I'm just remembering that I never finished the passport saga, so I suppose I
should finish that first. We borrowed a friend's car so Jörn could take Lukas to
gymnastics and I could go to Nikosia on a Thursday afternoon. I tried somewhere
around a dozen times to telephone to confirm that that was really okay, but
there was never any answer. Just before leaving town, though, I tried one more
time and got an answer--the first lady told me yes, of course, no problem, but
she'd just check if her colleague was in that day. Her colleague was in and said
no, of course I couldn't renew my passport in the afternoon--only in the
morning. So much for that afternoon, although I then did go get new passport
photos--at a different place, one Euro less, and four photos instead of two, but
with my typical "Yuck--I hate having my photo taken" face. Anyway, I went the
following Monday morning leaving home at 6:30. I of course hit rush hour in
Nikosia, so didn't get to the embassy until nearly 8:00, and it was about two
hours until I was through, but there were no problems, and three days later I
got an e-mail telling me my passport was ready to be picked up. The trip to pick
it up was totally uneventful--I even left absolutely everything except my car
keys and my old passport in the car, to make security easy. (But they
had cubbies for purses and such--I'd had to leave the diaper bag there the first
time, although when I then said out loud to Helen, "Okay, Helen, no pooping,"
they did let me take out one diaper and the wipes to take in with me...)
On to the immigraton saga...
First of all, Cyprus is part of the European Union. Jörn and the children are
Europeans, and I'm not only married to a European, I have permanent German
residency status. Therefore, it should be a very straightforward matter to
register our family here in Cyprus. Within a week or two of arriving, Jörn went
to the immigration office and got, in writing, a list of what we needed to have
in order to register.
I don't remember now exactly what was on that list, although I do know that
passport photos were required, and we had to go get photos of Helen taken, but
had recent enough ones of everyone else. Jörn went along to the appointment a
month or two later, with all the required paperwork, and by himself, as they had
specifically said that the rest of us didn't need to come.
At this second meeting, they asked him why he had bothered with certain
items, and why on earth he didn't have certain others. A new appointment was
made for June, and would he please bring the whole family.
In June we all showed up for the appointment, and after waiting outside for a
long time, they called Jörn in, but looked confused about why he had bothered to
bring along his wife and five children, and asked us to wait outside. So we
waited outside in the parking lot in the June heat of Cyprus while Jörn was
inside the air-conditioned building. (There were trees, at least, but no seats.)
They changed their mind about certain requirements and asked us to return in
July.
In July we all went again, and this time, although most of the meeting was
with Jörn alone while we again waited in the parking lot (but this time I had
brought water and snacks, at least), they did call us in at the end to check
each face against the passports. Jörn and the children were all granted "yellow
slips" (not quite residence permits, but the idea is basically the same--legal
permission to be here), but the evil American was told that her paperwork had to
be sent to Nikosia. They said that it could take up to five months, which would
be the end of December, and that if it did indeed take that long, they could no
longer give me a yellow slip, as my passport was due to expire June 11th, 2010,
and had to be valid for at least six months past date of issue of the yellow
slip--in other words, if they took until after December 11th to approve me, then
I would no longer be approved. That was one reason I had to get a new passport.
(I needed a new one anyway because it was questionable as to whether, when we
return to Cyprus next February, they would let me in with a passport only valid
for another four months. Some people said three months is fine, but we've heard
so much conflicting information for so many countries that it's better not to
risk it.)
Then at some point, the immigration office here in Larnaka called and said
that they had everything back from Nikosia, and that Larnaka was in trouble with
Nikosia for having granted the children yellow slips, as they had "no proof of
health insurance." Of course, now it was too late, as they HAD given the
children yellow slips, however, ever since then, they've been holding MY yellow
slip hostage until we provide sufficient proof of health insurance for the
children. (The fact that we have USED this health insurance for four of the
children, multiple times and twice at the emergency room, in the 10 months we
have been here, is irrelevant.)
