July 28, 2008
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a lot to say
i went to Chicago.
showed up at the Brasilian consulate and asked about my visa. they said “oh, if you talked to someone, then it is already sent.” but i told them about the e-mail i had gotten, saying it was still being processed, and she clicked my name into the computer. but she couldn’t find anything. so she asked another lady about it, who promptly opened some random drawer and found my stuff. all of it. that made me happy. it was NOT lost.they asked me to wait 5 minutes. then called me up and said “there was a discrepency on the dates you were leaving, so we could not process your visa (and subsequently, hid it in a side drawer)–when are you leaving for Brasil?” i put my sweetest smile and said “i was leaving July 15th, but my visa did not come. as soon as i have the visa, i will reschedule my flight.” oh. the lady said “oh”, and got her manager (official looking) person. they talked a moment and she said nicely “you can pick up your visa a noon today.” it looks really pretty. it is for one year, but renewable every year for four years.
and i rode on cloud nine until it dropped me off at the airline office which said unless i wanted to pay $1000, the next flight out would be August 6. so i opened my journal and wrote out every day from now until August 6. and it took up a lot of blank space. what the heck was i going to do with myself?
