Residency Permit

As you know, I had to go to Vilnius Lithuania to hand in my papers. I need a residency permit because I will be living there for more than 90 days in a calendar year. Greg the bastard did this before he left. I am sure he had problems, but this trip was a nigthmare. Vilnius is a six hour bus ride from Riga. So yeah, I wasn't very thrilled about making this trip. But, as the lucky bastard that I am, I sat next to a guy from Texas who was doing the same exact thing I was doing. What a small world. He was sitting on the bus directly in front of me. When I heard him speaking English, I asked him where he was from and why he was going to Vilnius. He said that he was here on a mission trip from a church and was going to Vilnius to get his residency permit. Upon hearing this news, I was very excited. I wasn't alone on this trip after all. His appointment was the next day after mine. So anyways, we arrive in Vilnius and get a hotel room. The next day, we wake up and go and find the embassy. The embassy was about two miles from the bus station. This mileage comes into play because my appointment at the embassy was at 3:30, and the bus back to Riga was at 5:00. So that leaves me very little room for mistakes. After walking around with the Texan all day, I finally depart from him around 3:00 so I can wait outside the emabassy. I finally get into the emabassy at 3:15 and I had a few question to ask the woman. I didn't understand some parts of the permit application that I had to fill out. So I get to where I needed to go to to hand in my papers, and the woman is behind a black tinted window. I couldn''t see her, I could only hear her. So asking questions was very difficult. I would ask her a question, then she would answer, and as I was filling out what she told me to write, she would leave. But, I didn't know she left because I couldn't see her. So after filling out what she told me to write, I would ask another question only to not hear anything because she wasn't there anymore. So I am just asking the same question at random times hoping that she has arrived back at the window. I was getting very frustrated because this happened about three times. So after getting all of my papers situated and handed in, she tells me that there will be a charge of 60 euros. This created a problem because on the phone (when I made the appointment) the woman told me that it would be 30 Lats. So to put all of this in perspective------I am in a country whose currency is Lits-----I am applying for a residency permit for a country whose currency is Lats-----But I have to pay for this permit in Euros. This makes no sense to me at all. I ask the woman where I can get Euros. She sends me a half a mile in the opposite direction of the embassy to a hotel. By now it is 3:40. I am running out of time. So, I haul ass to the hotel only to find out that they can't give me Euros. So, I ask the front desk woman where I can get Euros. She pulls out a map and points to a place that is about a mile and a half back towards the embassy. So I take off running to the bank. I finally get to the bank and exchage 210 Lits for 60 Euros. I then proceeded to run back to the embassy. I pay for my permit and look at my watch, it is 4:25. I know that I can't run to the bus station in that amount of time because at this point I am very tired of running. But, I decide to try it anyway and the first cab I see, I will take it. I come across the first cab, the guy looked a little shady, but behind him about fifty yards was another cab. I thought I would take that one instead. I go to that cab and ask him to take me to the bus station. He doesn't understand what I am saying, so he points me to the first cab with the shady guy in it. So at this point I am thinking that since this guy doesn't know english, maybe he does know that the other cab driver does. I was of course wrong. I knock on the shady cab drivers window, he opens the door, and I ask him to take me to the bus station. He doesn't speak a bit of English. So I decided to pull out my map and point to the bus station. He then nods and hauled ass to the bus station. And to make a long story a little bit shorter, I am home and safe and sound. It was a terrible trip, but everthing worked out. I should recieve my permit in about thirty days.

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