Our Arrival

After living in São Paulo for 3 weeks, I have quite a few updates...

On the plane ride over, the flight attendants handed us the customs forms and one extra piece of paper. In true American fashion, I took one glance and saw that it was about the Swine Flu and completely ignored it. I'm only concerned with what I have to do, not anything else. The eight hour nighttime ride was excrutiating. It would have been perfectly fine if we didn't have two sick children.... Natalie had a fever the day before and on the plane decided she wanted to throw-up about once every hour. For some odd reason, whomever was in charge of the lights kept them on for most of the flight, instead of for just a little while at the beginning and end. So, Natalie wasn't able to sleep, even though she tried very hard, she kept waking up. Eulalie on the other hand was okay until the middle of the night and then she started getting sick too. Oh yes, it was the most fun I've ever had in an eight-hour time span.

As we were landing, my husband asked if I filled out the Swine Flu paper, and I said, "Oh, do I have to?" It was just a paper asking for contact information and asking if you had any of the symptoms on the list.

He responded, "They will collect it, so yeah."

My Americanness showing through, "How will customs/immigration know if I filled it out or not?"

"They won't let you off the plane if you don't."

Oh yeah, I was going into a different country. Brazilians tend to just do what they are told. Me? Oh no, I want to know why I have to do something. I ended up filling out the stupid papers anyway, one for EACH of us.

When we got off the plane, we saw that several other planes had just landed also. We began walking towards customs/immigration when we were stopped in our tracks by a huge line of people. We couldn't even see where the line ended, nor could we see the customs/immigration signs. The wait in line would have been atleast 3-4 hours, but Brazilian rules came to our rescue. You see, in Brazil, the elderly, disabled, pregnant women, and families with small children get preferential treatment. So, we got to skip to the front of the line!! It took us about 10 minutes just to walk to the front! Not a bad start to our arrival.... (Oh, and at the front of the line, they did collect the Swine Flu paper.)

After waiting about 5 minutes in the 3-4 hour line, it was our turn. Apparently, I am supposed to fill out paperwork when I leave the country. Ooops. I was there 2 weeks previous and no one had me fill out a form. I guess they want to make sure I'm not out of the country for more than a year, otherwise I lose my permanent resident status. But, the guy at the immigration counter let me slide, since I was just stamped into the country 3 weeks before that.

On to the baggage claim! Since Adamo is an elite frequent flyer, he was allowed to check 3 bags and we were allowed 2. Plus a carseat. Oh yeah, and since our carry-on bags were too heavy, we had to check those as well. Luckily, they didn't charge us extra. Since we skipped the long lines, we were the first at the baggage claim. We got all but one of our bags right away and after about 45 minutes, we realized it was not coming. There was no line at customs when we got there, but after waiting so long at the baggage claim, there was a loonnnnggg line going into customs. And, Adamo still had to make a lost baggage claim. Even though our luck failed us a little with the bag being lost, it was really a blessing in disguise. The worker at the baggage claim said that since they lost our bag, he would walk us through customs. So again, we were walked to the front of the line.

With all our 12 bags stacked high on two carts, we realized to late he walked us to the front of the X-ray line. Crap. Each family is only allowed to bring in $500 of new items. My laptop alone is worth more than that, even though it is not brand new. If they really wanted to, they could have charged us for all the stuff we were bringing. Even though we also filed a form at the consulate that is supposed to exempt us from the limit, as long as we are bringing household goods in. But, this is the Brazilian Beaurocracy we are talking about here. It is hit and miss. To our surprise, the baggage claim worker stood by us in the short line and waited for our bags to be x-rayed and helped us along. I think that is a signal for, "We screwed up, let them through without a problem." The guys that were x-rayed looked at the baggage claim guy and waved us along!!

From a friend picked us up, and as all cars are small in Brazil, we filled his car up with luggage and still had to use a taxi for the rest of the bags. I will update more about actually being here later. We do have a small, furnished apartment and are doing well so far!


