ANOTHER PIECE OF THE CHINESE PUZZLE
Sitting at my desk late on a Thursday afternoon wondering if I was going to be physically able to fly to Bogotá the next day because of a terrible cold - the phone rings. It was a call to see if I could judge the following week in Beijing.
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his did not shock me since this happens with assignments in China. The following morning I got another call to see if I could judge for another organization the following weekend to judge in another city. This all seems hard to believe if one is not accustomed to judging in China. My initial reaction was that there was no way I could go or had the desire to go at this late date. When I started to think about it I thought let me see if I can work it out. Betsy Dale was going to be the other judge and I always enjoy spending time with Betsy. My other reason for trying to go was the organizer, Andy Wong, is a good friend to me. Grabbing my passport, I saw my visa for China would expire two days before my departure. Since I was leaving in the morning for Bogotá I would not be able to mail it to the company I use for getting visas until Tuesday and would need it back by Thursday. After calling, “Passports To Go”, they assured me that they could do it that quickly for an extra fee. I also was concerned about the cost of a last minute ticket and if there would be any available seats on the Friday flight. Betsy told me that for cost reasons and not to have to fly in a middle seat she was going to have to have a connecting flight. Stacy Davis of Jack’s Travel checked and the price was not much higher than usual and she could get me an aisle seat. With these two favorable factors I decided I would go. Friday morning I booked the ticket but while in Bogotá I became apprehensive about getting my visa on such short notice. I decided to bite the bullet and go to New York City
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“Grabbing my passport, I saw my visa for China would expire two days before my departure. “
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BY DESMOND MURPHY 62 Dog News