Residency is right around the corner

To obtain official residency here is quite the process. I'm sure it is similar in the US and other countries and I now have an idea of what those coming to our country go through~ sort of. Because Bob is the one that has the job that brought us here, he is my "sponsor" to get residency. It's kind of a big deal since without it I can't volunteer, work or stay in the country for more than 30 days without running to the Oman border to renew my visa for another month. I love Oman but not really wanting to go there every month so this is much nicer and makes us feel like we really are "home". Luckily Dell has these great people that they hire to help us with this crazy process. Yesterday, I went with Mr. Farroz to the Ministry of Interior affairs where everyone goes to do the final steps in obtaining this residency visa in your passport. There were about a thousand people of all different races and nationalities waiting in various rooms to be called in for their medical exam, fingerprinting and eye exam. The medical consists of questions regarding your health, any communicable diseases that you are going to be sharing with everyone ( no aids, tb or the like can gain residency and are swiftly sent packing), and a chest x-ray. We were whisked away into a VIP area where there was no waiting and the process was so slick that we were out of there in about an hour. Mr. F told me that most of the crowd waits for hours for their turn and it is an all day affair for them. I felt extremely thankful and sad for all those waiting. But I guess in the big scheme of things the others are just as thankful as I am even if they do have a long wait. One other thing about residency, you can buy a car but can not register it without this residency. So you see, it's super important and I should have mine by the end of the week... Yipppeeee!