Weather's
getting harsher and I'm suffering from heat exhaustion every now and then.
Imagine its now officially 36.6 degrees Celsius according to the government
weather service and its only an average temperature, Unofficially its about 40
plus degree's now in the metro city and getting worse. Weathers so bad that I'm
having a very bad cold because of it plus heat exhaustion and fatigue. General
rule that I had to do this summer is to stay out of the sun (and any direct
contact to sunlight) from 9am to 4pm, otherwise heat and dehydration will nail
me. I'd take in mind to drink water and antioxidant meds everyday.
For the
moment I didn’t bother attending the remaining two seminars left and focused my
attention in checking my equipment and other stuff that might be needed later
on, So far the latest news based on what I check on my equipment is that most
of it is still intact and in good order, though some needs repair and
replacement and some needs to be cleaned. Overall I could say that I might
borrow some cash to replace and restock my supplies if ever this agenda in
career escalates even further.
For the
moment I had several pending small objectives that needs to be accomplished and
one major objective awaiting my attention. Honestly I don’t think I'd be able
to finish all task in a months time. Well I could finish it however given the
limited funds that I had at my disposal, I find it doubtful to finish it in
time.
1.Photocopy
my sisters ATM Card and submit the photocopy to Career shipping.
2.Open an
ATM bank account under my moms name and pass the photocopy of it to career.
3.Report
back to Captain Ledesma and attend the two remaining seminars.
4.Go to the "TESDA" office in Taguig area , and get a copy of a CAV
certificate of my C.O.C document, Submit the copy to career shipping
5.Get the
coverall Uniform
6.Get the
cash advance from the accounting counter.
And one
MAJOR OBJECTIVE, which is
1.Go to the
U.S. Embassy and get a U.S. Visa.
In the
morning of the 17th of April, I was contacted again by career shipping on my
cell phone and said that there is some sort of additional medical test to be
done on my medical , and it was a new requirement coming from the principal and
I need to report back and get an addition medical test. Puzzled I asked a bit
further and said what kind of medical test, the person on the phone only hinted
its more on a blood chemical thing. What the Hell ??? Am I going to take
another medical and sticking something in my arm again ? I hope this
"Extra" medical screening is just simply purely to please the
principal and nothing of the serious kind , Cant help but think and worry about
this extra medical test. Career orders me to go to their office immediately,
However for the moment I cant do anything about it and that it has to wait
until tomorrow since I don’t have enough money to go there in the office. This
order simply has got to wait for tomorrow.
The
following day…
Was lucky
enough to borrow some money , and I immediately went to career shipping with
haste to determine what is the exact nature of the phone call I received
yesterday, Aside from it I had to report back to Captain Ledesma and get the
schedules of the remaining two seminars , another objective that id be doing is
go to the visa counter to be briefed on what I'm going to do by Friday at the
embassy.
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| My Medical record at the clinic and at career |
When I got
there I went to the medical counter and said I'm here for the extra medical
requirement. I was handled out with a small brown slip just as before along
with my medical records. I was also advised that the test this time around has
something to do with the cholesterol levels in the blood and that I had to do
some fasting , which I assume that I wont eat any food or drink any kind of
liquid for 8 or more hours before my blood is drawn up again. Medical wasn’t
really that serious and I manage to see what my medical certificate looks like.
Anyway I was told that I had to take the medical the next day , even if I told
to the counter to have it rescheduled on some latter date given the fact this
day she is referring to is the date of my VISA interview. (Damn !!! Alright I'd
take the medical exam but let it be known that if ever I get to be boiled down
by tomorrow and get to choose which of the two should I set priority first, id
choose the VISA interview not the medical )
 |
| Behold the Receipt of the 21 century, hi- tech eh ??? duh |
Waited for
at least 6 hours again and at around 4pm , I went to the Gilda at the visa
counter to ask for the appointment schedule on the US embassy for the visa.
Gilda told me to wait for a few minutes. It was already at about 6pm when my
name is a called along with four others. Gilda briefed us that in the U.S.
embassy consular interview, we have to remember specific joining port details
and our previous "sign on / sign off" details of our previous ship
along with our working history just in case.
When it was
my turn to Gilda's desk , she said that the ship I will mention in the embassy
is not "Cape Tallin" but "Cape Bastia" for now. She added
that I shouldn't pay attention on it and that this new change of ship is just
only used as a front for the US embassy. Gilda said that I should memorize the
date of joining port and the port it will be at berth in the US.
