Busy Summer in U.S.A.

My summer started early this year. I arrived back into the U.S. on Wednesday May 12, 2010. I had been overseas for 9 months and hadn’t realized how much I missed my country until I was walking through customs and the customs officer said, “Welcome Home”!! I immediately got tears in my eyes and it was all I could do to maintain my composure. Within three hours I headed to Target and Rick went into Dick’s sporting goods. Although the jet lag made me feel like I had been hit buy a mack truck it was so….. good walking through Target! Living overseas makes you acutely aware of the bliss of “One Stop Shopping”. Next up was a new hair cut and color courtesy of my baby sister.

On May 13th we drove to New Jersey for Caitlyn’s college graduation at The College of New Jersey. Friday May 14th Caitlyn graduated with a Bachelor Degree in English and minor in Communications. It was a beautiful Spring day, I was proud of and happy for Caitlyn. The following day I headed down to Fenwick Island, DE to spend a few days with Rick & Caitlyn at the beach house. It was cool and somewhat rainy but we bundled up and headed to the beach. Rick did some surf fishing. He also had a video interview for a new job.

On Thursday May 22 I drove Rick to the airport to fly back to Singapore. I was flying to Cincinnati to visit friends. We checked in and met up at the security check point. Once through security we had to part ways. I remember hugging Rick one last time and taking the escalator upstairs towards my gate. I watched Rick through the 2nd story windows get on the tram and head to his gate. I was sad, knowing it would be 9 weeks until I saw him again.

I spent 4 days in Cincinnati visiting friends. I love to visit Cinci, like the DC area it feels like home. Cumulatively I lived there 8 years the longest place I’ve lived since my marriage in 1985. It was great seeing my dear Lord of Life Lutheran Church friends, former neighbors, P&G friends, Wellness Community friends & everyone else in between. I don’t think people realize how much their friendship and supports means. I move around a lot, each person that touches my heart will always be so very special to me. I don’t think there are words to express the impact of sharing a place and time with someone dear.

Two weeks after arriving “home” I rented a van to drive to NJ to move Caitlyn out of her college house. She had lived her for 2 years and was not ready for college to be over. I showed up at the car rental place early. Only to be told that the van would not be there until twelve noon!! It was all I could do not to blow a gasket. I had to leave the store I was so livid. After talking to my Dad & Caitlyn I decided I would not rent the van until the following day. Knowing I had a 6 hour round trip plus time loading the van ahead of me the last thing I wanted to do is start our at 12 noon. I went back inside the rental store and told them I they had better have the van tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. and what BS this entire fiasco was. Then I got back in my car and had a good cry I was so mad!! The following day I picked up the econo van and headed to NJ to move Caitlyn out. To make matter worse I was not able to rent a larger storage unit in DE to put Caitlyn’s things in. I would have to put everything in the garage until a larger unit became available. After 6 weeks a larger storage unit became open and with the help of Caitlyn and her friends we moved everything from the old unit and from the garage.

Next up was the kitchen remodel. All the furniture, stove, dishwasher & refrigerator had to be removed before the carpet and old tile could be taken up. After a week of not having a working kitchen the new kitchen dining area tile was installed. The dust and dirt was amazing. I sealed the tile and have been waiting for the “office” area cabinets to be ordered and installed. This ultimately did not happen until the 3rd week of July. It was a pain but now that it’s done I’m happy with the way it turned out.

In the midst of this Amanda & I headed up to Sparta, NJ so that we could visit friends. The plan was for Amanda to spend 6 nights here; 3 with one friend & 3 with another. I would spend 2 nights with former neighbors and then start driving up through New England stopping to see friends along the way. Due to some teen girl drama I had to change my plans and return to NJ after only one night in Connecticut. I enjoyed visiting Lindsay’s boyfriend’s family in the quaint town of Ridgefield, Connecticut near Danbury. Our week long trip turn into a 3 day trip. No one better tell me I’m not flexible!

Next up was supposed to be Amanda’s 4 days at Lacrosse Camp at Salisbury State University, in Salisbury, Maryland. The home of the division 3 girls college lacrosse champions. Well she lasted a total of 4 hours and I had to drive the 45 minutes to Salisbury to haul her butt home. She didn’t like it and the heat made her sick…….. Again no one better say I’m not flexible.

July 4th weekend the beach house was filled with activity. My mom came down on Thursday, then Caitlyn and 3 friends and my sister and her family. We had a big cookout on the 4th. Caitlyn’s guy friends helped me move her college stuff out of the garage & into the bigger storage unit I had rented for beer $$. It was a good trade. Amanda got a lesson in beer pong from Caitlyn & friends. I got to spend some quality time with my Mom only to learn that my Dad had recently been diagnosed with prostrate cancer. He’s currently in treatment at Johns Hopkins and we expect him to make a full recovery this winter.

