Kiddies wanted to watch a movie in the theater last night. Sure, no problem. Short discussion over what to watch. Girls wanted "West Side Story," little buddy wanted pretty much anything else. But Kate wasn't sure about West Side Story. Couldn't remember what it was about. She asked "Is that the movie about when black people were given the right to dance?"
Had to crack up over that one.
. . .
Then today, I'm driving Donna to work. She's not speaking, as usual. I ask her why so quiet? Said she was thinking about a couple things ahead at work and also "AND I'M DOING ALL THIS!"
I asked that by "doing all this" did she mean sitting in the passenger seat, looking out the window, being driven to work? Even she had to laugh when she thought about that.
ESK
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
A first in history!
So we left for the French Embassy (yes, you apply IN PERSON for a French visa) at 3:15 a.m., and arrived in front of the building at 7:30... plenty way ahead of time for our appointment at 9:00. Great parking spot, right outside the gate. I took a little nap in the seat. Donna, having slept the ENTIRE way there, read a novel.
At about 8:35 we walked over to the gate itself, arriving about 2 minutes later... call it 8:37.
"We're here for our appointment at 9 o'clock," we say.
"No. No one is permitted past until eight forty five," says the woman at the gate.
There's nowhere to sit, and we're clearly not welcome to loiter at the gate. A car with diplomat plates drives through. We've got a few minutes to kill. We return to the truck.
I mention to Donna on the way that we've just made history!
Huh?
Yes, this is the FIRST TIME in history that France has ever successfully repelled an invading force! Woo Hoo!
Of course, 7 minutes later we waltz right in.
Now THAT's more like it!
As it turns out, her 15 minute appointment, from 9 to 9:15, was done right on the button. They have 15 min. time slots for the visa appointments. You show up, they call your name, you walk up to the window, hand in some basic papers. They then call you again a few minutes later, you hand them the rest of the papers (including the form saying that they require a vaccination that is not available in the U.S.), and you're out the door in 15 minutes.
Heaven help you if you don't have ALL of the required paperwork, notarized signatures, photos.
Heaven help you if you miss your time slot by even one minute.
Heaven help you if you don't have the funds (charged whether visa is approved or not) with you.
Go back home, reschedule the appointment on the web (it'll be in a few weeks) and try again.
Fortunately, I think everything was in order, and we're expecting her visa in another week or so. No one has called yet to complain about anything, so we're hoping/expecting success. Sadly, up until June 1, 2009 they did issue visas on the spot... now it takes a week. Whatever...
Of course, I also mentioned to Donna that the French Embassy has two stamps for the visa approval department. One is heavy, about 8 inches in diameter, has a giant red ink pad that is kept full, and says the word NON!!. They love using the big red stamp.
The other stamp, about 1 inch in diameter, uses a little green ink pad that always dries out, and says the word Oui.
So we're not out of the woods yet...
. . .
So now it's 9:15 and we've got a few hours to kill. My bro would've been proud. Wanted to do the Washington Monument, but they meter out the tour tickets, and we were too late, even at 9:45 when we got there, for any tour earlier than 8 p.m. Bummer. But we did the National Aquarium, the Smithsonian Natural History museum, and Air & Space. Natural history was AWESOME... I called home while standing under T-Rex, we checked out the Hope Diamond, and we saw another exhibit "Written in Bone... Forensic Files of the 17th Century Chesapeake" that was absolutely FASCINATING! We wandered into the exhibit and there's a guy with a crowd around him... very interesting guy and clearly knows his stuff. Turns out he's the curator of the exhibit, and the group around him is a bunch of social studies teachers from San Antonio, there on a teacher learning trip. They didn't mind if we hung out & listened, and listen we did. Except for the invasion of France, this http://anthropology.si.edu/writteninbone/ was the highlight of the trip.
. . .
We had to leave around 1 p.m. since I had to be back for a concert.
Yes, my bro would've been proud of that trip. One day, one embassy, three museums, ~9 hrs. of driving, and a concert. THAT's good efficiency!
