Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Chinese visa
Okay, so I went to the Chinese consulate in LA to obtain our visas. It is on the third floor of a Korean school building in central LA.
Finding the building was fairly easy. Parking was a little more difficult. The first place I parked had a meter. I got out and put a quarter in. For some reason the quarter didn't drop into the compartment. I figured I could push it through with another coin. That didn't work. The quarter was stuck and the meter didn't register. There is a sticker on meters now which gives an 800 number to call if the meter is broken. I called them. She took the information about the jammed meter and then she said she would notify the meter maid and I shouldn't park there because I would get a ticket! Annoying.
I did my good deed, reporting the meter and now I couldn't use the parking space!
I eventually went a block over and found a place that didn't have a meter so in the end it only cost me one quarter.
It's a good thing I was in an unmetered spot because when I finally got inside the consulate the line for visas was around the corner and out the door. I waited for over an hour. When I finally got to the window the woman looked to see if there was a "free" page in both passports, wrote a 2 on the receipt (that's about all, no name or other identifying info that I could figure out) and said I should come back to pick them up on Friday. She said it will cost $50 each. There was a notice at the entrance which worried some. It said that you must pick up your passport with visa in person. I asked her if I could pick up both of them. She said "yes, because the receipt says '2'" We will see!
Fortunately, the pick-up line is a lot shorter than the drop off line. Maybe Friday will go fast. I hope so!
Finding the building was fairly easy. Parking was a little more difficult. The first place I parked had a meter. I got out and put a quarter in. For some reason the quarter didn't drop into the compartment. I figured I could push it through with another coin. That didn't work. The quarter was stuck and the meter didn't register. There is a sticker on meters now which gives an 800 number to call if the meter is broken. I called them. She took the information about the jammed meter and then she said she would notify the meter maid and I shouldn't park there because I would get a ticket! Annoying.
I did my good deed, reporting the meter and now I couldn't use the parking space!
I eventually went a block over and found a place that didn't have a meter so in the end it only cost me one quarter.
It's a good thing I was in an unmetered spot because when I finally got inside the consulate the line for visas was around the corner and out the door. I waited for over an hour. When I finally got to the window the woman looked to see if there was a "free" page in both passports, wrote a 2 on the receipt (that's about all, no name or other identifying info that I could figure out) and said I should come back to pick them up on Friday. She said it will cost $50 each. There was a notice at the entrance which worried some. It said that you must pick up your passport with visa in person. I asked her if I could pick up both of them. She said "yes, because the receipt says '2'" We will see!
Fortunately, the pick-up line is a lot shorter than the drop off line. Maybe Friday will go fast. I hope so!
# posted by blue-foot Sue @ 8:06 PM 
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]
