The Day of the Citizen

We got up at 5:15AM on Tuesday, April 18, 2006. I had been trying to decide
what to wear the night before and couldn't decide whether to go really
dressy or really comfortable. I knew that the oath ceremony was a legal
affair so I knew that jeans weren't appropriate. At the same time, I knew
that I could be sitting in waiting rooms for hours so I didn't want to be
too bound by my attire. I opted, in the end for my favorite kind-of-dressy
shirt (the striped one I got from the fashion show I was in at St James
Lutheran last fall) and green velvet pants. The shirt is sort of a power
shirt for me; I feel so good in it that I like to wear it when I meet with
strangers for the first time. The pants were, well, warm. Seattle was cold
while we were there. I also wore my red shoes; again, comfort with a hint of
flash. My appointment was scheduled for 8:30AM.

We left Kate and Dave's at 6:15, stopping at Safeway to get our morning
coffees for the drive to Tukwila (south end of Seattle). If it tells you
anything about our state of mind, we didn't get out of Safeway until 6:45.
We were both nervous enough that we forgot that the plan was to be at the
USCIS office at 7:00, when the doors open. Sigh. I only remembered the plan
when we were back on the highway. That was mildly distressing until I
remembered that we had a gazillion people praying for us. I decided then
that, if I had forgotten something as simple as the timeline for the
morning, God must have meant it to go that way. I relaxed; somewhat.

There was a bit of heaviness to the traffic on I-405 and I-5 headed for
downtown Seattle. Rob had to make some scary lane changes. We and, just as
importantly, the car that we borrowed from Shawn and Holly came through it
utterly unscathed. We pulled into the parking lot about 7:30. We went
through security quickly as there was no line up at all and took our seats
in the waiting room upstairs, outside the interview area. There were about
20 people there ahead of us. Rob did things on his computer while we waited
and, for a while, drilled me on my civics questions. I watched the
television mounted on the wall.

During the waiting, a man in front of us went in for an interview and then
returned and sat back down again with his wife. I asked him if he was taking
his oath that day. He said no, that he had been given a continuance. His
photos were not according to spec; sound familiar? I commiserated with him
briefly, sharing the experience I had with my green card photos being
rejected, despite being exactly as required by the guidelines provided with
the application. I felt bad for him. I would have been in exactly the same
boat, had I not called the USCIS hotline a dozen times about each iota of my
application, making sure that there were no secret guidelines that I would
be bitten by later. In terms of photos, there were. The "Guide to
Naturalization" specifically mentions a 3/4 head shot. The USCIS hotline
told me that they now want front views only. They just haven't updated the
Guide. Sigh. (see page 37 of the 66 page Guide)

As 8:30 came and went, Rob asked if I was sure I was checked in. Suddenly, I
wasn't so sure. I noticed that everyone in the room when I had arrived was
gone. Just then, at around 8:45, someone called my name. I got up and went
into the interview area.

My interviewer was a nice man named Geoffrey. He was charming and put me at
ease right away. Some of the highlights of the interview include:

• He said that he was surprised at the thickness of my USCIS file. I
  guess most people don't have a file that thick unless their case has been
  complicated and full of appeals. He was surprised to see, for example, that
  my green card application was 500+ pages of bank statements and letters from
  my mother-in-law.
• When I told him was in training for Bible translation, he asked if I
  was going to get a crack at the Gospel of Judas. I told him that I didn't
  know but explained that the texts I work with are "cleaned up." As in, the
  ancient manuscripts don't have punctuation or, often, spaces between words.
  On top of that, the words don't always end on the same line. So translating
  these old texts mean figuring out where words start and end, before even
  getting to translation itself. He seemed to think that was pretty
  interesting. I felt even more comfortable, getting the chance to talk about
  my interest, not just my application.
• He was slightly concerned by fact that I am currently in Columbia,
  SC. I explained that I'm still a Washington resident and that my situation
  here is temporary. At that point, I was suddenly really glad that I didn't
  do an official change of address with the U.S. Postal Service. That could
  have ganked things royally. I mean, Washington is my U.S. home. It has been
  so since we married, regardless of where we've been. I'm glad that this
  point came through clearly in the interview.
• He asked me 10 or so questions. I got them all right. They included,
  if I remember correctly:
  * Colors of the American flag
  * Name of the president
  * Name of the vice-president
  * Name of the national anthem
  * How long a representative is elected for
  * 49th state of the union
  * Color of the stars on the flag
  * Who meets in the Capitol building
  * President during the civil war
  * What is the Bill of Rights
• He said that they didn't always book morning appointments for same
  day Oath ceremonies but that they were doing so today. Praise God! At this
  point, all of our prayers in this regard had been answered gloriously and to
  the affirmative. The appointment was made for 2PM that day.

