getting my passport
So I recently went to the Mexican Consulate in Chicago. The last time I was there was when I had to get my green card, which seems like ages ago thanks to my fabulous picture. My eyebrows looked like Frida Kahlo’s and my horrendous turtle neck takes up more space in the picture than my face. Either way I had been dreading this visit because I knew it would take forever and I would have to wake up early.
Since I was born in Mexico, I can’t simply get my passport emailed to me. I have to go to an office and get it there. First off, I had to go through a waste-of-a-time phone call in order to make an appointment. They had me on hold longer than I would have wanted. The lady was rude and for some reason she kept calling me ‘senora’ which means Mrs., even after I told her I was single.
But that was only the beginning. I had to wake up around 6 a.m. on my appointment day to get there before the crowd. This place is on the west side and I live on the south side. If I would take the bus it would had been like a 2-hour commute! Lucky for me I was able to get a ride.
So I get there thinking I’ll be the first in line. To my surprise, there were like 100 people in front of me! I had taken a couple of reading assignments so it didn’t seem that bad at first. The first check point I went through was to make sure I had all the necessary documents and pointless copies of every one of them.
I was then sent to the basement where I waited for another good hour to get my finger prints taken and my pass to pay for my passport. I thought I had enough money to extend it for another six years but to my luck, I was $5 short. I could only get the three year one.
After I paid it off I had to sit there and wait for another hour and a half so I could pick it up. I left there three hours later with a headache. I hate that place. There has to be an easier way to go through that process without killing three hours of ones life.
I truly hope I’m a citizen by the time I have to renew my passport again.
