Yesterday was the long awaited glorious day: I became a naturalized American citizen. Although I had always had an interest in the American culture, arts and first world society (I studied English in a self-taught basis for the most part), I can now officially say I am "proud to be an American."
I love this country, here is where I started my family when I got married to an amazing American woman (Paige) and had my daughter Evie, not to mention the additions to the family (my in-laws)! The U.S.A. is where God brought Paige and I together to live and constitute a family and it has been a great decision and privilege.
The foundations of this Nation are a compelling story...
I could go on an on... but here is how the crucial day went.
We got up early and got our Evie ready for the special occasion. We dropped at daycare and and went on to the USCIS office in Atlanta. The appointment was at 9:45 and we got there at 9:42, just in time for me to jump out of the car and go through security.
While Paige parked I went ahead and checked in on the second floor. She came and joined me later until my interview.
The interviewer called my name. She was a dark, skinny, friendly little girl probably around our age. I went back to the interview room after asking her if I could bring Paige back with me and she said I couldn't. Paige waited in the waiting room.
The interviewer asked to see my ID and birth certificate. I showed her both and said "I can't seem to find the photocopy" to which she replied "no problem, I found it in the pile here." Basically, they ask you to bring all docs just in case because they have all of them there anyway.
The next question was about my name and date of birth. I said "how American, huh? Enzo Silva." to which she replied "if you would like to change your name legally you can as part of this process, it would just slow down your naturalization a bit." I said "no, I don't even like Enzo anyway, will just keep it."
She then asked the routine questions like "have you been involved in any terrorist plots," etc. To which I always replied: "absolutely not". Then she asked me if I had been in any trips outside the U.S. after 2007 (the last trip I had listed on the form before submitting was Brazil in 11/2007), I said:
"Yes, we went to Brazil this summer."
"How long did you stay there?"
"2 weeks, out of which we got sick for 1 week". We had the 'swine flu'."
"Really? You're over it, right?" - smile.
"Oh yeah, don't worry about it, not passing it on to you". She smiled.
Then she asked me if I knew what the oath I was taking meant and I said "yes." She asked if I was open to defend the country and join the Military if necessary.
"Sure. I just don't know what they would use me for with only one ear." Laugh.
"Well, I am sure there is a lot of brain power in there that could be used." Smile.
She then asked if I lived in the same address. I said yes and repeated it as she was saying it as well. She also asked if I was still married and I said "yes, and I intend to stay that way..." Of course, she smiled.
I coughed and made the "smart" remark: "oops, not the swine flu." and she replied laughing: "good, I was already holding my breath here..."
Next thing she said for me to put my documents/folder aside so we could start the "test".
Mmmm... did I say it was easy? I lied: it was an insult to anyone's intelligence. 10 random questions, if you answer the first 6 correctly the interviewer will stop and you will NOT have to answer the others.
Here are the questions she asked:
- What is freedom of religion? Answer: you have the right to practice or not practice any religion. (Yep, I memorized this one verbatim).
- Name one state that borders Canada. (my answer was New York)
- When was the Constitution written? (my answer: 1876)
When is it necessary to register for Selective Service? (my answer: males from 18 - 26 years of age)- What ocean is on the East Coast? (my answer: mmmm... Atlantic)
- How many U.S. senators are there? (my answer: 100... 2 per state *smile*)
Then she put a sheet of paper on the desk in front of me and asked me to read the first sentence: "What do we pay to the government?"
I even said after reading it in immaculate English (just kidding): "well, we pay taxes, fees and more..." and smiled.
Funny enough, the "writing test" was for me to write the sentence she dictated: "we pay taxes."
That was IT!!!
I asked her if I could write down the questions. "I will have too many people asking me what questions were on my test. Is that against the rules?" She said no problem. Then as I started writing them down, I said my memory was bad (yes, tricky me). And she said: "hey, here, copy it from the test..." and handed me the test... ;)
Then she said: "I need your green card now. Say good-bye to it".
"Really? I wanted it as a souvenir!..." said face... and she smiles saying "yeah, we have to keep it".... Man, am I charming even in my naturalization interview... ;)
I asked her if she was born American herself and she said she was but her parents were from India. I knew I thought she looked like the girl from Slum Dog Millionaire!
Then she said, "congratulations, you passed the test, wait until they call you out there and give you the approval paper and then come back at 2 o'clock for the ceremony on the second floor. Don't forget to change your status to citizen at the Social Security office."
I got out of that room with a smile on my face and Paige was happy to see me. She then went downstairs because her parents had picked Evie up at daycare and had come to participate in the festivities. I thought I would be able to get out and have some lunch before the ceremony: wrong! I waited until around 1:30 for the approval paper! In the meantime, anxious, hungry and a tad mad, I talked to a Vietnamese lady whose daughter was going to interview as well... turns out she did NOT pass the test... probably nervous?
Anyways, I went on to the parking lot to see if my family was there, borrowed a cell phone to call Paige (mine was in the car) and went back upstairs when she didn't pick up the phone, knowing they would be in there anyway.
They then had to wait on the third floor while I was on the second floor, sitting in line talking to a guy from Liberia who didn't care enough to tell his family he was becoming an American citizen after 20 years of permanent residence... well..
The ceremony was really nice. We had a message from president Obama, videoclips with the song God Bless the USA in the background and, of course, the oath I was proud to take.
My family got front row seat since the Evie was a little baby.
And this is just one moment in the story of how I became and American citizen.
I already registered to vote.
Now we are hoping for an exciting 2010..it should be filled with lots of things. One of the main things we are excited about seeing happen is Enzo's mom coming to the states. She has never traveled so it should be quite interesting! She will be staying with us hopefully for about 3 months. We are thinking she might arrive late summer/early fall but of course this all depends upon immigration. It will be our first together Christmas all together!
