Wednesday, July 04, 2007

If at First You Don't Succeed.....aka No Joy in Mudville Part Deux

Steeeeee-rike two!

I didn't get the scholarship. Again. Despite having the highest grade in the school (no applause, just throw money), they didn't give it to me. Why? Because out of 110 hours of instruction (one semester, 11 weeks), I missed 8 hours (4 days of classes). Two hours was because I had a recording job that day and earned $1,800NT, nothing to sneeze at, but I could have not gone. Two hours was because I was home puking my guts out after eating something bad, and there was no way I could get to school. Two hours was because the fucking unhelpful girls at the front desk couldn't be arsed to tell me in advance that I'd need two weeks to apply for the ARC, causing me to make a frantic run to the Banqiao immigration office in the morning for a short extension and then on a futile trip to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (you'll recall I didn't get the ARC), leaving me no time to make it to my 1:00 p.m. class, which wasn't even a real class, as the teacher had taken everyone to a teahouse that day. Two hours was because I had to friggin' leave the country because I didn't get the friggin' ARC and there weren't any cheap flights on the weekend or even later in the evening, so I had to vacate on a Friday afternoon, again missing a class.

The Powers That Be at the school only allow you to miss 6 whole hours if you want a scholarship, so I was over by 2 hours. The rules the government sets down for student visa requirements allow one to miss 10 hours (5 days of class) per month, and you'd think they'd be the stricter ones. Deng Laoshi told me that although they really, really, really wanted to give me the scholarship, they thought the other students would complain. How the hell the other students would even know how much time I missed was a question she couldn't answer.

Pissed? Yes. Disappointed? Yes. Giving up? No. But I swear, if they blow me off one more time, there's an explosion gonna be happening.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

That bites! Sorry, Marla. I know your pain.

Ranger Steve said...

Ugh! I'm surprised that they couldn't cut you some slack based on the reasons for missing time. It's not like you even blew off a whole day at one time!

aetherwellen said...

That is the lamest excuse for not giving you a scholarship! >:(