The Course Of Understanding part 8

8. REDEEMING FACTORS
That was March 29th, 2004. It’s now August 11th, 2004. Some of you may be wondering why you haven’t seen me back in Chico if I was refused for a visa. Well, it’s complicated... Okay, it’s not complicated. It’s the same way I lived here from July 2nd 2003 to March 29th 2004 without a visa, and the same way most Westerners live in Prague anyway: tourist visas. Anyone with a passport from the West, who doesn’t want to explore the dark corners of Czech bureaucracy, can simply leave and reenter the country every three months and be fine. So why bother with all this to begin with? Well, for one, it’s a gray area, and probably darker than we admit (though I’ve never heard of anyone having any legal problems with it). For another thing, it means that I have legal permission to be here, legal permission to work here, but I don’t have legal permission to live here. That doesn’t sit well with me. The main tragedy of this sage was the defeat, and having gotten so far. The important thing, for those of you who were hoping to see me get kicked back to Chico, is that I’m basically back to the same status I was before, with no long term legal repercussion (though to be honest, it’s still possible!). Also, you might have noticed the name of this chapter. So, being an optimist, I reminded myself that if I had been successful in Bratislava, I would have been required to return two weeks later to pick up the visa, and deliver 3,200 Slovak crowns to the office. This I didn’t really want to do, and couldn’t really afford, thought it would have been worth it to see the process finished. It’s one way to look at the bright side.
Actually, the greatest pain on this day came from knowing that I would be starting the process all over again, right from the beginning. In fact, I’ve already had some fun encounters in that department. For example, try requesting a renewal of a yearlong work visa (thus proving that you had worked in the country for the last year), without being able to show a residence visa for that same year. Yeah, that was fun. However, that is not part of this story. However, I will mention that I’ve been to the foreign police station three times already to get a new criminal record, and still haven’t gotten it. The fun continues.
So, back to Bratislava for the conclusion. Those of you with insanely good memories will remember that my bus was scheduled to return to Prague at 2:00 P.M. on Monday. This meant that I still had 6 hours to kill. But don’t worry, I’m not going into details, because basically all I did was kill the time. It was a very fuzzy time, and I don’t remember a lot. I do remember waiting for the last two hours in the bus station. I tried to read, but kept falling asleep. Every time I drifted off, the full bulk of Les Miserables slipped out of my hands and crashed onto the floor, causing the woman sitting next to me to nearly jump out of her seat! It must have happened three times before she moved across the room.
During my final hours in Bratislava (at the time I figured it’d be the last time in my life), I explored bookshops. Bratislava does in fact have much better bookshops than Prague, in my opinion. The three things that I like about Bratislava are 1. the bookshops, 2. Tesco 3. friendly government workers. I think that’s about it.
While in the bookshops, I convinced myself that I had just saved 3,200 crowns by getting refused for a visa, so I could buy some books! Besides, buying books makes me feel better (or maybe it’s just spending money), and I had a right to a little self-therapy, right? Besides, books are cheaper in Slovakia. I ended up buying an excellent (and massive) Czech-English dictionary, a bi-lingual book called "Tracy’s Tiger," a Czech phrase book, and a pocket Czech grammar book. By that time I figured I’d consoled myself enough and didn’t have much excuse to buy anything more. I wasn’t sure I could carry anything more, anyway.
So I passed the hours, managed to stay mostly awake, and in the end didn’t miss my bus back to Prague. As soon as it pulled up I jumped on, looking forward to the padded seats and planning to sleep all the way home. A few minutes after I got on I saw the two Ukrainians get on. I wasn’t able to speak to them, but it was nice to know that I was on the right bus. You might wonder if they had success at the Embassy. Well, I never found out. I’ve wondered about it myself.
I did indeed sleep soundly on the way back. I only woke up at the boarder when the guard had to shake me awake to look at my passport. Fortunately I remembered clearly enough to ask for a stamp. Yes, another three-month tourist visa. Then I was out again.
The final memory of this journey was when I woke up for the second time. My eyes suddenly sprang open, and I realized that the bus was not moving. A quick look around revealed that there was almost no one else there. Looking out the window and trying to focus on something, I read the name "Florenc," that is, the main bus station of Prague. Seeing some movement at the front of the bus, I noticed a line of people coming in, and buying tickets to Bratislava! I exploded with energy, grabbed my jacket, my backpack, my bag of books, quickly took inventory of everything, and ran off the bus.
Standing on the curb, trying to compose myself and finish waking up, I took a look around. The people, the buildings, the smells, the air, all announced one thing: Prague. I didn’t need an official piece of paper to tell me where I was: I was home.
the end