We did the social security office yesterday - this was fun! After driving around in the rain for 10 minutes cause in New Bedford, in fact in any city, the parking lots are restricted, so finding a public parking lot is challenging. And then another 10 walking in the rain we finally entered the federal building. Security checks, questions questions etc we enter. Like most government offices you wait, and wait. Unlike in SA you dont stand in a line here you take a ticket and you wait for your number to be called.
After about 40minutes of waiting our number is called.
We state why we are there and hand over the documents. easy right ... oh no not in Rosa Maria/ Rose/ Rosemary's life. I mean I have many names and respond to all of them - but in the US your name is one and one alone. Ok so the confusion is "what is my first name?" is it Rosa, or Rosa Maria? According to all my SA documents they do not stipulate between all my names but in the US my name is Rosa. So this argument went on for at least 20 min! Eventually the guy "changed" my official name to Rosa. yip just Rosa.
Mr Jaime well we have to go back as we did not have all the documents. Great! This is becoming a trend for us. So we try again tomorrow.
Also happening tomorrow is our learners permit. So Ili and I have to work through a manual of over 150 pages before tomorrow. I know that there are test exams on line some free others not which I hope will help us!
Keep us in your thoughts for tomorrow!
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Monday, September 5, 2011
Second thing on the checklist
Our second thing on the checklist - the cell phones! We need to get mobile literally! Our Vodacom roaming aint working so we feeling pretty disconnected.
Off we go to Verizon -
POA: upgrade my prepaid account to a contract and bob's your uncle.
Reality: my $100 on my prepaid has expired and I ahve to start a new contract from scratch grrrr * 10mil!
So Ili and I sign up 2 contracts, with which we receive 2 Droid phones. Dont ask me what a DROID phone is cause I dont know (they tell me its the processing system ???) Anyway this things are huge! I initially thought it was a tablet cause of its size but its not ;-( its a fancy handset with a touch screen. We have over 400 apps to choose from (all new stuff I tell you) and loads of things to do on it, even Ili has become this phone obsessed high roller, mmm people do change tee hee.
Off we go to Verizon -
POA: upgrade my prepaid account to a contract and bob's your uncle.
Reality: my $100 on my prepaid has expired and I ahve to start a new contract from scratch grrrr * 10mil!
So Ili and I sign up 2 contracts, with which we receive 2 Droid phones. Dont ask me what a DROID phone is cause I dont know (they tell me its the processing system ???) Anyway this things are huge! I initially thought it was a tablet cause of its size but its not ;-( its a fancy handset with a touch screen. We have over 400 apps to choose from (all new stuff I tell you) and loads of things to do on it, even Ili has become this phone obsessed high roller, mmm people do change tee hee.
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| Our DROID |
Start of the checklist
As normal immigrants we have a checklist we need to get through for example cars, cell phone, jobs, place to stay, bank accounts etc etc
So the first thing on our list that gets investigated, can you guess??? in true Portuguese style the car! We visit Chev, Honda and Kia.
We arrive at Chev, Ili wops out the stroller and says " oh we need to take the airline tag off we dont want them thinking we tourists" bwahahahahahah Ili we sound VERY different you dont need a sticker on a stroller to say we not local!!!
My option would be number 3 the Kia Soul. It’s got spunk and it’s a great get around car. Love it! They difficult to get here as they selling so fast, but here is hoping and praying.
Ok another ili moment: (this is going to be hard to explain as it’s an accent thing but work with me and read the words as I type them, hope you get it) we at Kia and Ili asks for the Kia Sport - Ah-ge, the agent mmm I leave my comments to myself, took Peter and Ili on their little adventure through the cars. He even offered us a test drive, on our own, no agent! very different. Anyway back to Ili, we telling Laura the story the next morning and she pipes out " Hey what car were you looking for at Kia? the Kia Sport-edge?" well that was it we were all rolling on the floor laughing. We were probably the joke of the day at the dealership us and our sport - Ahge.
I guess this is gonna happen alot - I hope we laugh each time like we did today!
The hurdle before that car can be bought (there is always one) we have to redo our learners and drivers exams. eeeiiicccckkk remember that??? Oi all those signs and the multiple choice dam was not expecting that!!!! and the practical dam that 5 point head check, the handbreaks etc and we driving on the other side of the road - can you imagine parrallel parking, alley docking??? breath...breath.... so we need to book this asap so we can buy a car. Wish us luck!
So the first thing on our list that gets investigated, can you guess??? in true Portuguese style the car! We visit Chev, Honda and Kia.
We arrive at Chev, Ili wops out the stroller and says " oh we need to take the airline tag off we dont want them thinking we tourists" bwahahahahahah Ili we sound VERY different you dont need a sticker on a stroller to say we not local!!!
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| Option1: Chev Equinox |
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| Option2: CRV Honda |
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| Option3: Kia Soul |
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| Option 4: Kia Sportage |
My option would be number 3 the Kia Soul. It’s got spunk and it’s a great get around car. Love it! They difficult to get here as they selling so fast, but here is hoping and praying.
Ok another ili moment: (this is going to be hard to explain as it’s an accent thing but work with me and read the words as I type them, hope you get it) we at Kia and Ili asks for the Kia Sport - Ah-ge, the agent mmm I leave my comments to myself, took Peter and Ili on their little adventure through the cars. He even offered us a test drive, on our own, no agent! very different. Anyway back to Ili, we telling Laura the story the next morning and she pipes out " Hey what car were you looking for at Kia? the Kia Sport-edge?" well that was it we were all rolling on the floor laughing. We were probably the joke of the day at the dealership us and our sport - Ahge.
I guess this is gonna happen alot - I hope we laugh each time like we did today!
