BlogGang.com : : kerrie : Visa photos - the nightmare continues...

Visa photos - the nightmare continues...

I have to get some photos taken so that my school can renew my work permit and visa. So far, its proven to be a bit of a nightmare. I've tried using 3 sets so far but they're still not right.

The first set (a spare set from the photos I had taken last year...) were too old. The photos need to be less than 6 months old. My Thai boss told me they were unacceptable as soon as I showed them to her.

The second set was also wrong. Why? Because it looked like I was smiling. Yep - I wasn't actually 'smiling', smiling but, someone thought that I looked like I wanted to. So they were also a no go.

3rd time lucky I thought. This time I would make sure everything was right. I took down the details:-
Size:- 4 x 5 and 5 x 7
Paper:- Has to be Kodak - anything else will be rejected for being too cheap.
Photo:- Must specify that it is for a VISA.

Just to make sure that nothing else could go wrong this time, I even went to the same photo shop as another guy from my school. We both paid our 270 baht and had our 12 photos taken.

Going to the photo studio was funny. I was asked whether I wanted to wear a jacket (to look smarter), and after letting down my hair, a woman combed it for what seemed like ages. I never knew I had a wobbly parting (I hardly ever part my hair nowadays) until I saw her spend such a long time trying to put it right.

I also never kew I had a wonky head, and didn't know how to look right at the camera. She moved my face so my head was in the right position and told me to suck my cheeks in a bit - but only a bit.

She made one big mistake saying ' ขอยิ้มน้อยนะคะ' - smile please - in Thai, and I had to tell her afterwards that 'no I wasn't supposed to smile.' I needed to look as serious and sullen faced as possible.

Before she took another, she rushed over and checked that my head was still straight and that every hair was in the right place. 5 minutes and 6 photos later the pictures were done. It would take a while for the photo shop to make the prints, so I asked a friend to collect them for me late yesterday afternoon.

My friend handed them over to me this morning. They looked OK, I guess. I didn't really like them very much. My eyebrows look huge, as if they are waiting for the rest of me to turn into a warewolf the moment it goes dark. My nose looks wonky. My ears stick out. But then, I normally hate seeing photos of myself.

I signed them and gave them to my Thai boss who in turn, passed them onto the man who deals with our visas and work permits.

I'd just finished teaching a lesson, and was walking back into the teacher's room when Khun A, our school's VISA man called from Immigration. I was told that they won't accept the photos. Why ? What's the problem this time ? The answer, apparently is that my head is too small.

I'm not entirely sure how they reached this conclusion. Anyone who has seen me in person will know that this is not true. I think my head is quite large and that I have a chubby face. But, I'm now told that its now big enough. You can't see enough of my face.

So, tomorrow it'll be take 4.

Nothing can go wrong this time - can it ?

Create Date : 22 สิงหาคม 2550

Last Update : 22 สิงหาคม 2550 12:22:43 น.

0 comments

Counter : 313 Pageviews.