VERDICT OF CHOICES

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.

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.

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".