Serenity Now Please

What a day, what a day.  I'm still mid-application process for a permanent visa.  I got up early today to get started on the tasks needed.  My Aussie called out of work because he wasn't feeling well so I had hoped to get my duties finished and then be home to snuggle up with him on the couch to lend some TLC.  Boy, was that wishful thinking...

I started the day with a walk to the Paddington Police Station to get my fingerprints done.  I attempted this myself by dowloading the fingerprint card from the FBI website and purchasing an ink pad from the Dollar Store, however all I ended up with was 20 black smudgy looking marks with no clear discernment of my "arches" or my "deltas" (that's right, I'm down with the Fed lingo) so I thought I better go to a professional agency. 

I got to the Paddington Station and the lovely officer behind the reception desk suggested I get my fingerprints taken at the Waverley Police Station instead.  They only use ink at Paddington and that can fade or not look clear, but at Waverley it's all done via scan/electronic/etc.  Brilliant idea, officer, thank you so much!  So she gave me directions to Waverley and told me it would only be 5 minute walk or so up Oxford St.  Awesome.  So I start my trek and the weather is good and I'm in good spirits, getting stuff done and done.  Well, 5 minutes turns into 15 minutes.  15 minutes then turns into 25 minutes, then 35 minutes and finally at 45 minutes I arrive at the police station.  Mind you the geography here is much like San Francisco and hills are not my friend. 

** For an amusing look at my trek, visit this google maps link: Hannah's Ridiculous Trek **

So I get to the Waverley Police Station and I'm the first in line with no wait whatsoever.  I start to feel a little better.  The gentleman behind the counter is a Captain and seems very knowledgable.  We get to chatting and turns out his wife is American and from Texas and had to go through this process years ago so he feels my pain.  Sweet, now I feel much better, sympathy is good.  So he pulls out all the necessary paperwork and collects my credit card and passport and then asked for my international pre-paid envelope.  Um, what?  "Oh, you don't have a prepaid international envelope?  Well, you'll have to go to a post office to get that first.  We can't give you your fingerprints back to you, we have to mail them directly to the FBI with your application and then they will send the results back to you in that pre-paid envelope."  SUH-WEET.  Tears are forming but I hold them back.  So he gives me directions to the nearest bus stop because at this point I have to head back to Paddington for my doctor's appointment.

I walk up two little blocks and I'm literally in the den of the devil aka Bondi Junction.  And by this I mean there are hundreds of people, no clear signs for bus stops yet heaps of buses flying by.  Picture Times Square but the buildings are only 10 stories high.  I don't know what bus to take or which direction to take it in so I call my Aussie.  He tries to talk me through the directions but I'm slightly distracted because there are some really awesome shops that I can see through my tears.  But the biggest distraction is that I get shoved out of the way on the sidewalk by an undercover police officer chasing some punk out of an Apple store.  Yes, I'm lost, crying, and a witness to petty theft.

I finally find the Bondi Junction Interchange (similar to Port Authority) and catch the 380 bus.  I think this is the right bus because it says "via Oxford St." and I live near there.  And it would have been the right bus if I had taken it in the other direction but I don't realize this until I've been on it for about 15 minutes and beautiful Bondi Beach rolls into my view.  So I get off at Bondi and get back on the 2nd City-bound 380 bus that I see (the first one didn't stop for me when I hailed it, it just sailed right on by.  Cue second round of tears). 

I make it home at 2:00 PM, text my Aussie to be waiting outside our apartment for a much-needed hug, and then keep walking the 20 minute trek to my doctor's appointment.  At this point, I have accomplished nothing.  I've been up since 9 AM, visited three different neighborhoods, covered about 10 kilometers of land via walking and public transportation and have literally crossed ZERO things off my checklist.  I walk into the doctor's office, fill out paperwork, get my photo taken, get a chest X-ray, get weighed and measured, pee in a cup, get blood drawn, and wait for the doctor to see me for my exam (yes, all of the prior things done were not part of the doctor's exam).  So 30 minutes go by and I'm led into the doctor's room and my eyes and ears are examined, my reflexes checked, my heart and lungs listened to and then told that I have to see one more doctor because my urine sample came back and there are concerns.  "Well, what are the concerns doctor?" "Well, we need you to see another doctor to rule out kidney disease. Your urine is very dense."  Excellent. I'm sure my urine is "dense" because all I've had since 8 AM is a large coffee and one piece of bread, no water or anything else and it's now 3:50.  (Starvation equals dense pee, for future reference.)  So once I see the other doctor and fax those results to this doctor, then they can proceed with finishing this medical check-up which then goes into my ever-growing visa application pile.  However, I have to arrange to see the pee doctor, there isn't one at this office and now it's almost 4:00 PM so this will have to be done another day.  Still nothing checked off my to-do list then.

But I get home and my Aussie and I walk to the nearest post office and we do get certified copies of our passports (CHECK!) and we do get witnesses to sign off on some other paperwork (CHECK!) and we then go to Woolworth's to buy some toilet paper and soy milk (CHECK, CHECK!!).

So now I'm home.  My Aussie is taking care of dinner (and I will note that in the 18 months of our relationship, this is the FIRST TIME EVER he has made me dinner) and I'm thrilled that I don't have to do a thing more tonight.  Tomorrow is a new day and I'm simply going to recycle my to-do list, add "Educate Paddington police constable on the true walking distance from Paddington to Bronte" to that list and hope to get some things checked off tomorrow.