I can’t express how wonderful it was so spend so many weeks in Lower Slower Delaware. The beach feeds my soul like no other place on earth. I love the farms, the rows and rows of corn, the scrub grass, the seagulls, the ocean breeze, the comfortable feel of my flip-flops. I was truly blessed the summer of 2010 being able to spend so much time in a place I love.

Oh The Joys of Moving; Adventures in Gaining a Resident Visa for Athens

So we made the decision in mid-June 2010 for Rick to accept a new job with Coca-Cola Hellenic. They are the European bottler for Coca-Cola and based in Athens, Greece. Having lived in a communist country in the late 1990’s I figured moving to Europe would be easy. Ha ha ha ha on me! When you travel to Greece as an American on vacation not a problem you just go. To be an American and live and work there is a whole other can of worms. The relocation company sends us a huge list of requirements that we had to gather before submitting our application for visas.

What follows is the saga how I went about gathering all the required documents. I needed an Apostille stamp on my marriage certificate and Amanda‘s birth certificate. Okay fine, had to have Rick send our originals from Singapore to U.S. You are asking ?

What is an "Apostille" or "Authentication?"
Since October 15, 1981, the United States has been part of the 1961 Hague Convention abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents. The Convention provides for the simplified certification of public (including notarized) documents to be used in countries that have joined the convention.
Under the Hague Convention, signatory countries have agreed to recognize public documents issued by other signatory countries if those public documents are authenticated by the attachment of an internationally recognized form of authentication known as an "apostille". The Apostille ensures that public documents issued in one signatory country will be recognized as valid in another signatory country.
The sole function of the Apostille is to certify the authenticity of the signature on the document; the capacity in which the person signing the document acted; and the identity of any stamp or seal affixed to the document.
An Apostille issued by the Secretary of State is a one page document embossed with the Great Seal of a State. The Apostille includes the facsimile signature of the individual issuing the certificate.
There are currently over 60 member states of the Hague convention and in addition to those countries many other countries will also recognize an Apostille certificate.

Off to the internet I go to figure out what to do. Lucky for me we were married and Amanda was born in Maryland. Road trip to Annapolis to get the Secretary of the State of Maryland to certify our documents. Dummy me I took our original documents with me, thinking they would be good. Ha ha ha again. Of course the day I pick to drive the 2 hours to Annapolis is sweltering and there is no where to park. Finally found a spot that was only good for 30 minutes and had to hike up hill to the building several blocks away. Only to be told that my original marriage certificate was signed by the pastor and not the clerk of courts of Montgomery County, Maryland. It needed to be signed by the clerk of courts!!! Now it didn’t matter that the clerk of courts is the one who issued the marriage certificate. I’d have to go to Montgomery County and get an official copy. NOT!!! I was able to mail it to Clerk of Court in Montgomery County, Maryland, then mail it to the Secretary of State of Maryland for the apostille stamp. This of course took about 2 weeks. The good news was that Amanda’s original birth certificate was good to go and got it’s lovely Apostille stamp right away!
Next step is to obtain FBI background checks for Rick & I. This I’m told can take up to 12 weeks, YIKES! How can we get to Greece in time if it takes this long. This freaks me out so I call the guy at the Greek Embassy in Washington, DC. I speak to 2 people before an exasperated man gets on the phone and says is this Mrs. Camacho? I’m like yeah how did you guess. He grumbles to me that he has already told my husband all that he needs to know. I’m thinking then whys is my husband having be do all this leg work. Anyhow I annoy him further by asking why they can’t accept a digital FBI background check that only takes 72 hours. He has to tell me they are not “set-up” to do that. So why have this stupid requirement that takes 12 weeks? I guess I’m really getting on his nerves and keeping him from his morning coffee and newspaper so he promises me he will give us our Visa’s “IF” I give him a “local” background check and then mail him the FBI check when it finally comes in the mail. I’m like okay so much for rules. I phone up my Dad and ask him to call the local sheriff and get him to do a background check on Rick & I and put something on letter head. Within 24hours I had it in hand.

Skip to late July 2010 Rick arrives from Singapore (we haven’t seen each other in 9 weeks, feels like he’s in the navy again). He spends one night at my parents house in Rockville, MD and we leave the next day on a house hunting trip to Athens. We see about 20 homes in 2.5 days and visit ACS (American Community School of Athens). Amanda is not impressed. She says, “It’s a shit hole” well to be honest compared to SAS (Singapore American School) it kind of is. But being the kind of Mom I am I tell her it’s not what the school look like that matters it’s the people that make up the heart & soul. She’s doesn’t buy it.

