Chinese Visas

Eight to ten years ago, I would have thought nothing of applying for two visas at the Chinese Consulate in Chicago. Yesterday, I felt like a fish out of water with my two little guppies! Surrounded by busy businessmen and women on the streets and in an office full of foreign travelers, Rob and Charlie reminded me how far away from the business world I now am!
Considering that they had to sit still for 1.5 hours in the consulate, after a 3 hour car ride, they did fantastic. After the 27 people in line before us had been assisted, it was finally our turn. I walked up to the window to hand our applications to the lady. Charlie decided it would be fun to act like a jack-in-the-box, jumping up and down out of sight, cheerfully saying, "Hello!" After the lady had stapled, punched, scribbled, and filed our papers, she said, "Just so you know the return envelope you provided may not work because we will put it in the UPS express box and this is a UPS ground envelope." Then, she flashed the number for the next person in line. Since we were one of the last people to be assisted before their lunch break, I took the boys outside the building and called Mike to see what I should do. Too consumed with the idea of our passports and visas lost within the UPS system, I didn't think to stop Charlie as he performed his best karate moves on each and every person as they exited the revolving doors outside the consulate office. Replaying the experience in my mind made me chuckle and thank God that Mike gets to be the business person and me the circus mom!