Osaka

Yesterday, Craig and I went to Osaka to get our working VISA to be able to work in Korea. We were going to go for the weekend, but due to many Korean and Japanese holidays this month, it was hard to get a plane booked for the weekend. So, we had to get it done on a Tuesday.

The problem was, we had to get our visa documentation in the Korean Embassy by 2pm, in order to pick up the working visa at 4pm to catch our 7pm flight home. Sound complicated? Oh, it gets better.

On Monday it was a holiday in Japan, so Tuesday, all the business men from Korea who work in Japan came on the flight Tuesday. Craig and I were in immigration waiting in line for over an hour. We missed the fast train over to the Embassy, which is a 30 minute train ride away. We got on a train somehow and ran over to the subway, which we needed to take. After getting off the subway, we had 10 minutes to find the Korean embassy and filled out our documentation papers. We got there at 2:05.....and just made it to pick up our visas at 4pm. It was my worst nightmare come true. In a foreign country...whole new language...whole new city...and we were under time pressure to not only get our visas, but to be able to get back to catch the 7pm flight back to Incheon Airport.

When picking up our visas, we met other Americans and Canadians doing the visa run from Korea. We stayed together, caught the train home together, and flights home. Funny enough, met a guy from Belleville who went to Brock.

I guess through the whole experience, I can say I've been to Japan, even if it was only for 7 hours, and most of it was in immigration and the Korean Embassy. I got some interesting pictures....and had a good story to tell when I came back to work today.

I just never want to do that again. :) :) :)