This past Tuesday our landlord came through with our contract and we were finally ready to start turning documents into the immigration office. We got our passport-style pictures taken the day before and purchased the specific folders for our documents as we were instructed, and made copies of everything for our records. We were ready.
There are two men who work at the immigration office. The light-haired one is mildly helpful. The dark-haired one claims he’s the one who actually processes our paperwork, and thus usually gives us more specific information. On most accounts, they tend to give us different information and requirements depending on the day. We prefer to talk to the dark-haired one since we feel he might know more what he’s talking about.
On Tuesday, we got the dark-haired guy. I handed him my documents and he started to go through them. I can’t remember if we posted about the previous encounter at the immigration office, but they required an additional piece of paper stating exactly what our volunteering consisted of at the bear sanctuary. We went back to the bear sanctuary office and got this piece of paper and had it signed and stamped. Unfortunately, there was a line on this piece of paper stating that one of our qualifications must be that we had some kind of specific degree or certificate. The dark-haired guy spotted this line and told us that unless we actually had this degree, this was not valid. I asked him if we had to show him a piece of paper with a stamp on it to prove we had the degree, and he said yes. He then proceeded to tell us that another one of our documents was wrong and we also had to make a copy of a different page in our passport. I said, “Ok, we’ll go get this done and hopefully be back in an hour or so.” He replied, “Oh, I don’t think you’ll be back in an hour. But you can try.”
I pretty much wanted to cry right there. We were already one week overdue (which would have been ok, if all our documents had been straight), we already paid our money, our landlord went through the trouble of getting a lawyer to draw up a contract, and now we had to get three MORE things done – two of which required someone else’s involvement.
So I called the bear sanctuary and explained that we needed the wording changed on one document and we needed two copies, plus the original of their “business registration certificate” (for lack of a better term). Since we knew they wouldn’t be too keen on letting us take the original certificate, we offered to pay for a taxi for someone from the bear sanctuary to come to the immigration office and show it to them (that’s all they needed anyhow). Yes, they were willing to do this, however, they were bogged down with work on Tuesday, so it would have to be Wednesday. Fine, no problem. One more day wouldn’t hurt.
Wednesday morning I get a call from my contact at the bear sanctuary. She had spoken with the director of the organization and they decided that they would not provide us with the business registration certificate. Apparently, by providing the immigration office with this certificate, it made them more responsible (or something) for us and they were not willing to do this.
And this, my friends, is how one little piece of paper is the downfall of our visa hopes this time around.
Plan B. This week we’ll pack our stuff up and head out to Moldova for two and a half months. By the end of July, we’ll be able to return to Romania and have another 90 days to figure something out. We’ll be more prepared this time for what’s necessary. We’ll work diligently from Moldova to apply for jobs (any job) in Romania (preferably in Brasov, but perhaps elsewhere) so maybe we could even come back earlier. Regardless, we’ll be back in Brasov for the party (exact dates still pending) and hopefully have something more stable by that point!
If any of you are familiar with the “Rocky” series than you know what happens during Rocky III. Rocky, for those of you who don’t know, fights Mr. T who is incredibly intimidating. Mr. T insults Rocky and he knocks guys out silly in the prelude to his fight with Rocky. Rocky is incredibly confident. He is the champ. Nobody can beat him. He has the best trainers, best diet and best place to train in the world. But he loses in his first fight with Mr. T.
This is kind of like our situation right now. This is the third time we have faced off with the dreaded Romanian bureaucratic process (hence my Rocky III reference). We come from the best country in the world, bar none (no offense to my Romanian and Moldovan readers). We had all the confidence that things would go our way. But things didn’t.
Rocky lacked heart before his fight with Mr. T. Mickey died in Rocky III. But I know that you guys know what happens in the end. But for those who don’t know I will tell you.
*WARNING* Spoiler alert from 1982.
After months of training, a questionable relationship with Apollo Creed (hey, it was 1982) and a much-needed pep-talk from his wife, Rocky came back and crushed Mr. T like there was no tomorrow. It wasn’t easy but he put his mind to it. Rocky was getting ready to retire but he decided that he couldn’t go out like a punk losing to Mr. T. He couldn’t let Mickey die and him not be on top. He couldn’t let his wife down. This is our situation.
I probably don’t have to remind you my dear reader(s) what Rocky did in Rocky IV. That’s right. He conquered Russia. Ok so now I’m mixing the two timelines up a bit but I have to do this in order to provide you with an awesome story.
And what an awesome story this is. Who does this stuff anyway? Not only did we get severely beat down by the commies (again, no offense my dear Romanians but you have to update your system) but we are going to come back for more. We ain’t no punks. Foo.
Since my story equates our situation to Rocky it is only appropriate to illustrate it with Rambo pictures. We weren’t allowed to bring our cameras to the festivities at the police station so we will have to use these pictures that we found online because it looked almost exactly like
this. I assure you that this is pretty 
much an exact replica.
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