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Yet more good news! The Consulate came through with my new passport just before I need it to fly to my new job on Thurs, so I feel much more relaxed now. You just don't know what hidden delays might suddenly appear when waiting for a passport, and when I applied for it that automatically marked the previous one as "pending cancellation" so I felt I was painted into a waiting corner there for a bit.

Freepers will be happy to know the Consulate is well guarded. They have a bullet proof glass window with two guards in it, and one more who opens the door for approved visitors. All three have side arms. And they only let you in if you have business there, so if two friends came while you ordered a passport they would have to wait outside (of the building, that is). Of course metal detector and baggage scanner are just inside the door.

While I'm not a huge personal fan of Cheney and Rice (they're ok, but their no Ronald and Margaret, that's for sure), still, when I walked into our modern and very high class (which is to say, simply normal by US standards) waiting room, I looked up at three big pictures of W, Cheney, and Condaleeza smiling benignly down at me, I was quite pleased and moved.

Our society is definitely the best in the world. Once I'm ready to return in 6,7, or 8 years, however many, I'm sure I won't ever leave it again.