Paperwork for Permanent Residency Almost Done!

Yesterday was Ivan's birthday! He had the choice to do what he wanted, and you know what he chose? To trek back into Cordoba AGAIN and see if we couldn't get the paperwork filed for my permanent residency :)  Since we'd gotten the police report showing I wasn't a criminal, we were pretty sure we had everything we needed, document-wise.

What was slowing us down was an appointment to actually file the paperwork. Ivan's friend in Bs. As. had done what he could, but the earliest he could get an appointment for us was July! He did, however, suggest we stop in at the immigration office sometime before that, and see if we did indeed have everything we needed, so things would go smoothly when the appointment rolled around.

It's a long-ish story (the only kind I know how to tell)...

When we arrived at the immigrations office yesterday, there was hardly anyone waiting (miracle #1). Ivan was able to go right up to the desk and talk to someone about our situation. At first it didn't seem like he was getting anywhere, but then he remembered to "say the magic words" (told to us by one of the people who had helped us at the Ministry of Justice). What were the magic words, you wonder? Simply a name! And it turned out the name was that of the head honcho. It truly was like magic, how speaking his name suddenly changed the demeanor of the guy at the front desk, who jumped up and said he'd be right back. A minute later he was ushering us back into the inner sanctum, all the way to the big guy's office.

We've run into so many "public servants" whose idea of helping is to bully, harangue and see how obnoxious they can be, that we were more than pleasantly surprised to find out the head man at the immigration office in Cordoba is a genuinely nice man! (miracle #2)

He looked over our paperwork and called his assistant, and together they said the only things lacking were: a photo, a copy of my passport (all pages), and a translation of the FBI report.

Oh, and miracle #3 involved that report. We'd had the reports done at the end of 2010, when we'd hoped to get this done, only to be told that wasn't possible. Then this past summer the lady at the consulate in Chicago indicated the initial report was too old, and we'd need to get a new one. Which we did. Or thought we did. But when we opened the envelope yesterday (waiting until we were in the office, as we'd been instructed to, to make sure they knew it was a legit document), we discovered they had not completed a new report because we'd failed to send one piece of information with the application. Uh oh! But Ivan quickly opened the old envelope which we still had, and that was accepted! Whew!

They told us where we could get the photo done, as well as the photocopies (just a couple blocks away), so we hurried and did that and then rushed back to file the paperwork. Once that was done, we were given a form to take to the bank to pay the requisite fee (quite a hefty one, too, I might add! -- but totally worth it!). It was 1:15 and the bank was closing at 1:30 and was about 12 blocks away (at least, we weren't sure exactly) so we grabbed a taxi and took off. The taxi couldn't take us all the way there, so we Ivan ran the last few blocks. He got there 5 minutes before they closed (me a couple minutes later, sliding in just before they started locking the doors). (miracle #4) Ivan stood in a long line and I found a seat.

[Side Note: I'd never been in the big national bank in Cordoba, and was amazed at how truly BIG it is! It's several floors, with the lower level being a huge cavernous space with various lines. There were at least 300 people waiting in one line or another, plus another 150 of us sitting on chairs in the center area. HUGE, I tell you!]

We were finally all done by about 1:45.

By that time we were exhausted from all the running around in the heat (it's always hotter in the city, with all the concrete and tall buildings that block any breezes) so we decided to find a place to eat and catch our breath. But first we planned to stop at the Apple store on the way out of town, to see what can be done about a problem I'm having with my Mac. A line appeared across the screen the other day, and our son diagnosed it as a hardware problem. Which shouldn't be a problem since it's still under warranty.

Except we couldn't find the store!

There used to be one in downtown Cordoba, but it's no longer there, and our search (both physical and virtual) has yielded no clue as to whether the store simply moved, or no longer exists at all. We may have to wait until March when we go to conference, and can visit an Apple store in Buenos Aires or Montevideo.

We also couldn't find the place where we were going to have lunch. Actually we were looking for a particular mall. They're kinda big and hard to miss, but miss it we did. Still not sure how. But we did find another mall. Unfortunately we chose probably the WORST place in it to have lunch. Yuck! It was a café and only offered salad and quiche. Okay, we ordered one of each. The food was both expensive (made the mistake of not asking for a menu or the prices first) and practically inedible. So sad that's Ivan's birthday lunch was such an epic fail :(

But the victory of being able to get the paperwork done over-rode any lingering disappointment over the food :)

Oh, and in regards to the permanent residency application... 

