rednecks
Today I got an inkling as to why Americans aren't exactly the most popuplar people in the world at the moment.
Quite understandably, the Americans are now all paranoid buggers who think everybody's trying to kill them, so part of the process of getting a visa to enter their much hyped country is to go to the US embassy for an interview. So down I went today to that big old stone building on Middlesex Road along with a bunch of NTU people whom I happened to meet at the Speedwing office earlier on. I have no idea how i got it into my head that Americans are considerate and efficient. All I know is that that little misconception was utterly shattered the minute I got there.
The bunch of us were greeted to the sight of a whole line of people waiting for their visa interviews OUTSIDE the embassy. No, not in any sort of area demarcated for waiting; not in any sort of conditions for waiting. Nope. They were all standing and queuing along the MAIN ROAD!!! Under the blazing sun with no shelter, no seats, breathing in car fumes every couple of minutes, being heckled by an extremely rude security guard to get orderly while standing in a line that stretched all the way from the outside of the guardhouse to the sidewalk near the main road. All this while the other guards watched us from inside their air-conditioned room and bitched about God knows what. We were out there for more than an hour, perspiring like a walrus in a fur coat in Afghanistan.
But I should've known that wasn't the end of it. After we finally managed to make it inside the building, after surrendering our cell phones mind you, we were directed to a large room packed full of Asians and issued a queue number woefully woefully short of the one they were currently serving. Maybe they thought they were doing Singaporeans a favour by letting them indulge in their national past-time. I dunno. They didn't even bother trying to make life easier for the people waiting there. Pathetically few seats meant lots and lots of people were standing. No help desks meant hardly anybody knew what to do. No vending machines or stalls meant as the hours wore by, people began to notice their tummies growling.
One of the guys in my group found an area off to one side that was totally vacant and even had a tv screen blasting US National Guard propaganda. The only problem: the area was meant only for US citizens. We managed to overcome that by getting permission from a security guard to sit down inside, but 5 minutes into our respite, an embassy staff (a Singaporean!!!) caught sight of us and got the same guard to kick us out.
So anyway, after all this trouble, you'd expect this interview thingy to be something pretty big. Boy were we in for a surprise. As it turned out, the 'interview' was conducted on two sides of a bullet-proof glass window with both parties standing up, like something you'd find in Changi prison. And the interviewer seemed more indifferent than anything else. He asked me a grand total of TWO questions:
1. What is your name?
2. When do you graduate?
And that was it!! After 2 hours of waiting!! Well I suppose it could've been worse. There was an Indian family before me at another counter. The parents were all dressed up in suit and sari and dragging their little girl along. The father walked up to the counter with a smile on his face...only to have the person behind the counter ask him what he was smiling about, and to wipe it off his face. Full Metal Jacket all over again. All he needed was to ask the Indian guy to choke himself.
THIS is the country that I'm so excited about going to? These are the people who think themselves worthy of deciding the fate of the world?
Quite understandably, the Americans are now all paranoid buggers who think everybody's trying to kill them, so part of the process of getting a visa to enter their much hyped country is to go to the US embassy for an interview. So down I went today to that big old stone building on Middlesex Road along with a bunch of NTU people whom I happened to meet at the Speedwing office earlier on. I have no idea how i got it into my head that Americans are considerate and efficient. All I know is that that little misconception was utterly shattered the minute I got there.
The bunch of us were greeted to the sight of a whole line of people waiting for their visa interviews OUTSIDE the embassy. No, not in any sort of area demarcated for waiting; not in any sort of conditions for waiting. Nope. They were all standing and queuing along the MAIN ROAD!!! Under the blazing sun with no shelter, no seats, breathing in car fumes every couple of minutes, being heckled by an extremely rude security guard to get orderly while standing in a line that stretched all the way from the outside of the guardhouse to the sidewalk near the main road. All this while the other guards watched us from inside their air-conditioned room and bitched about God knows what. We were out there for more than an hour, perspiring like a walrus in a fur coat in Afghanistan.
But I should've known that wasn't the end of it. After we finally managed to make it inside the building, after surrendering our cell phones mind you, we were directed to a large room packed full of Asians and issued a queue number woefully woefully short of the one they were currently serving. Maybe they thought they were doing Singaporeans a favour by letting them indulge in their national past-time. I dunno. They didn't even bother trying to make life easier for the people waiting there. Pathetically few seats meant lots and lots of people were standing. No help desks meant hardly anybody knew what to do. No vending machines or stalls meant as the hours wore by, people began to notice their tummies growling.
One of the guys in my group found an area off to one side that was totally vacant and even had a tv screen blasting US National Guard propaganda. The only problem: the area was meant only for US citizens. We managed to overcome that by getting permission from a security guard to sit down inside, but 5 minutes into our respite, an embassy staff (a Singaporean!!!) caught sight of us and got the same guard to kick us out.
So anyway, after all this trouble, you'd expect this interview thingy to be something pretty big. Boy were we in for a surprise. As it turned out, the 'interview' was conducted on two sides of a bullet-proof glass window with both parties standing up, like something you'd find in Changi prison. And the interviewer seemed more indifferent than anything else. He asked me a grand total of TWO questions:
1. What is your name?
2. When do you graduate?
And that was it!! After 2 hours of waiting!! Well I suppose it could've been worse. There was an Indian family before me at another counter. The parents were all dressed up in suit and sari and dragging their little girl along. The father walked up to the counter with a smile on his face...only to have the person behind the counter ask him what he was smiling about, and to wipe it off his face. Full Metal Jacket all over again. All he needed was to ask the Indian guy to choke himself.
THIS is the country that I'm so excited about going to? These are the people who think themselves worthy of deciding the fate of the world?
posted by isaac! at 7:46 PM
3 Comments:
well i went for the work and travel and i know what you mean about the interview being unnecessarily demeaning for some, and some of the americans you meet while working there will be total idiots (i do mean TOTAL), but you'll also meet really genuine and sincerely nice people in the process.
err some of my friends have said that that's because i'm a girl but i'd like to not think that was why everyone was nice so yeah la haha.
i hope that you have as fun as i did, and i think that you'll find it to be one of the best 4 months of your life. =)
Hey thanks! I certainly do hope so too! Oddly enough, I realise all the people who were acting uppity in the US embassy were Singaporeans woking for the Americans, so perhaps my indignation is slightly misplaced. Hmm actually you wouldn't care to tell me who you are would you?
haha even if i did, i don't actually know you, and you definitely don't know me. haha. well if you have any questions about the work and travel just shoot. just chanced upon ye blog while blog-hopping one day and i just felt i had to cheer you up about your upcoming summer heh. it's going to be a blast.
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