In this the first of my worlds, government and business procedures and processes are usually clearly spelled out. You are given an exact list of requirements, documentation, etc and told that the processing takes 5 working days or 10 working days or 6 weeks or whatever. And mostly it does. But in my other two worlds things are much more fuzzy. I have had to develop a technique of on-the-fly problem-solving and trouble-shooting where I don’t wait around for complete understanding because things are only completely understood in hindsight if even then. Just muddle your way through it and figure it out as you go and have no expectations as to time constraints.
Imagine my surprise when I suddenly am in such a situation here! I am supposed to switch to a different kind of visa. The consulate requires “document authentication” of things like transcripts, diplomas, birth certificates, etc. The first step is to get the documents notarized. Sounds simple. Weeeeeeeeell, not according to the 4 notary publics I talked to yesterday! Somehow the list of requirements given by the consulate does not communicate enough to me or to the 4 notaries I have talked to so far, nor to some colleagues who are also spending their Christmas season gathering documents to authenticate. I spent a couple of hours on the internet trying to get some clues plus a couple of hours on the phone and emailing colleagues to see if anybody else has come up with ideas. So far it seems that I am out in front trouble shooting on my own.
But I am not too stressed out. Annoyed, yes, but not stressed. After all, I am used to this. I just have to resign myself to spending a fair amount of time on the phone and internet and running around and just hope most of it is done before Christmas! Who knows, the answer might be just around the next corner or in the next phone call!
And if it doesn’t get finished by the time I leave? Then I guess I keep working on it from a distance!
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