Friday, May. 12, 2023 - 9:57 pm.
I went to my UK visa appointment on Tuesday as scheduled. It wasn't an interview. It's a rip-off service in which they provide a platform for you to upload a list of documents they give you. Then you go into a cubicle, hold your passport up to the three surveillance cameras on the ceiling while you state your name and date of birth like a criminal, and then you drop off your passport in a courier bag and into a mailbox.
I sat in a waiting room for one hour to do that shit. And I'm honestly not sure they'll give me the visa.
That list of documents was incomplete, too. I mean, I'm not sure they'll see "enough evidence" that I have a life here, I just submitted evidence that I'm going to the UK for a week. I just stuck to what the list said, but of course I should know better by now.
I was hoping I could clear some stuff up during the interview, but like I said, there was no interview. I even printed out my full application and all the documents I uploaded, but in the end all I was asked to hand in was the printed appointment confirmation message and my passport.
I tried to cheer myself up thinking that probably this sort of service is not for me, who is privileged enough to travel for work or leisure and who can upload her documents herself. Surely some people might benefit from this expensive, soul-sucking procedure? Someone who'll reunite with their family overseas or who has to fleed their home country? But I have a hard time believing that this service would make such things easier.
Anyway! That appointment was but a hiccups in an otherwise nice trip to The Capital with Andrew, from Monday at noon until Wednesday evening. He took care of everything. He got us the plane tickets, a fancy hotel with a rooftop pool (water was too cold, though) within walking distance from the UK visa appointment offices... and we had no rush to go anywhere. We did some shopping, had fancy meals, and met with an old friend of Andrew's at a great bar on Monday night. It was great. I don't like the capital city but it's OK for a visit.
We also went to this mall in a fancy tower, an extraordinary ode to capitalism. The hallways have make-shift glass walls that were put up because a lot of people have jumped to their deaths from the upper floors. The electric stairs that go up read "you are important" and have the number of a help line.
Coincidentally, it was in this mall were we once met with Andrew's brother for lunch, years before he died like a lot of people inside this very building. So being in there was really triggering, and yet Andrew and I managed to buy ourselves coats. Capitalism, I tell ya.
After all the exhausting paperwork and travel to apply for a UK visa that I may not even get, I decided it's time to become a Chilean citizen. I mean, I've been here long enough to make that happen. That way I'll get their passport and I won't need to keep applying to UK and US visas. The way immigration laws are tightening in these countries, it may do me no good, but I might as well go for it anyway.
On Thursday and Friday, after coming back from our trip, Andrew and I have checked an apartment for sale and got our earlobes pierced. I've thought about doing the latter for a while, and I was afraid I'd regret it.
Side note, the guy at the piercing studio reminded me of my friends Lighthouse and CR, god bless them.
I was a bit scared as he prepped, though he was very good at talking about his life in a way that put me at ease. I also felt really guilty for inflicting pain on my body. I think I feel guilty from those years in which I cut myself, and since then I promised my body to treat it right and take care of it.
I laid down and he prepped the needles and the pieces of jewelry I'd selected. It hurt, of course. Then I got up and saw myself in the mirror, my new pair of piercings in my earlobes. It felt... right. It just felt right.
The guy helped me choose this set of earrings for my body to get used to, and heal from the wounds. He had what I thought would be a very CR-like approach to self-affirmation and identity expression through your body, which I really appreciated. Perhaps unlike CR, this guy supported abortion in the same vein of being control of one's body and one's life. Also much appreciated.
Oh, the apartment we saw. We went today at noon. Good starting price to make an offer, one of the best areas in the city to live, huge windows on a 10th floor. But we're still not convinced. There are a few details, and overall, we fear we'll buy it and yet we'll remain with the itch to get a house.
While I really liked the apartment, I didn't get that "yes, this is the one" gut feeling. But do you even get one of those feelings with a place to live? Don't you just buy something decent within your means and settle in and get used to it?
Haha, I took a break from writing in here and *the* house that Andrew and I wanted showed up on my Instagram ads. The one house that did made us go "yes, this is the one" but was snatched from us in September, and then a guy killed himself inside of it, and now the lady who bought it is charging a ridiculous amount trying to make up for the bad deal she made (the guy, her friend, dying there is the tip of the iceberg).
Seeing that house right now felt a bit like seeing your ex showing up on your feed doing well (I should know!). I don't want her to do well. I'm sorry, but I need her to be desperate so we can get the property off her hands for a fair-adjacent price (she would never sell it to us at the same price that we were gonna pay when she blindsided us).
Anyway, I've said enough today. Let's delve into the weekend and then back into our work routine.