I'm constantly amazed at what goes on in the embassy. I spent most of Tuesday and Wednesday at the American Citizens Services window, which deals primarily with issuing passports. Here's a sampling of what I've dealth with in the last 3 days.
1. Man who wants to renounce his U.S. citizenship because his real allegiance is to Israel. Except that he JUST became a German citizen. And he's planning to move to Israel from Germany with his wife and kids, who are in the US and he hasn't told his wife they're moving to Israel.
2. A woman who needed to find out if she is or is not a U.S. citizen, and if she constructively renounced it, can she reclaim it.
3. A father who kidnapped his son because he lost a custody dispute in Spanish court and wanted a passport for the child or to seek assylum in the embassy or to have the US government help him sneak out of Spain with the child. He turned up in Switzerland, outside of EU jurisdiction to arrest him for kidnapping.
4. A father who's been looking for his children for ~10 years after the mother fled to Spain with them. It seems like his children were finally tracked down, but one of them may have died (or, her death may have been faked), shortly after the children arrived in Spain.
5. Two people who claimed to be destitute looking for the US government to pay to send them back to the US.
6. Someone asking for a certified copy of the constitution of a US company.
7. An older couple flying from the US to Slovakia with a layover in Madrid. He died of a heartattack during the layover. She is senile and thinks she's in Slovakia.
My office has pretty much thrown me into the pool of American problems, and I think I'm treading water pretty well. Working customer service jobs for the past 6 years certainly helps. Everyone's really understanding when I ask questions, and happy to fully explain situations to me, not just with customer serivce and data entry, but also giving me the factual background of cases and the legal implications, and what could have happened if certain facts were different. I'll wind up with a pretty broad understanding of international law.
One of the things that has surprised me most has been my experience working with Spaniards. I'll admit, all of my preconceptions on the caliber of Spanish employees was based on the caliber of Spanish students. There's a culture of doing the bare minimum to get by. I'm not sure if this is a cause, effect, or just part of the cycle, but Spanish students are graded on a Pass/Fail basis until the enter high school. By that point, they've lived their lives only needing a 50% to pass, and whether they get a 50% or 100% doesn't matter, they pass either way. So there's no incentive to give more than 50% to anything. I saw this carry over in Spanish universities and just assumed that this would carry over to the Spanish workforce.
Instead, I'm working with some of the most efficient people I've ever worked with. OK, it might be kind of confusing to switch between Spanish and English cuando le da la gana, but work gets done. This week, haven't seen a single person using their cell phone, checking their e-mail, or going on facebook at any time during the day. Everyone chips in to make sure that work gets done, especially since 4 people are out of the office this week. Overall it's a positive environment to work in. Tasks get delegated and accomplished.
I've been exhausted between jetlag, the whirlwind that was the end of finals, and trying to keep track of everything I've learned this week. I've tried really hard to adapt to a Spanish schedule but the last two days I've come home and taken a nap, and then haven't been able to sleep well that night. It's hard to run on my normal schedule, however, becuase the sun doesn't begin to set until at least 8:30. And it's not like backhome where the sun hangs low for a while even if it doesn't set. The sun seems to stay higher here and then set more quickly, which doesn't give me the impression of a sunset, but is more of a light switch. It shouldn't make any difference, but ti makes it hard for me to wind down at night which I guess I associate with a slow sunset. I'm realizing more than ever how dependent my body is on the sun's position in the sky. I'll either learn to cope, or be tired until I come back home.
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