Birth Abroad Adventures

Michael's been born! Now for the citizenship...

You have to go on Monday for birth certificate pick-ups. Getting a later start than usual (after waiting for someone who never showed up), we headed out to get a taxi-by-the-hour at the road. Every taxi going by was packed with 5 or 6 people - probably because it had just started to rain. Finally, we got a taxi that did have 2 people in it, but was it okay if they were just dropped off en-route? Yes, that's fine. Bumper to bumper traffic going through several of the intersections - lots of things to look at as Ruth, Michael, and I sat in the front seat (no seat belt). I did make sure to lock the door next to Ruth, since I care about my child's safety. :) Of course Ruth kicked off her shoes, but fortunately they weren't too hard to reach for since she couldn't kick them far. Off to the mayor's office again.

Finally, after more than 10 weeks, we have Michael's birth certificate. For Ruth, in a rural area, this process took 5 minutes. For Michael, it took 1 visit to Bethesda to do the first paperwork, then it took 1 trip to drop off the paperwork and 3 trips to find out that it's still not done at the mayor's office. Each time, I tried to politely convince the workers that I really did need it before I could get anything done towards getting him a passport or American citizenship, etc. Today, I guess, the sight of me trying to hold on to a Ruth (dragging on the ground) with a fussy Michael in his snuggli brought about a sense of compassion. Even though it wasn't on the agenda, they pulled out my papers from the forgotten file and told me to wait outside. "How long" "Ca depends" "Are you doing it now?" "S'asseoir dehors"...My French comprehension isn't always reliable, and I left, confused, and tried to run it by the taxi guy who was waiting for me. He was unsure as well as to how long it might take. I decided I'd at least feed Michael, then give Ruth the cracker snack she'd been begging for and playing with all morning, and see how things looked then. Michael refused to eat, but turned cheerful at being turned face-forward. Ruth was calm and happy to pick the 8-cracker package clean crumb by crumb (genius entertainment!), and while we waited we watched an official calling name by name for people to come up and take their completed paperwork. Nope, not that batch. Maybe the next one. Not that either, but then after about an hour and a half a lady beckoned us back inside. With Ruth hanging on one side again, I proofed the copywork, she stamped it, and there it was. Aha!

Off to the atm. Taxi driver said he'd done as much as he could - took the fare and left. I got the money (for passport/paperwork) and looked for another depot taxi. A bystander, seeing that I was white, tried to get me to take his car (for security), for only 3000 (standard is 1500), and when insisting didn't seem to work, he flagged a taxi and asked what I would give him for helping...yeah, well, sorry. I didn't need help but thank you for the cadeau.

Off to the American embassy. I bought a couple more packages of cracker/cookies outside, then we went into 'America'. Dig out the passports from the diaper bag, put everything through the conveyor belt, get Ruth to walk through the 'special tunnel' scan, walk through myself, try and get her to stay on that side of security while we wait for the passports and record Michael's name as a non-passport visitor - get cleared through, then return to get the blanket that didn't make it all the way through the conveyor - walk through the rain to the main office, and enter a nice, quiet, 'civilized' atmosphere. Their bathroom hearkens of America. It smells nice. It's clean. The toilet flushes automatically. There's toilet paper, and it even turns easily. The faucet turns on/off when you put your hands under it. There's soap in the dispensor. There are real recycled-brown-paper-towels to dry your hands. And a trash can. There is, miracle of miracles, a pull-down changing table! And no chipped tiles to be seen! Ruth excitedly explored the area while I tried to change Michael, feed him, and keep her from playing with 300 squares of toilet paper all wadded up...etc. Anyway - they even have some toys in the corner of the waiting room, so between that and the cookies, Ruth wasn't too unruly. So after submitting the paperwork, filling out another which was on the wrong form, paying, and coming back to the "American citizen services" inner room, we were done with all we had to do there. And instead of feeling confused, I felt blessed by customer service.

So then we walked out the way we'd come and got another taxi without too much delay. Ruth screamed/cried for the first 10 minutes (why is she crying?) and eventually fell asleep. Michael slept well all the way home. The taxi driver lectured the whole way on how you have to be careful driving here and how I should be careful getting taxis here, since there are many thieves and worse who con using the taxi system. Did I want his phone number so I could be guaranteed a secure ride in the future? et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But a very genial person.

Dug out the money using my somewhat free hand, and carried both kids to the house. Ruth screamed/cried for the next 45 minutes, refused to sleep, had a potty accident, refused to sit on the potty, refused to put on new underwear, all while Michael's fussing at needing to eat...crazy! The guard comes "Why is she crying? Are you beating her? Why is she crying?" and I DON'T really have time to explain while I'm trying to deal with a screamer and a wet floor and a baby...grr. No, I'm not beating her; she's just tired because she missed her nap and just had crackers for lunch, yes, I can hear she's screaming, no, she's okay, no she is just tired and angry, no, I'm not doing anything to her; if I give her attention she screams louder...I need to go take care of my kids!

But then it was a nice calm afternoon after Ruth had decided to be cheerful and thankful and stop screaming so she could come out of her room. Watch a bit of veggietales so I can lie down a minute while Michael sleeps - it's all good. So that was the adventure of the day. Apart from the water being off and and and..

but I do like being here, all said and done, just VERY thankful to have the birth certificate taken care of