before leaving texas, i took my certification exam at the very last possible minute after planning a weeklong VBS in a matter of two months with approximately 200 kids. thankfully (all glory to the Lord), i passed the test. now the state of Texas requires a record of the applicant's fingerprints when obtaining certification. background checks and stuff. so, i choose the ink and roll method since i'm now in taiwan and unable to do it electronically in Texas. I receive the fingerprinting cards, and was instructed that a police station would be able to do this for me. well, they were wrong because once i went into the police station and asked for my fingerprints to be taken, they were very confused and told me to do them myself. however, the back of the card said that black ink had to be used, so i left the station thinking "okay i'll just buy black ink and do them myself." so, i did and mailed them in. about a month later, i received it back with the portions "signature of person fingerprinted" and "signature of official taking fingerprints" highlighted... i neglected to read the part that said that my fingerprints had to be done by someone who knew what s/he was doing. my fault. thinking back, i have no clue why i even thought taking them to the local police would be a good idea...... so, i email someone requesting new fingerprinting cards. a month and a half went by...no fingerprinting cards. so, i emailed someone else, and received them within 2 weeks. but by then, it was christmas time, and it was hard to find the time to get my fingerprints done at the AIT. so, today i had planned on getting my fingerprints done for a criminal background check to obtain my certification. so, i made my way to the "American Institute in Taiwan" (AIT, for short. kind of like an embassy but not since nixon decided to side with china instead of taiwan). It's a good 30-40 minute walk from school. I finally get there...only to realize i needed an appointment to go in. For some reason, since what i needed was just fingerprints, i had no idea i had to make an appointment. i realized that i may have to get this fingerprinting card notarized....after much research i find that nowhere does SBEC (state board of educator certification) say that the card needs to be notarized, and AIT charges $30USD for one notarization and $20USD for any additional ones. this means i might have to shell out $50 USD for a notarization of two cards...but if they don't need to be notarized...i don't know who to make an appt with. i'm so confused...so i emailed who i need to email....which gives me the feeling that i'm going to have to wait for another eternity before i can get my fingerprints taken... | 