I have completely lost track of how many phone calls Jörn has made to Germany
and to various offices in Larnaka, and he's visited four or five different
offices here, as well, as he's been told at each one that a different one is
responsible. We eventually obtained the required E106 form from our health
insurance in Germany, which states that Jörn Lange, his wife Sheila Lange, and
"all members of his household" are covered by complete health insurance. This
form is of course in German, but it's a fill-in-the-blank form, with numbered
blanks, and the idea is that these "E" forms ("E" for European--for members of
the European Union) are universal. Here in Cyprus, they need only look at a
blank form in Greek and see that if box so-and-so is checked on the German form,
that means such-and-such. Germany cannot provide us with a form in Greek (or
English or any other language)--only in German. That's the whole point of the
E-forms. However, despite requiring it of us, nobody in Cyprus has the E106.
Soooo...the latest information we were given (after Jörn called, at my
suggestion, the German consulate here in Cyprus) was that we should go to the
Ministry of Health in Nikosia and get them to WRITE the children's name on our
E106, put a nice official stamp on it, and everything will be fine.
Jörn took Jacob with him today to the worship seminar YWAM is running this
week, and at a little past 9:00 I headed to Nikosia with the other four
children. Just before 10:00, despite one missed turn, we arrived easily at the
address given to us by the German embassy and marked clearly on the brand-new
map we have of Nikosia as "The Ministry of Health." I'd enjoyed the slight
detour, too, as we saw part of the amazing wall in the center of Nikosia, and I
was thinking about how, if the meeting went quickly, we could go to the park at
the wall, and maybe I'd phone up my friend Jane and ask if we could come hang
out for awhile (she lives very close to there), or maybe I should just head back
to Larnaka and get to immigration before they close at 11:30, or maybe we'd go
to Ikea and I'd get another spice rack for my miniature books, or maybe we'd
look for a decent-sized bookstore, or...well, there were many possibilities!
Pulling up to the building, though, I thought it looked rather deserted,
except for the Pizza Hut take-away and the pharmacy on the ground floor, and I
thought it was odd that there was no sign of any kind around what appeared to be
the main entrance. And parking was very easy--plenty of space in the parking lot
behind the building. Well, the very nice lady in the pharmacy told me that the
Ministry of Health had moved two years ago, and that it was "verry, verry farr
away." She thought it was behind the old general hospital, but she couldn't tell
me how to get there, either, and it wasn't even on my map, although she could
show me the general vicinity, but again emphasized that it was very far away. I
pointed out that I had come from Larnaka and it wasn't as far as that, and I had
to go there one way or another, and loaded the children back in the car.
The "other side of town" is starting to look quite familiar--that's where the
German and U.S. embassies are--so I figured I'd head over there and probably see
a sign for the "Old General Hospital", or at least be able to ask at a gas
station or someplace. I didn't see any signs, and Helen was starting to get very
upset about being in the car for so long. Traffic was much heavier, I was being
distracted by Helen, and I got rather mixed up. I never did find where I was on
the map, but by the sun eventually managed to get to the west side of the city
and passed by the Presidential palace twice before I finally found a place to
park and nurse Helen. I then went into an office supply store, where several of
the staff as well as several of the customers were very friendly and helpful,
and then finally one staff person who spoke excellent English even drew me a
map--to the Old General Hospital, anyway, as she had no idea where the Ministry
of Health might be.
I found the Old Hospital without any trouble, but missed the entrance the
first time around, so got to drive around it twice, then into the parking lot,
no place to park, back out and around the whole block again, and once more into
the parking lot where I parked...um...well, probably not entirely legally, but
safely, anyway, which is much more than can be said for most of the people
parking in Cyprus. This time I left the children in the car and went to ask
where the Ministry of Health is.
The lady at the front desk answered, "This is not the Ministry of Health.
This is the Old General Hospital." I said "I know, but I was told that the
Ministry of Health is very close." She told me to go out the back doors and then
I would see the black building. Then I confused her by turning around and
walking out the front door, but when I came back in a minute later with four
children (and my purse and the bag full of paperwork...) she nodded.
We walked down the very long corridor in the obviously VERY old hospital,
went out the creaky back doors, and found ourselves on the sidewalk, with no
black building in sight. We walked for awhile, and then saw a modern building on
the other side of the street that maybe could be considered black (it was all
dark, reflective windows), but there was no sign in English on it. I carefully
studied the Greek, but except for "Nikosia" (Lefkosia, actually, in Greek),
several prepositions, and the address ("between the rivers", although more
accurate would be "between the mostly dry sometimes trickles of water"), I
didn't understand any of it. I should have at least found out what "Ministry of
Health" is in Greek, but I hadn't.
