The title says it all…
SIX more weeks to go now until lift off to Germany. And yesterday we crossed the biggest hurdle of all… we were finally officially approved for our visas by the German Consulate.
And let me tell you – they did not make this an easy hurdle. It felt like they kept moving it further back and we nearly fell flat on our faces.
First of all – crossing all the red tape means a ton of paperwork for the government. Lots of documents to sign, lots of ducks to put in a row.
Beyond that – they kept coming back at us and asking for things that we didn’t have to legally give them (thank the LORD for having an immigrations lawyer on our side). However, having the lawyer read them the law and correct them rubbed them the wrong way – and it showed in our meeting.
Let’s back up to Monday. As we are getting the papers printed off at home- trying to get everything they emailed us to have with us correct to a T – I notice Matthews diploma is just a printed sheet of paper. I worry that it will not be enough and that we will probably have to give them the actual diploma. Matthew isn’t worried but he emails the Consulate early in that morning about it… and no one replies.
So we take off and make the drive from Dallas to Houston.
We get in with plenty of day left and go eat a late leisurely dinner at a place called Hearsay Market Square. I got a pork chop with fried brussels and gouda mac and cheese. Delicious. If I were rating it I would give it 4.8 stars, the 0.2 is because I’ve have better pork – to be honest. But it still was really tasty.
The building itself is the second oldest in Houston and has had three fires over the years. If you look up (and I mean you really have to look UP because it is a three story high ceiling) you can see the smoke damage to the upper most bricks.
Staff was super friendly and it’s one of those places you want to work at because everyone seems to get along. What an atmosphere to make money in.
Anyway – we finish up and head back across the street to where we are staying, Hotel Icon. Now, I’m not sure how old this building is, but it is OLD. And COOL. Matthew and I secured a suite on the penthouse level (posh I know) and the room was roomy and FUNKY. There was a clawfoot bathtub in the bedroom, which I regret not using.
And the place is definitely haunted.
—___—-
The next morning at 7:23 (to be exact) Matthew, who is in the middle of a conference call, and me, who is finding a breakfast eatery place nearby when his cell phone PINGS with an email.
It’s the German Consulate.
They want the original hard copy of his diploma, no paper copies.
SHIT.
We sit dumbfounded for a second as our meeting is at 11:45, the consulate closes at noon for some reason and his diploma is four hours away in Whitney with his mom.
Of COURSE this would happen.
Matthew immediately calls his mom and we make a plan to meet halfway in Hearne, TX at the Loves gas station. It is about a 1:40 hour drive for each party.
We take off – a relatively quiet ride while I try not to think about how fast we are going or what will happen if we miss our appointment. We make it with a very quick hello and throw the diploma in the back of the car. We grab a quick coffee and hightail it back towards Houston.
Obviously you know that we make it as I specified early that we were approved for our visa.
And we do. We make it back with 30 minutes to spare for a cup of Starbucks coffee and a bit of time to sit outside and sip before heading into the consulate.
A family with two children is ahead of us and they are all smiles and laughs and happy “good days”. It’s cute, the children have little German flags on sticks they are waving around.
Then it’s our turn.
Now I wish we had this on tape (but they make you turn off your cell phones).
We are called up to the window and are immediately told to “sit back down over there”. The lady in charge points back to the waiting room chairs. So we both sit.
“No! Just her” she says loudly and immediately turns back to her computer.
So I sit and Matthew, who not only has his diploma but I should tell you that it is still in the large frame from hanging on the wall, sits down with her.
“Place your documents in two even piles in the bin” she says to him without turning away from her computer. Not even a glance in his direction.
He pauses for a second and splits his pile of paper in half and attempts to place it evenly in the bin. Though the bin is not wide enough for two even stacks but he tries anyway.
She pulls the bin through, looks down and practically screams “I said TWO EVEN STACKS”. The bin comes back through.
Again, Matthew pauses for a second and begins rearranging the documents in to two overlapping stacks.
She pulls the bin through again “I said two even stacks, you should have two copies of everything”
—-____—-
This was not in her instructions nor was it ever mentioned to us to bring TWO copies of everything. She looks at us and decides that “It’s Fine”. A moment of weakness for her I suppose.
She begins to swiftly go through the documents and is literally throwing them in the bin without looking. She throws our wedding certificate out like it’s trash. I mean, why did they make us bring half the documents that were “required” if they weren’t even kept?
She shoves the bin back to Matthew and asks for my papers. So he places mine in the bin and again pushes it back to her.
“Where’s your wedding certificate?! Didn’t you bring it!” She practically is yelling.
I can hardly keep from rolling my eyes.
He picks it back up and hands it through to her…. without a single word.
Then like that he was approved. Bad-da-bing
After I come up and do the fingerprint scan and sign a few papers Matthew asks her about the diploma which is lying on the floor behind him.
“Oh I don’t need that one, this paper copy if fine”
I could have exploded with laughter.
As it turns out, all governments are the same. We burned a tank of gas and gave ourselves stomach ulcers for nothing.
And to make it worse, I missed breakfast and didn’t get a single decent cup of coffee. No, not even the Starbucks was good. They only had dark roast and it was burnt.
But it is done. We cleared the hurdle. Now in two weeks the visas will be in our hands and we can solely focus on the trip over.
Thanks for reading.
Until next time,
Auf Wiedersehen
Nomad Nutrition 