The Waiting Place

Earlier today:

Today is update-our-drivers' licenses day. We'd hope to wait till a week from now when Kraig has Fall break and we could have switched off with running there while we kept on with house projects. But Kraig discovered this morning that if we didn't get our voter registration taken care of today we wouldn't be set up for the November elections. He doesn't have classes today, so here we all here, getting Kraig and my licenses and registration taken care of.

It's a long line. I've managed to avoid departments of transportation (or department of public safety, as it's called here) for years and it seems that when I last had my license updated with a picture it went surprisingly quickly. I don't think this will be quick--there seem to be two completely separate sets of numbers in which they're calling people up. And since it was a surprise last-minute scramble to get here we'll see if we have enough busy work to keep us occupied. Kraig is creating math problems for Clare to do (which, miraculously she asked him to do). Ev's making her way through her multiplication. Jon should be writing, but he's playing cling-boy today and lying with his head on my lap. We're sitting on the floor 'cause there aren't enough chairs.

In Michigan you take care of license plates and drivers licenses in one place. In Longview (in Texas?) you take care of your license plate and car registration in one place...and your drivers' license at the Department of Public Safety. The car registration was fairly quick and painless--it's helpful that the info website tells you all of the things you'll need--as opposed to most things in Guadalajara where things are revealed piece by piece like clues on a scavenger hunt. But why do these offices for drivers' licenses, et all, take so, so long? It's the mystery of the ages. It's the dreaded Waiting Place from Dr. Suess' Oh the Places You'll Go.

Did I mention that Kraig and I managed to get through two years in Guadalajara with our Michigan licenses? I think it was okay since I was on tourist status that whole time were there. Kraig was on temp residential status, so I'm not sure what he was supposed to do. Whatever the case, we flew under the radar. I'm thankful. I don't think I could have managed this in Spanish.



Addendum this evening:

After waiting about an hour and a half were were called up, only to find out we needed about four additional pieces of paperwork (they ended up using our birth certificates, passports, social security cards, and marriage license...and the lady kept commenting about how strange our Michigan papers were!). Was all of this info on the website I looked at a few weeks back when I got the registration information? I can't remember. With the rush today we forgot to check again. All that to say, we got lunch, gathered the right supplies and headed back. A couple hours later Kraig and I had temp Texas license plates in hand.