4 days in Athens where the only sight seeing we have time for is an afternoon trip down to the Parthenon. Amazing and we can’t wait to do more sightseeing when we come back. We get back to DC and celebrate Rick’s birthday with my family, all three girls (Lindsay is back from working/living in Japan) & Ryan (Lindsay’s partner for 2 years). We head down to the beach were we spend the weekend with our dear USNA friends Mike, Kat & Tiger Christman. The guys got some paddle boarding in and we all enjoyed Maryland Crabs!! Early Monday morning Rick, Amanda & I make the 3 hour drive into DC to the Greek Embassy we submit our paper work and passports and hold our breath for three days. Thursday Rick drives back to DC to pick-up our passports and the VISAS that we are required to have to enter Greece so that we can then register for residents passes when we get there. That is a whole other story and we’re told it will take 2 plus months to get our resident cards. Meanwhile we won’t be able to leave Greece during this time, NICE!

Funny thing is the Embassy neglects to give us all our documents back, just our passports and we don’t realize we need them in Greece until 2 weeks before we are due to leave Singapore. A sleepless night for me and several phone calls & emails to U.S. We learn that the Embassy does have our marriage certificate & Amanda’s birth certificate with the stupid Apostilles stamp on them. They will not mail them to us because they don’t want to be responsible for them, WTF. We must send a “currier” to come get them. Thank God Mike Christman agrees to go pick them up. Rick must send a signed letter giving him permission to pick the documents up. Then Mike’s lovely wife Kat has them UPSed to the Coca-Cola office in Athens which cost mucho bucks like upwards of $100. The documents make it to Athens the day before Rick arrives and get sent of to be translated to Greek!!

Next step appointments at the state hospital for TB tests and chest x-rays. This is stupid to me because if you have a negative TB test then you don’t need a chest x-ray, but the Greeks insist. So we’ll get radiated whether we need it or not. This is a 2 day process….details to follow in late Sept……..

1st Few Days in Athens Mother said to never get in a car with strangers……

After witnessing a huge “boo fest” at the Singapore Airport between Amanda & three of her close friends I boarded the plane with a distraught 15 year old. Mind you I’m only 2 weeks post-surgery and can only lift 10 lbs. Amanda was stuck carrying & lifting my two carry-on’s. The flight from Singapore to Istanbul was uneventful. 12 hours and we arrived early in the a.m. It was just our luck to be on a plane that did not pull up to a gate. We had to climb down steep stairs and board a “bus/tram” to the terminal. This meant Amanda carrying my rolling brief case, a heavy, large Vera Bradley duffle & her backpack. Almost more than she could handle. Now you may ask why the hell did they bring so much? I had my laptop and all our important files stuffed my brief case & all our electronics & jewelry in the other bag. None of those items could be checked. I’m asking why the hell didn’t Rick insist we have a direct flight, like the one he took 3 days later? Why must I do things the hard way…Murphy’s Law. So Amanda schlepped all our stuff around the airport in Istanbul for 3 hours. Time to board our 1 hour flight from Istanbul to Athens. Again board the bus/tram, cram onboard with all the other passengers. Climb the steep steps onto the plane and take our business class seats. What a joke….it was a three seat & three seat plane. Business class consisted of 4 rows with the seat in between vacant and used as a table/arm rest. No extra room in seats or for legs. Of course I get the only seat where some ass has to recline his seat in my face for the entire 1 hour. So rude!!

