Francophones of the World, Unite!

Once again, our courageous Belgian comrade Ellie flew across the Taiwan Strait to renew her visa in Hong Kong. This time, instead of hooking up with friendly South Africans, she acted as an interpreter for a Guinean and 13 Algerians (all men). Alas for poor Ellie, the consulate denied her visa without comment. They also denied visas to the 13 Algerians. They told them to try again another day. But Ellie was in no mood for this, what with having to teach the next day. She refused to leave the consulate until they at least told her why her visa was denied. Then she and the Algerians (who were now sticking together) sat down on floor. That's right, they dusted off that old gem, the sit-in. Then the security guards came. And still they sat. Then the cleaners came and started buffing the floors around them. Finally, the consulate caved and agreed to allow them to appeal the denials via interviews. Ellie was told why her visa was denied (why would any one need six months to explore Taiwan?) and wove a very plausible story explaining it. She went off on her interviewer about the level and type of documentation needed as well. (Ellie's exceeded the requirements and when the interviewer said it was more than necessary, Ellie bluntly stated that must mean she met the required level.) In the end, Ellie got her 60-day visa (which she will overstay by 5 days), but her "boys"--as she referred to them--only got 14-day visas. All of this took place after the consulate closed, so by the end of things, Ellie and the Algerians had 90 minutes to make it to the airport and board the plane. They did make it though.

You'd think that would be enough, but no, Ellie missed her bus to the HSR train station by 10 minutes. It was the last one. Now, Ellie is not familiar at all with Taipei and speaks virtually no Chinese. Nevertheless, she is resourceful and opted to go out to the taxi area and just yell out the name of our city until she found a taker. It only cost her US$27, which is an amazing deal for 3 hr. cab ride. She snuck into the apartment so quietly that I was still awake at 5:00 am thinking she hadn't made it home. Little did I know how close it had come to that.