Becoming an American

Yesterday, Milly officially became an American.  We had been joking that the last three weeks she was a Baby Spy.  The girl had no country!  In Turkey, you have to go register the baby yourself unlike in the US, the hospital takes care of all that for you.

Since the girls had parent teacher conferences, I thought it would have been a good day for
Joel to take the day off and hit up the American Consulate too.  I got online and made an appointment at the only time that was listed.  It worked out well being at 10:15am.  I made sure I had all the correct paperwork, copies, and then some.  I had 4 copies of everything!  I even had papers to prove we were US citizens even though we both were born there and had our birth certificates.  I even had tax returns! I wasn't taking any chances of screwing this up.

So about 10am, we strolled down to the Consulate.  For the past month or so, heavily armed Turkish police officers and there riot vehicles have been guarding the Consulate.  It always made me uncomfortable driving past.  The only time I have seen guns like that was flying into Boston right after Sept. 11th.  But since there have been no issues here, they have finally removed the extra security.  We checked in with the security guard (you can't get in without an appointment) and then went to wait in line.  The line wasn't bad but it was a little warm and little shade.  Everyone in line were Turkish trying to get Visa's for their trip to the US.  I was starting to wonder if we were going to be stuck waiting and this was our Consulate!  Finally, we got in the door and it was just security!  We checked our phones and sent our stuff thru the machine.  Because I was wearing Milly in the Moby Wrap, they turned off the metal detector and I got the wand.  As much as you go thru metal detectors here, they make an effort to not make pregnant women or small children go thru them.  We cleared security and headed down the hall.  Yet another line. UGH.  Then the nice guy told us.... you can skip the line and go to the elevators.  So we beat the crowd and hopped on the elevator.  Yea!  Some perks for being Americans!  When we got upstairs, the guy at the desk skipped the lady in front of us and handed us a number.  I looked around the room and it was PACKED!  At least an hour wait.  At least we had two hours before we had to get Nate from school.  Then he told us to go thru that door.  It says American Citizens Services.  Ooo... we get our own room.  When I walk in there is absolutely NO ONE there.  We waited a whooping 30 secs before our number was called.  It was quick and painless.  Two very nice American ladies took care of us.  It was nice not having to worry about misunderstands.  Milly will be getting her birth certificate and her passport in the next two weeks.  Once we receive those, we can apply for her social security number.

While we were there, I got a write in absent ballot since mine never showed.  And I just have to drop it off before Nov. 6 and they will get it back to the US for me.  And no appointment necessary.  But I'm planning on dropping it off on Monday and get it done!

I really expected the process to be much worse.  But it was actually a very easy task.  Having a baby in Istanbul isn't really something to worry about!