Anyway, we did walk on a bit, but not seeing anything else that looked
promising, we went back and went inside. There were several posters of
health-related activities (brusthing teeth, washing hands, etc.) hanging up, so
it looked promising. By the time it was my turn at the front desk, it was nearly
12:00. The lady there told me to see "Mrs. Marta, inside", and vaguely waved her
hand behind her. There was a short hallway and three or four doors, all of them
open, but none of them had the name "Marta" on them. I put my head inside one
where there seemed to be a lot of activity and asked (in Greek, this time) where
Mrs. Marta was, and the lady there waved vaguely and said (in Greek, at least!),
"Inside." I went in the direction I thought maybe she had pointed, but that lady
wasn't Mrs. Marta either--it turned out that she was at the back of the first
office into which I had looked--inside.
Mrs. Marta didn't speak the most fluent English, but it was certainly
hundreds of times better than my Greek, and I tried to explain the situation.
All I wanted her to do was to write the children's names on the E106 and put a
stamp on it. She told me she needed our alien registration numbers, and I
explained that that was the problem: I do not have one yet, and I'm trying to
get one, and that's why I need this form filled out! She kept explaining that I
couldn't have a medical card until I had an alien registration, and to please go
to immigration and get registered, then she could give me a medical card. I told
her that I don't want a medical card, and that I can't register until I have
this form. I even told her in Greek that my husband and children are German, but
I am from the United States, and that's why I have a problem.
Mrs. Marta finally called Mrs. Emily upstairs (in Cyprus, people are
generally all called "Mrs." or "Mr." and their first name), and then handed the
phone to me so I could explain this to Mrs. Emily. Mrs. Emily spoke excellent
English, but could not understand why I needed this. I sympathized--in fact,
I've been told by other people that there is no law requiring anyone to even
have health insurance, so nobody understands why the immigration office is
requiring this of us. However, the immigration office is refusing to register me
without this, so it's not like I have a lot of choice. I talked with Mrs. Marta
again, and she called Mrs. Emily again, and then Mrs. Emily came downstairs to
see my paperwork and talk with me personally.
By this time the children were getting rather ansty, and although I did quiet
them, I apologized to Mrs. Marta and explained that they'd been in the car for
nearly three hours and it was hard sitting for so long. (Actually, the car was
only about 2 1/2 hours, but we'd also waited for awhile.) She raised her
eyebrows and said, "From Larnaka?" and I explained that we'd first gone to where
the Ministry of Health used to be, but a lady at the pharmacy there had told me
that it had moved two years ago, and I had had a lot of trouble finding the new
place. She said, "No, not two years ago--very recently!" I asked when, and she
just said again, "Very recently, not two years!"
Mrs. Emily appeared to mostly understand, and said that they'd be happy to
put the children on the form and issue a medical card for my husband and
children, but that they couldn't issue one for me, because I didn't have an
alien registration number. Nobody cared at all that we have European health
cards which we can already use at any hospital and that I don't WANT a Cypriot
medical card, but I finally said that was fine. She took the paperwork with her
and asked me to wait.
In the meantime, Helen had a diaper that HAD to be dealt with, and
immediately. We were given permission to use the "employees only" toilet, and
off we went.
When we got back, Mrs. Marta happily handed me a medical card for Jörn and
the children and the E106 with the children's names on it, but no stamp, and
when I looked it over, I saw that MY name had been crossed off!!! I asked her
why my name had been crossed off, and she said because I don't have an alien
registration number, and therefore, cannot be issued a Cypriot medical
card!!
I did not cry. I am very proud of myself. I explained again, very, very
slowly, "This form was issued by my German health insurance to show that I have
health insurance from Germany. I do not NEED a Cypriot medical card, I need to
get the yellow slip! If they don't believe that I have health insurance, they
will not register me. This form was from Germany. This form was proof that I
have health insurance. I do have health insurance. You should not have crossed
out my name."
