Names

Last Tuesday, I went to the RTA (Road & Traffic Authority), which is similar to JPJ in Malaysia to sit for my driver's knowledge test (yes... I had to go through all the process again just to get the NSW driving licence) Anyway, I was unable to sit for the test that day. I was told that the my family name and given name was mixed up in my visa, hence they cannot allow me to proceed until I get my visa ammended.

Usually I would be so pissed off when things like this happen. But on that day, I was actually pretty cool about it. I couldn't stop laughing because I felt it was so funny - because things like this always happen to me. I have had so many experiences like this when I was doing my masters degree. All my fellow friends did their masters in the same uni and had no problem. But I ended up with hips of problems, one after another. I guess I am now immune to things not going smoothly for me... ha ha ha...

I still find it funny when I was walking towards the car park. So when I walked pass a news agent, I thought I'd buy myself a lottery ticket since I was so "lucky". The lottery ticket is still with me now, has not been drawn yet, so I'm keeping my finger crossed. Who knows... :p

Well...the story continues on Thursday. I went to the Immigration Office to get my visa ammended. When I first told the guy behind the desk (a cute one actually :p) about the problem, he said there's nothing he can do about it. He showed me the database on his computer. Apparently whoever that processed my visa was not sure which is my family name (you see, most chinese have their family name BEFORE their given name, but in our family, we are like the westerners, we have our family name AFTER our given name).

Due to that, they have keyed in my full name under "FAMILY NAME" and left "GIVEN NAME" blank. OMG... don't they read my application forms ?? It was cleary written in my application forms. Anyway, while looking at the database, I saw my previous record in there (the previous record is of a working visa I applied before applying for a PR visa), so I told the cute guy that the data in my previous record is correct and asked if he can do something about it. So he tried some trick and managed to reprint the visa with my name in the correct order (family name first then followed by given name).

phew... that's a relief... :>