Taxes for Expats
Today was tax day. I'll be honest, I was dreading this one. Usually I finish everything as soon as I have all my documents, and get my tax return before March. But the uniqueness of last year made me hesitant. Today I finally bit the bullet. Luckily, nowadays almost everything has a virtual option, so I was able to do ours online and ask my questions about foreign accounts. But even after completing all the appropriate forms, it came down to Pedro's birthday. The IRS must have it wrong in their system somewhere and he never has issues with it until it comes to taxes. So we have to mail it in. Of course, that meant a whole other adventure...finding a printer. We had yet to find a good reason to buy a printer since all our school work is done online (the present reason being too late). The nearest one we could think of was Pedro's school, and after a quick check to make sure it was open, we headed out.
Honestly, since Spring began, we haven't minded any kind of adventure outside. Even the journey to the school was full of new flowers and clear skies. We found the printers easily enough, but working them took longer than I care to admit. I've worked in an office before, but this printer would not cooperate with my USB. We probably looked silly, walking up to the printer, scowling over it, walking away to read instructions on the internet, going back to the printer, scowling some more. Finally, Pedro figured out we could just use the printer's internet to sign into my email and print it from there. We reviewed everything, signed it, and got out of there.
His school is beautiful. We still had time before the post office closed, so we went around admiring all the plants. His favorite trees are cherry blossoms, and we were surprised to find out that the spindly little trees all over town were in fact cherry blossoms just hibernating through the winter. We used to dream about trips to Washington DC or Japan to see the cherry blossoms, and now we get to see them just going to the grocery store.
I do think the post office woman is either tired of me or just amused. See, I've been conditioned by the US Postal Service to prepare things a certain way, and royal mail just isn't having it. I always get sent to the back of the line to fix something or other. (But my payback is she always wastes a domestic sticker before she reads my international address. Ha!)
Our post office is in a convenience store, which is why I almost missed it the first time I went there. But it gives you a lot to look at while in line. I pointed out to Pedro all the odd things I've found while waiting in line, one of them being banana milk. It was sitting right next to chocolate and strawberry, as if it was nothing special. After we finished at the post office, he came back to check it out. A woman behind us saw us reading the bottle.
Woman: It's really good! It's super creamy but not thick like a shake. It's my favorite and I come here all the time to get some.
P: It does look interesting, haven't seen something like this in The States. I'll try it, thanks!
As we brought it up the the counter, the women called to the cashier by name.
Woman: I'm working on consignment now! I turned another onto banana milk and I guarantee they'll be back!
We were still laughing on the way home. The banana milk was pretty good, and the way Pedro finished the bottle, I'm sure he'll get another anytime he's back.
