So this past week I went to Japan to do a visa run. You may be asking yourself "Colleen, I thought you already had a Visa, isn't that why you drove 3 hours to Seatle??" Why yes, I would say, I did have a visa. However, that visa was a different school. Basically at the last minute (the day before I was supposed to leave) the school that I was employed with (EG) told me they didn't need me. So my director set me up with LCI (my current school) who flew me over two days after my interview.

"But Colleen" you ask, "you've been there over two months, why are you just now getting a visa? Is it some sort of governmental process that takes a while?" No, it is not. It takes two days. The reason why it's taken so long to get my new visa is because the director of EG is a (WARNING, EXPLETIVE COMING) cunt. All she had to do was sign a release letter saying I no longer worked for her, and fax it to Immigration. Instead, she spent 2 months avoid my calls and the calls from my recruiter. Then she would switch back a forth deciding if she wanted me (all the while I couldn't mention that I in fact have a job because it is illegal to have a job with a place if you don't have a visa for it).

So after two months, I finally had to go down there myself, it was a 2 hour subway trip down there, and bitch was legit crazy. I spent all day running between Immigration, the school, and my recruiters place. She finally got me alone, and straight up lied to my face, saying that she couldn't release my visa, and that I had to work for her for three months. I repeatedly told her I couldn't, and that I made an obligation to another school, but she wouldn't take no for an answer. Needless to say, I was pissed off. And worried because there was the chance that I could get deported. And of course Immigration couldn't do anything about it, they had to have the fax. So after one wasted day of getting no where, I had to go back again a few days later, because I was going to file a claim with the Labor Board. But alas, since i never actually worked for EG, I couldn't do it. So my recruiters (Joanne and her husband Troy) and I went down there and Troy (thank god for him) stood his ground and demanded that she send the fax. I mean, by now, Troy had been sealing with them for two months, and he hated the director because she was a crazy bitch, so he was angry when we arrived. After finally talking to a guy who turned out to be the directors husband, they sent the fax. But not before he claimed that i had threatened his wife and demanded an apology. Serious, bitch was crazy. She was like "why didn't you work here, why did you not come at the last minute?" YOU WERE THE ONE WHO DIDN'T WANT ME, CRAZY BITCH!

I know it doesn't seem like that intense, because I am leaving quiet a bit of the frustrating parts out, but seriously, it was frustrating beyond belief. I actually cried was. Woman was messing with my life, threatening me with deportation! Anyway, they finally sent the fax and my visa was released. In Korea, if you want to obtain a new visa, you have to actually leave the country to do it. I'm sure it's a precaution to make sure that people who fucked up in while in Korea would be required to leave and not allowed to enter again. So that is why I had to go to Japan.

All I can say is that I have the most amazing recruiter. She helped me through all of this bullshit, all while being 7 months pregnant. So if you ever want to come to Korea, I have the greatest person in the world to help you!