Tuesday, October 12, 2010

I made it to Disney World!

Oh wait, I mean Singapore! Enough people have told me to update this
thing so I guess I stop procrastinating. Like the natural
procrastinator I am, I hve an excuse. I don't have a laptop yet and
why would I want to stay in my office longer when there is so much of
Singapore (and se Asia) to explore?

The singapore govt has given me the green light to work in this
city... er... country! Even though i was an hour early for my appt,
after 5 minutes of hanging out at the ministry of manpower (MoM, great
name) office that masquerades as a posh hotel lobby <insert pic which
I would do if I knew how my iPhone worked>, voilà, come back on
Saturday for your employment pass card!

Ok the process wasn't really that painless because at my first appt
last week, I forgot my white embarkment card. You know, that stub
they hand you back from the customs form you hand in when you enter a
country. . And by forgot i mean lost (ok really prob threw away). Who
knew you had to keep those things? Alright, I'm just a dumb American.
Whatevs. The woman at MoM was completely shocked that I didn't have
it.
Mom: "you need to give me your white card. I don't know what to do
without your white card."
Me: "oh, oops. Hmmm. Ok well what do i do if I don't have my white card?"
Mom: "you need your white card, la. They gave you a white card when
they gave you this stamp" points to visa stamp in my passport "I need
your white card"
Me: "yeah I know that what card you are talking about. But I don't
have it. What are the next steps I need to do?

She looked at me as if I just asked her if I Was allowed to traffic drugs.

Mom, completely agitated: "i need your white card. I can't do anything
with your white card."

Me, trying desperately to fight the urge to flip the table: "yeah. I
don't got it. What am I suppose to do?"

Mom: "maybe your boss can write you a letter?" shrugs.

Ergh...

My work admin person had no idea what such a letter should say, nor
did I. She suggested I go to Malaysia and reenter to get a new white
card. Oh wait only problem, I can't leve the country without a white
card. Can't stay in the country and can't leave. I was beginning to
feel like Tom hanks in that really awful airport movie.

In the end, getting a replacement white card was spending two minutes
in line and having a woman write down a random number on a piece of
paper. No bigs. But I man do these singaporeans love their rules!

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