Today was a day of unplanned activities. Yesterday, Boris told me that his US visa is about to expire (I vaguely remembered that it’s the case, but I thought it’s good till mid-March). For some reason, he thought that renewal in Helsinki would be as easy as it was three years ago, and he could just apply online and get a visa in a week, but it turned out not at all easy.
First, the whole application process, including paying the visa fee, is as nightmare-ish as it was. Forget about visually impaired people; even for me, it took almost three hours! (out of my workday).
And when we finally got the interview waiver confirmation, it turned out that the mail-in application processing time was six to eight weeks.
That means that Boris won’t be able to come to Chicago until at least May (and he still has to figure out the two-month interval when he is less likely to have to go to Russia because he will have to mail his passport, which still has non-stamped pages, and he will be left with the all-stamped one). I will still be coming to Helsinki, but this is not like when he comes to Chicago!
Hettie's Reflections 