Lions and Tigers and Consulates... oh my!

Well, it's been a bit longer in Toronto than we hoped initially. We managed to get down to the consulate yesterday (the 27th) for our entrance interview. Getting there, we were directed to a waiting area and found there were a couple other people who were told the same 'time' to arrive for the interview. 10 - 15 minutes later we were ushered out to another waiting room with a few more people in it. Shortly after another half-dozen walked in. By this point, everyone was there for a 3:00 PM interview and it dawned on me that this in fact was not just an interview, but Korea's latest reality TV enterprise 'Who Wants to Have a VISA?'

We spent the rest of the day in a series of gruelling challenges, from trying to make fire with kimchi (a traditional Korean fermented cabbage/vegetable dish) to a mountain climbing race up a full scale model of Mt Hallasan made out of red Jell-O. Many people were voted off and went home with a variety of consolation prizes. In the end it came down to Kay, myself and some fellow named John. Fortunately the jury voted for me, and I'll be heading out. Kay's going to have to try again next season though.

Seriously though... the waiting room had lots of people, but by the time they started interviewing it went very quickly. They spent 2-3 minutes with each person (Kay and I were interviewed at the same time) and at the end they told us it would be up to 2-3 business days before we'd get our visas. There's a flight we'd love to take Friday night, so God willing, if we can have our visas by Friday in the day we'll be off. Otherwise we'll be here through the long weekend (as Monday is Labour Day and the consulate will be closed). In the meantime we're still here with Karen, overstaying our welcome and sleeping on a wide assortment of furniture.

And getting sick. I've started to come down with some sort of coughing thing that's not as good, and Kay is recovering from being bitten by some sort of bugs (that we never found) and having a reaction to the venom. All in all we can't complain, our time in Toronto has been pretty good. Kay was able to get a few secret shopper jobs with a restaraunt called the Pickle barrel giving us a free lunch on three different days. We also had a chance to visit with some friends here in Toronto on different days. Still... here's hoping for a Friday flight! :)

Chris