ESK
At about 8:35 we walked over to the gate itself, arriving about 2 minutes later... call it 8:37.
"We're here for our appointment at 9 o'clock," we say.
"No. No one is permitted past until eight forty five," says the woman at the gate.
There's nowhere to sit, and we're clearly not welcome to loiter at the gate. A car with diplomat plates drives through. We've got a few minutes to kill. We return to the truck.
I mention to Donna on the way that we've just made history!
Huh?
Yes, this is the FIRST TIME in history that France has ever successfully repelled an invading force! Woo Hoo!
Of course, 7 minutes later we waltz right in.
Now THAT's more like it!
As it turns out, her 15 minute appointment, from 9 to 9:15, was done right on the button. They have 15 min. time slots for the visa appointments. You show up, they call your name, you walk up to the window, hand in some basic papers. They then call you again a few minutes later, you hand them the rest of the papers (including the form saying that they require a vaccination that is not available in the U.S.), and you're out the door in 15 minutes.
Heaven help you if you don't have ALL of the required paperwork, notarized signatures, photos.
Heaven help you if you miss your time slot by even one minute.
Heaven help you if you don't have the funds (charged whether visa is approved or not) with you.
Go back home, reschedule the appointment on the web (it'll be in a few weeks) and try again.
Fortunately, I think everything was in order, and we're expecting her visa in another week or so. No one has called yet to complain about anything, so we're hoping/expecting success. Sadly, up until June 1, 2009 they did issue visas on the spot... now it takes a week. Whatever...
Of course, I also mentioned to Donna that the French Embassy has two stamps for the visa approval department. One is heavy, about 8 inches in diameter, has a giant red ink pad that is kept full, and says the word NON!!. They love using the big red stamp.
The other stamp, about 1 inch in diameter, uses a little green ink pad that always dries out, and says the word Oui.
So we're not out of the woods yet...
. . .
So now it's 9:15 and we've got a few hours to kill. My bro would've been proud. Wanted to do the Washington Monument, but they meter out the tour tickets, and we were too late, even at 9:45 when we got there, for any tour earlier than 8 p.m. Bummer. But we did the National Aquarium, the Smithsonian Natural History museum, and Air & Space. Natural history was AWESOME... I called home while standing under T-Rex, we checked out the Hope Diamond, and we saw another exhibit "Written in Bone... Forensic Files of the 17th Century Chesapeake" that was absolutely FASCINATING! We wandered into the exhibit and there's a guy with a crowd around him... very interesting guy and clearly knows his stuff. Turns out he's the curator of the exhibit, and the group around him is a bunch of social studies teachers from San Antonio, there on a teacher learning trip. They didn't mind if we hung out & listened, and listen we did. Except for the invasion of France, this http://anthropology.si.edu/writteninbone/ was the highlight of the trip.
. . .
We had to leave around 1 p.m. since I had to be back for a concert.
Yes, my bro would've been proud of that trip. One day, one embassy, three museums, ~9 hrs. of driving, and a concert. THAT's good efficiency!
ESK
Monday, June 22, 2009
Getting ready for France
It's... almost... time. Our daughter Donna is getting ready to hit the trail for France, as part of the Rotary Youth Exchange. She's spending her senior hear of high school there, and we've spent a lot of time the last few days getting everything together. There are papers from France, papers in French, papers that she needs to fill out in both French & English. A trip to Triple-A for more passport photos for the visa, notarized this and notarized that. Purchase a plane ticket. Fund her debit card. Many copies of everything, and it all must be perfect.
Tomorrow we drive to Washington, DC to apply for the student visa. Yes, this is done in person, and yes, if you live where we do, you drive to DC and show up at the French Embassy. The good news is that they say that if everything is in order, they'll issue a visa on the spot. That would be way cool indeed...
Tomorrow we drive to Washington, DC to apply for the student visa. Yes, this is done in person, and yes, if you live where we do, you drive to DC and show up at the French Embassy. The good news is that they say that if everything is in order, they'll issue a visa on the spot. That would be way cool indeed...
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- Ed Kmetz
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