#korean consulate

You Can Help End Dog Meat Forever!

JaneUnChained was LIVE outside LA’s South Korean consulate, at a Last Chance for Animals (LCA) protest with Hollywood icon Kim A. Basinger against South Korea’s horrific dog meat season underway NOW!

YOU can end the horror! Just sign this government sponsored petition: www1.president.go.kr/petitions/281200 We…

I finally received my Yonsei acceptance letter and that was holding me back from applying for a visa

My friend said she got her visa through the Korean Consulate in New York last year. I'm trying to get a 4 month student visa but I don't know the first thing to do. I am having issues finding it online.

The consulate is being the biggest pain about telling me everything. I really need to send in my paperwork asap.

Today I went to apply for my E2 visa!

The whole process was incredibly easy; it took maybe five minutes for three of us to finish up at the Korean consulate (excluding my field trip to Walgreens, see below) and we were given the option to pick them up in two days, or provide a prepaid envelope for 5-day shipping or express shipping. 

I decided to go to the Korean Consulate in Boston, since I went to school near there and could visit friends and such while I was at it (I'm currently curled up on my friend's couch, in fact).  I didn't realize beforehand that the consulate is kind of out of the way-- it's actually in Newton, which isn't all that far from where I'm staying, but I'd have to go this long, roundabout bus route to get there anyway.  

However, some of the girls I met on the Epik facebook group happened to be going the same day!  They picked me up and we all drove over and did it together.  Not only was getting a ride great, but the group support was really nice, especially since one of the girls had a weird issue to sort out and was nervous (but everything went fine :D).  

Issues I ran into - 1) I took my passport photos by myself, which Epik didn't mind, but the consulate rejected them immediately.  Luckily, the girls I was with kindly drove me over to a Walgreens to get them done properly.  2) Despite my best efforts to research beforehand, I didn't realize you could have them mail the visa to you via a prepaid envelope, so the girls I was with also drove me to the post office to grab one so I wouldn't have to come pick up the visa in person (once again avoiding the long bus trip).  

Maybe I've taken this minimalistic theme too far. My blog seems a little bland and overwhelmed with text. I promise each post from now will have a (semi)related picture to change things up a bit! 

So I was super excited to check online this morning and see that my E2 visa is now ready and my passport can be picked up from the Korean Consulate in Toronto. I'm still angry at the lack of parking at the consulate! Thankfully it was a surprisingly warm day and I had a nice little walk around the St. Claire and Avenue Road area, observing all these strangely trimmed and unfortunately looking trees. 

I arrived at the consulate around 2, and I'm guessing lunch lasts til 2 nowadays. I waited around half an hour and my ticket number still wasn't called! Slightly disappointed in their usual speedy service. One of the nice little Korean ladies decided to ask me a bunch of questions in Korean. At the rate that she was talking, I'm not sure how anyone can possible understand her. Anyway, I was only able to stare at her blankly and say that I was waiting to pick up my passport. She said something along the lines of "Oh pick up pisa? Not me!" and proceeded to resume ignoring me. About another 10 minutes later, maybe she finally felt sorry enough to help me... She called me to the window, I hand her my ID, received my passport, and was on my way out! Now if only she did that the first time, things would have been done much faster. Either way, I'm glad she at least acknowledged me.

This experience got me thinking how things will be when I actually make it to the land of the morning calm. Because I appear to be Asian, I'm guessing most Koreans will assume that I am also Korean and will speak to me in their language. This is going to lead to a lot of blank stares and me saying "I don't speak Korean". I should really start practicing that phrase now 내가 외국인이다 (I am a foreigner).