It's snowing like crazy. You know those Christmas lights that look a bit like icicles but they're chaser lights - the light goes down pretty slowly and it's pretty to look at? Well, that's what it looks like outside, but it's pretty quick and amazing to look at.
However, we were supposed to get about a foot of snow last night (I think it was less) and expect another foot of snow today, which at this point seems more than reasonable and at this rate I'm quite worried about our ability to fly tomorrow.
Flying - yes, that leads directly to visas - cause we need them to travel... Here's the catch-up for you - back in June I contacted a woman to renew our visas. She processed mine but didn't get to the Kid's in time (that was partially my fault). By July she had everything she needed to submit a new visa app. In August I gave her duplicative information and copies... at the end of September she chose to actually deliver the application - but she filled it out in such a way that it wasn't a student visa but a family visa and would require a new visa to be issued this year... I didn't know she had done that and had asked her to process it for the longest time period. Then the whole holding the passport debacle and after that silence... she stopped responding to my request for an update and information.
I contacted the embassy last week to find out what was going on. They called her Monday and she called me to let me know the visa was ready. She also said we had to immediately apply for a visa, before we left, or we would miss the renewal period. We met her late Monday night with the Kid's passport - she went to Slovakia and got the visa. She delivered it to me last night and verbally informed me the visa was good through May - I sighed a great sigh of relief as it lifted the pressure of having to spend our last day here at the foreign police.
Then I went upstairs and checked the visa and discovered she was wrong - it expires on the 31st. We went to the local foreign police office today and waited with a new agent. When it was our turn they refused to help us and instead sent us to another location. That took hours. They, the Kid and the agent, are now at the other location. With the length of the line and the speed they're moving at the Kid does not believe that her visa will be processed today. Which means that we now must apply for a brand new visa. All over again. Again.
BTW - I saw that giant boar again today. Walking wearing a harness but not a leash. It almost knocked it's handler down when I approached as he tried to come over and sniff me... scared the HECK out of me - those crazy little tusks and the enormous body! It could seriously rend me limb from limb and eat me in less than 10 minutes. The handler just reached down and yanked on the harness and managed to redirect the boar long enough for me to pass intact.
Crazy day.
However, we were supposed to get about a foot of snow last night (I think it was less) and expect another foot of snow today, which at this point seems more than reasonable and at this rate I'm quite worried about our ability to fly tomorrow.
Flying - yes, that leads directly to visas - cause we need them to travel... Here's the catch-up for you - back in June I contacted a woman to renew our visas. She processed mine but didn't get to the Kid's in time (that was partially my fault). By July she had everything she needed to submit a new visa app. In August I gave her duplicative information and copies... at the end of September she chose to actually deliver the application - but she filled it out in such a way that it wasn't a student visa but a family visa and would require a new visa to be issued this year... I didn't know she had done that and had asked her to process it for the longest time period. Then the whole holding the passport debacle and after that silence... she stopped responding to my request for an update and information.
I contacted the embassy last week to find out what was going on. They called her Monday and she called me to let me know the visa was ready. She also said we had to immediately apply for a visa, before we left, or we would miss the renewal period. We met her late Monday night with the Kid's passport - she went to Slovakia and got the visa. She delivered it to me last night and verbally informed me the visa was good through May - I sighed a great sigh of relief as it lifted the pressure of having to spend our last day here at the foreign police.
Then I went upstairs and checked the visa and discovered she was wrong - it expires on the 31st. We went to the local foreign police office today and waited with a new agent. When it was our turn they refused to help us and instead sent us to another location. That took hours. They, the Kid and the agent, are now at the other location. With the length of the line and the speed they're moving at the Kid does not believe that her visa will be processed today. Which means that we now must apply for a brand new visa. All over again. Again.
BTW - I saw that giant boar again today. Walking wearing a harness but not a leash. It almost knocked it's handler down when I approached as he tried to come over and sniff me... scared the HECK out of me - those crazy little tusks and the enormous body! It could seriously rend me limb from limb and eat me in less than 10 minutes. The handler just reached down and yanked on the harness and managed to redirect the boar long enough for me to pass intact.
Crazy day.