Mrs. Marta called Mrs. Emily again, I talked with her for awhile. They
apologized. In the meantime, my name is crossed out, in ink, which makes it look
as though I do not have health insurance. I wrote down Mrs. Emily's name and
phone number, and she said that the immigration office should telephone her if
they have a problem. I guess I'll find out tomorrow morning if that works.
We finally got back to the car and left the parking lot at 1:10, four hours
after leaving home. No park, no visiting Jane, no Ikea, and likely no lunch,
either, if Lukas was to get to gymnastics by 2:30, especially as it was now the
middle of the lunch rush hour. (Most Cypriots go home for lunch and many stores
close for a couple of hours in the middle of the day.) At 1:40 I pulled up to a
Zorpas bakery and bought too-soft bread (didn't get our favorite bread, because
that would have needed slicing which would have taken longer) and expensive
cheese, which Marie made into sandwiches and handed out as I kept driving. We
made it to gymnastics with 10 minutes to spare, I let Lukas out, and we came
home and I started typing this. At 3:30 I picked up Lukas again, and now it's
4:45 and Lukas and Katie are playing outside and Marie is doing math.
Tomorrow I'm going to the immigration office here in Larnaka, but at least I
know where that is, unless they've moved since July...
We have three computers (well, one isn't ours, but is more-or-less on
permanent loan), all of which have different quirks. The main problem with this
one is that it has a tendency to be near-dying--WHEN it's working, it's
definitely the best of the three. It's the only one that lets me type easily, so
I'm taking advantage of it working to try to update.
Passport: after the futile trip to Nikosia on Columbus Day, I chose the next
sort-of available time, Thursday afternoon. We borrowed a friend's car so that
Jörn could take Lukas to gymnastics, and at 2:00 I left in our car, with Katie
and Helen, first taking a friend home. I'd tried quite a few times to call the
embassy to confirm the hours, but the recording between 2:00 and 4:00 p.m. kept
telling me to call between 2:00 and 4:00 p.m. However, just after dropping off
my friend, I pulled over and tried one more time, as I still needed new photos,
and if they couldn't tell me where to get them near the embassy, I preferred to
try to get them in Larnaka. I actually talked to a HUMAN!! A very nice human,
too, who said that of course I could come that afternoon to renew my passport,
no problem--oh, but maybe she should just check if the lady who does that was
in. She connected me to someone else, who informed me that under no
circumstances could I renew my passport outside of the hours 7:30 to 11:00
(which is, actually, what the website said.)
So...I looked for another place to get passport photos taken (being
embarrassed to go to the same place as the week before...) and found a parking
space directly in front of a place that gave me FOUR photos (instead of two) for
SEVEN Euros (instead of eight.) As expected, I look annoyed and wanting to get
out of there in the photo. Oh well.
Monday this week I left at 6:30 a.m., with only Helen, and arrived at the
embassy at 7:45, and parked only about a five-minutes' walk away. (A friend came
to babysit the other four children as of 8:30, and another friend picked up Jörn
at 8:40 for work.) I had to go through three separate security checks, and at
the second one they told me I couldn't take anything except my papers, so I said
(out loud) to Helen, "Okay Helen, no being hungry or pooping." They ended up
letting me take the wipes and a diaper after all, which they put in a page
protector along with my wallet, but not the crackers. It's a good thing Helen is
very happy with mama-milk, because that's all I was allowed to take in. The rest
was put in a cubby, no problem. (A friend of mine renewed her daughter's
passport in Frankfurt, Germany, a couple of weeks ago, and had to walk several
blocks to a kiosk that does businesss taking a lot of money to hold cell phones
of people going to the U.S. consulate--no cubbies there!)
When I got home, I was falling asleep while talking with the friend who had
been babysitting, and she talked me into taking a nap. I DO NOT NAP. But I
agreed to go lie down. I started to drift off almost immediately, at which point
Marie came to tell me she had found something, then Jacob came to ask a
question, and then Katie brought me my cell phone, as Jörn was calling. And then
I actually went to sleep and slept an hour and a half.
