Hi, all. This week was what I’d call energetic. I tackled a bunch of projects (applied for two adjunct teaching positions, applied to another training, began the long process of attempting to obtain Austrian citizenship – bet you didn’t see that last one coming, lol, neither did I). I also thought and overthought and FINALLY put up my Psychology Today profile, which I should now share with people so they know I’m seeing clients! Of course, lots of imposter syndrome/second guessing!
About the citizenship – the Austrian government is offering citizenship to direct descendants of persecuted nationals, i.e. people who were killed or fled persecution. Since my grandfather was whisked away from Vienna as a child to escape the Holocaust, he falls under this category. The process is fairly long and involved, but I’d love access to an E.U. passport, which would at minimum enable me to travel for longer periods of time in Europe, and would also allow me to live and work in the E.U. (no plans, but it would be cool to know I can). I’ve known about this policy for about 4 years but just this week I said, ok I’m doing it.
I need to obtain a fresh copy of my birth certificate (I tried doing this and managed to pay the wrong agency for a document that they don’t have, that was a little sad), and get an FBI background check (I went to get fingerprinted this week and the USPS office I visited had randomly closed their passport office for the day) and get them both apostilled (I had to look up that word, but I’ll be sending my birth certificate to the Secretary of State of New York, and my FBI background check to the State Department of the United States. I hope they run their offices efficiently). I also need to send a copy of my parents’ marriage license (complicated because they cannot find it and have to obtain a new one from Quebec and this seems harder than it should be because the paperwork makes no sense and my mother may have to go to the office in person), my father’s birth certificate (we have this), my grandparents’ marriage license (which probably doesn’t exist lol, they got married in Morocco 70 years ago and none of my father’s siblings have seen it but I will call the Austrian Consulate to ask what else I can send), and my grandfather’s birth certificate (which they should be retrieving on my behalf in Vienna). I also need some sort of proof that he left Austria due to persecution but this is something else the Austrian government may be able to help me with. And finally, I need passport photos but with weird dimensions. Lol.
My mother’s friend recently did this for her children (she’s not the descendant, her husband is, so only he and their kids could get the citizenship) and she said it took 18 months. Eek.
In other news…
Currently reading The Stress Paradox by Sharon Horesh Birgquist. It’s an interesting idea.
Loved this garage makeover.
Artist Date: I tacked this onto my failed fingerprinting mission as a sort of mini-date — Wildlife Wonders, two huge bronze sculptures that were fun to look at. I went with my children :-).
Love this tree count. At some point in the future, I will get really into gear learning all about trees.
I bought my yearly stash of cheap spiral notebooks from Staples – more colors in store. That’s always fun. Ah, the possibilities.
Thank you for reading, have a wonderful Shabbos and a good chodesh! We will check in again next week!
(Photo credit: Tara Winstead/Pexels)
