Friday, November 25, 2011

Update

Called the embassy again. I got the same jerk I talked to the first time I called. I asked for an update and he said as of Oct 25, the embassy is requesting proof of residence. Now I called a week ago and the girl told me I needed to send proof of my residence in the US. Now this guy is telling me M needs to send proof of his residency in El Salvador. All of this is RIDICULOUS!! My lawyer says for whatever reason, we are getting the run around and there’s nothing we can do but just give them what they ask for and that this nonsense could go on for A YEAR. Meaning a year until we can even turn in our waiver packet and wait another year for them to make a decision. This doesn’t even phase me anymore. And I’ve come to terms with the fact that they won’t be giving M his passport back. He’s going to San Salvador today to report it lost and get a new one. Fingers crossed that there’s no problem with that. Then he has to go back to the Spanish embassy and see if they’ll reissue his visa.

Ideally I had thought our timeline would be something like this:

Sept 2011: Consular interview and submit waiver
Oct 2011-May 2012: Teaching job in Spain
June, July, & August 2012: do something fun
Sept 2012: Waiver approved! Go home.

Of course now there’s really no way to gauge what’s going to happen. I can’t even predict a worst case scenario timeline cause nothing is definite. But maybe it could look like this:

Oct 2011: Consular interview
Spring 2012: possibility of submitting waiver
Spring 2013: waiver decision

In any event, I highly doubt our waiver will be decided by Sept 2012. With that in mind, we’re trying to decide if we should stay in Spain for another year. Funny to think about if we should stay when the other half of we hasn’t even arrived yet. The pros of staying are paid living expenses with a comfortable lifestyle. Con: I hate teaching. I don’t know why I keep torturing myself, oh wait, yes I do. It’s for money. The alternative is to go to another country or go back to El Salvador. I feel like it always comes off like I don’t want to live in El Salvador but it’s not really that simple. The main things I have against El Salvador are finding a job and feeling safe. Maybe I could find a job in San Salvador but it wouldn’t pay me enough to live in a safe area. And then there are the slightly less important creature comforts like hot water, air conditioning, and high speed internet. What I liked about living in El Salvador were the people. There were people to visit with and I was working myself up to go volunteer in the clinic. And I loved getting to know the kids. The third alternative would be to go teach English in Korea so we could save a pile of cash.

The only thing about Spain or Korea is if M’s waiver is approved before the end of the school year, he’d either have to go back without me or I’d have to quit in the middle of the school year or stay and finish. So with all that being said, what do you all think? Even from the lurkers, leave a comment with your opinion.

6 comments:

Crazy Rita said...

I don't have a lot of advice in this area. But from my teaching experience in Mexico...

1. Don't friend students on Facebook.
2. Don't tell anyone at the school you write a blog.
3. Altjough schools don't like it, you can quit in the middle of a school year. people in foreign countries do it all the time.

Lurkee said...

I don't like the idea of telling one government entity that you lost your passport when another government entity is holding it. That can be viewed in a bad light if you are caught unless they allow you to hold two passports at one time. If he needs a visa to get to Spain it is likely that they will find out. I think the best thing to do is to follow the rules.

Perhaps you can find a job closer to El Sal. Check into Costa Rica for your next stint or somewhere that is (1) more modern, (2)close to El Sal and (3) where you can make decent $.

Just go to Canada.

matt said...

another year??????? :( :( :(

Unknown said...

That really sucks Julie, my heart goes out to you. I know that living in ES is no picnic and if you guys have the oppurtunity than teaching in another country sounds like the best option to me. And quit mid year if you have to, I'm sure it is done all of the time.

Crossing Borders said...

This sucks...I would do another year or just move to Korea. The cash you would make is fenomenal. I lived in Korea with my sis, and she did not have to pay rent for her apt. and her airfare was paid. She really saved a good amount of money!

Something to thing about...I guess!

jules said...

Korea sounds so tempting for the money but I'm about 99% sure I'm going to renew. I just haven't done the profex yet. I want to stay here and do a grad program at the university here in Oviedo.

Thanks for commenting Future Diplo!