...and what happened with the NIE-number?

Well, today I received a letter from the Spanish authorities regarding my application for the NIE-number. The resolution was negative and the instructions on the letter guided me to apply for the number from the authorities of the city I will be living in once I get to Spain. No harm done here, except that I won't be able to take care of all the things immediately once I get there. The only thing that makes me wonder is why the web page of the Ministry of Interior Affairs of Spain says it is possible to apply the number in your country of residence from an embassy or other diplomatic post, yet in the end it isn't. This might be because the legislation regarding the NIE and residencia has been recently renewed and the procedures and rules are still a bit unclear - even for the officials. There is useful information about this in the issue 4/07 of the OLE-magazine and also will be in their future issues. Anyway, I hope this experience might save a little trouble from someone in a similar situation. Here's a quote that confused me from the page in question (in Spanish):

• "Las presentadas en España personalmente por el interesado, en cuyo caso habrá de acreditar que se halla legalmente en territorio español y justificar documentalmente el motivo de la asignación de dicho número.
• Las que se presenten en España por el representante del extranjero, acreditando dicha representación mediante poder general o poder especial, así como justificar documentalmente el motivo de la asignación del número.
• Las que se presenten en las Representaciones Diplomáticas u Oficinas Consulares españolas ubicadas en el país de residencia del solicitante, en unión de los documentos que justifiquen el motivo de la asignación del número."

Source: http://www.mir.es/SGACAVT/extranje/regimen_comunitario/tarjeta_residencia.html

What else is new? Well, nothing much really. These weeks and months seem like only passing the time before getting on the go actually. During the easter time we did some traveling though, visiting my family in Jyväskylä and Kuopio. We also spent one night at our summer cottage, which was a nice experience: having sauna in the middle of the night and sitting out on the porch in the chilly air, seeing the starry sky the way you never can in the city... And while on the road, it seemed as if it was just the time for the swans to do their migration as we saw plenty of those. Here's one picture I took of those beautiful birds:



Oh, and there was a couple of new experiences in store for Rocío as well on this trip: her first icicle and of course since it was easter - mämmi! Take a look:

A little check-up

Hola de nuevo!

So, as the title says, I thought it would be a good time for a little check-up at this point. A couple of months have passed since the first posts, and slowly yet inevitably the summer is getting closer and closer... In November there wasn't much sight of winter and it already started to gloom in our minds if we were going to see one this year at all. But no worries, sure as anything, in January and February we got to spend Rocío's first proper Finnish winter in the -20 to -30 degrees Celsius weather and got to try some of the traditional finnish winter activities like "pulkkamäki"... go and figure what that would be in english?! Another new thing is also that Rocío moved in with me from the beginning of February, so we already know what it is to live together before going for it in Spain. So far, things are looking peachy :)

Now come March, and you can feel the spring in the air - suddenly the sun is shining a lot more, warming up both the air and the people and melting what "little" snow we had this year. And by the time the first leaves appear in the trees, I should be well prepared to shake the dusts of this country off of my shoes, figuratively speaking. The actual day we'll be traveling isn't set just yet, but the week is going to be nr. 29 for sure. Soon we should book the flight I guess :) Just today we also got confirmation that me and Rocío will be able to travel to Spain together, which is a very nice thing. Earlier we were a bit unsure if it is necessary for her to go and take care of some paperwork regarding her exchange year before I'll be able to go...

They say, that an embassy is a piece of the country it represents on a foreign soil. If so, then on the day after tomorrow -Thursday- I'll be taking my first steps on the "Spanish ground" as I travel to Helsinki to put in an application for a N.I.E.-number (Número de Identidad de Extranjeros) at the Spanish embassy. That number will be my identity number in Spain and is needed to do things like opening a bank account, buying a car or for doing paperwork with different officials. It is possible to apply for this number when you are already in the country, but I prefer to do it beforehand via the embassy, so that there won't be any delays taking care of things when arriving to Spain. Another thing to do while going to Helsinki is to drop in an application to the Autoliitto-office (the automobile union of Finland) for an international driver's license.

Tomorrow on Wednesday, a Spanish friend of Rocío's will come to visit us for a couple of days from Dublin where she is spending her exchange year. The trip to Helsinki, besides being a short, yet welcome change from the daily grind to us, is also a good opportunity for her to see the capital of Finland. And for me, despite the several occasions I've been in contact with Rocio's friends or family with internet-calls or via webcam, this visit will be the first time I meet any of them "live".

So, besides people I've heard a lot about becoming "real", or official things like the N.I.E. and whatnot, some other things are making the move more concrete too. I've decided to put my car on sale here in Finland at the end of March. It's not exactly what I want to do, since there would be alot of use for the car during the summer, but it's necessary to have enough time to sell it before going. I've also been scouting a replacement for the car in Spain, and have already found one very interesting. If necessary and possible, I'll have someone purchase the car for me before I go there myself. My home is also missing some things already... so far I've sold my couch, some loudspeakers, cd-towers, most of my dvd's etc. Some things you'd like to hang on to, but when you let them go it's a surprisingly nice feeling to lighten the "load" :)

That's it for now, I'll write more when there is more to write... I'll end this post with some photos of Finland, for people abroad to see how it is like, and for me to remember when I go :)

Nos vemos!

From the winter time:

And from the past summer: