I finally got it... my residence visa! It was a busy and eventful morning to say the least! But, after 5 1/2 hours of trekking around Pforzheim (in the rain at times), I am officially a resident of Pforzheim, Germany. Plus, I won't get deported now. Haha. We had a few issues trying to get an Apostille for our marriage certificate, so we weren't sure if we would get it in time. You see, my temporary visa was going to expire in a few days. And, without that I can't stay here. We had originally sent out our marriage certificate with all the appropriate papers, back in the middle of October. Well, Novemeber came and we realized we still hadn't received our marriage certificate back w/ the Apostille on it. I emailed the appropriate offices in North Carolina about it and they said we weren't even in the system. The lady said she would search for a few days and then get back to me.... she never did. Thankfully, my mom was able to get the Apostille and she overnighted it the day she got it back. Guess it got lost in the mail... surprise, surprise.
Well, if you know us, nothing is ever easy for us! Haha! We woke up early to go to the visa office and waited a good 25 minutes just to be told that they still could not give us my residence permit or my passport back (they keep it while they are processing your papers) because we didn't have our landlord fill out a sheet. Really?! That's when I looked at them and said, "Well, we are leaving for vacation on Tuesday of next week. You guys are closed tomorrow. I am leaving for vacation. I HAVE to have my passport back!" We were pretty irritated that they never said anything about having a sheet filled out before. I mean, seriously, if something is required to be filled out... can't you mention it to the person beforehand? Anyways, so we came home and emailed our landlord. Thankfully, they emailed back within about 15 minutes and told us we could come up to their office. So, Steven googled directions. He said it's about 45 minutes walking. Yes! I LOVE walking for 45 minutes... kidding. What I hadn't realized was, it was 45 minutes walking completely up hill. Not downhill. We only got there about 5 minutes late... pretty good I think! As soon as we got there, our landlord says laughingly, "You guys walked?" Us: "Yes... water?" He starts laughing a little and informs us that there is a bus stop about 200 meters from the office. Steven's staring at our landlord while I'm giving him the "I'm gonna kill you for making me walk for 50 minutes in the freezing cold look." But, all in all, it was a pretty funny and entertaining experience. We rode the bus back and stopped for bratwurst at the Christmas market while we waited for the visa office to open again.
By the time we got home from it all, it was about 5 1/2 hours from the time we had left the house! Wow. Now, my prince is working on his favorite CAD project of all time.... just kidding, it's about to drive him nuts and I'm basking in my happiness of having him home with me all day :-) LOVE that man!
No comments:
Post a Comment