We're legal!

Woohoo! We have work visas! Heather, Colleen (sister) and I flew into Chicago yesterday morning, arriving at 5 am, drove downtown, ate breakfast, and hung out until our appointment at the consulate at 10am. (Colleen met up with a friend and roamed Chicago while we were in our meeting.) We were quickly at the desk of the man in charge and handed him our applications. He told us that he was goods friends with the HR person at the Columbus School, and that he is from Medellin and went to our school! He was great - he was eager to answer all of our questions about living in Colombia and was very straightforward (he pointed at me and says "you look American" (whereas Heather could pass as a Colombian). Just like Colombians are stereotyped as drug lords, Americans in Colombia (and many other places) are the stereotypical '"ugly American." He gave us some advice about traveling, told us about the neighborhood where we will be living, and was generally very helpful. We expected to not get our visas for a few days, but he printed them out right in front of us, used a glue stick to attach our photographs (joking about his use of technology), stuck them to our passports, and sent us on our way.

We are now in Indiana visting family, then at the end of the week we go back home for our final 3 weeks - just enough time (we hope) to pack and store the house and be on our way. More soon...