voter registration

copenhagen living

we went to the u.s. embassy in copenhagen today to register to vote.

here is greg putting the burley up onto a bike rack at the train station in roskilde...

we could have registered from home, but let's face it... we still don't really know how to mail things internationally and figuring it out and actually doing it would probably take as much effort as a quick trip to copenhagen. and the embassy, along with the American Women's Club of Copenhagen and Democrats Abroad were hosting an actual voter registration event, so it seemed like a worthwhile endeavor.

here is what i imagined: the building itself would be old, grand, stately. after all, the danes have had a u.s. ambassador around since the early 1800's. there would be a large, open, gaudily carpeted entrance ("the grand hall") and over to the right somewhere would be a couple of folding tables with a sign saying, "voter registration event." the kids would run around on the carpeted floor and all of the many lounge chairs and couches while we filled in our registration information. and it would just so happen that the ambassador herself would be walking through at that moment and she would stop to say hi to henry and we'd leave saying 'wow, wasn't that cool? we saw the u.s. ambassador. so friendly! and we even got a picture of her and henry together.'

walking to the embassy

can you spot the clue in the distance that we're nearing it?

as it's coming into view, it's starting to look not so stately.

u.s. embassy, sans any kind of frills whatsoever:

and as i walked up to one of two front doors, i was quickly met by a security guard who asked me if i could please wait outside in the line. i didn't know there was a line. just a couple of guys standing around chatting, but alright, we will wait. later, this same person came out and checked our passports. then, when our turn came, he brought us through the door to the security area. we had to empty out our pockets, take off our belts, check anything electronic--there went henry's photo-op with the ambassador, and greg even had to take a drink of the water we'd brought along, which i thought was just airport folklore. after we cleared security, we went through locked doors to a glass window where we had to slide our passports to a u.s. military official, who kept them and in exchange gave us temporary visitor passes which we had to wear around our necks. then, we were taken through another locked door and finally to the room to register. needless to say, we never casually ran into the ambassador, but everyone else we came across was very friendly. and we did get registered and i learned that as citizens intending to return to the u.s. we can probably vote in local wisconsin elections! and that makes me so happy because we have a recall coming up!

the train on the way back was the nicest we'd been on. it's certainly not your "L" or even chicago metra. i don't even think amtrak compares to this...

william, loving the trains.

finally, from earlier today-- when you don't have a tub, you have to play with your bath toys in the sink sometimes...