Well, it's all Done and Just Waiting Now...

Yeeehaaawwwh!

Big day to-day....

Applied for the staying visa up in Debrecen today and all went seemingly well.
They give you one year now and you just go up next year and re-apply, but with less initial stuff, like house stamped papers etc
.
Simple, now I know what to do!

Just love this ritual to hop on the trains...I feel like I'm in a continual cartoon over here.

And, you can still pop your head out the carriage windows. It was very warm today.

Arrived Debrecen at 1pm and the visa office opens from 3-5.30 pm for aliens of my ilk , so it was a nice relaxing stroll, the few klms to the bus stop, after a few getting lost episodes!

Such a pretty colour...

Really ornate this one!

Just so artistic...

Nearly got run over as I was backing back to get the entire building in this shot!

Just a nice day for a stroll...

Then out of the bus window, I saw block, after block of these units. A block of units. hahaha...dohhh, but there are 4 to each block. I thought it was funny anyways!

Then, to my own amazement, I actually found the correct building and in I went! It's a very long building, but I took a shot front on and it looks small.

This made me giggle...read it out loud.

It was busy as it's a huge University city, with students everywhere, applying for visas...and then there was moi! A nice lady took all my paperwork, etc etc.. When I say All, the paperwork...it was only 5 pages in total. 1 page for the house title, 2 for the application, a pile of withdrawal slips from the bank over the past months, my Passport and another 2 pieces that seemed like copies of the application and then she got me to write a 4 line statement of why I want to live here.

After processing all the info into the computer, she sent me to her colleague for a photo and fingerprinting.
My finger prints wouldn't print!

Apparently I hardly have any markings left as they are all worn off. She tried a few times, even had me rub my fingers over my forehead for some reason...but the prints were almost bald. So don't anyone say I never worked my fingers to the bone!

Then as I went in to the booth for the picture, I jokingly said...oh...I'd better do my hair...and she said..."there is the mirror" and on the wall behind me was a mirror!
Then she took my picture, showed it to me for approval and was ready to do another one if I didn't like it!
Don't you just love these guys? Imagine anyone offering you that where you are!

Anyways, now I have to wait 2-3 weeks for it all to go through the system and I'll be notified by mail if I'm approved.

Now I'm nervous.

So, back at the railway station at 6pm, train leaving at 6.50pm, I thought I'd celebrate my  long awaited accomplishment by having my first beer since leaving Australia. ...and a coffee. That mug thing was so heavy, I almost needed 2 hands to lift it! Amazing. Things are pricey at the station. This coffee and beer cost me $2,20 for the lot.

Anyways, the day was nice and I met the most beautiful girls, one from Egypt, one from Turkey. They started chatting whilst waiting at the visa office and such lovely kids too, one studying medicine and the other computer science.. So beautiful, especially the little Egyptian one. OMGoodness, never have I seen such beauty....and hair!!! Wow, almost black and wavy, curly and lots of it...not afro type, but stunning. It wasn't straightened, like the cookie cutter girls do and I commented about it and she said she had her personality and was not going to straighten it to look like all the stereo type girls.

Then I met an Egyptian boy, Michael...looked like an Aussie and spoke like a non accented pommie or American. Nice boy and we both walked out together at 5pm and it was pitch dark!
So I suggested we walk to the bus stop...as I knew where that was....well, I thought I did!

45 mins later, we came upon a bus stop, caught the bus into the city and had a great chat about refugees etc etc on the way. He was excited as I was the first Australian he'd ever met.. He is studying medicine too and thought my accent was lyrical!

Headed home after a big day...a bit of an anti-climax, as I thought I'd get my visa today.

Then, as I was feeling both chuffed and a bit fragile, having to wait for 2-3 weeks to see if they granted my visa, I entered the train and was greeted with the most beautiful red velvet seats! So, I took that as a signal from above, that indeed, all would be OK.

Beautiful. Real velvet too.

Life is so funny over here, honestly. It feels like I'm continually watching myself in an old newsreel movie.

This morning before leaving for Debrecen, I nearly fell head first into the dunny!

I had my high heeled boots on and tripped on the step into the dunny, tripped, fell forwards, head first, into the wooden seat hole ....yeah, yeah, yeah...I had visions of my head being stuck in the seat hole too, just like you did then....I couldn't stop laughing!

Then after riding home in the beautiful red velvet train seats, feeling like a queen, I got off the train at 8.30 pm in Tiszafured and went to get my normal cab ride home...but no cab to-night!
From Queen to beggar in an instant!

Checked the bus...last one left 30 mins earlier...ooowahhh, what to do?

The lady at the station couldn't use the govt phone for a call, so she showed me the public phone which worked, but the cab wasn't answering.

So I thought I'd walk the klm into the town centre, plenty of street lights...about 20 mins later, I found an open shop and went in, asked them to call the cab...still no answer...so no-one knew what to do.

I said I'd walk home...it was only another 8 klms...and off I set.

Next door was the police station, I found, so I went in there and they tried calling a cab...still no answer, so one Policeman went next door to the shop I'd just come from, chatted to a girl in there and, next thing her boyfriend lobs up in his car...ready to take me home.

Turns out he was an off duty policeman, so I said I'd pay my normal 2,500 ft ($12.50) to be taken home. Problem solved. Only when we got home he wouldn't take all the money...we tussled a while, but I said to him to buy some food for a hungry person with the 1000ft he was trying to give me back...and he nodded and accepted it. He spoke a good bit of English.

So, here I am, safe and sound after another day on the go.

Feeling happy, that finally the visa application is in and all the paper work is done, but am a bit nervous about if they will approve me or not...