(no subject)

Here's a question for you: Say you magically appear in a country with nothing other than the clothes you are wearing. Who are you? Without some kind of ID card, how do you establish your identity? Aren't you who you are regardless of what cards you can present?

I don't know what sort of research the Consul did, but I walked into the Consulate with nothing and less than five hours later I came back and they gave me an American passport. It's only valid for a year, and to extend it I have to prove my identity and citizenship to a consular officer.

My parents sent me $300 via Western Union. They sent it to Rob, because Rob could establish his identity for the Western Union people in order to collect the money. It costs $60 to obtain a replacement American passport, so you see there is a chicken-and-egg mutual dependency in obtaining both money and a passport (identification) when one has neither.

Bootstrap procedure:

1. retrieve money, with help from Rob (who has an identity!)
2. have photos taken, pay with money from step 1
3. submit photos and money to U.S. Embassy.
4. I once again have an identity!

While the Consul was working on making me a passport, I went out and walked through the old town a bit. I think the cold air was very good for my eye, as the swelling subsided noticeably. Nonetheless, it was not openable.

I walked to the police station, down by the docks, to report the mugging. As soon as I walked in and said ``Uh, I'd like to make a report,'' a young officer took charge and asked me to follow him. We went upstairs and he placed a wooden chair for me along side a desk, and he got out a couple of forms and sheets of paper, sat down at the desk, and took notes as I explained what had happened. It was just the sort of picture of a police station that I have from the movies. I was really impressed by how concerned and thorough he was. In the end he wrote a few pages and printed out a letter saying that my passport had been stolen, in case I'd need it at the Consulate in getting a replacement (I didn't). When we were done we shook hands and the officer said that he was really sorry that this had happened in Estonia. And, I think, he really was.

After that I walked back to the American Embassy, collected my fresh-off-the-presses passport, Issued At Tallinn and with the wonderful photo of me. Rob met me there and we drove home, stopping at the Tallink office to buy a ferry ticket to Stockholm. It was pretty cheap too, much cheaper than the Stockholm-Helsinki ferry.

Rob was all concerned that I'd want to do something exciting in the evening, but I fell asleep almost immediately once we got back to his apartment. It was 6pm.

Western Union Transfer	(USD 300)
Currency exchange	(EEK ?)	USD 20
Passport photos	EEK 70 ?
Passport	USD 60
McDonalds	EEK 10
Ferry ticket	EEK 850?