Japanese Consulate Adventure

We were originally supposed to fly to Japan on July 31, but the paperwork for our visas was delayed. The paperwork finally arrived last Monday evening. Papa P went to work to make all the necessary copies of documents and print our visa applications. I left Tuesday around 5:45 in the morning to drive approximately four hours, or 269 miles (433 kilometers) to the Japanese Consulate to turn in the necessary paperwork to get our visas to live in Japan. 

My grandmother made this sheep for me when I was little and my boys dubbed it "great grandma sheep." She sheep came along for the ride. 

Along the route I stopped at Buc-ee's for a quick gas up and bathroom break. 

I got to the Consulate just before 10AM. They had been open for less than half an hour, but there was already a line outside the office. There was one person working on passports and one working on visas. 

I had to leave the Consulate twice to print paperwork PapaP had signed. One was just so I could submit his paperwork (I didn't know I didn't automatically have power of attorney for MY HUSBAND.) The other was to have him to sign a disclaimer to have them send our visas back to us, rather than us pick them up (both of these documents I had to fill out for both my boys... seriously, they had me sign power of attorney of MY OWN CHILDREN TO MYSELF).

This picture of great grandma sheep and me was after my two treks to print the signed documents at a printing/copy/shipping store. I went up six flights of stairs (two each time, three trips up total) to get to the elevator to go to the 30th floor. Thank goodness I didn't have to take the stairs!

The elevators to get to the 30th floor were high tech. You select the floor on a touch screen (this time I was going to the ground floor).

Each elevator was named a different letter. After you select the floor you want, it would show you the letter and point you in the right direction of the elevator you would take. 

I walked a quarter mile (.8 km) back to my car and climbed seven more sets of stairs to reach my car in the garage on the seventh story. It had a great view!

I was glistening (AKA sweaty) by the end of the of all of it! I returned home right away and arrived home at about 5:30PM, almost 12 hours after I left home. 

Our visas are set to arrive at our home somewhere between August 3 and August 5. We are scheduled to fly out August 5, so we may have to reschedule our flight. Fingers crossed we don't have to do that! Almost there! 

Visas

Papa P worked hard to get our visa applications submitted. With the application, you have to submit a picture taken within the last three months. The picture specifications they have are very specific. The picture itself must be 3 x 4 cm. The head must be 15 cm. We set up a white background outside and everyone took their pictures. Papa P resized them to fit the specifications. Everything is now submitted. Hopefully we'll hear from them in a couple of weeks. We may need to drive more than four hours away to the nearest Japanese Embassy to finish the process. 

If things get processed quickly enough, we may get to do a housing trip. Otherwise we may have to do house hunting virtually! That would be no bueno!

I have submitted my letter of resignation to my work. It's bittersweet, since I have loved the people I have been fortunate enough to work with this school year, both the teachers and students. I have seen some amazing growth in several students, which has been so exciting! There are only four weeks left in the school year, which is a crazy thought! 

A couple of weeks ago both of the boys' passports came in the mail! Worst case scenario we were told that they wouldn't come until June. Things are starting to get real! 😌