The afternoon was fairly calm, although the children were rather horrid about
going to bed (Jörn has a regular meeting Monday evenings), and then when Jörn
got home at 9:00 he brought along a couple of friends who needed to talk, who
stayed until about 11:30.
Tuesday I went to Tots in the morning, which despite having something like 20
children, is considerably more restful than my own five at home. Katie and Helen
mostly bee-bop around doing their own thing--I occasionally have to rescue some
child's hair from Helen, and I did play peekaboo with Helen in the playhouse for
awhile, and she fell off of her chair during snack time, but nothing dramatic.
Then we took Sue home and visited with her for a bit, but it got exhausting
chasing Helen and telling Katie to keep her feet off of the furniture, etc., so
we were home in plenty of time for lunch. In the afternoon I let Marie stay home
(Jörn was out) while I took Lukas to gymnastics, but I spent so much of the time
trying to keep Helen and Katie off of the mats (Jacob helped by chasing Helen a
few times while I was dealing with Katie) that I didn't get to watch Lukas much
or listen to the Greek. Tuesday evening we had a prayer meeting here, but only
until about 10:00. (Oh, and I translated and proofread some things for a friend,
but it wasn't much.)
Wednesday I worked at the YWAM preschool--oh yeah, kind of a major thing that
I haven't managed to mention here on the HOMESCHOOLBLOGGER blog, but as of last
week, I'm working Wednesdays and Fridays in a preschool. (Those are the only two
days that it happens...) I take Katie and Helen, and there are two other
preschool children, as well as the 6-year-old daughter of the leader. I was VERY
apprehensive about it all, but it's working out well, and it's so peaceful
there. The three older children are at home with Jörn--Wednesdays his regular
meeting happens here at home (the children have lists of independent and
cooperative, non-parent-needed, work to do, and instructions to interrupt only
if there's blood, which there was this Wednesday, but not too serious), and
Friday is Jörn's morning off.
Wednesday afternoon we went to Sue's house to watch Swallows and Amazons--the
children had actually started watching it Sunday evening on the "new laptop"
(the one that we bought new just over a year ago, which has Vista, which we
really, really can't stand), but about 15 minutes into it it started getting
funny and then quit altogether, and our permanently-borrowed computer doesn't
have a DVD player, and the "old laptop" (the one I'm using at the moment, bought
used on E-bay 3 1/2 years ago and excellent in every way except for it's
tendency to need repairs that would cost thousands of Euros if we didn't have
friends who have done it for us for free twice in the last month...) wasn't
working. Actually, by Wednesday it had been repaired again, but we'd already
arranged to go to Sue's, and the children were REALLY excited about that. A much
bigger screen and actual sound weren't too bad, either. :-) Shortly before we
were going to leave there, we found out that the couple who was supposed to come
to dinner at our house wasn't coming after all, so we invited Sue and Richard to
dinner. After dinner we played Settlers of Catan with them AND with Marie and
Jacob (who have been begging to play with Sue and Richard for ages), with Lukas,
Katie, and Helen all trying to help. It was fun. I think. It was pretty loud, so
kind of hard to tell. Then the children went to bed and we played a nice
peaceful game.
Today...Jacob complained that he got woken up by my shouting (at Lukas, who
had just dropped a rock about the size of Katie's head within about two
centimeters OF Katie's head...), but I refused to apologize when I looked at the
clock and saw that it was 10:00. Other than that, the day wasn't too hectic. I
took Lukas to gymnastics--this time Jacob stayed home, and Marie and Katie
watched, and I stayed in the car with Helen, who had just fallen asleep, and
sorted photos on the laptop. Then a friend dropped off two of her children while
taking another one of them to the doctor (and she had her baby with her, too),
so another couple of peaceful hours, because of course the children all went off
to play. After the doctor's appointment, they came back here for dinner, which
was very nice, although a bit loud. But not as loud with nine children as it had
been last night with only our five...I don't get it.
Tomorrow: preschool, Jacob and Lukas to Discoveries in the afternoon, Marie
to Youth Group in the evening, YWAM dinner, and bed.
And I just realized that it's nearly 11:00 p.m. I'm looking forward to the
time-change this weekend, as I'm not really enjoying the 7:00 a.m. getting-up on
Wednesdays and Fridays...