In this whole process we are once again reminded that Paperwork Makes The World Go 'Round. Although Ivan never saw the program, he's heard a lot about a variety/comedy show on Argentine t.v. years ago with a running gag about this very thing. A man wanted to plant a tree but before he could do that, he had to get the proper approval, and the process required all kinds of paperwork. Each time he'd get another required document, he was told he needed "one more" trámite (can be loosely translated as red tape). Each time he'd go away saying, "Un tramitecito mas y plantamos el arbolito." ["One more little step and we'll plant the tree."] The phrase caught on and become part of the culture, still used when referring to any kind of government or business red tape.

Today Ivan is tracking down a translator, and our hope is that we can get it done in the next few days so he can deliver the translation of the FBI report, along with the form from the bank showing we've paid, to the immigrations office on Monday or Tuesday. The sooner the better! And from what we were told, it's entirely possible I'll have my permanent residency document in hand before our trip to Uruguay in March. Which would make that miracle #5.

"Un tramitecito mas y plantamos el arbolito."

Baking in the heat

By that I mean we're baking in the heat (or at least it feels like that -- it's been in the high 90s for over a week) AND I've been busy baking in the midst of all the heat.

Besides baking cakes for the neighbors on either side, I also tried my hand at a homemade version of the Pepperidge Farms Brussels-style cookies. They're not available down here, so I knew that if I was going to satisfy the craving I'd have to make my own. I found a recipe for lacey oatmeal cookies so I made those, then simply melted some chocolate and spread between two cookies to create a sandwich. YUM!

Today I decided to make chocolate meringue cookies, in an effort to use up the egg whites that had accumulated due to some recent ice cream making.

[Side Note: Because I have no desire to heat up my kitchen any more than necessary, my survival technique during the summer months is to move our toaster oven out to the garage. Although it's a rather large toaster oven, it's still not as big as the regular oven and I only have a few pans that I can use with it. Which means cookies take a SWEET FOREVER to make. Depending on the cookie, I can make between 4 to 9 at a time (only 4 lacey oatmeal cookies, 9 chocolate meringues).]

Okay, back to the cookies. Since I had enough egg whites to triple the recipe, and each pan takes 1/2 hour to bake, I was working on cookies ALL MORNING LONG.

I also had a hankering to make a pineapple upside down cake. Lately I've been wanting old-fashioned style desserts, like pineapple upside down cake and banana pudding. Not sure where that's coming from.

Anyway, I found a great recipe on the Joy of Baking website and had the cake ready to go in the oven once the cookies were finally finished. In the process of making this cake I ran into two problems. For one thing, we don't have the option of light or dark brown sugar here. There's one kind, and it's DARK. Even darker than the dark we get in the U.S. So I'm a little disappointed in how dark the top of the cake turned out.

And the other problem was the baking time. The recipe called for 35-45 minutes, and since I know the toaster oven runs a little on the slow side I left it in for the full 45 minutes. But when I pulled it out, the center was still jiggly. So back in it went, for another 10 minutes. At that point it had stopped jiggling, but a toothpick came out with a little batter. So in again for another 5 minutes. Finally done! But that meant it baked a full 15 minutes extra, for a total of one hour. Not a huge problem, but I'm wondering why? I've not had this issue with other cakes.

And I think it's the high heat that's causing the meringue cookies to stay rather soft. Usually they firm up once they've cooled for a while, but that's not happening this time. Maybe because when it's 99 degrees, there's not much cooling going on.

Oh well, es lo que hay. And for what it's worth, no matter how my baked goods look (or feel), they taste just fine.  Wish I could share them with you! I'd love to have y'all stop by and enjoy a few cookies or a piece of cake, and some iced tea. I could use some girlfriend time.

P.S. No, we're not going to eat all this ourselves. Most will be given to friends and neighbors.

Looking ahead

While 2011 definitely had some great moments, I can't say that I'm sad to see it go. It was also a tough year in a lot of ways. So bye-bye 2011!

Looking ahead to this year, I'm excited about shifting our focus to the other side of town... where we'll be building a house and moving to a different neighborhood. It's like that sense of anticipation I always had at the start of each school year. What new friends would I make? What would I learn? What kind of new experiences would I get to enjoy?

To say nothing of the absolute joy I felt in getting brand-spanking-new school supplies. The smell makes me heady, even today.

So does the smell of fresh paint :)

Which is a good thing, since there will be plenty of that in my future!

