Day 5

We ended up waking up super early (about 6am, which is early by my standards) and went off to church for the 10am service only to find that there were around half a dozen people and dogs there sitting outside in the sweltering (by my standards) heat.  It turned out to be the last "Summer Service" which was for blessing the pets of congregation members.  I guess it was held outside to prevent pet accidents indoors but I wasn't able to hang around in the sun so fiancé and I went off to do some shopping.  A decade ago I never would have entertained the idea of buying, let alone wearing, short-shorts.  I'm sorry, teenage-self, but it cannot be avoided.  I obtained 2 pairs of tiny shorts (1 of which are jeans shorts but they're actually quite tasteful and do not, I repeat do not, have frayed bottoms for that "I just cut my jeans into shorts" look.  Perish the thought!), and a couple each of rayon tops and dresses with the hope that I might survive my furtive trips outside during the end of this summer.  The Gods only know what I will do next summer, immigration willing, when I am subjected to the height of a Massachusetts summer.

Jet-lag is making me lethargic and my compulsion to be useful is warring with my lack of energy to actually put into action all the cleaning, tidying and cooking plans that are floating around my head like rain-clouds on the horizon of a picnic.  I just finished an IT diploma more than a month early, you'd think I might have some sense of achievement from that, but all I can think is that I'm not supporting myself financially and not making myself useful enough.  Maybe the tiredness is making me a bit mental too.

None of these feelings are helped at all by the phone call I just made to the Auckland US Consulate's Visa Services call-centre when I learnt that getting my immigration visa sorted out is even more involved than I had expected.  I have to leave the North American Continent and surrounding Islands before the end of my holiday visa, not just the USA but the whole area, and I also need to have a medical exam, interview and provide more documents than I can count on both hands.  Even if I had known all this before I left NZ, it wouldn't have made much difference.  Fiancé's travel visa and prescription medication was running out so he had to go, and he couldn't have travelled that far without someone to accompany him, so it's not reality that's bending to bureaucracy; it's just my vision expanding to encompass all the details I failed to see when I was so focused on getting everything done to suit my schedule.  Government departments don't really work that way.

Every cloud has a silver lining, though.  I may not be able to pin-point that gleam just yet but surely it's out there somewhere.  Perhaps being forced to leave the area will mean that I'll get to visit the Chilean branch of my family sooner rather than later.  Anyway, I better get back to filling out my paperwork.