The view of São Paulo from our rooftop:

Registering for an RNE

I am now officially registered with the Polícia Federal!! It only took 3 tries to get it done. I think that is a record, by Brazilian standards... =) I was afraid it would take me a lot longer than that to do anything here.

We arrived at the police station at about 8:45 and took all the documents the man at the counter told us we needed when we were there last Friday. (The UPS delivered Adamo's document yesterday.) Surprise, surprise when there was a problem! We went to the same worker we spoke to on Friday and he assured us that the copies of the passport did not need to be notarized as long as I had the original. Somehow, between Friday and Wednesday, that information became incorrect. The nearest notary is about a 7 minute bus ride from the police station. The guy gave us the address and off we went.

The bus in São Paulo is more like a rollercoaster than a bus. I tried really hard not to laugh every time we flew across a massive hole in the road and my butt cleared at least 4 inches above the seat. It is really funny to watch everyone on the bus clear 4 inches at the same time... Anyway, we made it to the notary and spent the R$18 to have the copies notarized. In my mind it was a totally unnecessary step, since the notary took the copies we already made, glanced at the pages in the passport, and then stamped them all. If I am not mistaken, to get something notarized in the US, the notary must make the copy. If I really wanted to commit fraud, it would have been very easy, since the notary didn't look that closely at my passport.

Back on the bus to return to the police station and for awhile, there were no seats. I felt like I was skateboarding while holding on for dear life. Luckily, a seat opened up a few stops later and I was able to sit. Even on a seat though, it's hard to keep your balance!

We made it back to the police station and went to the bank inside the station to pay for the fees. It actually worked out that we went on a wild goose chase in search of a notary because the bank didn't even open until 10:00. How the hours for the registering office can be from 8-4, but the bank is only open from 10-3 remains a mystery to me. This bank only has one teller working to collect money and an armed guard waits at the door and only admits one person at a time. Interesting that they have so much security inside the police station and after everyone has already passed through a metal detector, showed proper ID and had their picture taken. We were about 5th in line and had to wait about 30 minutes for our turn to pay.

Next, we returned to the same worker with all the documents for the third time; this time, everything was fine. The worker took my passport and all my documents and told us to have a seat and wait. This wait was around 45 minutes; then I was called into a little room for finger printing by myself. I do understand as much Portuguese as say, a dog, so I could follow simple commands. "Put this paper in your purse." "Put your hand here." and "The bathroom is over there for you to wash your hands." They took double prints of ALL my fingers, so it makes sense to have a bathroom next to the fingerprinting.

In return for all my time and energy I received a little slip of paper that says I registered with the Polícia Federal and that my document should arrive in 6 months. Wow, no rush or anything... =)

São Paulo Update

Ok, here is my update with all the crap I am supposed to be doing this week while I am here:

1. Register with Policia Federal - All permanent residents must register with the federal police. They basically collect all the same information as the visa application. I have a feeling this is going to be a royal pain to accomplish. Adamo called several times to figure out what documents I needed to register and was repeatedly told I just need 2 passport-type photos (only a little smaller) and my visa with copies. Nothing could ever be that simple! When we arrived at the police station, I about had a heart attack: the room was filled with people waiting. But, apparently the room is used for many different purposes and when we got into the right line, there were only 2 people in front of us. As I said before, I am staying with one of Adamo's friends, who is fluent in English. He translated for me what the officer was telling me: I need a copy of EVERY page in my passport that has any stamp or document on it, the original or a certified copy of Adamo's RNE (a Brazilian ID card), payment of R$124,23 and R$64,58, 2 photos, their application form filled out, and my visa application form. I happened to have every one of those things except Adamo's document. So, we are spending more money for him to Fed-Ex the document to me overnight, which amounts to about 4 days. That leaves me only Wednesday and Thursday to register since I am leaving Thursday night. Unfortunately, if I do not register, I will not be allowed to come back into the country. Ugh...
2. Get my CPF card: This is the equivalent of a SS card in the US. I applied for this at the consulate and they assured us that it was relatively simple to get. It takes about 8 weeks for the number to be ready, then we can go online and look it up. We were able to look up the number with no problem. The instructions to get the actual card is to go into the Banco do Brasil and they will either give the card to me or mail it to me. When we tried to do this, the people at the bank insisted that the government will mail it to me and they don't really have anything to do with it. UHHHHH???? We will see who is correct in a few months... They were nice enough to print the page from their system for me and supposedly I am able to use the paper until I receive my card.
3. Reserve an apartment/flat for us to stay in while in São Paulo: It is very hard to find something here that has both internet and a kitchen and not be super expensive. Adamo gave me a few places to look at, but only one had both an internet connection and a semi-kitchen. It is in an okay area and is not fancy, but it is enough for us for a little while. But, of course there was a hitch: the apartment Adamo called about was available earlier last week, but when I went there, it was not available until July 27th. So, we will be in a smaller room for about 10 days when we get there. Oh well. I did actually get this chore accomplished, so I guess 1 out of 3 is not so bad.

