Old and New

I'm told that the tendancy to use the New Year to consider your life is a cultural one. Taken for granted in North America, people make resolutions for improvement. I think I've mentioned, even here, that I like to stop and consider things more routinely. But this tradition of contemplation and New Year's resolutions still makes for a great time to talk about such things.

Spend your year asking your friends for "the meaning of it all" or such and you'll be labelled as melancholy. Discussing resolutions, however, is more socially acceptable. Although even here, resolutions are often personal, and responses and comments need to be strictly limited.

Person1: "I'm planning to hit the gym more and get in better shape."
Person2: "Oh, I know a great gym in my neighbourhood and they are running a special right now."

This is socially acceptable.

Person1: "I'm planning to hit the gym more and get in better shape."
Person2: "So you're feeling fat, eh? Good, I didn't know how to mention what I'm stuck looking at."

This is not.

It's a shame, really, that we don't discuss more openly our motives behind things. Resolutions are proposed solutions to problems in our lives. We discuss those, but rarely the underlying motivating problem. Oh well.

In the coming weeks and months I resolve:

• To study my Dutch and attempt the tests to show I know it because there are things I want to do, but I need a passport to accomplish them.
  
• To go back to the gym, because my cardio fitness is lacking and I would like to loose some fat.
• To get a good job, because in a couple weeks I'll be unemployed and that's probably not good.
• To visit my mom, because her health is bad and I should be there for her.

There's more. Personal stuff. But that's the main part.

This really is a time of change for me. It isn't just due to the calendar or a holiday. It's actually kind of crazy, the total amount of change coming at once. But that reminds me of one more "resolution" I've choosen.

I resolve to keep smiling.

Happy New Year everyone! Don't stay up too late tonight. ;-)

Not slowly, but smoothly?

When it just won't stop racing forward, the least you can hope for is that it goes smoothly. And plans for Brazil are indeed going smoothly. I parked my butt in the waiting room for the Brazilian Consulate this morning, as soon as they opened. One hour later, my Visa was ready!

I'm home now, and I'm finding packing very smooth given that I didn't really unpack. And this time my most cherished scuba gear is going with me as I'll have three days in country to plan some sort of weekend excursion.

This smoothness has been stolen from elsewhere. I finally got out with friends this weekend, but it felt rushed. My "love life" is in chaos. A plate spinning atop a stick. Certain to eventually go somewhere and uncertain to avoid the floor.

And speaking of plates and floors, I have a lack of plates and need to clean the floor before my house warming party. After weeks of postponing, trying to get my home just right (but not actually being home) I've simply decided to pick a date. So friends, you're welcome to drop by for a wine or beer on Saturday April 12th. (I originally posted the wrong date, but it's Twelve.) Now come the tasks of notifying everyone and finishing my home preparations. I want the dining room table to be covered in food and drinks; not a testament to my personal disorganization.

Okay, so it's not all smooth. And nothing is moving slowly. But it is all still moving! Not optional really. But good enough for now.

Check back soon for pics of my first trip south of the equator.

This Isn't Brazil!

As I travelled to the airport this morning I thought," Each journey of a thousand miles begins...

...with a train ride." Little did I know it would be more than one. Instead of being on the plane I'm on a train to Rotterdam, to get a visa to enter Brazil. Who knew?!? Apparently this trip will require ~8 train rides before the plane.

Update:
Visa by Monday. *fingers crossed* Flying Tuesday. *probably* I get to spend a weekend at home (first in a while) and I still get my full week trip to Sao Paulo. :-)

Passport Part IV - Morgan's Revenge

You know it's an epic saga when it comes in four separate parts! Thankfully this part is the shortest and the last.

I returned to The Hague again today and I picked up my shiny new passport. It's lovely, it has *my* name in it, my date of birth and place of birth are correct... it's a passport!

It's been so much fun waiting that I didn't even bother to complain or make sarcastic comments. Well, more like, I'm so sick I couldn't be bothered to think up sarcastic comments. I believe on my way out of the embassy I may have actually meant it when I said thank you.

And the phone rang... Passport Part III

The phone just rang. The Canadian embassy in The Hague has received word that my new passport... latest new passport is in transit and may arrive this afternoon.

I've sent an email to Asia and I'm hoping to hear from the embassy in Kuala Lumpur. The question was, "How much trouble am I in if I show up with a temporary passport?" But the answer may now be unnecessary.

Of course, by this point in the story, what I'm told over the phone is only slightly more "real" than what I watch on South Park.

But don't worry, it isn't all waiting and frustration. There's still humour in this. When I (eventually) pick up my passport and turn in my temporary, I'm going to enjoy pointing out the adhesive problem. It seems I'm actually loosing the last page! Not only is the passport temporary in name, it's physical existence is a tenuous and temporary thing. I hope when the self-destruct mechanism ignites the document it isn't (1) explosive, or (2) in my pocket at the time.

