The never-ending process

Well, its not that bad this time, at least I hope not...its time to renew the residence permit! I barely have had mine, and its time to renew. Its been about 4 months since I was approved, but its been almost one year since I've been here. It expires in early March, so have to go through the process again- sending all the forms required, including bank statements, work contract papers, health insurance forms, tax forms, proof of our residence at the same address, an entire copy of M's passport, proof of our relationship (we included old emails, pictures, etc to tell a story)...and other things I probably have no idea, since the directions are in Dutch, and M took care of it, thank goodness. We sent it in last week, and already paid our 188euros. Hopefully it will be renewed for 5 years, and then in 2013 (if we are still here), it can be renewed for 'indefinitely'. So now its kind of a waiting game again, but this time I don't have to worry about the length of time, as I'm already working and making the big bucks, er, euros....(jk, not really). Too bad I didn't take a new passport photo-- I just used one from last year. I look like a monster (you're not allowed to smile in passport photos here- its against the law!) So my card will look the same for the next 5 years. I should have thought about that ahead of time. Oh well!!