The hurdle before that car can be bought (there is always one) we have to redo our learners and drivers exams. eeeiiicccckkk remember that??? Oi all those signs and the multiple choice dam was not expecting that!!!! and the practical dam that 5 point head check, the handbreaks etc and we driving on the other side of the road - can you imagine parrallel parking, alley docking??? breath...breath.... so we need to book this asap so we can buy a car. Wish us luck!
Our first days on planet USA
Our flight from SA was broken in half by an 8 hour, sorry 6 hour, wait in London. Thanks to Gary those 6 hours flew by so fast and we got to catch up which was great. Jaime travelled really well, slept most of the way and the other bit either watched movies with his new McQueen headset or played leapfrog.
Arrival in the US September 2 2011.
Our arrival was filled with excitement, nerves, anxiousness for various reasons of which I’m sure you can figure out. The one reason however, was one we discovered a week before we left, our lawyer informed us that we should have been in the US already i.e. we shouldn’t have been out of the country for longer than 6 months (we were going on 10 mths). Great! Ili and I were under the impression that we had a year and a half to move and we were in fact "early". Ok well we deal with the matter at hand and start building documents as proof on why it has taken us longer than 6 months to move. This is not an easy feat - We had to learn about filing income tax returns, how to register a company, make copies of everything and prepare answers for everything. The last thing we needed was to arrive in the US after a 24 hour trip, and be sent back home with nothing.
17h20 Virgin Atlantic touches ground with US soil - we are "home". I can see and sense the nervousness in Ili, but neither of us trying not to let it affect our "confidence". We disembarked from the plane, after Jaime saying bye and blowing kisses to everyone he walked past, picked up our stroller collected ourselves and walked through to the US residents immigration line. It moved pretty quickly which made our hearts pound faster. ok we next, ahum, Good evening. Passport please, Greencards please, - here is the part we were dreading "how long have you been out the country?" I look at Ili, back to the official and respond "9months, we are officially moving to the US now" he replies "OK please put your fingers on the screen...” and that was that!
Ili and I were giggling all the way to baggage control; we could not believe how stress free that was. And the rest of our luck continued, all 3 bags (the only 3 bags wrapped in cling wrap lol) arrived, and off we went to the arrivals gate. Honestly with the send off that we had we at least expected a "welcome to the US" sign but no, we waited and waited eventually called my brother Peter to confirm that he knew we were coming today...mmm he says he was at the wrong terminal..???? At least he came.
And our quest continues...
1 September 2011 - Our Journey begins
We left SA on Thursday September, 1 2011. After a very stressful few weeks of packing, research, finalising business that final day arrived. We left SA with a huge send off by family, friends and the Bokke fans (they actually came to see the Bokke off to New Zealand for the Rugby World Cup, but we like to think they came to send us off).
After an emotional and heart sore Goodbye the Jardim Familia started on their journey through the South African boarder control. Our flight was delayed by 2.5 hours so we had some time shopping, not that we bought anything, but it was relaxing none the less. Around 10:15 Virgin Atlantic commenced boarding, with everyone on board two passengers decided they'd rather get off...grrr another 2 hour delay! Finally 12:30 Virgin Atlantic airlines leave South African soil.
No going back now!
After an emotional and heart sore Goodbye the Jardim Familia started on their journey through the South African boarder control. Our flight was delayed by 2.5 hours so we had some time shopping, not that we bought anything, but it was relaxing none the less. Around 10:15 Virgin Atlantic commenced boarding, with everyone on board two passengers decided they'd rather get off...grrr another 2 hour delay! Finally 12:30 Virgin Atlantic airlines leave South African soil.
No going back now!
28 August 2011 - Our Farewell and celebration of Ili's birthday
Our extinguished guests were invited in true SA fashion, an sms:
"Howzit china's, we can like to invite you to a kiff Proudly South African shindig. Dress the part, rock up, have some chow, and tell us why you love RSA. Most of all let's celebrate Ili turning another year older & send us on our adventure with our love tanks full. It all goes down Sunday 28 August at 12:20, op die plaas. Ok, lekker schweet, check ja lata, Cheers. Bye. Over & Out"
The day included a braai, boerewors & espetada, pap & sous, green salad, 3 bean salad and home made bread yummy yum yumm Amstels and SA wine floating around between the laughter and the tears.
Click on the Thumbnail below the feeds list to see some pics of the day. Cant seem to get the slideshow to show in my Post grrr. Enjoy anyway.
"Howzit china's, we can like to invite you to a kiff Proudly South African shindig. Dress the part, rock up, have some chow, and tell us why you love RSA. Most of all let's celebrate Ili turning another year older & send us on our adventure with our love tanks full. It all goes down Sunday 28 August at 12:20, op die plaas. Ok, lekker schweet, check ja lata, Cheers. Bye. Over & Out"
The day included a braai, boerewors & espetada, pap & sous, green salad, 3 bean salad and home made bread yummy yum yumm Amstels and SA wine floating around between the laughter and the tears.
Click on the Thumbnail below the feeds list to see some pics of the day. Cant seem to get the slideshow to show in my Post grrr. Enjoy anyway.
Change of name
I've decided to change the name of the blog, everything will continue to be about Jaime, after all he is my everything, but it will also include all about us the Jardim Familia that lived in SA, moved to the US and made it work!
So keep in touch, I hope to update often so that you are up to date and I have a memory of what happened and the journey that we travelled as a family.
Enough now the new name is:
So keep in touch, I hope to update often so that you are up to date and I have a memory of what happened and the journey that we travelled as a family.
Enough now the new name is:
the Familia Jardim
a journey never to be forgotten
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