Tuesday, June 26, 2012

A day in the life...dealing with bureaucracy

This is a true story.

Wake up early and bounce fussy baby whole spending several hours trying to find the proper letter format online for an absent parent's authorization to issue a minor's Brazilian passport. Find it, not via links from the Federal Police but via the Brazilian consulate in...Japan. Print. Haul baby downstairs, try for a cab. Promise yourself never to deal with tge local taxi stand again as they argue about who should have to take you.

Say a tiny thanksgiving that there are seatbelts. Stop by the office. Show off baby, take husband to notary. Notary tells you to leave because the air conditioning is too cold for your baby. Stay long enough to be told that notary needs your husband's CPF card to authenticate document, and you forgot to bring it. Authenticating it with him standing there is not an option. Send husband back to work, hike to the outdoor mall down the street where his signature is on file with another notary office, try again. Wait in line a looooong time. Get to the counter when your number is called to have the clerk say "he needs to be here in person." Argue that you just want an authentication and that's why his signature's on file in the first place. Scrap document one, ask him to do document two, fight over the fact it says "sample" because you printed it off the internet as is. Convince him to do the authentication anyhow. Take baby for vaccinations on the way out of the mall. Have them refuse because he's a few days shy of two months. Try not to roll your eyes. Buy an ice cream sundae and congratulate yourself on a productive day.

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