Here we go!

I was talking to my parents on the morning of the 22nd, two days before I was scheduled to leave for Cambodia. I was eager to share everything about my trip, and was reading the information listed on the visa . "Entry is 24/Dec/2009, and exit is 24/Jan/2009, single entry with my passport number."

My mom interrupted me with "Wait, what? What do you mean January twenty-fourth, two-thousand NINE?"


Apparently embassies can make mistakes as well as the rest of us when it comes to changing the year when we end the old one. I figured it wouldn't be a big deal, but at the behest of my mother, emailed my travel agent as soon as I got a chance. Within an hour of the first e-mail, I had not only sent a scan of the page, but a "Quick Service" courrier had come to the school to pick up my passport, which I reluctantly handed over. Several emails throughout the day assured me that they would fix it with the embassy, and I would have my passport back in my hot little hands by the time I left work on Wednesday, my last day of work before I left.

Later that afternoon, after the students left and much to my surprise, I received my passport back from another delivery man. I eagerly opened the envelope, flipped to the visa page, and promptly broke out in hysterics at their remedy to the situation: scratch it out and write the correct date in black pen.


I thought at first that it was quite a fuss (and expense on the part of the travel agent) for something that I could have easily fixed myself. My co-teacher had to point out to me that they had stamped over the date, probably as proof that I hadn't done exactly that. I had to go back and check the original photo to make sure, but yes, a pen and a stamp was all it took.

So now, after a lovely Christmas chat with my parents in which we virtually exchanged gifts, I will finish cleaning my apartment. I love coming back to a clean home after a vacation, but I have more pressing reasons to make sure my place is clean this time. A friend of mine's family is coming in tomorrow to Korea to visit her, and then a few days after Christmas they're all going together to Japan. Her place is much smaller than mine. Her family has a place to stay after Christmas Day, but nowhere for Christmas Eve. I don't have much room, but I'm glad to offer a bed and a shower to them, but it of course means that my place needs to be spic n' span before I leave.

I'm all packed and really excited. I don't know how well I'll sleep tonight, but seeing as how I need to wake up at 5am, I'm thinking that I need to at least try to go to bed at a decent hour.