ALMOST TIME TO VOTE....

Okay, so it's almost time to vote...no wait, I already did!!! A few weeks ago two of us at work from the US contacted the US Embassy about how to vote in the upcoming presidential election. They said they would mail us information, but if it did not arrive by a certain date to come to the US Embassy to get the form. So, yesterday morning I went to the US Embassy to get said form. It was very interesting. The building is very nice and very protected....there were guards all over the place. We got out of the cab and were asked immediately what our business was. We indicated we needed a voting form, and they instructed us to get in line. There were about four or five people in front of us. Then a guard went past those other four or five people and asked us to follow him to a door. Sandy went in first and I was instructed to stay put outside the door. I could see into where she was, but couldn't hear what was going on. The door opened and I was asked to enter the building. They asked me why I was there and then directed me to stand in a certain spot. When the guard was done with Sandy that guard asked me to leave my purse and umbrella (it's been raining for days here) on the x-ray machine and come through the metal detector. When I passed through the metal detector another guard asked me to watch him go through my purse. He took out my camera and asked if it was off. He took out my phone and asked me to turn it off. He then put those two items in a bin and handed me a round key chain type object with a number on it. This number matched the number on the bin. I was told I could collect my camera and phone when my business was done in the Embassy. We then went out a door and up a small incline to the actual door of the building. It was black marble and beautiful. There were red accents everywhere. When we entered the building there was a guard there that said immediately "you are here for a ballot, please go to the left". Wow...they knew what we needed...kind of ominous! Just outside the room was a machine that had a button that said something about "US Citizen" and we pushed the button and out came a number. This was where the process felt just like going to get your driver's license renewed in Iowa. You sat down on a chair and waited for your number to come up on an overhead sign and then you went to the window. We had arrived just prior to 8:30 when the office opened, but were still the fifth and sixth people to be there for assistance. It was interesting listening to what others were there for....it's wasn't ease dropping...the room was very small (about the size of my dining area)...and so you couldn't help but hear what they had to say. The first person was there for a visa to go to Indonesia. Now, if I hadn't been there, I wouldn't have learned you have to have a visa to exit Singapore and enter Indonesia. The good news...you can do this at the airport or, if you take the boat, at the dock. It's not big deal, you just have to have a certain form to enter Indonesia. The next person was there to have additional passport pages added to his passport for him and his wife. If your passport pages get filled up, they will add additional pages, free of charge, so you can travel more. Sandy had to do that also that day. The next gentleman was there because he lost his passport and was due to leave the country for good this weekend. I would have been hysterical at this point, but the gentleman was just that, very gentle. The woman asked him "where did you lose your passport"...now isn't that an ironic question...if he knew where he lost it, would it be lost? He said it must have fallen out of his pocket. She had him fill out some forms, go to the room next door and have his picture taken, and then come back and wait. He was still waiting when we left, but he was going to get his passport in one day...amazing! The next person was there to get a passport for his two week old baby....born in Singapore, but apparently will have dual citizenship in the US. How cool is that!!!! Anyway, our number was called, we collected our forms and headed out. When we got to the exit door we handed our round key chain type thing to the guard and were then given our belongings. We exited that area and hailed a cab. While the cab was coming I took out my camera and was going to take a picture of the Embassy...but I found out quickly that is NOT okay...the guard came and asked if I had taken a picture yet. I said no, and he said "it is not allowed". Wow....I was at the curb and still could not take a picture. The cab driver laughed and said "oh, you can't do that". So, there will not be any pictures of the US Embassy on my blog!!!

Now for the funny part...that day at work our ballots came in the mail! Oh well, I don't' know of any other reason I'll need to go to the US Embassy, so I'm glad I had the experience!

Don't forget to vote...it's a privilege!