Oh, Atlanta!

...to quote one of my faves, Alison Krauss, to whom I am currently listening in order to calm my nerves. I spent a year in Atlanta last Friday. It was crazy. On my list of things to do before DC was "pick-up Visa from Mexican Consulate in Atlanta" and it had been there for about a week and a half. I had been trying to plan a time I could go when I could stay overnight if the need arose. Well, I guess I had forgotten that planning because I decided I'd go Friday morning and be back Friday night to go to Lime, a new-ish restaurant near Vandy, with the teachers. I knew it would be a long day, but I was going to just get it done.
I got up at 6:30 in order to leave by 7. The website said the office was open from 8am-12:30pm Eastern time. Mind you, I had tried to call the consulate as well as email for weeks. No answer, only voicemail, and no response to emails; I was frustrated. Duh. I also read that you needed an appointment. How am I supposed to get an appointment exactly if no one will answer my calls?! So I got up in time to make it to the office around noon Altanta time. Of course as soon as I pull out it starts POURING. Not just raining, but POURING. So I have to go closer to the speed limit than I wanted for this trip. Not to mention I was driving 24 and going through Monteagle at one point which requires care on a sunny day. Long story short on the ride down there, I got nervous I would miss my time frame, but made it with an hour to spare. Thanks Bewley for the up-to-the-minute time guestimates.
I pull into the Consulate (note: the mapquest directions failed to include one the the necessary streets on the "To" directions. Luckily, I had checked the return directions and saw the error or I could've been all OVER some Atlanta ghetto. Though I'm sure if I've ever been to Atlanta with Mom, I'd already seen it!
:) Love you!
So I pull in and all spaces are reservada and I'm nervous about a ticket, but more nervous about not getting a Visa, so I just park. I know, I am such a rebel in my adulthood! HA!
I see many many Mexicans over to the right of the building, children running around, etc. But I go up to the front door that has a push-button thing to page someone from within. This woman comes out, I ask her what I need to do and she sends me around back to talk to a police officer. Awesome. Luckily, she told me to walk right up to him or I would've waited in line and there were literally hundreds of people waiting and little did I know they all had appointments, etc. So here I am, the American girl, passing everyone, walking right up to the Mexican man in security garb and he walks me right in. I felt terrible. But I suppose not terrible enough to not go! So I walk into this woman's office, tell her what i need and she starts flipping through all kinds of forms. My mind, of course is screaming at me "You needed an appointment! Your paperwork isn't in there because they knew you weren't coming!"
She found it.
We took my picture, my digital fingerprints, and she took my passport.
She comes back, tells me it'll be ready between 2 and 5. Right. So which one lady? I tell her I'm from Tennessee and how will I know which time? She has my cell and will call, but in my mind, I don't want to sit around Atlanta for five more hours waiting on a Visa when I've just sat in my car for 4 and will have to return to Nashville in Atlanta's Friday afternoon at 5pm traffic. No, gracias. So I tell her I'll just come back next week. At this point I can stop in the outlets in Calhoun (I need another Polo sweater, right? For those cool winter evenings int he Mexican desert!), and still make it back to Nashville to take a yoga class before meeting the girls for dinner. So I text/call several people with the plans and head on my way. I'm getting off the loop and onto 75N when Bewley calls suggesting I stay and bum around Atlanta til they call and if it's 5:00 I can stay with her best friend from college who just happens to live within walking distance of the Consulate. Trick is, I have to pick up Mom and Jack at the airport the next day and I had already seen signs for weekend construction... So I truck on. Then I have a change of heart. $100 more on gas next week is a frustrating thought, so I pull off the interstate, call Bewley and ask her to take care of that possibility. Done.
Now, enters my paranoid mind... I told the lady I would be back next week. Does that mean she won't call me? Does that mean I won't be a priority? So I jet back to the Consulate to tell her I'll be waiting for her call. Closed. Her office that is, but the officer listens to my story and responds, "Okay" as I hand him my name and phone number. I realize he hasn't understood me, so I re-tell, this time in Spanish. It was rough and listening to him speak so quickly and mumbly (I know it's not a word) made me very excited to get down there. I feel like I'll never sound like that and that it'll still be hard for me to understand them even after ten months, but I know that's just me being hypercritical of myself.
I left my number, headed to Perimeter Mall and popped into Old Navy. I figured I had 4 hours left to kill so I tried on everything I saw. Only one dress I liked and it was $20 and PERFECT for Lime, so I got it as I received the call from my lady at the Consulate. She has it ready (1:50pm) but unfortunately will be on lunch from 2-3 and the building will be closed and locked. I was really bummed because I could be gone in less than an hour if she could just wait 15 minutes. She couldn't, but she did tell me where they were eating lunch (not very well- she didn't know the name of the restaurant or the street, but I got there!!!). I met here there, she gave me my stuff after she manually fingerprinted me and I was on my way!
I called Bewley's friend and told her I would not need her Inn services that night but thanks so much for the offer and headed back North. I even made it in time to shower before donning my new dress to dinner- which was all Spanish or Hispanic themed! It was delish. Anyone in the Nashville area ready to drop a buck or two on some GREAT food, Lime is the place!
The weekend was good since Ashley, who in her part-time semesters was my voluntary Lockeland slave, came to school with me to help me cover my tables. I'll post pics soon. They make my room happy. Don't be fooled; I did little of the work. Ashley gets all the credit. MIL GRACIAS!
And I also had some great yoga classes to ease my mind. Which was good because now it is all distressed again looking for housing. As usual, there are several possibilities, yet no certainties. Cross your fingers! My deadline is...THIS FRIDAY!
Mom and I leave for DC this Friday at 6am for a few days of bebopping around the city before my orientation starts on Sunday. I'll actually meet Yuri then. I'll have lots of pictures and surely some stories from that trip.
Shout-out to Julia- this one was for you!
;)