Passport Replacement and the Omnipresent Language Barrier
I lost my passport in Seoul last week. By this I mean, of course, that I was stupid enough to be carrying it around with me and probably deserved to have it stolen. I don’t know what I was thinking.
Of course I didn’t notice until I was back in Cheongju and of course you have to apply for replacements in person at the embassy in Seoul. Of course I showed up at the embassy on a Wednesday, the only day of the week the embassy is closed.
Following that, though, the entire experience was pretty painless. The embassy was really efficient (I walked in without an appointment at 9:30AM, had to leave to go get passport application photos taken and was still out the door with all papers signed by 11:30AM) and the clerks were friendlier than I’ve ever encountered in a government office of any kind.
The police station (police report required before any passport can be replaced) was a slightly different story. The clerks were friendly enough, but I had a terrible time trying to get them to understand what I was trying to do. Not that they’re expected to speak English, of course, but we had more trouble with the words ‘lost’ and ‘passport’ than I expected we would at a police station near the largest tourist market in the city.
Things could be worse. At least my wallet and phone were in a different part of my bag.
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