The Journeying Engineer

It’s been a week since I returned to the Philippines to stay indefinitely, probably for good. For the first 3 days, I got to have an unplanned out of town trip to Subic – awesome! I missed such trips, even though my last travels happened only 2 months ago.

Then the time to accomplish pre-employment requirements came. And so a series of unfortunate events happened.

Tuesday, when I set out to check if I can get an NBI clearance in the nearby mall, I did something stupid. As I was maneuvering my car out of our garage (on a slope), I accidentally bumped my older brother’s car. It damaged both our cars. Stupid – that’s how I felt the whole evening. Just when I was trying to spend less while having a break in between jobs, my absence of mind caused me to spend more. That was my wake up call, I guess I hadn’t been thinking straight since my arrival date. Anyway, I just scheduled for my NBI clearance online, Friday at Quezon City Hall.

Wednesday, I went out to have my medical examination. It went smoothly, so yes, 1 item checked! In the afternoon, I went to SM City Fairview to apply for my professional license renewal. I was glad that the Professional Regulations Commission expanded their reach, even partnering with the popular SM Malls. I waited for 3 hours, it was fine. I knew I will have to wait long as usual, in the Philippines.  Then the 2nd unfortunate event happened. The system went offline. I was quite close, but no, I had to return the next day.

(Let me just say that I was kind of experiencing reverse culture shock. I was used to the fast pace of almost anything in Seoul.)

Thursday, I went to the mall early, in the hopes of finishing the renewal process. After 1 hour of waiting, it was my turn. But no, they could not log on to the system of PRC. Wtf, unfortunate event number 3! So, after expressing a bit of disappointment, I decided to just head straight to the main office. The line was long, no surprise there, but at least I got to finish the process. Whew, thankful!

Friday, I went to the Quezon City Hall for the scheduled processing and hopefully, same-day release of my NBI clearance. Two hours in the line, I was fine. There were a lot of people on queue, but there was movement. Then the fourth unfortunate event happened! Guess the f***ing what? The system went down! So, I waited, and waited, hoping the system will get back online. They already announced that it was uncertain, but I sat, feeling hopeful. My turn was quite close man!

You know what, I wrote this post while waiting and hoping at the Quezon City Hall. At the time I wrote this last paragraph, more than 6 hours had passed. Would I need to go back on the next working day? Please, no!