First Trip to São Paulo

Ok, I have been here before, so it's not really my first trip. I was here when my oldest daughter was about 6 months old; she's turning 8 this year. Where does the time go? But, in Brazil, not much has changed in the 7 years of my absense.

This was a last minute trip, so I didn't have time to plan anything. We weren't ready to move at the time we were supposed to, so we moved the dates into July. The only problem with that is I need to use my visa ASAP or else it won't be valid anymore and I will have to pay for a new one. Adamo booked the trip, and here I am! I got back from Oregon at about 2:00 Tuesday morning and I flew out Thursday morning (after getting crowns put in on Wednesday). Yeah, bit of a rush for packing!

I will be honest and say that I was dreading this trip. Going some where you don't speak the language, without the husband who does, is a little intimidating. I didn't even really get a chance to review the things I learned in Portuguese. While I was sitting at the airport, I realized that I'd forgotten my phrase book. I searched every store in the vacinity, top to bottom, with no luck. I did panic a little after that, since there was no real way for me to review now. My thought was to spend the 8 hours on the plane trying to relearn what my brain forgot in the last month I didn't even touch learning Portuguese. Then I realized that I would be sitting next to someone who invariably knew Portuguese. I was bound and determined to step out of my comfort zone and practice my Portuguese with the poor soul who would be sitting next to me. I figured the person wouldn't mind, since Brazilians like to talk to everyone and don't mind helping when it is needed.

After sitting in my seat, I thought it was strange that the man next to me didn't even say hello. In my mind, I came to the conclusion that maybe he didn't speak English. This, while all around me people are chatting happily away to the strangers next to them. While the flight attendants were passing out drinks and asked in Portuguese what we wanted for our "bebidas", he didn't understand and asked her to speak in English. Great. I was sitting next to the only other person on the plane who did not speak Portuguese! Ok, so no practicing my inferior language skills on the plane for me...

Towards the end of the flight, I got pretty worried and anxious. What if my visa doesn't work? Tourist visas are much more common than permanent resident visas. If I get stopped by customs or immigration, how will I communicate? I'm pretty sure they don't know that much English. I filled out the required customs and immigration forms and had butterflies fluttering in my stomach. Again, the language barrier had me more than concerned.

Immigration was the first stop, even before I got my luggage. I thought it was kind of ironic when the line for "Brasileiros" was a mile long and the "Estrangeiros" was very short. When it was my turn, the woman smiled and told me "Oi" and I handed her my passport. Apparently, the first time you go in with a permanent resident visa, it takes a LONG time to type things in! I was watching all the other people in my line fly right through while she is typing and clicking on her computer. I got a little worried, but she didn't seem to be, so I tried not to panic. Then, she gave me my passport and I was on my way.

