Journey to the Federal Police/ Satan's Lair 

Okay, so when you come to Brasil for an extended amount of time, you have to register your passport and visa with the federal police in order to be here legally.  Also, this has to be done within 30 days of your arrival into Brasil.  This week is Carnaval, which means most businesses are closed from Saturday (2/18) to Wednesday (2/22), so for people like me who arrived during this busy time, it's important to get to the federal police either before or right after Carnaval to deal with registration.  

My school made an appointment for me to go last Friday(2/17) morning, and of course, they didn't tell met his until Wednesday afternoon when they handed me a checklist of things to take care of.

Step 1: make an appointment - - Check

Step 2: pay federal taxes... 200 reais worth!! - - Check (not very happy about this)

Step 3: make copies of every used page in your passport, your visa application, both immigration forms and ID - - Check

Step 4: get all copies listed above notarized - - Check

Step 5: get to the Federal Police building which resides in Lapa, two towns away from Sao Paulo - - Check (I know this doesn't seem difficult, but considering I have only taken the metro/onibus once... It was a bit challenging)

Step 6: turn in your papers to the police and wait, wait, wait, wait - - (2 hours later) Check

Step 7: Fingerprints... here's where it gets fun

So, when it was finally my turn to be fingerprinted, I sat down and we started with my right hand.  

Side Note: I wear my high school ring on my right ring finger, however, my high school right is just a simple silver band.  Here is Brasil, when you are engaged, you wear the ring on your right ring finger, and after you are married, you put a new ring on your left ring finger and take the old one off.  

So of course, not knowing this, I sit down, give the guy my right hand and he looks at my paperwork and notices that under "marital status" I have checked single. He tells me that I need to change this to "married" if I will be married sometime while I am in Brasil and then start all over with this process.  Well, of course I can only understand every fourth word he says, so Im confused and worried and somehow, 10 frustrating minutes later, while speaking Portuglish (my new word for Portuguese and English combined), we figure out that my ring is not an engagement ring and my paperwork is just fine.

Here's the best part: The man who helped us with our language barrier was also getting his fingerprints done and he was from Iran.  After the whole debacle, the Brazilian man who was doing my fingerprints says, "Voce Americana? Ele e do Iran." (Translation: You're American? He is from Iran.) and then makes a bomb noise and gesture with his hands and starts laughing....

In Conclusion: 

Taxes = R$200

Copies = R$5

Notarizing = R$15

Metro/Onibus toll = R$6 roundtrip

Getting registration over with and (hopefully) never going back = Priceless  :)