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December 29, 2005
Green Card!
From Michelle, considering geography...
So, did you all have a lovely, lovely holiday? Hope so!
We did, and thankfully nothing eventfully disastrous to report. No cars got glass showered on them from four stories up, which is always a bonus, we picked up Teenager #1 from Schiphol airport on Christmas Day without a hitch, the turkey got cooked in the new micro/oven combi without (miraculously) getting burned, and the Brussels sprouts were delicious and crisp (sorry, Lani, I know your feelings on the Brussels sprouts topic).
Yes, I am full of goodwill to all men, women, children, and small furry animals. And just to add to my general ambiance, I got this, you know, popup thing on my computer, and it said something along the lines of, "Enter the American Green Card Lottery," and I thought, "Well, in a couple of years time it would be lovely to move back to America, so I'll have a go," because as you all know, I love America, so I decided to check out the green card lottery and see exactly what was what.
I went to the URL and I discovered many wondrous things...
Imagine ALL of the countries on the ENTIRE planet. I mean Every. Single. One. Of Them.
There are a very lot of them, in fact there are about two hundred and forty of them, and I know this because I counted them.
Now, of these two hundred and forty countries there are only twenty-nine countries whose citizens are NOT ALLOWED to enter the American green card lottery, and call me a curious chick if you like, but I just had to check them out, and these are The Excluded Ones:
Anguilla
Bermuda
British Indian Ocean Territory
British Virgin Islands
Canada
Caymen Islands
China
Colombia
Dominican Republic
El Salvador
Falkland Islands
Gibraltar
Haiti
India
Jamaica
Mexico
Montserrat
Myanmar
Pakistan
Phillipines
Pitcairn
Poland
Russia
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
South Korea
St Helena
Turks and Caicos Islands
Vietnam
And last but not least...
the United Kingdom!
But. But. But I thought that the USA and the UK are, you know, really strong allies and Bestest of Friends, so the exclusion is a bit baffling (actually, a lot baffling).
On the bright side, there are exciting times a-coming from the Literary Chicks. It's a secret right now, but if you pop back here on Sunday, Alesia, Lani and I will Reveal All!
Michelle (composing a very polite letter to Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair re: A Logical Explanation regarding the green card lottery exclusion thing)
PS. If you don't believe me, go here and check out the site for yourselves...
Posted by Michelle at 6:00 PM | Comments (1)
Comments
The green card thing is very very odd. I went through it vicariously with a friend who had married a French guy. Now, the French are not known, generally, for trying desperately to enter the U.S., so you'd think it would have been easy. They were both college students, madly in love, with not a nickel between them, and newly married. One of the questions was: "What major appliance did you two most recently purchase together?"
Seriously.
She said they looked at each other, baffled. Finally she perked up and blurted out: "An electric toothbrush!"
He got the green card, anyway.
hugs and Gelukkig Nieuwjaar!!
Alesia
Posted by: Alesia Holliday at December 29, 2005 9:44 PM
