Dear Friends,

Unlike the previous couple of years when I did quite a lot of traveling, in 2009 I never went on a plane and remained entirely within southern Arizona, and in fact left Tucson only on a few occasions to visit some nearby locations. One of the reasons for not traveling this year was the lack of suitable employment, and another was that I finally obtained my US citizenship. Until the naturalization process was completed and I obtained my US passport, travel abroad would have been very difficult or impossible. My US naturalization and my 60th birthday were the two high points in 2009, which in other respects was a bit of a disappointment.

At the end of 2008 I went to several nice Christmas church services and enjoyed a number of Christmas and New Year parties. Many houses at Christmas have very colorful external light displays, and a particular location in Tucson called Winterhaven has some spectacular displays. I went there last year and will probably go there in the next few days.

My main frustration in 2009 was to obtained suitable employment, and the combination of the recession and not being a US citizen until late September, were probably the main reasons, with the break in continuity while I was away in France for much of 2007 and 2008, no doubt contributing. On several occasions some prospects turned up that seemed to be promising, but then fell through. As a backup plan in late 2008 I decided to do some substitute teaching, and filed the necessary paperwork, which included a fingerprint clearance card. It was not until late January 2009 that the bureaucratic process was completed and I was able to earn a bit of cash substituting at various schools in the Tucson area when the regular teacher was away. This often involved basically babysitting a class while the students got on with their own assigned work, and rarely had to do any real teaching. I substituted for anything between kindergarten and 12th grade, and managed to work at least part of every month in 2009, except for July. The best was a school who hired me to teach maths to summer students for most of June. The only other work in 2009 of significance was a small contract for a private company in New Mexico to investigate software for business and social networks.

Of the few excursions I made to locations near Tucson this year, one was with a group of friends to a picnic and hike in Madera Canyon in the mountains south of Tucson in the spring. Some pictures can be seen by clicking here. Another was a free excursion to Biosphere 2 north of Tucson with the school I was teaching at in June, with some picture shown by clicking here. Although I had been to Biosphere 2 a number of years ago, it was very interesting to go again, and in particular to visit places deep in the bowels of the establishment that I had not been to before.

The main event of 2009 was obtaining my US citizenship. There are time limits as to how long one can be out of the USA and retain ones residency status and be eligible for citizenship. I made sure that I followed the rules, and in May when I had fulfilled the residency requirements for applying for citizenship I filed the paperwork. This consisted of a form of 10 pages, to which I added several supplementary pages together with a couple of passport style photos. The authorities needed to know all sorts of things, including which countries I had visited in the previous 5 years and where I had lived. In retaining copies of old plane tickets and receipts I managed in most cases to give exact dates, but this involved quite a bit of research. In June I was asked to provide my fingerprints, where I was given a packet containing details of what citizenship means, and in particular a list of 100 questions on US civics, i.e. the US Constitution, history, laws, etc., where at the citizenship interview I would be asked 10 random questions out of the 100. In early July I received a letter giving me the date of my citizenship interview in August, so I could prepare for it by studying the questions. In the mean time since April I had been attending evening classes to learn about the whole process and the various personal questions I was likely to be asked, in addition to the official 10 questions.

The interview was on August 10, and I was asked various personal questions mostly related to the forms I had submitted, then I was asked the 10 random questions, out of which I got 9 correct (6 out of 10 is the passing grade). The interviewer, who was presumably a Mexican-America judging by his accent and looks, tested my English by asking me to read and say out aloud the following words on a card "The President lives in the White House". On the reverse of the card I had to write those same words. It seemed a bit ridiculous that I as a native English speaker was being tested for my English by someone whose first language was probably Spanish, but those are the rules. Anyway, I passed the interview and was told that I should receive a letter soon giving me my appointment for the oath ceremony when I would officially become a US citizen. I was hoping this would be before my 60th birthday on August 30, but I didn't receive the letter until the middle of September. It was a long and frustrating wait, as naturally I wanted to get the whole process finished as soon as possible.

The oath ceremony was held on September 25 at a courthouse in the downtown area of Tucson. There were about 40 people from various countries taking the oath that day, and as expected there were many from Mexico. I was the only person from the UK, and along with many other people taking the oath, I had invited several guests. The proceedings lasted about 1½ hours, starting with us new citizens handing in our permanent residency cards, "Green Cards". The judge welcomed us, a video was shown of the US President, a children's choir sang a couple of songs, and we were all sworn in by saying the Pledge of Allegiance. The ceremony concluded with each of us picking up and signing our naturalization certificate. Immediately after the ceremony I registered to v.htmlote, then was invited out to lunch with some of my guests. Some pictures of the ceremony are can be seen by clicking here, including several with some of my guests.

A few days after the ceremony I sent off for my US passport using my naturalization certificate as proof, and had the certificate returned and the new passport just over three weeks later. This was very quick, in fact the whole process was quite quick, as from the time I submitted the paperwork in late May to the time I became a US citizen was just under 4 months, and getting my US passport was well under 5 months in total. During the summer I had wanted to visit family in the UK and escape the summer heat in Tucson, but from the time I submitted the paperwork to the time I took the oath, international travel would have been difficult without delaying the naturalization process, and once I became a US citizen, a US passport was required by law to re-enter the USA, effectively precluding any international travel while waiting for the passport.

People may ask me as to why I became a US citizen, as I could work with a "Green Card" in the USA. The two main reasons were to be able to vote and to have no more restrictions on employment. Some jobs, particularly the most interesting ones, often require citizenship. Moreover, there are now no more restrictions, within reason, as to how long I can be outside the USA without losing my status in the USA, unlike with a "Green Card". Before applying for naturalization I inquired as to whether I could keep my British passport, which is indeed the case, so I now have dual citizenship, and can maintain my right to work and travel in the UK and the rest of the European Union, as before, as well as being able to work in the USA free of the previous restrictions I had. This has a number of travel advantages, as when entering a European country I can still use my British passport and go through the European line at the airport, and when returning to the USA I have to use my US passport and go though the US line. For anywhere else in the world I can use whichever passport is most convenient. I registered to vote just in time for some local elections here in Tucson in November, and exercised my new democratic right.

The other big event of 2009 was my 60th birthday, and was invited to a big party at a friend's house. This was on August 30, so we were still well in summer, and my hosts let me use their pool together with several other guests. At that time I was still waiting to hear about when I could be a US citizen, and my thoughts were dominated by that as well as passing the 60 year milestone and finding suitable employment once getting citizenship. Some pictures of the party are displayed by clicking here.

Several possible employment and contract possibilities that had looked promising at the end of 2008 and earlier this year did not work out. The situation for 2010 looks a bit better, and in the last couple of weeks I heard of a possible contract that seems promising, but I'm not going to count my chickens before the eggs. Some of my spare time has been spent learning more computer languages, with a particular emphasis on database programming, with the hope this will improve my chances in 2010. Computer science graduates are a dime a dozen, so I am emphasizing my background in scientific and mathematical software development.

Earlier in December I went to a very nice Christmas pageant at a church close to where I am living, and a few days ago went to a winter solstice party at a house in the desert out west of Tucson. It was a normal party celebrated at around the time of the winter solstice, and had nothing do do with Druids, or anything like that.

Now that I have a US passport and my naturalization process is finished so that I'm free to travel, I hope to be able to make a trip to the UK and possible the rest of Europe in 2010 to see family and friends. In the mean time I hope to enjoy the holidays here with some nice church services and parties.

I wish everybody a Merry Christmas and a Happy 2010.

Christopher M. Sharp (December 23, 2009)