We left the office and drove to Rob's aunt Jill's place, about 15 minutes
away. We had a lunch and Jill did a lip-print analysis on me. We came back
to the USCIS office by 1:45PM. Kate and the kids, Rob's folks and our friend
Eric came for the ceremony.

When we made it through security, my observing guests were herded to the
room where the ceremony was to take place. Those taking the Oath were
instructed to line up. I was second in line. After the room was full of
people lining up, we each went to the counter and turned in our green cards,
as well as the form we signed saying that nothing vital had changed in our
status since the interview. When these were handed over, I checked my name
on a list to make sure all the spelling was correct. She gave me a letter
from the president, a small American flag, instructions on where to go to
get a passport and a copy of the Pledge of Allegiance. Then, I was sent to
the room where the Oath ceremony takes place.

Once in the room, I was sent to sit in the second row, on the far left side.
All guests were sitting in the back rows. For the next 30 minutes, people
taking the Oath and their guests filed in and took their seats. When things
got started, at about 2:30, the first speaker welcomed us and got each of us
to stand and remain standing as our countries were listed. There were 104
people there to take the Oath, including 6 U.S. soldiers, from more than 35
countries. I say more than 35 because we discovered, when we were all
standing, that her list of countries was missing Iraq, Surinam and a few
others. The soldiers were from Serbia, Jamaica, Philippines, Liberia and
somewhere else (I don't remember everything). She told us important facts
about Social Security benefits and care of our new certificates of
naturalization, which we would receive after the ceremony. The second
speaker said these same things and a little more. Then, there was a third
speaker, who introduced the fourth speaker. In between some speakers, we
also watched an inspirational video montage of photos of immigrants and
quotes about citizenship. That was a little superfluous, perhaps. I mean,
here we were, about to take the Oath. I may have had the shortest processing
time in the room and it had still taken me almost 5 years to get to this
point. If I'm not sold on being a citizen by now, a montage won't sway me.
Ah well. Perhaps if we weren't running 30 minutes behind at that point, I
might not have been so jaded on the montage portion of the event.

We did the Oath all at once, right hands raised. Photos were being taken all
around. Somewhere in there, we saw a taped presidential welcome. They handed
out our certificates of naturalization, like a graduation ceremony. I almost
didn't recognize my name when it was read. I think she thought it was Asian;
it came out something like "Uh-shi-nay Vee-et". I laughed.

So, after saying the Pledge of Allegiance (which I missed most of by
fumbling around in my envelope to find the words), we watched another video
montage. This one was nature and people pictures with the country song "I'm
proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free." The lyrics were
onscreen as well, karaoke style, though no-one sang along. I wish they had
done the national anthem instead. That song is so hokey. And I was appalled
to see the word "ain't" up there on the screen, for all new Americans to
see. And not everybody in the room was un-free prior to this day, myself
included. I don't know. I just like the national anthem.

Afterwards, we all had pictures taken with the American flag. Kate's 6 year
old son said, "Miss Eshinee! Now you're just like me!" Yup. Dinosaur shirt
and all.

I do feel different, you know. As soon as we left the ceremony, I suddenly
felt so equal to everyone around me. Like, I can be here and do anything
anyone else can do here. I can be heard! I can vote! I can protest! Not that
I have any protests lined up. But I could, without fear of deportation!
Yippee! Of course, I can't be president. But I'm not really into being
president, so that's cool with me. And I still get to be a citizen of
Canada.

I guess that makes me a Canamerican.