At the luggage carousel, Brazilian Machismo was putting on a show. A passenger was in the middle of a screaming match with one of the airline workers. I think he was upset at the way his bag was handled; I thought it was pretty funny. My bags came out after a few minutes, and I was on my way to customs. This was the part I really dreaded. I have heard horror stories about the officers going through your clothes and charging you for anything new. Since I had my laptop, I was already over the "new" limit. But, I handed my form to the woman working at the desk and she waved my through.

Luckily, I am staying with my husband's friend and his wife. He speaks English, and she can get by with what she knows. They were there and waiting for me, so there were no incidents in the airport with my having to try to use my suckish Portugues. They have been extremely accomodating and have been driving me around to do all the bureaucratic crap I have to do on my first visit. More on that adventure later...

Procrastination has to be one of the biggest downfalls of mankind. I had very lofty goals of being ready to move way ahead of time so I would be less stressed out. It's the thought that counts, right? We have been slowly getting rid of all our crap, but the process of going through our apartment has been going turtle-paced at best. We have come to the conclusion that in addition to our luggage, we will only need to ship 3 boxes. At $150/box, it's probably best we only have 3. I have succeeded in buying a few of the small appliances and toiletries I listed previously; unfortunately, it doesn't really feel like I am moving yet, so I can't really get on the ball. I guess my lot in life is to be a chronic procrastinator...

Adamo has been in Brazil the last week or so looking at different cities. He will be back next Saturday, so we shall see if he finds a paradise for us to relocate to. Otherwise, we will be in the great metropolis of Sao Paulo. When we first decided to move, I was pretty ok with being in Sao Paulo; but now, when I really think about it, a city on the beach seems so much more pleasant! Currently, Adamo is looking at Joao Pessoa. If that is not to our liking, a lesser known city named Maceio is another option. I can't help but thinking I am getting the short end of the stick in this deal. I am working and taking care of two kids while Adamo is on the beach in Brazil?!?!

Joao Pessoa, Brazil

On another note (and a more expensive one), I'm looking to buy a new laptop. Since I will no longer be an employee of the school district, I will have to give the MacBook back. It's a little bitter sweet; I have decided definitely never to own an Apple, but I have to admit, the programs on Apples are pretty awesome. I will miss KeyNote and Inspiration the most; they have been my saviors in the classroom! I am hoping Memorial Day will bring lots of low priced sales, since I can't afford anything too pricey. If anyone sees a must-have deal, please let me know!

Rosetta Stone Review

This article was featured on www.gringoes.com!

The purpose of this entry is to give unbiased feedback regarding my personal experience with Rosetta Stone. In no way am I trying to encourage or discourage anyone from using Rosetta Stone.

Background:
I recently had the opportunity to try Rosetta Stone for free. I signed up for a “session” beginning mid-February and my subscription will end mid-June. Obviously I was delighted to take part, since I am moving to Brazil in June; I signed up for the Brazilian Portuguese session. The session I signed up for with Rosetta Stone is completely online, but has the option to add an Audio Companion, which is a set of CDs containing matching lessons to the online lessons (for an extra fee of $50). The actual price of an online subscription is $199.95 for six months of access.

Software/Hardware Needed:
• Internet Browser
• Microphone (Not necessary for all of the lessons, but is needed for speaking and pronunciation.)
• Internet Connection
• Rosetta Stone Software (downloaded from site)

The Setup:
The software is setup with three different Levels and within the Levels are four separate Units. Each Unit has four separate Lessons; each Lesson has a Core Lesson and consequent mini-lessons consisting of activities such as: Pronunciation, Vocabulary, Grammar, Writing, Listening, and Speaking. One interesting aspect of these Lessons is they build on each other and use what you have learned in the previous Lesson(s). Also, the Lessons are not cut and dry, so to speak. Lesson 1 will have the Core Lesson, Pronunciation, Vocabulary, and Grammar, the user then moves on to Lesson 2. Mixed within Lesson 2 are writing and speaking from Lesson 1. The Lessons proceed this way through Lesson 4, which has activities from Lessons 2 and 3 mixed within it. The easiest way to show this is with the following chart: (Keeping in mind each Unit within each Level has 4 Lessons.)

