EVEN MORE AMAZING NEWS
Since my Car-Is-Likely-Arriving post generated such interest, I was going to write another post elaborating on things like the make (Honda), the model (Fit), and the driving conditions in Brazil (crazy), but all that is out the window now, solely due to the fact that when I got home from work this evening, there was a Very Mysterious Envelope slipped under my door.
Thinking that it was my phone bill repackaged, I casually slipped it open. Imagine my surprise and shock when I discovered that it was my CPF!!! For those who aren't intimately acquainted with Brazilian bureaucracy (consider yourselves lucky!), the CPF is the equivalent of our social insurance number, except that in Canada, one's SIN is a rather private affair. In Brazil, on the other hand, it is necessary for almost any transaction that one might like to make: go to school, go to a doctor's appointment, vote, buy a fridge, take a bus, rent a video, rent an apartment (although just a CPF is no where near sufficient for this), get a job, take a plane, get a bank account, get a credit card, get a telephone line, get a cell phone, get a cell phone chip, get a job, etc. Essentially, no CPF = no identity, no life. Posts about my previous adventures with my CPF can be found here, here, here, and here.
Although I received my CPF number a year ago (January 2005), the actual card never arrived and even though we tried many times to obtain the actual card, the bureaucracy simply did not acquiesce and I remained cardless. Fortunately, in most cases, it is the number and not the actual card that is necessary and I managed to survive, even though my first attempt to get a video store membership did end in failure due to the lack of an actual card. So I remain perplexed as to why the card suddenly showed up, discreetly pushed under my door, but I won't complain. My personhood has been sealed and in celebration I am heading off to Salvador for the weekend! Hurray!
* the photo above really is my card! How cool is that?
Thinking that it was my phone bill repackaged, I casually slipped it open. Imagine my surprise and shock when I discovered that it was my CPF!!! For those who aren't intimately acquainted with Brazilian bureaucracy (consider yourselves lucky!), the CPF is the equivalent of our social insurance number, except that in Canada, one's SIN is a rather private affair. In Brazil, on the other hand, it is necessary for almost any transaction that one might like to make: go to school, go to a doctor's appointment, vote, buy a fridge, take a bus, rent a video, rent an apartment (although just a CPF is no where near sufficient for this), get a job, take a plane, get a bank account, get a credit card, get a telephone line, get a cell phone, get a cell phone chip, get a job, etc. Essentially, no CPF = no identity, no life. Posts about my previous adventures with my CPF can be found here, here, here, and here. Although I received my CPF number a year ago (January 2005), the actual card never arrived and even though we tried many times to obtain the actual card, the bureaucracy simply did not acquiesce and I remained cardless. Fortunately, in most cases, it is the number and not the actual card that is necessary and I managed to survive, even though my first attempt to get a video store membership did end in failure due to the lack of an actual card. So I remain perplexed as to why the card suddenly showed up, discreetly pushed under my door, but I won't complain. My personhood has been sealed and in celebration I am heading off to Salvador for the weekend! Hurray!
* the photo above really is my card! How cool is that?
posted by Karen @ 6:56 p.m.
3 Comments:
Oooh! Someone hasn't been posing as you for the past year have they?
Yeah now you can rent videos!!!
wow. u've got the ONE thing i'm dreaming about + i've not even left nyc for brasil yet! parabens!
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