after orientation today, we were told that we have to go down to 8th ave, 48th street to apply for the social security card. so we went. we met a new singaporean from lasalle who will be going boston also during orientation. a new friend found. so four of us made our way to the social security centre HAPPILY. then. until the woman told me she cant make an application for me. JUST BECAUSE. my visa reads my name as tan joanne chay en while my I-94 form reads it as tan chay en joanne. just because of that i cant apply for social security. just because of that i have a almost 40% chance of losing my job and being sent back to singapore. so i asked them what i should do. and they told me to go back to the airport and ask the customs to change my name for me. and the airport is wad. 3 hours away? and these people end work at 4pm. it was already 1.30pm minimum. i asked for an alternative and they told me to go to 1 penn plaza at 8th ave 34th street.

so me and wanling abandoned daphne and min tuan and RAN to 1 penn plaza. according to wan, we did a daring thing in new york. run. because nobody runs along the streets.

at 1 penn plaza i was told that im at the wrong place. so i told them my stupid situation and told them to help. the guard gave me customs number and told me to call. which i did. only to be told that customs cannot change my I-98 form until 6weeks later because its not confirmed. which also means i cant apply for social security until 10 weeks later which also means i cant start work until 10 weeks later. ironically. im SUPPOSED TO END WORK 10 WEEKS LATER. thanks.

so i cried outside the building for a few seconds. amazingly, that was all. maybe because wanling was encouraging me not to be dismayed about the whole shitty situation i was put in just because of a stupid order of my stupid name. i realise i can only depend on myself here and no matter how much i cried. nobody was going to help me.

so i called interexchange and asked for urgent help. they told me to go airport customs early tomorrow to get another form and apply once i reach myrtle beach. problem is. i arrived at JFK. im going LGA tml. different airports. how am i supposed to do that?! now i can only depend on him. hopefully, i will be able to change the name tml. and hopefully the centre in mrytle beach is near my workplace because i seriously dont want to waste extra travelling money. i cant imagine taking another flight just because of a stupid inflexible system this stupid country has. IT'S JUST AN ORDER.

mum, i used my phone to make calls today. until i managed to find a place to call for free. so sorry if the bill shoots. im very sad myself. =(

anw me and wanling went to buy a phone card and we realised we may have bought the wrong one. dieee but at least, i now have a card to call home if necessary. =)

i just wish everything will be fine tml and it will go as planned. please let me face a kind customs officer who will be willing to go the extra mile to change for me. ARGH.

anyways, had subway today. lisan! the subway here is cheap! and nicer too (: decided to have that because we had to rush back to the hotel to use the internet to resolve my above complication. =S

then, after much worrying, we realised we cant do anything about it at all today. so. we decided to visit TOY'R'US! the biggest in the world according to sth wanling read.

what can be cuter than my ever buddy spongebob! i thought of jiemei once i saw this. my khaki for spongebob craze. HEE. just look at patrick's pinkish body. it makes me laugh (:

this is for ced. enlarge the picture if u cant see! i took much time to find.. haha (: i couldnt find joanne though. which is weird since joanne is such a common name. and which is good because i kind of hate my name now after wad happened at the social security centre.


well, i hear very often about how i look like a monkey or a horse. so here's to show/prove the resemblence/non resemblence. hee. but stuffed animals are cute!

there's a giant ferris wheel, barbie's dollhouse, elmo, candy shoppes, jurassic park, lego statute of liberty, M&Ms, superman, spiderman and many others i have decided will take too much time to upload pictures (: neat. didnt do much travelling today thou, because of my stupid social security case. which reminds me. please, let everything be fine tml! =S

the view from my hotel window. pretty right. (: ohyah. today me and wanling walked down to ninth ave. one ave down from my hotel. woah. its so different here. somehow, it feels more unsafe, more scary and the greater need to take exra care of belongings. =S and its only one ave difference. on ninth ave the shops were run down and the place was more dirty. hmm.

xoxo,

joanne*