Preparada para el invierno. Ready for winter

Desde hace un par de semanas llevo este abrigo y casi todos los dias estas botas, son super calentitos!! es especial para temperaturas hasta -25 C y resistente al agua, las botas tambien. Me encantan! aun no he pasado frio con ellos. Los guantes solo me los he puesto una vez y son demasiado, esperare a que haga mas frio. Besos!!

This are the coat, the boots and the gloves I'm wearing currently. I started wearing them a couple of weeks ago and I'm really happy with them. The coat is special for low temperatures (-25 C) and the boots are waterproof special for snow :), I wear them almost everyday. The gloves are still to thick and I didn't feel it was so cold, so I'll wear them soon.
Cheers!!

American driving license. El permiso de conducir americano

Hola a todos!! hoy os voy a hablar sobre "DMV" Department of motor vehicles, aunque aqui en Illinois se llama de otra forma :) Como sabeis no tenemos coche y en principio no planeamos comprar nada de nada, pero de vez en cuando estaria bien poder alquilar un coche e ir a algun sitio que no sea Chicago. Algunas veces, incluso seria genial para poder ir a comprar a algun sitio mas barato que donde compramos habitualmente.
Hi everyone! today I'll write about the DMV (Departmen of motor vehicles), even though it has a different name here in Illinois :)
As you know we don't have a car and we still didn't think about buying one, but it would be very nice if we could rent a car from time to time and go somewhere else, not only Chicago. It would be nice also renting a car to go to the store and bring heavy stuff, etc. Hay algunas companias de alquiler de vehiculos que estan muy bien, te puedes hacer socio y por tan solo 9 $ al mes puedes alquilar un coche cuando quieras y pagar por horas. El caso es que para poder unirte a estas companias necesitas tener un carnet americano o un documento de tu pais de origen donde se demuestre que no has causado ningun accidente y que tu historial de trafico esta limpio. Este documento no es tan facil de conseguir, asi que la otra opcion es sacarnos nuestro carnet americano :)
There are some car rental companies that look great here, you can become a member and for only 9 $ per month you can rent a car and pay only for the hours you use it.
The only thing is that you need an American driving license or a document from your country demonstrating you have a clean traffic history if you want to join these companies. This is not so easy to get, so the other option is getting our own American license :) Todo parecia sencillo y no un gran esfuerzo, solamente ir a Chicago con los papeles necesarios y con suerte, tener un nuevo carnet de conducir americano...uno de mis compis del laboratorio lo hizo asi y todo fue bien, asi que nosotros pensamos que seria igual, pues no! Han hecho falta tres viajes y aun no tenemos licencia americana :)
Everything looked easy, not big deal, only going to Chicago with all the necessary forms and luckily, we would have our license. One of my lab mates got it not so long ago and we thought it would be the same for us. We were wrong! 3 trips to Chicago and we still don't have our license :)
Viaje 1: somos tan inteligentes que no nos dimos cuenta de que era el dia de los veteranos y por consiguiente, uno de los unicos dias en que este departamento esta cerrado. Se nos quedo cara de gili... cuando llegamos alli tan decididos y estaba todo cerrado. Cogimos el tren de vuelta, menos mal que habia una conexion expres.
Trip 1: we are so intelligent that we didn't realize it was Veterans day and one of the few days the DMV is closed. So stupid! we arrived there so happy and we found everything dark and closed. Ok, train back to Evanston, at least it was the express train.
Viaje 2: nos llevamos todos los papeles necesarios, incluso Thomas tiene un documento de la embajada holandesa con su historial de trafico. Llegamos alli y nos dicen que nos hace falta la tarjeta de la seguridad social, justo lo unico que no teniamos!! genial! otro viaje para nada!
Trip 2: we took all the necessary papers, Thomas even had the document from the Dutch embassy with his traffic history. We arrived there and they told us we needed our social security card. It was just the only thing we didn't have with us! great! one more trip! for nothing!
Viaje 3: nos llevamos todo, todo y todo, el pasaporte, la visa, el carnet de conducir de nuestros paises, la tarjeta de la seguridad social, un cheque...llegamos alli y nos dan una lista de cosas! hoy! y por que no el dia anterior?? no, hoy!!!!! hoy no llevabamos el contrato del alquiler del piso...y no teniamos dos documentos de correos donde figurase nuestra direccion. Yo tenia uno y Thomas, ninguno, ay!!
Trip 3: we took absolutely everything with us, passport, visa, driving license, social security card, checks...we arrived there again and they gave us a list with the the things we were supposed to bring. That happened today! why today and not last time we went there??? today we didn't have our apartment lease with us. We also needed two pieces of mail with our current address. I had one, but Thomas didn't!
Por suerte, hemos llamado por telefono a la oficina de nuestro bloque de apartamentos y nos han mandado por fax el contrato. Que alivio!! pues no! el contrato estaba solo a nombre de Thomas...para eso hago yo todo el papeleo del piso??? para eso pago??? madre mia! que mala leche! pero bueno...nos ha servido! Nos ha servido para que nos den un documento de identificacion americano, con el podemos ir a otro departamento y hacer un test escrito, uno practico (donde tenemos que llevar nuestro propio coche) y uno fisico para que nos den una licencia de conducir...
Luckily we phoned the office of our block of apartments and they faxed our lease. What a relief! but there was something wrong again, the lease was only in Thomas' name. Why did I fill in all those forms? why do I pay the rent??? mf...I was so pissed! but well, in the end it was useful, but only to get our state ID and with it we can go somewhere else for a driving test (where we have to take our own car, heheheeh!) and a writing test.
Por fin nos han dado numero, el 305 tenia yo, me ha recibido un "secretario de estado" con un "que puedo hacer por ti, carino?" y me han dado ganas de contestarle: "pues muchas cosas, pero bueno, dejemoslo en que me arregles los papeles".
He rellenado todo, nombre completo, direccion, edad, color de pelo, de ojos, altura, peso (encima, me he equivocado al pasar de kilos a libras y me he puesto libras de mas...ay, madre!) y me he hecho donante de organos, que generosa!
They gave us a number, finally! I had 305 and I was helped by a state secretary who received me with a "what can I do for you, honey?"...uf! he could have done many things, including giving me my driving license...
I filled in all the forms, name, age, hair and eyes color, height, weight (I was wrong converting kilos to pounds and I added some extra pounds to my real weight) and I became organ donor, because I'm so generous!
Despues de esto y de resolver algunos fallos que el secretario de estado ha cometido en mis papeles...he podido pagar (20 $) y hacerme una foto para el carnet del estado de Illinois.
After this and some mistakes the state secretary did on my forms I was able to pay and take a picture for me ID.

Mientras esperabamos alli, he decidido hacer un video, espero que os guste, especialmente cuando Thomas intenta aguarme la fiesta. Ahora ya tengo documentacion americana autentica, pero aun tengo que ir a hacer un nuevo examen de conducir...creo que voy a suspender!! ahhhhh!!!
While we were waiting I decided to make a movie, I hope you like it, especially when Thomas tries to spoil it. We have now our American IDs, but we still have to go for a driving test and I think I'm going to fail!! ahhhhh!!!!