The slim envelope arrived Saturday telling me my Dutch residence permit was available for pickup! Abnormal these days, today I left the house before Maggie, and pedaled my bike up to the government building we have visited on a few nervous occassions in our quest to get me a residence permit.
The sky was crystalline blue and I pedaled away from the IND as if I was sixteen years old with my drivers license in hand, headed to my super sweet sixteen party filmed by MTV. (Of course, we had a "Super Residence Permit to party" party with our friends and neighbors yesterday to celebrate and I did not arrive by litter but I was grateful to our friends for celebrating with us). I rode my bike the long way home acting like I owned the country, and immediately transfered all of my belongings to a new wallet, no longer being required to carry my passport and visa around everywhere.
It is such a small thing but it removes a huge amount of uncertainty for Maggie and me. It also means we can make plans for next month without having to worry about me being forced to leave the country suddenly or applying for transit visas. I am looking forward to Spring in the Netherlands!
1 comment:
I love the analogy about being 16 and getting your first drivers license. Seems appropriate, however, that you're in the Netherlands and therefore on a bike. If this were a short film I'd use Melanie's Brand New Key as the soundtrack.
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