June is finally over. A month, which I gladly hand back to dear old goddess Juno, to let her rework it. Mother of Jove, no, that was Opis … it was a tough month for us!

The accidental discovery of Barry’s life-threatening condition, it’s subsequent surgical correction, the preceding surgery – just plain crazy! But now we’re settling in, to put all that behind us.
Let July begin, a month of many birthdays in this family, nice.

Presently, 34 years after my arrival in the US, the situation has changed slightly. I don’t intend to work ever again, bite your tongue, and Costa Rica beats Lithuania during the winter months hands down. But Costa Rica also complicates the Greencard issue, because there are pretty specific rules for us aliens, whether Martian or otherwise. Also, Barry and I want to travel a fair bit in the future and two different passports can make visa requirements a lot more complicated. All in all, I would very much like to apply for citizenship in the United States of America – if they want me! First, however, I have to get a handle on the German requirement, to retain my original citizenship. One must hold a certified permission for an add-on citizenship from the German government in one’s hot little hands, before even applying with the other guys. In order to receive that permission to retain German citizenship, however, I have to prove that I have lasting and continued ties to my motherland. 

And ‘getting a handle’, compliance with those requirements, is exactly the problem I’m trying to overcome. I judge these rules to be outrageous. OUTRAGEOUS. How dare they? I am a German, born in Germany of German parents, raised and educated in Germany. I happen to not live there, granted, but what does that have to do with my being German? Why pass a law, to allow a more practical approach to global living, only to revert to über-national attitudes in its execution? So far I’ve written four pages to explain, why they have no right to doubt my German-ness. 

Will I dare to mail that letter?