Make A Run For the Border

After spending a week at my parent's place waiting for my passport to be returned from American Immigration, and then another week sitting around waiting for my flight back to Matthew, I am finally back in the US of A. The flight home was a bumpy one, but in the end I got here in one piece. A fitting analogy to the adventure we have been through trying to accomplish something as simple as living with your spouse legally. 

Just for the record, no, I am not an American. My status is officially 'Permanent Resident', also known as 'Alien Resident' (I'm not even kidding...I even have an Alien Registration Number). This means that I have to fulfill a bunch of requirements before I'm allowed to stay. If I fulfill them within a certain period of time, then I will be granted Citizenship. I feel a lot like a home appliance from Walmart. As long as I don't break down before my warrantee is up, then they can never send me back to Customer Service.

The first week here was exciting.

Matt treated me like a sack of potatoes during the Irish Famine (ie. like GOLD).

Things haven't changed too much though, so I fell back into my normal routine of eating/sleeping/web-surfing quite naturally. There are some small adjustments that I have made to my daily schedule.

a. I'm forcing myself to wake up earlier so as not to waste the beautiful daylight hours.

b. Every day or so I go through my Pimsleur's Audio Japanese Course. Sumimasen! Eigo ga wakarimasu ka?

c. I am looking for some short term work before I leave for Japan. It's not easy. 

In the meantime, I am back volunteering at the Steeple People Supply Store, sorting, pricing and drinking lots of the free coffee. (Please people, when donating clothes to organizations, leave the dirty underwear out. If you won't wear them, no one will.) 

With summer here I'm more focused on food then ever. I've pulled out all sorts of cookbooks from the library, and I make trips to the grocery store just to drool over the produce section. Finally, local green things are pushing their way out of the ground and I don't have to solely rely on California or Florida to be the source of my salad. Matt seems unaffected by the current seasonal miracle of asparagus and artichokes. Brats and burgers was his main source of nutrition while I was away and he doesn't seem to be breaking with that trend now that I'm back. Obviously, we have a hard time grocery shopping together, but there are always occasions to celebrate. On-sale scallops made it into the cart this time, along with some olives and a juicy, juicy mango. Hmmmm. Now all I have to do is figure out how to cook scallops.

I should be off. The landlord is coming to inspect the apartment this morning. Apparently it has already been rented, so we are out of here by June 30th!!! Woot! Woot! Summer change is here.

Korean Tektoniker Dances Outside The Box

Thank You CBC Radio 2

Driving home to Peterborough from Montreal was a real pleasure.

6:30 am. Beautiful light. Time to think. And CBC Radio 2, straight from Newfoundland.

It was a great opportunity to catch up some new Canadian content that I've missed over the past few months, and other cool bits and pieces.

This is a taste of what my morning sounded like, for those of you who are interested:

Great Lake Swimmers new single:

Yael Naim

 

Glen Campbell (I had no idea this was his song)

When Things Finally Start Going Your Way

When things finally start to go my way, I always feel like I shouldn't tell anyone because I just might jinx it. 

Against all my better judgement, I will share with you my good news.

As of Monday morning I became 'Green', as in the US Immigration Services granted me my Green Card.

Two years later. 

Thank you.

I am pretty sure they can't take it away from me at this point, but no wait.

Silly me, now I remember reading the fine print. 

It said "You are still not American, so we reserve the right to do whatever the hell we like."

Right. Got it. Thank you. I won't forget this time.

Jest aside, I am very grateful for this opportunity, and even more grateful that this process is drawing to a close.

After all the hoopla and working myself up about the Embassy Interview, not to mention working up all my family and friends about the whole thing, it all felt very anti-climactic. A friend of mine actually cried real tears when she heard the results. I on the other hand felt like I just finished watching a long anticipated film that turned out to be nothing special. Sort of like the new Star Wars episodes. 

I don't feel like running through every detail of the day.

I've been living 'details' for the last 9 months and I think I am becoming either tired or bored of them. Possibly both. 

Sign this. Date that. Reread. Copy. Understand. Reformat. Send. Attach. Don't smile. And pay, pay, pay.

Here, instead, is my short version of Monday mornings US Embassy Meeting, which I think is just as good and gets the point across well enough.

1. 7:30am Embassy doors open.

2. Airport style security in the lobby of an inconspicuous building.

3. First in line.

4. Alone in the large waiting room on the top floor of inconspicuous building.

5. Feeling like all of a sudden I am in the Matrix.

6. Called to the desk.

7. Collection of documents.

8. Told to wait. 

9. While waiting, watch poor Indian man being belittled by dominatrix immigration official. 

9a. Thank God I didn't end up with Dominatrix Lady.

10. Futuristic finger print taking with futuristic fingerprint taking device.

11. Lots more waiting.

12. Raise right hand and swear to God you are not a terrorist.

13. Show us the money!

14. Tsk, tsk. Shame on you for visiting your husband too much.

15. Approved!

My tension levels were up and down throughout the whole morning. 

I walked in there believing I wouldn't be approved. 

Then I got very confident. 

Then I saw Indian Man get shut-down by Dominatrix Lady and the confidence levels became more realistic (ie. lower).

Finally, when I was being interviewed any self-assurance I had left hit the floor. Seconds later I was approved.

What a mind-job. 

Thankfully the staff at the embassy were professional and kind (at least the people I dealt with were). 

It was nothing like dealing with customs officials at the border.

Now I have a little bit of waiting to do before I fly home to my nutrient starved husband.

Apparently he is on a high-gluten diet.

Pizza and beer. 

I'm almost positive that there hasn't been anything green in the house for weeks. 

Just wait t'ill I get home to him. Not only will I have a 'Green' Card, but fresh veggies will once again prevail!

And also, I can finally get cracking on that intestinal cleanse i've always wanted to do.

I bet he just can't wait.

Going Green

Tomorrow is the moment of truth.

Tomorrow I go where no sane person has gone before.

Tomorrow I venture into the dark side.

Tomorrow is my Green Card interview.

Send a prayer up for me!

M.

If only I was a war-bride or a mennonite, life could be this easy.

The Clean Bin Project

I'm looking forward to this documentary when it comes out: