A Visit to the Federal Police and a trip on the bus.

The past week has been a slow week but nevertheless, one filled with many new experiences. Over the past week, I have been to Anapolis, what seem like everyday. There are only two of these trips which warrant a blog entry. The first trip involves my trip to the Federal Police. Brazil is very concerned about keeping track of people entering its borders. This was first very evident to me during my trip to Brazilian Embassy in Los Angeles.

I had gone to Los Angeles to get my visa thinking that I could apply for the visa one day and then pick it up the next day. I actually had to spend several days in Los Angeles prior to actually applying for the visa because the consulate had to legalize the documents I was submitting with my visa application. It was a good thing I had brought several days worth of cloths with me. After spending several those days in LA, I still had to return to the embassy at a much later date to pick up my visa. The wait time is usually 3 months; however thanks to God I got my visa in a week and half. Anyways when I got my visa, I was sternly advised that I had to show myself to Federal Police within 30 day of arriving to be registered. I also had to submit to the Federal Police, a police clearance to ensure I am not a criminal and several other documents to verify who I was.

Being a stickler for rules, I make sure to tell my supervisor that I had to go to the police as soon as possible. Two weeks went by and I was not taken to the police or even told how to get there. By the third week I reminded my supervisor again and he said he would take that week but he still did not give me a day. Several days later, as I was getting ready to go to lunch my supervisor called me on the phone and told me to come to his office right away because we were going to Federal Police. In my head I was thinking finally, but I wish I had gotten some warning.

By the time we got to Federal Police, it is around lunch time and the place is empty except for one other person. According to my supervisor is a rarity, because the Federal Police is always full of people. We went inside, sat and waited to be attended. Several person who worked at the station, walked by us and totally ignored us. After sitting for probably 20 minutes the other person who was being served left and we went to the person who was had been attending her. She told us she will call us when she is ready for us. We waited for another 30 minutes while she talked to her co-worker and talked on her cell phone. When her co-worker went to lunch she called us in the room to be attended.

She looked at my documents and basically told me that I needed other documents. I needed only one of the documents the Brazilian embassy had insisted that I have and had paid them to legalize/notarized. In order to be registered, I had to photocopy and notarize other documents and then take pictures because pictures for legal documents in Brazil are smaller than the ones I had with me. Three hours later we returned to Federal Police with all documents in hand. This time we attended right away.

After submitting my documents to the person attending us, she took me to another side of the police station to have my have my fingerprints taken. The place where the fingerprints were taken was much nicer looking that the place where we previously. The place was cleaner, had nicer furniture and very obviously was that it was purely a masculine space. As I walked thorough the office to fingerprints room there were no females in any of the offices and after I had my fingerprints taken I was told I wash my hands in the male bathroom, which was the only bathroom. I don’t want to read too much into that place but it just seemed a little strange. The rest of the process went smoothly. I am now legal and I received a temporary Brazilian ID. The official one will come in three months.

Several days later I made another trip to Anapolis using a different mode of transportation. One of my friends asks me if I want me to go with her to Anapolis. She wanted the company. I told her yeah, because I wanted to get some stuff too. The catch was however that we need to take the bus, because she didn’t have a car and none of the other staff with a car was going to Anapolis that day. I am always up for an adventure so that was fine by me.

The school is located between two cities- Anapolis and Pirenapolis; the bus runs back and forth between to these two cities several times per day. In order to get the bus, we need to by the gate of the school and look for the bus. There is no exact time for when the bus will pass in either direction but there is estimated time when the bus will pass by going in either direction.

That day, my friend wanted to catch the bus that runs towards Anapolis at around 1pm. We make sure got there 10 minutes to 1 and looked out for the bus. We waited for around 20 minutes before we finally saw the big yellow bus coming over the hill. At that point we ran out to the main road to ensure that bus driver had seen us. Another teacher had said she wanted to come with us to Anapolis but we could not find her when were leaving for the school. Only when we were walking towards the main road did we see her running to catch the bus. We had to tell the bus driver that she was coming and waited until got on the bus. That teacher got to the bus out of breath but very happy. Had she had missed that bus, she would have had to wait until the bus made its next trip to Anapolis at who knows what time.

This bus had a driver and bus conductor. As you enter the bus you pay the bus conductor the fare and he lets you through one of those circular things that which allows one person at a time to pass by. There are two sets of seats on either sides of the bus just like in a regular bus. There is another door at the back of the bus for exiting. The bus ride was not what I was not what I expecting it was calm and peaceful; there were not chickens or wild animals to content with. At least I now know how to get to Anapolis on my own.

It was good to explore the city on foot. Many of the other times I went in car and you get to see as many things as you go when you walk. I am feeling more confident about finding places in the city. I was even able to direct one of the teachers to one of the post offices in the city. I feel like I am becoming Brazilian. Lol! The downside of taking the bus is the fact that we at the mercy of the schedule of bus. The last bus leaves Anapolis at around 6pm so we needed to get all needed to get done around that time to get to the bus stop. Another thing is the fact that if you buy groceries you have a log around all you bags and the space between the seats is very small so it is cramped if you have many bags.

That day we took the last bus back to the school. There are also a lot of other people who also took this bus. As a result there was a lot of pushing and shoving to get into the bus. Everyone wanted to get a seat because it was a good distance to the final stop, where most people got off. The drive back to the school was good except for the fact that we were not sure of when to ring in the buzzer. The school is on a hill, surrounded by trees so it’s hard to see it in the distance. You only see the sign as you get to school which may be too late because by then you will be passing the school. Fortunately for us we rang the bell at the right time. We made it back to school in one piece.