----

Update: At 2pm I got another call. The passport is in The Hague and at the embassy. Tomorrow morning it will be in my hands. :-)

Mogan's Canadian Passport - The Saga Continues

All fun and silliness aside, the week leading up to my party weekend was seriously impacted by the renewal process for my passport.

Originally I was surprised by the complexity of the renewal process itself. Now I'm dismayed! It all started two weeks ago when I got a call from my doctor's office saying the witness papers (part of the 3 pages of forms) were signed and could be picked up. I thought to myself that it had taken a lot longer than I expected. Indeed, upon checking the calender I suddenly realized I had two-and-a-half weeks left before my scheduled trip to Malaysia but the embassy told me to expect the process to take three weeks.

I scrambled! I made calls to almost everyone involved in the meeting (people in the U.S., Europe, and Asia) and found that the authorities and the airlines (particularly the airlines) strictly enforced the "minimum 6-month validity" on passports for travellers. There was no choice so Thursday I ran off to the doctor's, picked up the papers, then went to Den Haag (The Hague) and delivered the forms, my ID, and my old passport to the embassy.

The embassy was closed Friday and Monday (very unusual). Regardless of how things worked out for Malaysia I still needed a temporary passport to go to Denmark. So I went on Tuesday back to the Hague to have them do the temp. passport process they couldn't do the previous Thursday.

When I arrived I was shocked! My passport was on the way! They had just received communication from Canada saying that my new passport was made and already with the courier. They advised I should forget the (expensive) temporary document and just return Wednesday for the normal one. So I did.

But wouldn't you know, Wednesday the courier didn't show! I left Amsterdam on the train before their delivery was expected. And arrived at the Hague in time for them to verify that they didn't have it.

So they made me a temporary one. No problems... I would just head off to Denmark and the normal passport would be waiting upon my return.

I looked through the shiny new temporary passport and was impressed. It looked quite different from my old one. Indeed, different enough that it was hours later, once I was home and the embassy was closed again, before I noticed that my name was spelled wrong. SPELLED WRONG!

The next morning I called the embassy as soon as they were open. I takes about 3-3.5 hours to get to the Hague and back. I had 4 hours before I was scheduled to be at the airport to fly to Denmark. Surely no one would let me travel with a misspelled passport! So I assumed the embassy was be keen to reprint my temporary... a process that takes 20 minutes.

But they couldn't. They don't have control over the information that the computer prints. That comes from a central database in Canada. And that central database is wrong. After seven separate steps to check and verify all the information in my application, this mistake made it "into the computer".

So Thursday afternoon I went to the airport and crossed my fingers. Clearly (from the previous post) I made it to Copenhagen. But returning from CPH to AMS there there a moment it looked like I wouldn't.

The ticket attendant checking my luggage said," Oh, a temporary passport." *pause to read* "Do you have another ticket onwards to Canada? I only show your flight to Amsterdam in the computer?"

Phew! I was able to quickly produce my Dutch Residence Permit and she had failed to notice that the names didn't match.

So later this week I hope to return to the Hague for my new passport. Then Saturday I'll get on a plane for Malaysia. Or, perhaps I won't. Stay tuned to find out.

A new passport... simple.

This isn't the first time I've had to renew my passport since leaving Canada. So I sort of knew what to expect. Even though the process hasn't phased me too badly, it's stunning how complicated it is!

I have to turn in my passport and new-passport application to the Canadian Embassy in the Hague. Even though I'll be in Canada all next week, I can't do it there. Renewals are only allowed in your country of residence. So okay, I fly Saturday and return a week later. I need the passport I have now.

So in two weeks I can go to the embassy. But first I need to go to the dentist! The dentist? Yes, the dentist. Or I could visit my lawyer or my doctor. But I need a signature from a similar notary or witness to sign my application. Fine, I need my 6-month cleaning. So I come home from Canada and go to the dentist to get my passport paperwork filled in.

Then I need to take my passport application and my plane ticket to the Hague. Plane ticket? Yes, I need to get a plane ticket ASAP or else I won't be able to visit Denmark.

I've got plans to visit Denmark 2 weeks after Canada. But the passport (which they'll have and I won't) will take 15 working days... three full weeks. So I also need a temporary passport issued to me before I hand in my application for a real one. And to get the temporary passport, you've got to fill in more forms, pay extra fees, and show proof of travel, ie. a plane ticket. So if I want to leave Holland I need to have a ticket purchased well in advance.

So I'll take my two forms (renewal and temporary), my dentist's signature, my plane ticket, about 160 euros (cash only, no credit) and half a day off work (not including the dentist's appointment) and hand over my passport. Then, just three short weeks (perhaps 2 international trips) and another half day off of work later and I'll have my shiny new Canadian passport.

I'm not even considering the trip to the store to buy new print cartridges as part of the process.

I knew Canadian passports were "popular" but this is silly!