My paperwork is complete. Now to send it out.

 

I finally filled in the last form I needed to register a foreign birth and gain a second citizenship in a European country (which I will leave unnamed for now.)  There's a part of me that has been hesitant about doing this.  But, with all that's going on in GOP politics in this country, it pays to have the ability to go somewhere if this country turns into a fundamentalist "Christian" autocratic kleptocracy.

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My grandmother was born in Europe in 1903.  She came here when she was 17, and gave birth to my dad out of wedlock.  (Yes, I can affectionately call my dad a bastard.  But then, I never did so.)  30 years later, my mom gave birth to me.  Luckily, according to the laws of one country, the child of a citizen is automatically considered a citizen of that country.  Grandchildren must file to be recorded in the foreign births registry before they are considered citizens.  It's a shame that my brother didn't do this before his children were born. His children would have been able to inherit citizenship from him, and be able to be citizens of 2 countries.  (My niece is preparing to become a UK subject, but that's another story.)

It's strange for me to think of myself as a citizen of more than one country.  But then, it's strange to think that America's democracy may be dead by our 250th birthday.  As a transgender person, I worry what will happen if the wall between church and state no longer exists, and that people are allowed to proselytize in the workplace. No longer will we be able to be free to hold our own beliefs and practice them. We're already seeing signs that this is happening with some of the rule relaxations that the Orange Snowflake is proposing.  I am still not emotionally prepared to pull up stakes and move to another country to be safe from America's madness.

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Once I was done getting the application form notarized, I prepared everything to be mailed out in the morning.  And then, I decided to take a drive up to Goodwill to see if I could buy a cheap carry-on for the times I am out doing an overnight as Marian. (One carry-on for Marian, and one for Mario.)  The used clothing there looked in much better shape than the used luggage.  I guess that I'll have to order an inexpensive carry-on from Amazon for this purpose. 

This weekend, I will likely be in Marian mode when I go to RQS's place. I have a set of dresses there that I can wear, and I figure that I might as well be comfortable.  We'll be seeing one of her friends (who has seen me in both presentations), and I not sure of what we'll do after that.  At least, I'll be able to drive down to her place, and not try to find the bus to her place at its new starting point. 

 

 

 

 

PS: on August 6th, I received word from the Foreign Births Registry that my paperwork has been received.  Now to wait a few months before the next step in the process.  Hopefully, bu this time next year, I will be a citizen of two countries. 

The only reason we left the house was to move the car.

 

RQS lives on a street with Alternate Side of the Street parking.  When I arrived on Friday, I parked on the wrong side of the street for short term convenience, knowing that I'd have to move my car again if I wanted to stay over until Monday morning.  Well, Sunday came, and I planned to stay over.

Around 3:30 pm, we went out to move the car.  It was in front of the building next door, and I had to move it to an opposite side of the street.  (Her side is no parking on Monday/Thursday mornings, while the other side is no parking on Tuesday/Friday mornings.)  We got very lucky.  There was a good open spot right around the corner.  So, I parked there before we headed to the supermarket.

The area of Queens we were in borders Brooklyn, and this is one of many neighborhoods in NYC where per-consolidation street grids clash.  The bus route that RQS takes to the subway was established when trolleys ran between Brooklyn and Queens, and had to be changed slightly when some awkward intersections were taken off the street grid.  As a result, the main bus route that takes us to a key subway station makes a strange zig-zag before it crosses Myrtle Avenue.  For us, we didn't need to do the zig-zag, as we could walk along the path the road once took and cross Myrtle Avenue without problems, on our way to the supermarket.

The Ridgewood, Glendale and Bushwick neighborhoods are undergoing ethnic change.  Gone are the days when both Ridgewood and Glendale were German neighborhoods, although some traces of this still remain in a few stores which were founded during that era.  Now, the Spanish speaking community has moved into some of the blocks while others are being gentrified.  Gone are the days when one could rent a 2 bedroom apartment for under $2,000.  Given the going rate in RQS's area, I don't know how any newcomers can afford to live there.  But I digress.

We reached the supermarket and picked up some things to have with our leftovers meal that evening.  We had a sweet tooth for Ice Cream Sandwiches, so we picked up some Klondike Cookies & Cream.  Then, we picked up an apple pie before walking back to RQS's place.  Sadly, neither of these items were to our liking.  We prefer Fat Boy's Ice Cream Sandwiches to Klondike's.  And the apple pie was best left forgotten, the brand never to be purchased again.

Were the leftovers good?  Yes.  Was it worth staying over an extra night?  Of course.  But, do I wish I found a spot on the right side of the street on Friday?  YES!!!!  Both of us would rather have stayed in bed until evening.  But if we had done so, I would have had to leave for home that night.