My Status

Hey everybody,

A little heads up on what's up with me. I've finally received my Chilean student visa. I finally got all my papers, etc. together, faxed them to the Consulate's office and talked back and forth with them on the phone to straighten everything out (BTW - I didn't end up needing an HIV test - all those worries for nothing - ha ha), and my family and I made a little trip down to Houston on Tuesday and Wednesday to make my personal appearance.

We did some shopping in Hillsboro and Waco along the way as well as in Houston, so that was fun. Of course, going places in vehicles on roads with my parents isn't completely pleasant, because they make each other nervous wrecks - but I think we were able to get past that at times and enjoy the trip. Has anyone else ever been to IKEA? Oh my gosh - it is so cool. Not only do they have super cool stuff, but they have great prices, too - it's amazing. I got a lamp with a clamp on it for my bed next year, and a cord set for the new paper lantern I got for Christmas.

Anyway - back to the visa - for anyone interested, I got 3 papers that have all my info. and a picture on them, and a clear label-thing printed off the computer and placed on a page in my passport. I'll have to present all this when I get to Chile - the lady said she thinks they take 2 of the copies and leave me with 1 - who knows. Oh - and the lady's name who I've been in conversation with about receiving a visa and who processed everything when I came, was Puentes, which is Bridges in Spanish. I went by Alicia Puentes for awhile in my Spanish classes in high school.

Christmas Eve we had my mom's side of the family over - good times. We had fajita salad and taco soup, opened presents, and watched SNL - very good times. My grandparents stayed the night to share in the Santa festivities in the morning. I got all kinds of good stuff all the way around, and I think everyone liked their milk menagerie share from Heifer, as well - maybe Britni was disappointed, but oh well, she can get over it.

I'm pretty much at home with my parents for the New Year. They may or may not stay up, and we'll eat black-eyed peas for good luck tomorrow - pretty exciting. I think I'll finally get my computer back on Monday. The screen once again messed up, so I had to take it to Best Buy to be sent to Hewlett-Packard to be fixed again. Hopefully that will be the end of the problems - at least until August. I'd like to have my computer the whole time I'm in Chile.

That's it for now. Just so you know, it feels like spring here - birds chirping, it's 70-something degrees outside, we have all our windows and doors open - craziness.

Happy 2005!

Jessica