While You Were Sleeping...

Hi Everyone, This morning while most of you were sleeping I was on a bus to Vienna. I traveled there to the Czech Embassy because I needed to pick up my visa. In March I applied at the Czech Embassy in Vienna for my long-term visa. The visa process is somewhat cumbersome and a unique process. There are two major parts to it first you have to apply for a work permit and once you have that then you can apply for a long-term visa. My first visa is good for one year. Each year for at least the next 5 years I will have to reapply--first for my work permit then for the visa. But at least next year I will be able to reapply for everything in Brno and not have to travel outside of the country.

Today was quite an adventure for me. It was the first time I traveled by myself to another country. I am glad I had done my homework over the week-end and had figured out a game plan on what was the best way to get to the Embassy from where the bus was dropping me off at. I had only a small window of time to work with so I knew I needed to be efficient as possible so I decided to travel by the underground subway system. You see the Czech Embassy only handles visa issues from 8:30am to 10:30 am M-F that is why I was on a bus that left Brno at 6 am in the morning. I also didn't want to be gone for very long so I booked the 11:35am bus to come home on. I basically was going there to pick up my visa and then come home. Everything was going very well even though the bus was about 30 minutes late because of morning rush hour traffic. I had no problems finding the red and green line underground subways. I headed in the right directions both times and got off at all the right stops. I even managed to walk in the right direction to where the Czech Embassy is located.

All morning I was praying asking God to be with me and allow everything to work out well. I started to run into problems when I tried to reach the contact person at the Embassy that I had been working with. After waiting for over 30 minutes I finally found out that she wasn't in today. The lady at the counter told me to come back tomorrow. I must of had a look of horror on my face because I was scheduled to leave in just a few hours. I didn't want to have to pay for another trip back especially since all I needed to do was pick up my visa. The lady at the counter spoke only a tiny bit of English. Somehow I was able to communicate enough that she realized I was there only to pick up my visa. She took my passport and some other required paperwork. She told me it would take about 10mins. I thought that's good because it is 9:45am so I'll manage to find my way back with time to spare. However, it took longer than 10 minutes in fact I didn't leave the Embassy with my long-term visa until about 10:40am. I quickly made my way to the green and then red underground subways. When I came up from the last stop where I had started from earlier in the day, I got a little worried. Nothing looked familiar to me and here it was 11:15am. I had to somehow quickly find the bus stop area. I had no idea where it was. I walked in one direction and then another. Each time I turned around and walked back to where I had started. Finally I started asking strangers if he/she spoke English remember I am in a German-speaking country. (so my Czech language learning wasn't helpful in this situation :) Most of them didn't know English--I had to laugh one man showed me his watch--I giggled and thought "bless his heart" he surely doesn't understand English. Finally I found a young man who spoke a little English but he wasn't sure where the bus stop was. However, he did direct me to an information center that was just around the corner from where we were standing. My first thoughts were thank you God for directing me to somewhere I can at least ask especially since it is 11:25am and my bus is slated to leave in 10 minutes. I got the information I needed and I had to go back down the underground and up the other side. I quickly found the bus stop and within a few minutes the bus pulled up and I was relieved to climb aboard!

I thought well that is enough of an adventure for one day. I sure was glad to be on the bus. There was one last hurdle to overcome though as I traveled back to Brno and the Czech Republic. The Czech Embassy had given me additional paperwork to give to the Customs Border Officer when he checked my passport. When we got to the Czech border the Customs official came on the bus and I showed him the paperwork--he asked me to sign the bottom half and then took my passport. I wasn't concerned until a different officer asked the bus attendant/driver to get me off the bus. Here I am sitting with a bus full of people mostly Czechs and I get called off the bus. I wasn't sure what was wrong or how it looked to the others. All I had to do was sign the top portion of the form, too :) Whew, I was allowed to get back on the bus and head into the country I call home--it sure was nice to be home by 2pm--what a full day--I sure am tired but very glad my adventure is over and that I am home--never a dull moment--that is for sure!!

Take care until next time!
Blessings,
Colleen