Whew, what a day! You wouldn't believe that getting your foreigner's identity number would be that difficult...but it is. I'll spare you the details, but basically it required getting up before the sun (the sun doesn't rise until well after 8:00 am here, and the city is sound asleep until then), and sitting in a long line outside the government office in Plaza de Espana. It's like the Spanish version of the DMV -- yuck. Annie and I even got yelled at by some Chinese guy who thought we were taking cuts in line -- it was like kindergarten all over again. They system is very "Spanish" because really, there is no system. You just show up, hope you have the right documents, and pray that the person working there is in a good mood. Because if all 3 of those things don't happen, then they tell you to just come back tomorrow -- and that's that. No arguing. But finally about 4 hours later, we were able to leave the office with the first step of the process completed successfully. I also opened a Spanish bank account today -- and word to the wise: don't ever bring traveller's checks to Spain. They are worthless. Learned that one the hard way.
Annie and Dustin nervously waiting to get their N.I.E.
The only nice thing about getting your N.I.E. is that the office is in Plaza de Espana...so at least the scenery is beautiful!
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