Reaching officialdome
The title sounds like we're playing some kind of video game and we've leveled up, but what's actually happened is that after 1 month and only 2 trips to Brașov, I've received my green card.
Granted, I had one when we lived here before so there wasn't nearly as much paperwork this time around, but Mihai still had to put in some effort to get it renewed. I say that he did it, because he did, 100% by himself. Not only am I not fluent enough in Romanian to do it myself, but I'm also not fluent in bureaucracy, which is its own language. The moment I have to read a government form, even in my mother tongue, I go blind.
In any case, he gets the credit for this achievement.
Coincidentally, some dear friends of ours in the States got their green cards the same day I got mine so congratulations to Dileep and Sri!
In addition to the achievement of the green card, we also got our Romanian license plates which required more work than getting my ID renewed. Again, all credit goes to Mihai for slogging through the red tape.
The first two letters of a Romanian license plate indicate the county (județe) in which you live, followed by two random numbers then three random letters. The county is fixed, you can't change that, but for a very small fee, you have the option to select the numbers and letters that follow.
BV stands for Brașov, and we thought SCZ—the abbreviation for Santa Cruz—and 26—the year we moved here—would be appropriate. I realize it sort of reads right to left but let's not get too picky, it's just a license plate.
In any case, we're now all legal and official, which means we no longer have to spend our time driving back and forth to all of the government offices in Brașov. We can now spend our time driving from one furniture shop to another in preparation for the guests who are coming soon. We need a dresser for said guests but for some reason dressers here are extraordinarily flimsy. But that's a story for another day.
A special cheers to everyone who takes the time to welcome a stranger—the new hire, the new student, the new face at the hall, the immigrant in the grocery store who's struggling to understand what the total is and how the money works. It's not easy being the foreigner and kind words and deeds are gifts that cost nothing but mean so much.
Thank you for reading.
Be well.
PS. this week's post went up late because we were busy with the international convention. We had to drive all the way to Bucharest and sweat it out in the 88 degree arena, but it was worth it.
We're also hugely grateful to Silvia and Cornel for letting us stay at their place at the last minute!
