8 hour lines, locura, entretenido

Somehow as americans we have no idea what a real line is. I mean yes you might CHOOSE to wait in a long line for concert tickets or an amusement park ride and yes, now and then, there is an annoying line of 30 minutes or even an hour.

Spain on the other hand knows what a real line is. I mean the first time I applied for my residence card I think I waited on five different occasions (in five different locations) in lines of two to four hours, but a minimum of two. On a regular basis at the grocery store I wait for a half an hour (in the fast line, mind you, to just grab a couple things) and I remember spending the entire day at the hospital in sevilla, not because i was deathly ill, but because i needed both to have xrays and blood drawn and of course see the doctor on the front and back end.

today i think trumped all the lines i have been in. i needed to go get fingerprints for my residence card (my new one). remembering last year i thought, "ok they open at 9am, i should probably get there a bit early (like at 8am), but 6am (when i got there last time) just seemed a bit overkill. i mean i had a good four hours i could wait if necessary.

so i got there at a reasonable time, with a book and music in hand. i figured out which of the three lines i needed to be in (and of course it was the longest), but no worries i had time and was a pro at this. so the time passes and i estimate i should be out the door by 11:30-12:00. great!

the line gets closer to the gate to get into the compound and somehow the closer it gets the slower it gets. so instead of moving every 10 minutes we're now moving every 30 minutes. it is now 10:30. then 11:00. okay it is now 12:00 and we have yet to even get in the gate (which i know is at least an hour wait longer). it has now been all of 4 hours. so i call some of the people helping me with the english club at 1pm. God-willing I will still make it, but just in case I let them know what is going on.

so they do finally let us in the gate and it is now 13:00 (1pm). another hour goes by and this is when all heck begins to break loose.

supposedly they close at 2pm for siesta and then reopen at 4pm. they actually do continue to see those inside the gate during this time, but the beasts are getting hungry and tired. i mean, it is lunch time and most of us haven't eaten since 8 or 9am. kids are crying or running around and adults are a bit cranky too.

the first sign of trouble is between two men. one apparently jumped ahead in line and so of course insults the one who tells him to go back to his place. there are some words exchanged and fists raised and that is that.

a bit later i have moved up to where these men were and a lady (who i have never seen before) edges up a few people behind me. she begins to go off on how she was behind chinese woman who is now far ahead. at first the lady was up ahead and then she changes the story to the lady being no where in sight to the lady already have taken off. it sounds a bit fishy, but i'm tired and not too concerned about what anyone else is doing or not doing.

it then occurs to me that this lady has brought a band of people with her who i vaguely remember seeing at the very end of this awfully long line. somehow they have now merged 4-7 people behind me and are continuing to rant and rave about this horrible chinese woman (which much emphasis on the fact that she was chinese) who i am beginning to wonder if even exists.

so now my part of the line is infuriated by all these people who have cut in front of us, when in actuality they are the people who are complaining. yes, there are a few people ahead of us who somehow magically appeared in front of us instead of behind, but for the most part it's the line we started in.

so a bit of time passes and then there is a woman who tells us to go past her because she just is sitting down ahead in the line, even though her place is behind. some people tell her to move, one of the guys in front of me starts to accuse him of being racist (it happens that the woman in question is a covered muslim woman and the people asking her to move are south american (although black) and the man defending the woman is also north african and muslim. this is the same man, mind you, who a couple hours earlier was screaming at the man who butt in line ahead of him. again as i said, the kids cry and the adults get into yelling matches.

so we wait a bit longer and there is a irate man at nearly the end of the line inside the compound (we're all in a sort of courtyard, but inside the gate versus outside). he is yelling at one of the women working here about the fact that he has a date to be here so they should attend to him NOW. the fact that he does not realize is that ALL of us have today's date, which is why we've chosen today to wait in line. and while he has only been in line a couple hours now, we have been in line for about double the time. the guards talk to him, he rants and raves a bit more and they give him the option of leaving or getting into line, so of course he chooses the line.

eventually we do make it inside, around 16:00 (4pm), when the gate again opens, and i nearly want to kiss the man who finally sees me. they look at my paperwork, take my fingerprints and john hancock, and give me a paper to come back and pick up my new residence card in 40 days! yippee!!! i felt like i was soaring in the clouds. que alegría!!! i was soooo incredibly happy to be done. really much more overjoyed than is even normal. somehow waiting does increase the joy you experience once it's all over. amazing!

so i finally left at 16:30, grabbed a sandwich to eat on the metro and went on with my day. and i'm now pretty much done for the next 2-3 years, until i have to renew it again.

the irony of this place is incredible. if you look at the picture above, the "compound" is brightly covered in red, yellow, blue, and white. it has triangular tops with flags and looks somewhat like an amusement park from the outside.

yes, you do leaved joyous and happy, but i just seems crazy that this place that causes so much angst is deceptively decorated. and it is a bit crazy how proud i feel
of the fact that i passed this cultural test of waiting. i feel like i have worked hard and EARNED my residence card.