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July 21, 2004
Now introducing, the next ambassador to Fiji
Before I begin, dear reader, let me assure you that my recent absence was not due to any productive behavior. Oh no, no, no. Instead, I have watched countless episodes of TLC's "The Baby Story," shuffled and re-shuffled (but never, ever filed) paperwork, and perused the Ann Taylor loft Summer Sale. All of which brings me no closer to Sweden, but I'm content to sit here in Bethesda looking good in some new capris. Ahh, the end of summer sale...
And now, the big news of the day:
"Congratulations on passing the April 24, 2004 Foreign Service Written Examination. We invite you to participate in the next phase of the Foreign Service Office selection process, the Oral Assessment. Love, the State Department."
OK, so there were no touching endearments at the end. But has there ever been a pair of sentences so sweet? My next step is to schedule the Oral Assessment (given in Washington D.C. from September-May) next month, which means I'll be coming back from Sweden for a hiatus sometime this fall.
Receiving this news brightened up my day tremendously, because the morning (and early afternoon) had been spent in fruitless pursuit of a residence permit (i.e. a long-term visa) for Sweden. Using the information found on the Embassy website, I compiled a detailed and thorough list of documents for my permit application. Then I trekked downtown to turn in everything personally. Things were going well until I met with the visa assistant who gave me a HITHERTO UNSEEN list of additional materials needed to process a visa application. Because this list included things like a letter of intent (basically a 2-sentence letter from me indicating that I plan to return to America after the program is done), I had to go back home unfulfilled. Very irritating.
I spent the better part of the afternoon getting additional passport photos (I look stunning, by the way), writing a letter of intent, and generally fretting about the impending deadline. The embassy is required to submit all residence permits to the Swedish Migration Board (in Sweden) for approval. The Migration Board then sends a permit stamp back to the embassy, who inserts it into my passport and VOILA! The kicker is that the embassy only couriers permit applications over to Sweden on Wednesday mornings. Thus, since I missed today's deadline, I will have to wait another week for my information to be sent to Sweden for approval. Considering that they recommend 6-8 weeks for visa completion and I am scheduled to start classes in 4 weeks, I am a little worried. Nothing to do about it now I suppose. The embassy staff assured me that the Migration Board is very sensitive to school deadlines and that if I call them next week, things can probably be expedited. It's the word "probably" that has me the most discombobulated.
So the Foreign Service email was a welcome distraction from all things Sweden-related, although I even managed to do a little more work on the car-selling front. I give you, my online ad! (I'm the 1997 Miata with 59,800 miles.)
Other than that, things are moving along swimmingly. My agenda for tomorrow?
1. Get a money order for residence permit
2. Clean room (so much laundry, so little closet space)
3. Repack storage boxes (oh the drama)
4. Kill annoying spider currently living in new boxes
5. File all outstanding paperwork
6. Catch up on Quicken
Hmm, this may be an agenda for the rest of the week. After all, many of these tasks may well interfere with "The Baby Story" and I have to remain loyal to my true priorities.