Day two we had a driver pick us up at the hotel and drive us to ACS (American Community School of Athens) for 9:00 a.m. appointment. We arrived at the counseling office and Amanda was taken to complete her math placement test. I was told to go visit the nurse & transportation office to take care stuff. Then wait in the library for the hour to 1.5 hours the test would take. Amanda would meet me there. After 2 hours I was getting worried so I went back to the counseling office to look for Amanda. She was sitting in the counselor’s office scheduling classes. As luck would have it the computers in the entire school were down and the scheduling had to be done by hand. 2 hours later and after me insisting that Amanda could not handle taking both chemistry and physics at the same time (don’t they realize we are not talking about a rocket scientist here?) we were done. They tired to tell me that you need 3 lab sciences to get into college. I was like since when? I have just had 2 kids graduate college in the last 2 years and they did NOT have 3 lab sciences to get into college. Amanda will be going to a liberal arts college and we are not taking physics. The only way her schedule would work is if they put her in 11/12th grade P.E. After 2 hours of sitting there I was like whatever…. Did I mention the poor counselor had only been in Athens for 2 weeks!! Then I was like what about a locker, gym uniform, student ID & password so she can get her assignments off “blackboard”? At first they were like oh she can take care of that whenever. I was like NO we’re here let’s get this done so she doesn’t have to worry about it. We were taken to the “new” principles office where we were told that the man who takes the ID pictures wasn’t taking pictures for the next 2 days. I had also found out that Amanda would need her ID in order to pick up her books. So I very loudly said, “Well if she can’t get her ID or her books until Monday then why should I bother to send her to school for the next 2 days. They of course looked at me like I was nuts, “but she’ll miss valuable learning time”. Me, “We’ll she won’t be able to do her homework so what’s the point?” Then they called the picture taking guy over who was on campus just doing “other” things. He said he’s take the ID picture first thing Thursday morning. GREAT! Now how do we get a locker and gym uniform? Well you go to the lady who issues locks get a “chit” then go to the casher and pay for the locker. Oh and while you are up there also pay for the gym uniform. 75 Euros for 2 gym uniforms, “they are Puma” big fat hairy deal!!! And 20 Euros for a locker (you get it back when you leave the school if the locker is not damaged) we are talking over $100 USD. After waiting 15 minutes to pay the cashier, we went back to the locker lady to giver her the receipt and then around the back of the school to find the gym teacher. The gym teacher has us follow her to a storage shed full of uniforms. She can only find the “summer uniform” but not the winter one. She keeps our receipt and says she’ll look for a winter uniform later and give it to Amanda some other day???? Still waiting on that…….. I was like where are your parent volunteers to help you hand these out? Gym teacher, “oh we don’t get any help? WTF? There is a PTO what the hell do they do? By now Amanda & I are both on the verge of tears. She is whispering to me, “I want to go home (Singapore).
We stop back at the counselor’s office and they were able to give us a real schedule printed out. I asked if they could call us a taxi, we were told the “Security” at the front gate could call us one (I had no cell yet). We walked to the front gate and approached the fat Greek “security” guard and asked him to call us a cab. He looked at me like I was putting him out. He supposedly tried to call us one but couldn’t get through and told us to walk out to the main road and haul one. After 4.5 hours at the damn school, Amanda & I hot, tired and jet-lagged walked to the road and after about 10 minutes thank GOD got a taxi to take us to our hotel.
We walked into the hotel and I lost it. Rarely do I cry unless I’m watching a sad movie or reading a sad book. I proceeded to Skype Rick and tried to tell him in the middle of my hissy fit what had happened. He of course was having dinner out in Singapore with his colleagues. I basically hung up on him because he was not in a place to listen to my melt down. Finished my good cry, pulled myself together and walked with Amanda to T.G.I.Fridays for dinner. Did I mention I got my period the next night….maybe I was just PMSing and the day really wasn’t that bad??

Thursday was Amanda’s first official day at ACS. She broke my heart as she climbed into the taxi to go to school wiping tears from her eyes. That’s when a mother feels like shit for moving her kid. After that drama a friend of a friend picked me up. I know my Mother taught me not to get in cars with strangers but I did anyway. Sorry, Ma. Stephanie took me down south to the 15 euro a day beach. Just what I needed. Stephanie is from Montgomery Co., Maryland and graduated 1 year after me at a rival high school. We had lots to chat about. The “expensive” beach was wonderful. Nice wooden chaise lounges with cushions & pillows, umbrellas, bathrooms, Starbucks and Fridays!!! The water was crystal clear with tiny ripple waves. I could only get in up to my thighs but it felt so great. I forgot to say that ALL the women wore bikinis but ME, I’m totally serious or they wore just bottoms. Of course I stuck out like a sore thumb; they could all tell I was an American by my tankini. I guess I’ll bite the bullet and get a bikini. It’s going to be a sight for sore eyes, literally. I wanted to go topless once when we were 1st married in the Caribbean but Rick was like NO way. I should have told him to fuck off; I was young and had a great body then. Now after nursing 3 kids I look like an old dog with his ears hanging low. I told Rick I was going to go topless & he doesn’t seem to be worried about this….my God you’d think he’d be humiliated. What’s wrong with this picture? Anyone know where I can find a size 12 bikini in Greece?