Click on the chart for a larger image!

If one so desires, the settings can be changed to allow the user to go through all of Lesson 1 together, then move on to all of Lesson 2, etc….

Level 1 consists of the following Units: Language Basics, Greetings and Introductions, Work and School, and Shopping.

Level 2 consists of the following Units: Travel, Past and Future, Friends and Social Life, Dining and Vacation.

Level 3 consists of the following Units: Home and Health, Life and World, Everyday Things, Places and Events.

Break Down of Lessons:
Core Lesson: The Core Lessons consist of 30 some-odd screens. Generally they contain a mix of all the other mini-lessons. As with all the lessons/screens, Rosetta tracks the number you have correct and incorrect throughout; a percentage correct pops up after you have completed the screen and allows you to go to the next lesson.

Pronunciation: For this feature of the software, you must have a microphone hooked up to your computer. The Pronunciation mini-lesson ranges from the pronunciation of individual phonemes and morphemes to the pronunciation of entire sentences. The voice recognition from Rosetta Stone indicates whether or not you pronounced the sound/word/sentence correctly. Another feature on these screens is a “help” button, which brings up a secondary screen containing sound waves of both the native speaker and your own. I believe the idea is to get your own voice and intonation to match that of the native speaker. I, however, have never been able to accomplish this. The first screen indicates I pronounce the prompt correctly, but if I should click on the secondary screen, my sound waves and the native speakers’ never matched.

Vocabulary: Exactly as it sounds, the Vocabulary Lesson teaches vocabulary. An interesting note: Rosetta Stone does not have any translations or instructions. It consists only of pictures and the foreign language for all lessons.

Grammar: The grammar instructions go against everything I live and breathe as an English teacher. Grammar is not taught explicitly but with examples. This concept I found to be the most difficult as some of the connections were very hard to make with why the wording was a certain way. Even though I survived the lessons, I get the strange feeling I am missing a large part of being able to speak on my own.

Writing: The Writing Lessons were useful as the activities made me actually remember how to spell the words. The most difficult aspect of this activity was remembering where the accent marks went. A concept that is extremely foreign to native English speakers!

Listening: Of all the lessons, I consider this to be the most beneficial. The screens consist of pictures but no words. The user has to listen to the speaker and determine which picture is the answer. This, of course, is more like real life. When people are having conversations, the written word is not accompanying the dialogue!

Speaking: Like Listening, I found the Speaking Lesson to be of great help. Many times the user must deliver an answer to the native speaker without the benefit of having the words written out. There was one frustrating aspect to this lesson. In real life, there are many ways to answer a question; in Rosetta Stone, there is only one answer. Sometimes the software wants a simple “Yes” or “No” answer and sometimes it was a complete sentence answer. I still have not figured out any clues as to which it wants and when, other than trial and error.

Reviews: There are two types of reviews on Rosetta Stone. The first is within the lessons and the second comes along as you are completing subsequent lessons and units. The reviews within lessons are valuable tools to see what, if anything, you are retaining as you go along. Every so often, the software prompts “Adaptive Recall” activities; this the second type of review. In my opinion, the name is a little misleading. I assumed these “Adaptive Recalls” were based on which questions/activities I answered incorrectly and therefore, needed help with. I still have not figured out exactly how the software decides to put activities into the recall sections. Many of the sections in the recall, I received 100% during the lesson, while others I received decidedly less and were not included in the recall activities. Also, it felt like the recall activities were always the same; this became extremely boring and repetitive when I wanted to just learn something new. I found the “Adaptive Recall” to be more annoying than anything and decided to skip them most of the time.

