I'm back home, in Kansas City, for the summer to work and to spend a little time with my family before heading back to Brazil to finish up my degree. It's difficult to be home after having such an incredible journey in Brazil and Argentina without missing my life in South America and my lifestyle while living there. I realized I was really back in the States when I went to Mimi's Cafe and tried to order freshly squeezed orange juice to no avail. Apparently the "freshly squeezed" orange juice there was from a box. Hum... However, on a very positive note, my shower has just the right pressure and temperature, not sculding hot and then freezing cold leaving only 5 secs to tactfully catch the perfect temperature for a shower. It's nice to see my family and eat my mom's homemade lasagna again.
Buenos Aires two weeks before coming home was delightful and merits its own post. So, I will wait to give the details of my trip for a later time.
A funny story that happened right as I was leaving for Buenos Aires at the airport. The customs officer noticed that I hadn't registered my student visa with the federal police in Brazil. Of course, I was completely surprised and confused because I didn't know that I had to do that, as I am the only foreigner in my program and my coordinator hadn't mentioned it. With luck, he let me pass and I spent my entire trip in Argentina worried about getting back into the country. I thought I would turn into Tom Hanks and live in the airport for a week until I sorted out my visa. When I got to the airport again to enter Brazil, I walked up to the customs officer with the biggest smile on my face and hoping to God that she wouldn't say anything about my visa not being registered. She fiddled with my passport for a few minutes and couldn't find my information in the system. Then asked me if it was my first student visa, to which I responded, "no, I also studied at PUC." That pleased her, and she stamped my passport and told me to have a good night, not really finding my visa in the system or caring to bother with it since this was my second visa. Yeah! I entered with no problem ready to go the the federal police to pay the maxium fine of r$800 for not registering my visa within 30 days of entering the country that next day.
The next day at the federal police, of course at the airport really far from my apartment, I had the pleasure of running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to get everything sorted out. The first lady that "helped" me didn't want to even give me the time of day. When I arrived after waiting in line for two hours, she said, "You have nothing done," handed me list and walked away with me still sitting at her desk for lunch. Great customer service. Fortunately, there was a really nice attendant next to her and she helped me out with everything that I needed to do in order to register my visa. Long-story-short, two days of the federal police and a mountain of paperwork later, I didn't have to pay the r$800 because when I entered the country in September, no one had stamped my passport, so they couldn't legally make me pay a fine when my date of entrance was just 2 days old from my Argentina trip. I'm sooooo happy I went to Argentina and that I didn't have to pay that ridiculous fine. Thank you customs officer that forgot to stamp my passport!
Em fim, estou com saudades do Brasil!
