Nuts and Bolts: Documents Part 2

If you read our first Documents post you'll know that we were trying to decide whether or not to get Visas and which documents to get translated and what we'd need. Etc. We decided to just get to Poland and worry about extra documents like Passports for the kids and a Visa for me when we got there. Easy enough.
But we still got all our documents like Wedding/Birth certificates translated here. Mainly because we would like to get those other documents as fast as possible and not wait for the translations to be done in Poland, which I've heard is much cheaper.

So, since I last wrote we have officially obtained our translated documents! They are in our special documents drawer and they are all translated. I know it was done well because I can't read a lick of it. Of course, the first thing we did after receiving them was decide that we need more.

There is this thing called an Apostille. Even though our documents have been translated into Polish there is still no way for the Polish government to know that they are in fact legal documents and not just some forgeries that I had someone translate to try and hoodwink the local Polish officials. An Apostille is a document obtained from the Secretary of State (Texas Secretary of State, not Hilary Clinton) that states that the documents in hand are actually legal and official and information stated therein is correct and true. This is a form that ALSO must be officially translated, stapled to the translated documents and then a seal is affixed over the staple to prove that the Apostille is talking of the documents it is stapled with and no documents have been added or removed during this entire time, again, to discourage any hood winking.

Did you follow all that?

And seriously, there is nowhere, no website, where we can find a direct and definitive answer as to whether or not we need the Apostille. It used to be that countries that were in a certain group, including the U.S. and Poland, did not need extra documents. The official state/country seal was enough for international documentation but I think it has gotten stricter in the last 10 years, for obvious reasons. Our translator says that it can all depend on the local public official in Krakow and what he personally will want to see and if you get someone who is a stickler for the rules or is just having a bad day he will want to see every document that has ever followed you home, all in Polish, and demand that it have an Apostille. Better safe than sorry. And of course, there is no way I can tell just by the instructions,( they are worded, in my opinion, fairly oddly), as to whether or not I need one application per document or just one application for the whole set of documents. I will be sending in one application per document, just in case. You can give me your opinion on that if you like.

It is cheaper to get all of these translations done in Poland. If you are really strapped for cash and trying to move somewhere where you need translations I would suggest getting quotes from someone in the country where you will be traveling and compare prices. Our translator lives right near Martin's parents and came highly recommended so we were happy to pay extra for me to be able to communicate with her and to have everything we needed right when we step off the plane, because goodness knows, we will need as many things done in advance as possible.

As far as boring and dry posts go, this one is right up there with the one I posted just an hour ago.
 Double whammy.
You're welcome.

Documents yet to come...
- I.D.L..better known as International Driver's License...eek, friends...eek (you have to take a test and everything. boooooo.)
- Vaccination records for the kids (don't really have to do anything with these except collect them from the Pedi. but I have to remember to do that, and sometimes that is the biggest hurdle, kwim?)
- Martin has a list for the car stuff...a post I am not looking forward to writing... but it must be done...to quote a favorite book around here..."oh, what a mess." (including why we haven't bought our plane tickets yet... you read that right...grrr...)

On a more personal note (and to see if you even made this far down the page... congratulations!): I am starting this thing called the "no-poo" shampoo or something silly like that. Apparently it's just where you don't shampoo your hair except every once in a while with Baking Soda and then a Vinegar rinse. Except, if it's possible to do something wrong even though what you're doing is doing nothing then I think I'm doing it wrong. I get conflicting info. on the best way to "wash" your hair with the Baking Soda and so far all I have is a huge grease ball of hair on my head. It's pretty gross at this point. I started last Friday. They say it starts to get better after about a week or two...we'll see.  I also tried this thing where you wash your face with honey. Miserable failure. Again, I could be doing it wrong. After about 3 days there was a noticeable outbreak of what looked like clogged pores on both my cheeks and bees were following me whenever I went outside. I have never had a more delicious face washing session, though. For my own personal safety and vanity I switched back to the chemical-y stuff. I might try again in the future. I am only one woman.

 Anyone out there have success with either of these types of things? Imagine if you never had to buy shampoo ever again and instead could use readily available household products? And the children as well? Awesome, right? And then I could start making my own body/hand soap and our family would be set!
I hope this works.

I have no way of knowing for sure, but I think this cartoon was created by a man with the last name McCracken.