Ta-daa! Surprise!

Well, there you have it! My surprise! What I've been studying and worrying and agonizing over for the last few months: I finally got my American citizenship!
(And since I've been married to an American I can keep my Dutch citizenship, so I now have dual citizenship)

I'm so happy!!

Of course, in hindsight, I had nothing to worry about. The whole interview didn't last 15 minutes, if that, and was so easy, even I could do it ... ha, ha.

Nevertheless, although I had studied the 100 questions for the (oral) civics test (which most Americans I talked too, including my husband, admitted they'd never pass) and prepared to be interrogated about my marriage, taxes, connections with terrorist organizations, smuggling things into the country, drug addictions and mental health problems as well as why I wanted to become an American, I was still crazy nervous for the interview!



We had to be at the field office of the USCIS in downtown Portland at 8.55 so we left Newberg early, only to completely miss any morning rush-hour traffic whatsoever and rolled into town by 7.45!
Time enough for some coffee and pastries at the Three Sisters coffee company, a few blocks away.

I think it was a nice pastry and the coffee was rather good but I truly can't remember, it could have been horrible, I wouldn't have known in the state of mind I was in ..
(By the way, as you can see in that last pic, masks are worn in most public places again around here. Covid numbers are at a summer-high once again!)


OK, once inside, after being checked for weapons and signed in and fingerprinted at a little cubicle the waiting started ... waiting .. waiting and .. waiting!
It was almost 10am before I was called and it truly felt like hours!

'My' immigration officer was the friendliest guy ever, told me right up front that since I've been in the states already so long and married to an American and all my paperwork was in order that the interview was 'just a formality' and I had nothing to worry about.
(Pffft, if I only had known that for sure up front ... oh well)
He started with my civic questions right from the bat, to get them out of the way, shall we?
From the 100 questions they will ask you up to 10, of which you have to answer 6 correctly. They'll actually stop once you reach 6. Which was what happened because I aced them all!
He than went through my application and some of the information I had filled out, but never asked for any clarification whatsoever, just making sure that everything was correct.
Than he asked me if I was ready to take the oath .. huh .. yeaah, suuure? (Apparently due to Covid the big ceremonies are not done at the moment)

So there I stood, hand raised, pledging allegiance to the United States of America!
Congratulations, well done and you're done!

After almost another hour wait for my certificate (but who cared, I would have waited for 3 days at that time and wouldn't have minded) I pretty much skipped outside (I might actually have somersaulted), waiving my little flag!
James of course was there and had never had any doubts I would pass .. yeah, well, he didn't have to do it, did he now?

Since we were in Portland, and although I still wasn't very hungry, we celebrated with a nice lunch at the riverfront marina walkway:

Another coffee (as if I wasn't jittery enough still), a turkey cranberry sandwich and the best red pepper and Parmesan soup I have ever eaten!
The rest of the day I tried to relax, basked in my happiness and took a nap when I finally came down from that Adrenaline-rush.
We went for pizza that evening at a little rustic place here in town that we hadn't been before, the Honey-pie (so called because they put a little honey in their crusts):

The weather was great so we could sit in their courtyard:



Funny enough we met the owners of the winery we visited last weekend there, who recognized us and remembered I had to go for my interview.
They'd brought a bottle of wine and immediately poured us a glass as well to toast my newly-minted citizenship!

(That was an excellent pizza by the way, a 'Fungus-among-us', with several different mushrooms and truffels!)

Phew, what a day! Certainly one I'll probably always remember!

O, and look, I got a letter from the White House! And boy, am I happy that I waited for a bit longer than planned so it's President Biden who signed it ...