Residence Visas

I almost forgot!  I went to get my residence visa this afternoon.  Without it, the kids and I would have to leave the country every 2 months.  According to Sammy they interview you a bit.  He they might ask, "Why are you here?" and I jokingly (ahem) would say, "Because my husband made me".  He joked that that was probably the first answer listed on their sheet for them to checkmark.  Well, they never interviewed me or asked a single question. I think it's because the women had to process FIVE people's residence visas (me + kids).  Literally it was like a book of paperwork - passports, birth certs, forms, photos, marriage license, etc for each person!  When the women finished processing it (probably only 15-20 minutes), she got up from her chair, shook her hands like they hurt or were cramped, and walked away like she was exhausted.  Pul-eeez!  She must do this every day and while maybe not 5 at a time, I would think the amount she does each day, WAY supercedes what she had to do in 15 minutes.  Geez.

Oh, speaking of the visas . .  you have to provide a photo (headshot) of each person.  So we got pics taken here at some Ritz Camera type place.  It's quite amusing . . . the employees know Photoshop like nobody's business.  Sammy took the kids there while I grocery shopped (what's new?!) and it was a particularly hot, humid evening.  It was the end of the day and we decided spur-of-the-moment to do it - thus Ella's hair was in a pony tail but had huge strands of hair flying EVERYWHERE and Eva was soooo drooly that her shirt was sopping wet (NO LIE) - I'm mean literally, looks like we dunked her in a pool.  So I worried these pics would be horrendous but didn't care a whole lot (not like it was a family portrait but if it was, it would've been true to form!).  But in 30 minutes, we had pictures that showed a beautifully pulled back pony tail with not one strand of hair out of place - it was smooth like hairspray had laid it down!  And Eva - her hair was perfectly flattened, eyes right at the camera (although I kinda wonder how true that was), and her shirt showed no sign of liquid-drool on it.  A-mazing!  (Mine still looked like I came from the gym ... maybe the girls' pic took too long and she couldn't do mine???) ;*)