"Want to learn the visa walk-through process?"

    A few weeks ago when the Ensigns began working full time with me, the 3 of us were assigned to a tiny little office next to my mentor's.  It's quaint, and we've attempted to decorate it. Most of it however remains tan, and the Ensigns tan uniforms do nothing to help this.  As I walked in Monday morning (having been off Friday), I was pleasantly surprised to see several more odds and ends scattered around in an attempt to decorate.  It makes me laugh to think about all this "stuff" that the office has received from foreign nations that's been shoved in the back of a closet for years- and now we're decorating with it.  My favorite is a bronze plate from Cambodia that says "International Cambodian Naval Commetee" (yes, spelled wrong).

  After examining the decorations, my mentor walked in with a thick packet and said "Want to learn how to do a visa walk through?"  Of course.  I want to learn everything.  Of particular interest to me is immigration/passports/visa requirements, so I thought this sounded fascinating.  At this moment, Derek walked in, informing us Pete had a nasty bout of food poisoning from a questionable omelet over the weekend.  "You'll have to go with Patricia then, no sense in you staying here alone."  Go?  Go where? I thought.

   Fast forward 15 minutes- we are in route to Crystal City, Virginia,  with coffee in hand, and a playlist of French music on the speakers of my corolla (Derek studied in France) with specific directions to get our office's director his Chinese visa before he leaves in 11 days.  Obviously, for a normal trip (like when I traveled to Spain for example), you can either visit the country's embassy or go online, fill out the visa application and within a short amount of time you'll receive it.  In this case, since he waited until the last minute we had to travel to Crystal City, VA to receive a department of defense diplomatic note requesting special permission for his Chinese visa to be expedited.

   Crystal City was full of tall buildings and inside was full of people in uniform.  As we approached the front desk and they asked what type of ID we had, Derek said something all official, and I simply said "A driver's license." Apparently this was the wrong answer. I had to have an escort up to the travel services division on the 10th floor.  Talk about feeling incompetent as Derek walked off through the elevators and left me in the lobby.  

   One hour later- dip note in hand, and thankfully no parking ticket, we began the search for the Chinese Consulate.  Between my iPhone, Garmin and our common sense we were unable to locate it before it closed for lunch hour.  We did however locate the official embassy where I am assuming the ambassadors, attaches, and other super important people work- but this is not where the visas were issued from.  It was here that I was talking very obnoxiously about hopping the fence and voicing my frustration about my arm pit sweat that Derek suddenly turned around and told me to shut-up!  There were 2 gorgeous Chinese women meditating and praying under traditional umbrellas next to the embassy out of protest for a religious group that is apparently being persecuted in China.  If I spoke Chinese I would have apologized for ruining their peace (and asked where I could get an umbrella like that for my mom, who loves Asian culture).

    After a Chipotle break, a short recess to check the French-English soccer match, and some more frolicking around the local D.C. area we placed a phone call to my mentor who gave me more specific instructions of how to locate the consulate.  The consulate was not in fact a building on its own with a large chinese flag waving outside like we were looking for, but inside a tall office building we had driven and walked by several times that morning.  We finally got there, waited in an oven of a hallway, and then went in. Our saving grace was being recognized in having an official passport (different from a tourist passport) since Derek was in uniform.  We were able to bypass the tourist line and walk right up to a window.  

   The awful part?  We have to go back Friday to pick it up.  It wasn't all bad.  We got out of the office, saw nearly every road in D.C. (I discovered through his navigational skills why Derek choses to bike and not drive most places), bonded over our love of Europe, and learned even more about Dept of Defense travel.  Hopefully Friday though, knowing where we are going I will not accidently interrupt any peaceful prayers.