renewal run - the conclusion

 

Another three months had passed after 3/4 of us gotten our passport. Yun’s passport was sent back again and pending correction.

It was a long wait but no rush as we are not going anywhere and no pressure for alien resident certificate renewal.

At the beginning of fourth month, I had called up the representative office and asked around the passport matter. I got an negative feedback and retreated to the waiting posture.

However 2 weeks later, I got a call from the office and adviced me about the collection procedure again. The SOP applied; IC, receipt and collection need to be done personally.

I made a short discussion with Yun and planned the collection trip.

Yun would come back for a short break for a few days and both Ving and me would accompanied her for the collection.

The plan was disrupted as dragon cat got ill again and Yun had to take her for consultation and only Yun and I proceeded with the trip.

The journey on the HSR was uneventful and we reached the office by 10:30am. Out of my surprise, Yun got a brand new passport instead of old one with a correction of data on the catatan page.

We headed to NTU and had a great lunch at the Mr Chee Kopitiam which sold genuine Malaysian food.

Chee was one of my high school junior who had opened up a Malaysian restaurant near NTU. It tasted just like what we had in Malaysia with 3 times the price tag….Well, cheaper than buying a flight ticket of course.

The return trip was uneventful and Yun had gotten off the train halfway returning to her hostel. I reached home in one piece and life goes on….

I am real happy everything went out smoothly minus dragoncat who got admitted and stayed in the vet hospital for 5 days.

The renewal was costly as the to and fro HSR ticket cost NT3000+, the renewal fee NT2000 (1500 if you do it in Malaysia)….but the experience and lesson for Yun and Xian was priceless…..

Home going...the beginning....

The recovery was eventful as I had noted with cough and shortness of breath affecting my daily life. However, I had to coup with the roster and life goes on.

Many of my colleagues had later joined the three months no test lineage since my recovery. We were short in man power and work load had increased markedly. The only thing that could let me raise my mouth angle was the figure in the bank account. Not only the extra shifts that increase the load but also incentive distributed by the ministry for Covid.

Lots of countries hit badly by Covid had loosened their grip; even the homeland had leavened the quarantine requirement. It was almost time to go back as many of the fellow Malaysian had started their journey home but yet, I need to wait until the 0 quarantine rules applied before I can make any move.

Our shifts had markedly increased since my recovery. We were doing 15+4 as we were one man short. I had another 2 ward duty and 1-2 government clinic sessions. My monthly off was shortened to 7-8 per month. I had planned for a trip back home in November as I speculated the loosened of restriction in early November or late October would be materialized based on the news release by the command center.

My speculation was correct and in late September, the 0+7 rules was implemented; and the painful trip planning had started…..