Gilda
reminded us that the security measures inside the embassy are really tight and
that we don’t have to bring any electronic equipment around such as cell
phones, tablets, laptops etc. even sharp and pointy objects are not allowed as
well as bringing of any kind of food (preferably liquid in nature). She also
added that we should be there at least an hour before the said interview
schedule, Gilda handed us out other documents like our passport, seaman's book,
some letter to the embassy, our dummy POEA contract and a note of details
concerning the name of the ship and port of entry. Gilda said to us before
proceeding tomorrow that we will immediately know if our visa application is
denied or granted if the consulate would collect or not our passports (if
collected it means that we passed).
Immediately
went home since by the following day I will have two objectives, one will be of
course the VISA and the other is the medical. I need to prepare and memorize
all the details.
The next
day…
Woke up
early in he morning because of two things, One is because of the heat from the
weather and the anxiousness of getting the visa. My mind was circling at kept
asking the same question , what will the consulate ask and what could be the
repercussions if I fuck this one up. I do recall what Captain Galang told me a
month ago that they will accept me on the company but with one condition. I
must get a US Visa or else I will get fired and have to pay everything. I
dispelled those thoughts and hurriedly prep for my agenda with the embassy. I
went out on the house at about 4:45 am.
I was near
at the embassy at around 6am and was looking for a place where I could change
from my travel clothes to a formal clothing from my back pack, I tried to
search for at least 30 minutes in the surroundings but could not anything more
suitable than a public park nearby. I was awkward changing clothes out in the
open but there is nothing I could find, Good thing it was still in the morning
and there isn't any people passing on the park and at 6:45 am I immediately
changed my clothes. Incidentally after finishing to change clothes , one my
batch mates who is also assigned to get a U.S. Visa on that day saw me. We
talked for a while then headed off to the U.S. embassy.
 |
| Letter of appointment, present this to the guys in the tent outside the embassy premises. This piece of paper serves as proof that you have indeed a scheduled appointment interview. |
When we
arrived , there were three people clothed in business suits standing on a small
tent there ,we approached them and was asked to show off our appointment slip
along with our passports. We promptly gave it and they put a sticker on our
passport then scanned it and gave it back. While waiting outside the vicinity
and falling in line I've notice that the embassy looked more like a fortress
rather than an office building , complete with electric fence and search
towers. Once we got inside , my bag was
scanned by the security guard on the X-ray machine looking for any electronic
thing inside and I went thru a metal detector , The guard kept reminding us
that we should not in anyway have any electronic device of any kind to be
carried nor even had any liquid with us. One guy in front of me which has a
mineral water bottle in his bag was advised by the security guard that he
should throw that in the trash can as it is not allowed inside the embassy, he
did what he was told to.
Second
process was me and my batch mate came thru to this booth which we had to show
our passports along with the letter that Career gave us. The primary purpose of
the booth was more like a ticketing booth from a theme park as I could describe
it, The number I got was 3191. After the booth I proceed into an open waiting
area were there was a huge amount of
people sitting at the line of seats, and there an electronic queue signage
posting a tickets numbers of people that will be interviewed. Minutes later one
of the embassy staff aides yelled " are there any seamans around here ??
If so please fall in line in this area".Me and my batch mate hear what she
said and quickly got up from our seats and fell in line immediately, seconds
later we were escorted to the front door of the embassy building then inside we
went again to another security check and passing another metal detector. The
security guard manually checked and opened bags this time.
Afterwards
inside the building the lady guide told me to go into the line in one of the
window counters and show my passport for the encoding along with my 2x2 ID
picture. There wasn’t any problem for me on that part and was simply told by
the staff at the counter that I should wait for my number to come up again on
the electronic screen for finger print scanning. One of my batch mates had a
problem with his photo as it was not accepted by the staff at the counter, so I
had to accompany him outside at the waiting lounge area to take another 2x2 id
picture at the nearby photo id booth within the area. It took us about 15
minutes at the photos ID booth before going back again. Once inside I
accompanied my batch mate to where he left off, then I went to booth number 18
for my finger prints to be scanned. For some reason the finger scanner machine
there had difficulty scanning my finger prints and I had to press the scanner
really hard just to get it right, The staff was already getting frustrated on
my situation and said that I had to press the scanner as hard as I could. Did
finished scanning the finger prints thought it took her a while. She told me to
wait again for my number to flash again on the electronic queue for the final
interview. From what I saw on the signage at the embassy, windows counters 1 to
4 are used only to conduct final interviews to applicants
 |
| this is the letter of invitation, present this to the consul who will conduct an interview along with the passport, if successfully passed. The consul will collect this with the passport and return it via mail on the company. |
Several
minutes passed by and me and my batch mates were sitting comfortably on the
waiting chairs inside the building , suddenly my queue number flashed and that
I had to go to the window 4 to be interview by the American staff there. When I
went there the person right in front of me was turned down on his visa
application, scared the shit out of me why I saw that. From what I saw the
person is an employee of Unlad maritime shipping agency, which if I recall
correct is the shipping company owned by Captain Jaime Jimenez. When I came to
the booth, I handed out my passport to her along with the letter coming from my
career, I was very tense and was expecting that the questions would be
difficult, what I had in mind was the sort of like questions asked in a beauty
pageant contest and the consul would make a meticulous check of everything I
said, fortunately she only gave me three simple questions, about what is my job
position onboard the ship, and how long have I had been a sailor and last
question was what countries have I had been to. (To be cunning the first
country I mentioned was USA). Everything happened so fast that in less than 3
minutes the interview was all over, The consul said that I should expect my
visa to be granted within a week and expect it via mail. She directly said to
me that my visa application is approved and collected my passport. I couldn’t
contain myself on the joy in hearing that and after the interview I was
smiling. My batch mate had also the same luck as I am and we both immediately
hurried outside the vicinity and went off in separate ways , both of us were
glad that the outcome of the Visa application was very positive.
