Different bureaucracies work at different speeds.

So it took me two years to get my citizenship issues straightened out with the Greek authorities. The last step is getting registered as having been a foreign resident (well, foreign to Greece) for the past eleven years, to cut down on the amount of military service obligations.

To do that, I needed to get proof of my residency in the United States - the biggest chunk of which was taken up by my work at the police academy in Bergen County.

Well, the previous military affairs officer at the consulate had been adamant that he wanted all kinds of proof of residency - stamped passports weren't enough, he wanted comprehensive proofs of all kinds, which was a little difficult when my employment record had been rather ... spotty for a while during the time in question. Turns out there was a turnover in personnel, and the new military affairs officer was a lot more helpful and pleasant - like night and day, according to my mother, who dealt with him since I'm in Athens and she's got the best command of Greek in the stateside family. All the papers I'd gathered to prove my residency were copied and put into my file - except the letter from Bergen County stating that I'd been an employee there. The only problem with that was that it wasn't notarized.

Now if this had been in Greece, it probably would have taken visits to four different offices and a couple of months to straighten out. Instead, I called the Bergen County administrative office last Thursday:

Official: "Normally we just send out a letter stating that the person's been employed with the county from such-and-such a date to such-and-such a date. Didn't we send you one of those?"
Me: "Yeah, and I appreciate it; the trouble is, the Greek consulate asked for a notarized copy. They get a little stubborn about document authenticity and such, a lot more than the Stateside authorities."
Official: "Well, I'll make up a new letter and see if I can't get it notarized here at the office and send it to you."

The next day, I got a call from the same official: letter was notarized and going into that day's mail.

Wednesday, the letter arrived at my folks' apartment in New York, and yesterday, it was accepted by the military affairs office at the consulate. Today, the army paperwork is being sent overseas to me.

Getting proper paperwork out of the Greek officials took two years. Getting it out of Bergen County took one day. Plus time in transit.

Levels of lessons

And in other news, now that my presence in Greece is relatively safe and solid, I can now take the time to take classes to improve my language skills in the native tongue. The only problem is, I don't know which level of course to take - if I take a level that's too low, it's a waste of time and money for being taught stuff I already know, while if I take a level that's too high, I end up spending time and money to be completely confuzzled.

I *think* I'm at an intermediate level; I can sort of survive in casual conversation, but my vocabulary's got more holes in it than a block of Swiss cheese.

("I don't like Swiss cheese. All those holes in it mean you get less for your money." - Max, Sam and Max: Culture Shock)

Ah, well. Maybe the best solution is to walk in the door and ask.