At the back of my DFA receipt was stamped April 28, 2005 and 5:00 PM.
It was the day that I was going to claim my passport and I was really excited. I had planned earlier in the day to go to SM and buy groceries but I didn't want to exhaust myself and my patience so I decided not too. I knew that I was going to contend with long lines and long waits so I wanted to make sure that I was all psyched up and physically up to the extra challenge too.
It was weird though since it started to rain in the day. I crossed my fingers and hoped that there wouldn't be any rain anymore when I went out. I had lunch and went upstairs to my room to pass the time. I did my ironing and I studied for a couple of minutes and then took a nap. I didn't want to end up napping in the bus or feeling sleepy while waiting. I set my alarm to 3 PM.
I woke up at 3 but took me another 30 minutes to get out of bed. I didn't want to get up. Hahaha. I debated whether I would go there the next day but I thought I might screw things up just because I was too lazy to get up. Got dressed, which took me at least 30 minutes.
I left the house hurriedly since it was 3:45 PM by then. I thought there was going to be traffic. Traffic can be unpredictable here. I got on the bus and it was the usual, picked up passengers here and there but there weren't a lot of passengers by then. We got to Coastal it was only 4:10. Yikes, I was early. No traffic and the driver wasn't swapang. I wished we would slow down, or that there was traffic in Baclaran. But that didn't happen. I got to DFA about 4:25 PM. I went to the entrance and the lady guard asked me where I was going. I told her Releasinga and she asked to see my receipt. I showed it to her and I went to the basketball court.
I approached the DFA personnel there and he said there was a line for the releasing. It was only 4:30 then but there were several lines already. I think I was on the sixth line and we were still increasing in numbers. I think I counted 11 lines all in all. Finally, it was almost 5. I think everyone was just dying to get inside.
We finally went inside around 5:20 and we started around 5:30 PM. An announcer says the names really fast as well as the window where you are supposed to line up. So it really doesn't matter if you're in the first line or last line. Probably the only advantage you have is where you sit but other than that, no advantage really.
In between, there was another lady announcer who would call out names of people whose passports were pending so they had to go to Room 100. I kept on listening for my name. It was almost 7 by then and there were fewer people around. There was this particular announcer though who had difficulty saying the names. He sounded like he couldn't read them or something. And sometimes, the other announcer would say something too, so they were talking at the same time. It was crazy!!!
As usual, I listened to my name and I heard it or thought I heard it. I headed to Window 88. I was happy because there were only like 3 - 4 people ahead of me. Suddenly, more people lined up behind me. Our line was like a small snake by then. I tried to see what else was needed aside from the reciept. If you're claiming a passport in behalf of someone then you're required to show an identication card, an authorization letter, the ID of the person for whom you're claiming for and a photocopy of your ID. Finally it was my turn and I showed the clerk my receipt. He was like saying that he didn't see my name there. As he was leafing through the papers, I panicked and thought that probably I made a mistake. Finally, he got to the last set of papers and he saw my name. Whew!!! What a relief! I smiled at him and signed my name on the papers, got my passport and then signed my name again on the other side. I scanned through the information in the passport to make sure that there were no errors.
Yehey!!!! I was so happy. I headed home. It was almost 7 PM by then.
Hello World!!!!
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