Not Every System Here is Broken

While I'm still trying to figure out how to conclude my naturalization process (which now involves my parents' passports, even though people in this country have told me that it is not a sufficient proof of citizenship...I was told that I need a letter or document from the US government to prove that my parents are US citizens...I'm sorry, but considering that you need proof of US citizenship to get a US passport and a US passport can only be issued by the US government, why is it such a document unacceptable?), I have been doing some other paper pushing here in Cuenca.  And it took less than 45 minutes!

Preparing for Oz

I know you've all been waiting for the Australia series, so here it goes...

I should start by mentioning why we ended up in Australia in the first place.  The excuse was my great aunt's 90th birthday (Dad's mom's sister).  When I was home last October, my dad mentioned that he would be going to Australia for a week in December for this birthday party/family reunion.  It tied in perfectly with the week he would spend in Hong Kong for work.  He also mentioned that he was bringing my brother. 

Just When You Thought it was Safe...

So I returned to Quito on Wednesday to finally finish the naturalization process.  I had everything I needed.  All I had to do was go back to the Civil Registry, pay my money, and wait.

The morning went well enough, even though I had to wait two hours for a process that I was told would take half an hour.  But I finally got my papers and all I had to do was walk over to the "rectifications" desk and they would input my data and I would be able to get my ID (NB - apparently I technically am a citizen already, but have no way of proving it until I get my ID, which I need in order to get a passport, which I need to get back into the country if I leave since my work visa expires in three weeks).