Extreme Sports

-
I want to know why they don't make T-shirts that say "I survived the _____ Consulate". Because really, what is climbing Mt. Everest in comparison to enduring a trip to the consulate?

After my many and varied experiences with the Brazilian consulate, I was actually brought to laughter when I stopped by the Chinese consulate earlier this week.

Theoretically, when you go to pick up a visa, you wait in line for a couple of minutes and then quickly walk out, mission accomplished. But I arrived to find two lines of at least 50 people... the "Please take a number" was out of numbers, and there was only one woman beind the counter, and she was helping the line that was for "Drop Off Only".

As I stood there for a couple of minutes, wondering whether it was likely that the line would dissolve itself before a week's worth of my lunch breaks passed by, I heard the typical stories... the guy who had stormed out a bit ago complaining about standing in line for 2.5 hours, the woman who was using the captive audience to brag about her travels.

And that is one of the great things about consulate visiting. It is one of the few extreme sports where the grandma outlasts the athlete.

And me? I let the grandma win that round. I'll go back another time, when maybe the computers are up and running.

Comments

slowlane said…
For those of you who are wondering, the visa isn't for my travels.
6:10 PM
caedmonstia said…
I WAS wondering! Good heavens, so hard to keep track of my family these days...
5:31 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The "No I" Phone

-
Image
It's a cheap party trick: I pull out my phone, flip it open to check the time or send a quick text, and watch for the reactions. In the decades I've owned a flip phone, people have given me a few double takes. Recently, though, when I opened my phone to squint at a photo texted to me, the person sitting across the conference table surprised me with a "Haha! I love your phone!" And I did, too. I loved my flip phone. Then, in a deadly mistake of distracted domesticity, I scooped it up with my bed sheets and dropped it in the washing machine: Eco Cold, extra spin. Oh gentle readers, the tragedy of beautiful T9 predictive text programming drowned at the bottom of the linens spin cycle! Yes, I lost saved phone numbers, the blurry store photos I'd snapped over the years to double check prices when back to internet access, the text threads with details about addresses and meet-ups... all lost. Sad, inconvenient, annoying, frustrating, all of it. But the biggest tragedy,
Read more

Amtrak Adventuring

-
Image
Trying to see it all, 2011 I may never look down the aisle of an Amtrak train without remembering a baby bouncing, holding fast to the seat as the train rocked and bounced even faster. All the world over, trains carry a reputation for efficiency and frugality. That has never been my experience with Amtrak.  The Adventure Begins, June 22, 2011 Thirteen years ago (almost to the day) our little family set out on our first Amtrak adventure. We thought three weeks touring the United States on a train with an infant made so much more sense than the alternative. The alternative being flying or driving (with the same infant) to a wedding in the middle of Cornfieldville, Ohio. Being young and foolish, it made perfect sense. Our baby did not yet sleep through the night, so sitting up in coach seating night after night wouldn't affect our sleep all that much. With a rolling ice chest filled with lunch sacks that prevented us from knowing in advance whether our meal was Option A, B, or C, w
Read more

Stone of Help

-
Image
For the longest time I thought “Ebenezer” was a cup. Not just any cup, mind you, one of those old drinking vessels that might also be called goblet or chalice. My reasoning, you see, was all based on the hymn, “Here I raise mine Ebenezer, hither by thy help I’m come.” To my little girl ears, it sounded like someone was proposing a toast, glass in hand to having made it so far. I know better now, but I still feel as if I am far more likely to toast how far I’ve made it than to set a large stone on end. But truthfully, I’m not very likely to do either. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not slighting the role God has had in bringing me as far as I am. And it’s not a lack of gratitude that turns me into being one of the nine lepers who never returned to thank Jesus for his healing. (At least, not always.) Instead, I’ve found that many times I don’t want to draw attention to what God has done for me because I worry it will make others feel as if I am intimating that I am a favor
Read more