I must find my passport...

...because I have to see the doctor today.

I've delayed doing this until the very last day or two before my husband is paid, because it's not free here. I have to go on my own behalf, but also to talk through the boys' referrals: the receptionist suggested on the phone that they would each need to attend a fifteen-minute appointment in their own right, but then changed her tune when she saw them freewheeling around the waiting room and suggested maybe I could come in on my own first, talk to the doctor and see what we can suggest together without needing to see them in person?

I hope this works. It's worth a shot, anyway. Must start looking for my passport, because I need it to complete registration. That's the thing about being a new immigrant, you do things SLOWER and more LABORIOUSLY than everyone else, partly because you don't understand the system and have to have everything explained to you (often several times, in different ways) and partly because you have different needs, need extra paperwork, more time to process you. People are - fortunately - very patient. But it's still galling, a bit like swimming through air - you are making all the right motions, but you are not getting the result you expect.

I realise that it is a temporary experience of having additional needs, of needing extra support to communicate, to do even the most basic daily tasks. Not bad for me, really. When I reflect on disability issues in the future, this experience of having all my contextual skills stripped away, and having to relearn them, may be quite useful.

For now, though, it's just frustrating. Or maybe that's the point I need to remember? How frustrating it is, not to be able to do anything quickly and efficiently, to need help at every point in the day?