Milestone: The Milestones are probably the highlight of Rosetta Stone. At the end of each Unit, a Milestone activity is completed. The activities are setup so that it feels like the user is in the situation at hand. For example, one Milestone is a camping trip. The pictures scroll through the screen and the people in the pictures ask the user questions and have conversations. This activity felt more “real world” than any other. Though, I have a similar complaint to that of the Speaking Lesson: Rosetta Stone recognizes one answer and one answer only.

Pros:
Rosetta Stone is extremely user friendly. No instructions are needed; users just click and begin. The lessons are self-explanatory and allow users to learn from the very first screen. Also, the software allows users to skip around between lessons, units, and levels. Getting a low percentage on one lesson does not stop the user from continuing on. The user always has the option of repeating any lessons, units, or levels he or she so desires. To test the ease of use factor, I let my 7 year-old have at it. The result was encouraging; even she could navigate through the lessons and get most items correct.

One of my favorite aspects of Rosetta Stone was the lack of translations. Nothing was translated into English. I found this to be useful as I was required to actually think and process through each and every lesson and screen. In my experience (and I believe research agrees), students learning English do much better without constantly translating into their native language. Also, I found myself processing many of the words and pictures in Portuguese. For example, if a picture of a fish was on the screen, my mind would come up with peixe and not fish.

The pictures and graphics Rosetta Stone uses are certainly a plus. With the exception of pronunciation, each screen has from one to several pictures on it. As mentioned previously, users click on the correct picture when asked a question. Some screens worked the opposite and users have to click on the correct wording for each picture. For the most part, learning Portuguese was relatively pain-free thanks to the innovative pictures used. I often found myself wondering just how they came up with some of the pictures.

Cons:
While trying to remain as unbiased as possible, I do have to point out some of the downfalls of Rosetta Stone. The first and most glaring omission is grammar. Although, I previously mentioned this, I feel the need to expound on this subject. Language rules are extremely complicated. After being married to a Brazilian for 7 years, listening to him speak, and having very, very basic comprehension of Portuguese, I still felt the need to ask for help on the grammar rules many times over. In a perfect world, we would see and hear a word used and understand the implications right away. Obviously, learners are less than perfect and may not make one of many connections needed to truly understand the grammar rule being used. Another reason I bring this point up is the fact that I did start with some vocabulary and structural knowledge of Portuguese; I can only imagine how confusing some of the rules must be for someone with zero knowledge of the language being learned.

Rosetta Stone uses a “one size fits all” approach. Some of the lessons I could have theoretically skipped entirely and been none the worse; Rosetta Stone makes no allowances for previous knowledge and/or experience with language. Sometimes this approach is nice in that it makes sure each and every user receives the same language fundamentals, but in my opinion, it is mostly annoying. If I already know what “Sim” means, I really do not need to go through twenty lessons about Yes and No. True, users have the option of skipping lessons, but users won’t know what the lesson is until he or she goes through it!

The price of Rosetta Stone is a big setback, in my opinion. As mentioned earlier, I tried Rosetta Stone free (through my employer) and did not have to foot the $199.95 bill. This may have deeply affected my opinion. If I had paid the $199.95, I am sure I would not consider it a wise investment. There are many free language learning sites and software around and $200 seems extremely steep for this product.

My Opinion:
I am grateful I was able to experience Rosetta Stone; no doubt it has given me a multitude of vocabulary and language fundamentals I did not have when I began. In my world though, everything comes down to $. With all the resources of the web, it would seem that one only has to put a little legwork into researching language learning sites to find the necessary lessons. Rosetta Stone has a good foundation, and for the price of free, it was a bargain.

My next endeavor: enter the free interactive world of Livemocha.

Time Is On My Side

Spring Break is officially over, so it is back to the daily grind of convincing teenagers they really do want to learn...

A few updates:

I have successfully navigated through my first dealing with the notorious Brazilian Bureaucracy. Surprisingly, it was neither painful nor was it dreadfully slow. I was extremely worried about applying for my Brazilian Permanent Resident Visa after hearing many horror stories about issues and delays taking months or even years to sort through.

