Form N-400 Application for Naturalization to become citizen of the United States - approved! So nothing is official yet, I am unable to call myself a citizen and unable to vote until I attend my oath ceremony and do all the necessary swearing in stuff. I still do not know when this will be, I do know it will be at either the LA county fairgrounds or the LA Convention Center - holy cow how many people will be doing this at the same time as me, those places are huge!
After arriving at the department of Homeland Security, going through a considerable amount of security I found myself in a waiting room with about 100 other people. I had to keep telling myself I was still in America because I was the only white person and there wasn't a whole lot of English being spoken in the hour and 45 minutes I sat there waiting. WOW there must have been people from every country you can imagine that look like they are from other countries - Hispanic, Indian, Asian, African! I got a little intimidated when half the people had lawyers with them but felt a little better when about a quarter of them had to have interpreters!
I hadn't felt this anxious in awhile, people were coming out and you could hear them saying they had to come back again, or they were looking sad which obviously wasn't a good sign. When it was finally my turn I completely relaxed - I nailed the written test, nailed the reading test, nailed the interview, nailed the civics test and had everything he needed to see! I would also guess that I was the easiest case of the day and also the most slam dunk case of the day - not to be all boastful or anything but I am just calling it like I see it.
So that is a relief - done! I really hope I can vote, after doing all this studying I realize what women went through so we can vote and what an important right it is. (The right to vote is actually found in the 15,19,24 and 26th amendments for any of you who care). I was feeling a little like I was betraying my homeland the other day so I went to Costplus World Market and picked up 2 Australian candy bars - a crunchie and a curly wurly and after eating those I felt a lot better, I am not giving up Australia I still love it but I love the United States too. Its kind of like when you have a baby you don't think you could love the next one as much as you do your first!
All should be happy! Chad is happy because I will be the same citizenship as him and the kids, my family should be happy because I do not have to give up my Aussie citizenship and I am happy because I can vote and have the best of both worlds. Happy Birthday to me!
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13 comments:
That is seriously SO awesome! Congrats!! My brother-in-law got his a few years ago, and he says that it was one of the happiest days of his life! He is such a better citizen than I am. He constantly makes me feel like I need to be more appreciative of the life I have here, and what others have sacrificed for me to have it. He calls everyone to make sure we have voted--even on a city level. One year I didn't get a chance to do it, and you would have thought that I had committed the unpardonable sin. He just doesn't take one second of it for granted!
So happy for you--can't wait to see the post of your swearing in!
Happy Birthday to you! And congratulations! Now you can forget about everything you learned like the rest of us! :)
Congratulations and happy birthday! I love the "calling it like [you] see it" part - I appreciate you keeping it real for us.
I was not aware that voting is mentioned in the 15, 19, 24, & 26 ammendments...all I ever hear about is persons 1st ammendment rights and how they're violated in some way or another...good for you Rach! I think that you need to teach an Enrichment or something. You have such knowledge!!
Yeah! Congratulations, We knew you'd do awesome, see you tomorrow!
Yeah Rachel - That is so exciting - when do you swear in? :0)
Congratulations! And is it you're birthday too?
Congratulations! And happy birthday to you! We can't wait to hear when you get naturalized...we're going to have a party complete with little american flags and all things american...maybe we can just do In-n-Out:-)
Hey Rachy...you traitor!!
Nah...just kidding. Yay for you and yay for America! They are getting a good one :o)
Happy #36 BTW...hope you had a great day. We {heart} you!!
hee hee...do you like that?
Me xoxo
That is so great. Congrats- sounds like you have learned a whole heck of a lot during this process. Maybe you can re-teach us all about our country. Actually that is one of the things I am looking forward to as my kids get older, re-learning all the stuff I have forgotten, especially related to history. Anyways, way to go.
way to go rach!!! i need to re-learn these things, i am impressed by what you have learned.
hey, thank you so much for your help the other night. we officially have renters. thanks for everything!!!
wish we were still there to go on your b-day outing. it looked like so much fun! something aaron and i would have loved!
favor to ask... will you send danielle my email? i have got to read more aussie talk, thanks.
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