note dated 2001 that that was the case. so i argued why i have to go to the scholarship office (which is located in another city) when they in fact, already know that i was cleared.

"you have to meet with the director first."
what, you mean the scholarship director? in bicutan?
"yes," said the officer, writing down "Director's Office" on my application form.
you sure it's the scholarship director, in bicutan?
"yes, you better hurry if you want to submit your papers today."


ok... so that was it... i had to go to the other office. once there, this was what they said:

"you had been cleared since 2001. your papers are all in order. why did they ask you to come here?"
the officer said i had to talk to the scholarship director.
"she's not here. but it doesn't matter, you are already cleared. just give them your clearance form and it will all be ok. if they would still question you, ask them to call us here and we'll clear it for you."


but where the heck was my clearance letter??? that was dated 2001! so i had to go home (which was an hour away from the scholarship office) and ransack our room just so i can find the letter. luckily, it was there were i remembered i placed it!

and so, i went back to the dfa, arriving around 130p. and there, i saw on the window a notice, i haven't noticed before: "acceptance of documents for processing is only until 2p." oh well, it doesn't matter. i still have time... until...

"please go to the passport director's office now for interview; and present this clearance, by the way."
what?!!? but i already have my clearance. why do i need to go there? can't you accept this as it is?!
"no, and even if you plead here all you want, we still won't process your application as long as there's no signature of the director on this box."


ok! and so i ran in the direction of the passport director's office only to stop short and see that the queue was so long. i had to get a number: 2. wow, two! but the number they were calling was already 37! i was already in the second rotation! and there were 50 numbers in that set! talk about being lucky, huh?!

i was already so desperate because i only have 20 minutes left until 2p. if i don't get that signature today, i still have to go back tomorrow. if that happens, my boss might get pissed off at me. even if it the situation is already out my hand.

"ms. b! where are you?"
here, i said.
"all done."
what?! no interview?!
"none."

and so, i ran back again to the processing window, just as the window was closing down. luckily, the officer recognized me and stopped to get my papers!!!

"go to the cashier now and pay the processing fee. come back here once you've made the paymet so you could get your claim stub."

all right!

and so last tuesday, i finally got my new passport! the one where it has been posted:

not valid for travel to iraq!

LOL =p