I've mentioned my obsession with drawing floor plans. We've gone back and forth numerous times on whether to build one story or two stories. Each time I've gone back to the drawing board. I think (fingers crossed) that we've finally settled on one floor.

Other important considerations:
1) We want to orient our house toward the river, to take advantage of the views.  Which means our house will face sideways, not toward the street.
2) I want a screened-in porch, since we can practically live outside 10 months out of the year. Our rental has a back patio that gets utilized a LOT, and it's not screened. But! Lot located by river = many mosquitoes. So a screened-in porch is mandatory in my book.
3) Also mandatory is a pantry. It cuts down on the amount of cabinets Ivan will have to build AND will allow me to keep my counter cleaned off. The plan is to have a space in the pantry with an electrical outlet so all the small appliances can live (and work) in there, without me having to drag them out all the time.
4) The laundry hook-up must be INSIDE. Right now my washer resides on the back patio, inside a nifty metal cabinet that Ivan made to house it. This works here, in an area that's considered pretty safe. But our lot is in a sketchier area and anything left out, even in a fenced-in yard, will disappear faster than you can say "abacadabra". It's disappearing magic of a different kind.
5) While we like the concept of an open living space, there are some things better kept behind closed doors. Like my sewing/crafting space. The newest floor plan has a rather ingenious cubby hole beyond the pantry, so nobody is going to wander in there by accident, insuring my creations-in-progress-mess remains hidden.
 6) A large garage/shop area for my handy husband. He needs a place to house his tools AND space to work.

Now that the holidays are almost over (today's a bridge holiday here), he can get busy nailing down quotes and hammering out the details. (Sorry, couldn't help myself.) We have a LOT to get done in the next three and a half months, before a construction team comes down to help us get the basic structure up.

Before then we must:
1) get a fence up
2) finish the casita and get it live-able (which in and of itself is a multi-step process)
3) have the septic system installed
4) hire a crew to put in the foundation

While doing all that, we'll also be busy getting to know the neighborhood and our new neighbors. The realtor who helped us find the house we're currently renting will be a neighbor; she and her husband live a block or two up our street. Recently she called and asked to come and talk about the Bible. We're hoping that first meeting (which went very well) will lead to a Bible study in her home. We shall see!

After we have the structure up, our plan is to move into the casita temporarily while we finish off the inside of the garage and house. Ivan's hoping to use that experience to teach some of the young men basic construction skills. And in the process also share more about what God has to say about every area of our life. Have you noticed it's those times when we're in the midst of just living that provide the best opportunities to share truth from Scripture?!

After six+ months in the U.S. and not speaking Spanish very often, I've regressed a bit in the language area. I'm looking forward to catching up and then progressing further. While I'm more comfortable speaking, I still have a LOT of trouble understanding what others say. So a big part of the learning process involves listening, listening and MORE listening!

I know three young ladies who are expecting babies. I'm not sure I'll have time to make quilts for all of them, but I can at least make something. There are some really cute ideas on Pinterest :)  Like burp cloths or a diaper bag. Whatever I decide to make, I just look forward to the joy I get from creating something pretty AND useful. I'm also planning to get a few hand-sewing projects ready for the time we'll be living in the casita. I won't have room for my sewing machine, but I can't imagine going months without doing SOMETHING.

For me it's not so much a matter of resolutions, as it is just seeking to greet each day as a gift and do the most I can with what God has given me.

Project 365: The 2011 Finale

I'm ending Project 365 for 2011 with a whimper. Which sadly reflects the status of my participation most of the year. I just had no idea how crazy furlough was going to be, or how difficult to post on a regular basis. To say nothing of totally dropping the ball with the basic premise of a photo-a-day. I didn't even manage to get the final post in the actual year of 2011 :(

BUT... that said, I did stick with it to the very end!

So here you have it folks, the final photos of 2011!

Stuck in traffic.

The story of our life this week as we dealt with yet more paperwork.

Fireworks!

New Year's Eve here is like 4th of July in the U.S. We walked a block over to the lake and had a great vantage point for viewing the fireworks. We could turn 360 degrees and see fireworks in every direction! While the city does have a (usually) decent show, private citizens and clubs put on some pretty impressive displays as well. We stayed down at the lake for about 20 minutes, then walked home and watched the fireworks in our own neighborhood.

Having only two photos for the week is about par for the course this year. Hoping I can do better in 2012! Anyone care to join us this year? It's a great way to (1) photo journal your year, and (2) share your life in pictures with friends and family.