Kathy & Paul's Adventures Abroad

Remember what I said about patience in my last post?  Well this week was a real test of that important character trait, as we attempted to obtain our visas.

Bright and early,eight o’clock on Monday morning we headed for the big metropolis of Toronto armed with all the documents we thought we needed and a handy dandy map from Map Quest. After about an hour’s drive we arrived on George Street and proceeded to look for the consulate. As we drove slowly up and down the street we could not find any building that looked like it might be it.

When I thought to check the information sheet I noticed that we were supposed to be looking for 240 St. George Street and not 240 George Street. So now what to do???  We had a great map for George Street but nothing for St. George Street!!

We drove around for a little while and called the consulate to get directions but no one answered the phone. Then we spotted a tow truck driver parked on the side of the road and Paul asked him for directions. After about another ten minutes we found the right place and proceeded to line up to apply for the visas.

By this time it was ten o’clock and there was a line of people out the door, down the side of the building and out onto the sidewalk!!! Monday is the busiest day for the consulate!

After waiting in line for two and a half hours we got to the wicket and passed our documents to the lady behind the glass who very quickly processed my application and handed me a pink ticket to be used when I came back on Thursday to pick up my passport and processed visa.

However when it came time to process Paul’s application things did not go so smoothly!!

To our utter surprise we were told that the only visa Paul could obtain was a thirty day tourist visa and when we insisted that he wanted to come with me to Beijing for ten months, the lady informed us that he needed the same visa authorization that I had which came from the government in China. This is something we were not made aware of by our agent from the board and now we had a big problem. We intend to fly to Calgary next Friday, then to Lady Smith in British Columbia, and from there to Beijing on September 1.

I won’t go into all the details of what happened when we realized the situation we were in, but suffice it to say we thought our dream trip would never become a reality.Our agent was on holidays, and we didn’t think it possible that a new visa could be had before we left for Calgary.

We went back to the Chinese consulate on Thursday to pick up our visas and passports, and on the drive back home we decided to stop into the York Region Learning Connections to try to resolve this whole mess. We were able to speak to the director and explained to him what our concerns were, and that we would not be going to Beijing if Paul had a thirty day visa since the consulate officials clearly told us it would probably would be difficult if not impossible to get an extension in China.

After a lengthy discussion about our situation the director, who has considerable personal experience teaching and living in China, informed us that he thought he would be able to get us the visa we needed for Paul before we left for Calgary. We were not sure at this point if we still wanted to go because of our frustration and disappointment, but after a talk over coffee and tea we decided that even though this was a big glitch in the process we still indeed wanted to fulfill our dream. We gave our passports to the director,left the matter in his hands to resolve and went home to wait for a call.

The call came on Friday and we went back for a third time to the consulate to reapply for Paul’s visa. This time we went with a letter from the Board explaining the situation and were told that Paul’s first visa would be cancelled and we could pick up the new one on Monday.

So!!! We’re hoping the nightmare ends on Monday, we get the visa, and the dream continues to the Middle Kingdom.

Stay tuned for the next episode!!!

Chinese Consulate in Toronto