An example of the typical bureaucratic red tape in Brazil: my husband (who is a Brazilian Citizen!) had a REALLY hard time opening a bank account while living here in the US. In Brazil, one must have a multitude of documents and evidence to do anything. The banks wanted proof of income (apparently to avoid money laundering and tax evasion) before opening the account. The problem he encountered came from not actually living in Brazil and therefore not having proof of Brazilian income. Several months later and several heated conversations with bank managers, the account was eventually opened. Ease in doing "everyday" activities is certainly something we take for granted here.

Back to my update: We trekked the whole family down to the Miami Consulate to renew passports for my two daughters as well as apply for my visa. The experience pretty much went as follows:

We stayed up until the wee hours the night before, putting every possible document (and subsequent copies) into separate envelopes for the three of us. Also, the directions for submitting a visa application are not necessarily straight forward. For example, one set of directions may say to include documents A, B, and C, while another set of directions may only ask for A and B. The following are the documents we actually submitted for the family reunion visa:

1. Notarized spouse affidavit of support (written and signed at the consulate)
2. Spouse RNE and 2 copies of front and back
   
3. Two original copies of the visa application.
4. Two passport (2x2) photos
5. Passport (with 2 blank pages)
6. Original birth certificate and 2 copies
7. Original certificate of marriage and 2 copies
8. Registered Brazilian certificate of marriage and 2 copies
9. Police Clearance record and 1 copy
• (The original birth certificate, marriage certificates, and RNE were just looked at by the consulate officer and returned to us on the spot.)
• Also, just because they accepted these documents from us, does not mean it is the same for everybody!
  

Plan on getting to the consulate by 9 or 10. We over slept and did not realize the consulate only accepted applications from 10-12. Of course not helping is the fact that the consulate only answers visa questions via phone from 3-4...

We had my pictures taken and arrived at the visa door a few minutes before 12. The door was already closed, so we knocked. Now, keep in mind the hours are posted right beside the door. A security guard answered and said they were already closed. We pointed to the hours and the clock and said it was not 12 yet. His response was that "they" tell him to close the door and he does. Not about to come back on another day because they decided to close the door early, we ask the receptionist to call someone to talk to us. A higher level manager of some sort comes out (it is maybe 12:01 at this point) and my husband explains that we were there before 12, but the door was already closed. I think we got the sympathy vote after seeing 2 kids in tow, because she agreed to let us go in and apply for the visa.

We go back over to the visa door and the security guard pops out and is VERY pissed off at us. He says that someone is going to get in trouble because they can't go over his head after he told us they were closed. We calmly pointed out that the door was shut early and he walks out to go yell at the woman at the front desk. I stand next to his desk for a few minutes waiting for my number since there were still other people waiting to be seen for their visas. He comes back, sits, and looks at me with a strange look. I tell him I need a number for my visa application and he says, "Yeah, and the door was closed. How did you get in?" I told him he let me in and then it dawns on him that he didn't give me a number when he let me in. He hands me the number and lets me know that someone will be in "big" trouble with the Vice Consulate since they can't "be going over people's heads like that." My inner thoughts were: "Uhhh, you're the security guard, isn't EVERYONE over your head??" Wisely, I just took my number and sat.

We waited for around 1/2 an hour and delivered our documents without a problem. The total for the visa was $330 for the visa and $60 for the administrative fee. I also applied for my CPF while I was there. The website says that it is $10, but it turned out to be $5. Since they only accept money orders, we had no choice but to over pay by $5. Instead of driving down to Miami to pick up the visa, only during certain hours, we paid $18 for an Express Mail envelope. Parking is also VERY spendy: $14 for about 3.5 hours!!!

Total for Visa and CPF: $432!!!

Hopefully it will all be worth it! As I started off, the experience was no where near as painful as I had anticipated. I half expected to be told our documents were not good enough and to come back another day. But, lo and behold, the Express Mail envelope was delivered today! All in all, it took only 7 days to get back in my hands. The visa is in my passport and ready to go.