The relaxed, easy-going, deadline ignoring lifestyle of Indonesia has sucked me into her lazy clutches. When I first got here, I was staying at the office later than anyone else, except the office boy who had to wait for me to leave so he could lock up, and I spent each day laying out my plans for the three months.
Now I sit and chat with everyone for a fair part of the day, I leave the office at 4pm instead of after five and I have totally lost track of the date. Which may sound nice, but when you forget to check the expiry date of your visa it can turn into a problem.
Like an amateur traveler, I misunderstood my visa to mean I was allowed to stay until July 27, but that date was the last for using the visa. It turned out the 60 days I was allowed to stay expired on July 6, but I didn’t find this out until I was at the Immigration office asking for an extension. They pointed ou that I had overstayed my visa and was in violation of "Article-something-point-whatever" of the criminal Code. What came next was very frustrating and annoying.
Pagitta and I spent all day Friday at the Immigration office filling out various forms and getting endless photocopies made. The Immigration office doesn’t do any copying for you, instead they send you next door to a photocopy shop that I’m assuming gives a healthy kickback to the Immigration office for all the business that is sent their way.
The worst part for me was trying to explain to them how I misread the visa, which they just couldn’t understand. They even mentioned that I could have been arrested, which I took as a threat, but I think they were just trying to explain to me how important it was to check your visa. A couple of times I almost lost my temper, but I knew that wouldn’t help anything.
When they finally finished typing up their report, they asked if I wanted to make any comment to go on the report. I told Pagitta I wanted to say, “This sucks,” but she realized I was joking. I caught the Indonesian word for sorry in what the Immigration official said to Pagitta next and realized they wanted me to apologize. So after my official apology was reported we were allowed to go and then come back on Monday to pay the fine and get my visa extended.
The fine was in American dollars, but they still accepted the equivalent amount in rupiahs. I don’t want to say how much it was because I’m still pissed about it and I’m trying to forget the whole thing. Melanie suggested I bribe someone, but I’ve never been good at that sort of stuff and I don’t want to encourage corruption because it really screws over poor people who can’t afford to bribe officials once it becomes the norm.
Today is Tuesday and I finally got my passport back with my extended visa, which is only for one month. And once you factor in my overstay it’s really only three weeks more and of course I am staying longer than that. So in two weeks I get to go back and apply for another extension.
(Insert sarcastic comment here)
