Chill and Safe

I began the morning in immigration. My visa expired last week and the new one has not yet arrived. They have changed the workflow at immigration.  Last week, it was crowded and I imagine the information officer was the most overwhelmed. There was another officer who was trying to help by calling those with specific issues to come see her. Today, she had a desk right after passing through the metal detector.  The security officer would not let any Engish speaker get a number until he or she had first talked to the officer at the desk. I was pretty early this morning, the third in line. She gave me the form to fill out to get a temporary visa then referred me to the information officer who could call my caseworker and get more specific information. While we were waiting for my caseworker to call back, the information officer encouraged me to get a temporary visa so that I could have legal status. I would not be able to renew my health insurance on the temporary visa, but she said I would still need it if I traveled outside of Hungary (which I'm not planning to do). . We talked about why I had chosen to pick it up personally rather than rely on the post.  First she said I didn't need to come back to immigration all the time, but after our conversation about the post, she revised her advice and said it would be okay for me to come every two or three weeks if I didn't have the document. We also talked about where to get the picture since my cache of pictures seems to have disappeared.

When I got to the drugstore that has a place to print selfies, it wasn't open, so I went home to look for my passport photos. When I didn't find them, I took a selfie and went to two different drug stores. At the first, a lady was trying to figure out how to use the printer. I watched for a while, but decided I didn't have enough time to wait, so I went to the other drugstore and I became the person who had no clue what I was doing. When I noticed a lady waiting to use the printer I stepped back and watched her. She had plugged her phone in and did all kind of magic. The connector did not work on my phone when I tried it. I did, however, find where I could change the instructions to English and transfer my picture by Bluetooth. 

Nearly two hours after I had left, I returned to the immigration office. I picked a number, but there was no movement, so I decided to see the English speaking officer at the desk. I only had to wait for two people, but I kept watching to see if my number would be called. The English speaking officer was very kind and encouraging. She looked at the form that I had filled out and the pictures that I had brought and as she was reviewing it, said "well done" in a British accent about five times. She also commended me for getting a number when I came in. As I returned to the waiting area again, the information officer who had talked to me earlier finished with the client she was serving and called me over. She, too, commended me for completing the application, cut out the picture, told me to sign in the box, then stamped the application in half a dozen places. She excused herself, telling me to wait for her to come back. After five or ten minutes, she returned with my temporary permit. I thanked her. In spite of the slowness in getting my permanent permit, I could see that the immigration office is most definitely striving for efficiency.

I went from the immigration office to the university. I was well-prepared for my first two classes. Everything ran like clockwork. When I asked them about what they liked, they described my class as interactive, fun, organized, and 'chill.' 

I had a couple of hours between my second and third classes. I grabbed something to eat and debriefed my classes. A third class was scheduled for 6 PM, but according to the LMS, no one was registered for the class. I haphazardly planned for the lesson, thinking that I would have no lesson and that I would have to brace for having a ninth class in the Spring to make up for teaching only seven classes in the Fall. I opened the classroom ten minutes before and turned on the computer. At six, poked my head out into the hall to ask if any were waiting for the Communication Skills course. Surprise! Thirteen students came in. All thirteen had registered today. I floundered around since I didn't have much of a presentation prepared. I did have the syllabus and talked to them about that. Next, I recycled an activity I did in English Club a couple of weeks ago. They accepted the class as organized and, during my customary debriefing, there seemed to be a concensus among the students that my class was "chill" and "safe." I consider that a good start.