So, yesterday was my very first time ever in the United States of America. We drove down to Washington to go shopping for the day. We left very early in the morning, and just as well, because we'd already been in the car about two hours by the time we got to the border. Here are some pictures I took along the way.
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| This isn't a great shot of it, but there was actually this amazing part where the clouds met with the mountains and you could see through it like thick mist. |
We only hit up a couple of malls, but they were, as promised, cheaper. Even with tax. I got a pair of jeans that actually fit and aren't miles too long for me (YAY!) and a red cardigan. I didn't really need anything else. Oh, also, they sell popcorn at Target. Popcorn! And it is good.
So after a few hours of shopping till we were almost dropping we headed home. The drive on the way back didn't take nearly so long, and we figured it'd take no time to get through the border, since we were just going back to where we'd come from.
Wrong.
The guy in the booth was an asshole. He asked to see all our passports (normal) and then he asked what my status in Canada was, a couple of times, and he was like shouting it. So I said I was a student, and he asked what I was studying, and I said various English and History courses (they always ask what courses and I always wonder how that information is uesful) at UBC. He said he needed to see my student visa, and I said I didn't have one of course because I'm from NZ and I'm only here for five months. He said if my study is contributing to any kind of long term program (wtf kind of study would I be doing here that didn't contribute to something?) then I needed a study permit.
So we had to go inside again and I answered a few questions from the woman at the front desk, and she had me sit down and wait while she went to go check with someone else about whether I needed a permit or not. I saw her talking with this other guy and then they both went off somewhere else, so obviously it's not a straightforward yes/no question. They were gone quite a long time. Eventually she came back and told me it's 'a grey area' and recommended that I talk to an NZ Consulate about it.
I found the whole experience unnerving. It's not like I didn't check this stuff out of course, but all the information I had indicated that there was no need for any kind of permit or visa as long as I was staying less than six months. Now it seems that might not be the case. I wanted to get it sorted out as quickly as I could, so I went downtown to find the Consulate this morning, but basically I got very confused and never actually found it. You should know that downtown Vancouver is like one massive K Road: a mixed bag of goods. You see something awesome, then you see something that makes you want to throw up. There's also a lot of homelessness in Vancouver and today was my first real encounter with that. All of the tourism books and websites (and my relatives) say you should just say 'no sorry' and keep walking if anyone asks you for money, and that's what I did, but I didn't feel good about it. The thing is you don't have to worry about homeless people on Queen Street really, because they're all genuine and generally harmless (except possibly the angry rapper, aka scariest busker in NZ), but here, they could be scam artists or drug addicts and the reality of it is that you just can't put yourself at risk while you're alone overseas.
I felt vulnerable for the first time today. I walked up and down that street like half a dozen times looking for the fucking Consulate building and only seeing banks (later I realised I should have looked it up on google maps first) and as the day went on I became increasingly frustrated and nervous. In the first hour there I was like 'FREE PIZZA? AWESOME THRIFT STORES? THIS IS MY KIND OF PLACE!' but then it was more 'this is the hungriest I've ever been in my life and I don't trust any of these shops' and 'why are there so many dogs here?' and by the time a guy in denim shorts rollerbladed past me and said I was a 'tasty little thing' I was ready to GTFO.
And therefore I have not yet resolved my student permit issue. Tomorrow I'm probably going to meet up with some other people from UBC, and on Sunday I might do something with my family, so it'll happen next week sometime. I think you have to plan trips through that part of town rather than just winging it like I did. I'll let you know how I get on.
I'll tell you what you need: The UZI tactical pen. Stab mofos, hobos and skeezy rollerbladers! Become the scourge of Vancouver with this bayoneting ballpoint :) http://goo.gl/IMbFU
ReplyDeleteOh man, that angry rapping busker is so threatening. I've only ever heard him through the gaps in the bus door, but I can still distinguish an abundance of expletives. I doubt he makes much money. If I had to walk past him I'd probably be so far on the other side of the foot path that I'd be in the road.
Ha, speaking of loud weirdos, there was this screaming woman at the Victoria/Queen St intersection. I was waiting at the bus stop by The Hemp Store and heard this weird yelling. Almost sounded like a powhiri at the wailing woman bit. The bus was gonna be a while so I decided I'd go see what flavor of crazy she was (suspecting strongly she was a religious nutter screeching about the apocalypse or some other ignorant bullshit). So I walked down and it turns out she was shrieking about "the Fonterra monopoly" and "reform the Reserve Bank!", with cardboard signs too. Weird. I totally wasn't expecting that.
If you can't find something around the city, you should fully just ask people. It's okay to be the lost foreigner! Walk into a place that looks trustworthy (like one of those banks), put on your best Kiwi accent, and hit them up for some info. Hopefully your experiences in the down-town part of the city will be better in the future :)
Surely when you applied for all that 360 exchange stuff they woudl've informed you of visas??
ReplyDeleteOmg I remember when Debz, Chrissy, Puteri and I were younger we went into queen st and there was this crazy homeless guy, he kinda started following us - we gapped it in the nearest store - just jeans I think, as fast as we could without actually running and screaming.
Also there was this crazy dude with tattoos on his head and everything in jb hi fi this year when I went to buy my brother's birthday present. He was scary too, shaking the barrier things where you queue up to pay. EUGH uncomfortable experiences.
I don't think I've seen the angry rapper dude (thankfully). You and Nic talking about him however reminded me of that time on the bus with the drunk St Pauls student (if he'd count as student might be debateable).
Def. google maps the place :) that thing is really useful. I use it for locating a lot of things around Auckland :).
As for the grittier side of Vancouver - I think you'll find that almost every city of a certain size will have that aspect to it, even smaller places do. In a lot of wealthy countries like Finland have a lot of homeless - somewhat surprisingly. Hopefully you don't have to encounter the sleazier side too often.
Hopefully things get better and you work out your visa issues - though surely they wouldn't have let you in if you need a visa??
Keep posting :) - its a nice escape from study and uni work :).
Tegan
@Tegan - 360 doesn't tell you anything like that. They give you info on homesickness and advice not to drive and that's about it. I'm sure it'll be fine though. Plenty of other people have done/are doing what I'm doing without any problems :P
ReplyDelete@Nic - actually I did ask at a travel place, and she pointed me in the right direction and said it was just down the road :P I still didn't find it. Never mind.
Thanks for your comments guys!