Friday morning Rick arrived early! We walked Amanda to the bus. I had arranged with transportation to start picking her up near the hotel. She waits in front of Ruby Tuesdays! We got picked up and taken into the Coca- Cola Hellenic office where they gave Rick his ID card & temporary car; an Audi A6 station wagon. A very big car for the narrow streets here and Rick doesn’t like driving big cars. We then drove to the mall to pick up a GPS and grab some lunch. Of course we couldn’t program the GPS because it wasn’t charged. We were able to get our old GPS to work and found our way back to the hotel with me gripping the passenger roof handle and pointing out where Rick needed to turn. The streets are wicked narrow, cars drive and park wherever they want. Wild dogs run along side barking at your car. It’s pretty intense and it’s no secret in my family that we think Rick is a bad driver. It was stressful and then you must parallel park. We could have opted to go down the “car” elevator into the car park of the hotel. It’s under the hotel and you have to put the car on an elevator, talk about tiny space. Did I mention Rick has poor depth perception? And I was wondering today why my jaw hurt. I must have been clenching my teeth the entire time!!
Friday after school Amanda texts us to say she wants to go to Starbucks with Morgan. Morgan lives in our town and is American/French. They show up at the hotel a bit later and ask if she can hang out in town for the evening. Okay fine…..She doesn’t come back until her curfew at 11p.m. We did check in with her and she was bonding with several other American kids in town. Our town, Kifissia is a quant walking town with tons of shops, cafes, parks and a train station into downtown Athens. Meanwhile Rick starts having stomach issues. Some of you know he was plagued with stomach issues on and off the entire 16 months he was in Asia. This a constant source of irritation for me because he has lost 20 lbs and kept it off. Me I got sick with a parasite had to go to the hospital and lost NOTHING. Now I just had some organs ripped out of me and still I lose NO weight. So here we go again…..Rick looks like he did 25 years ago and I’ve still got a 20 lb. tire around my freaking waist!!! That just isn’t fair!
Ahhh day 4….. After walking to a café for breakfast, I mean Starbucks. We took the car out again. This time to IKEA near the airport. We made it without fighting and with Amanda saying Rick’s driving was making her car sick! I have lived in Asia twice and I’m telling you I have never seen so many people in once place. Every Greek & their Uncle Kostas was there. Parking lot was a mess and Rick not so good at parking big cars….we park on the street and walk the distance to the store. Of course half the items we wanted were “out of stock” due to “strike” Did I mention that Greece has about 5 different “strikes” going on at the same time all the time? I was like okay then we’ll order stuff online and Rick was like fine I’m happy to pay extra to have it shipped get me out of this place. Little did I know Greece does not have IKEA online ordering until I got home and online, again Murphy’s Law. I love Murphy well not really but he sure loves me! We made a few purchase and walked back to the car. Then we went into a large appliance store to buy and have delivered a washer and dryer. Greeks think American’s are crazy to use dryers. Whatever, I’m having a damn dryer for my towels and jeans. After a long debate we get to the cashier with our “merchandise ticket”. We called our banks last week and told them all we are moving to Greece make sure we can use our credit cards. Banks, “ok no problem” NOT! Card was denied. But we just used it yesterday at the same store at the mall, WTF???? I say then use your Singapore credit card, again denied. We leave…..then Rick says I guess I could have paid cash, you think dumbass? Me, “If I had known you had a wad of cash I would have reminded you.” Off we go to the mall……This time Amanda does not get car sick. We get something to eat, we’ll Amanda & I eat. I talk Rick into a coke (he usually only drinks water, how boring) he needs the sugar etc for his sick tummy & he picks at some mashed potatoes. Me I eat a hamburger, a few fries and 2 cokes (gotta support the new company. I love to eat…right now my only vice. We send Amanda off for an “athletic” swimsuit. Gym teacher says she must have a Speedo and swim cap for class. She is not thrilled to say the least. She has eight 11th & 12th grade boys in her class and 1 other girl. She will have to swim every other Monday!!! I find this hilarious. She calls me on the cell to come to the dressing room to look at these athletic suits, “they feel weird”. I guess so they are modest and cover you up. She’s not used to this.
So Rick says lets go to the appliance store here at the mall and try and buy the same washer/dryer what we tired to buy at the airport store. Okay…… he again ties to use the damn U.S. MasterCard & it’s denied but remembers he has the cash and pays cash. Why we couldn’t do that in the first place is beyond me but I have stopped trying to figure out this man a long time ago. I’m not going to bother to bore you with what it’s like driving the “big” station wagon in the narrow parking garage with Rick and using the machines to pay for your parking ticket. We get out of the parking garage to find its raining. This is a huge deal because it has not rained in 3 months. We had been warned when it rains the streets flood. This is true. We make it back to the hotel, parallel park the Audi with success and now I’m writing this blog……..