After the
first major objective was accomplish , my task for this day wasn’t over yet and
I took a detour and proceeded to Maritime Medical and Laboratory Clinic, Inc to
have another set of medical test. As usual, the staff was rude and very
unhelpful, took them at least an hour and a half before handling out my medical
records and instructing me to go to each and every medical department to sign
on my medical records. When I got my records ,I read that my medical screening
test package was "upgraded" to fit on my shipping principal
standards. From what I saw I was no longer in the Columbia Ship Management
principal and was shifted to "mutual steamship" principal ,
When I was
at the laboratory section, The med tech wasn't that gentle when it comes to
drawing blood and it was still excruciatingly painful stick the needle on my
right arm, after that I had no trouble getting the signatures from the other
departments and just simply dropped the line that my file was
"transferred" and that’s it.
THINGS TO REMEMBER IN THE EMBASSY.
First
off , I would like to tell that the US Embassy isn't that comfortable to get a
visa with. There is so much security that the word "comfort" is not
exactly written on their dictionary. You have to go to two security checks with
metal detectors and have the bags searched, the general rules here is to never
bring any kind of electronics inside the embassy. If you have a cell phone,
tablet , laptop , camera , vibrators (just joking here) or any kind of
electronics, you have to leave it behind your house. Apparently the U.S.
Embassy is suspicious on anything electronic as it may post as a triggering
device for any bombs that might explode within the premises. In addition do not
also carry any mineral water or anything liquid in nature inside the embassy as
they might mistook it as a "liquid" bomb or any poisonous chemical
agent. If the liquid is detected within the scanner, then the guard will simply
ask you to throw it away on the trash can outside the security check.
Now
this will be extremely uncomfortable if you just simply want a drink to get
yourself rehydrated from the hot weather here in the Philippines and more
problematic if you have a liquid type emergency medicines like insulin for
diabetics or the aerosol type for asthmatic people. Despite a persons plea's to
bring this around , security checks here in the embassy do not permit to bring
these and you have to leave those behind , no exemptions. Rule of the thumb here is if
your going to the embassy be sure that your fully prepared. Fortunately there is a store inside the
embassy were they sell refreshments and even souvenirs ( if you feel you're
kind of patriotic to uncle Sam), I don’t know exactly how much a simple mineral
water cost there as I didn't pay attention to it.
For
the attire, it is safe to say that you can get inside the U.S. embassy even in
smart casual clothes, but for the sake of formality and to be on the safe side
at least semi formal to formal attire clothes would be the best approach. For a
sailor , if you have a Polo shirt, denim pants and rubber shoes would be fine.
Attire isn't really an issue there, just simply answer the questions given by
the consul on the counter and a sailor would be fine.
For
the interview (I am saying this in reference to what I experience on a
"CD-1" type of U.S. Visa applications), Its not exactly more of like
a "final" job interview where you get to be put on a small office
with a person behind a big chair and you sit in the corner. The interview is
more like you stand in front of a glassed counter and talk to the consul. The
interview will just basically be very short , not even lasting for more than 3
minutes. It’s a straight forward and direct to the point questions and the
consul will directly say if you passed or not on the interview.
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| Final interviews for visa application will be conducted in this kind of setup , as what is pictured here in the circle is the area were consuls will conduct personals interviews, Do not expect interviews inside a small office room or be similar like an actual "job interview". |
