This month we became naturalized citizens of the United States. The final process of naturalization involves giving an interview to the officer at USIC and taking an oath. If you pass the interview you are asked to take the oath of allegiance. The oath is the last step in you becoming a citizen of United States of America.

It was a bitter sweet experience for me, as I raised my right hand and repeated after the officer “I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; “.

Nothing prepares you for this.

The Interview Process

The interview process is the last but one step in the naturalization process. The naturalization interview involves taking a civic test, English – speaking and writing test, and finally answering the questions from your online form.

My interviewer was a charming lady with cute button eyes and a bright smile, Ms. Young. She had a Christmassy headband on, a welcome distraction to my frayed nerves.

After the customary greetings, where I may or may not have told her that I was nervous, she began my interview process. She asked me 6 questions randomly picked from the 100 questions list that one has to prepare from. The questions cover government, history, current affairs and geography. I passed the civic test with flying colors (like I had a choice here 😜).

Following the test, I was asked to read a sentence displayed on the tablet placed in front of me- this was the English reading test.

The English Reading Test

It’s been 10 minutes in to my interview and I am a little less nervous. I am smiling more. Ms. Young is seeming far less formidable than she did when she first greeted me. I am in my comfort zone now and ready to rock the rest of this interview.

Now the sentence on the tablet read: “When is Thanksgiving?”. Easy right? Ms. Young caught me smiling as I read the sentence in a clear voice. Next up was English writing.

The English Writing Test

Ms. Young, still smiling read out the sentence from the screen in front of her. The sentence was “Thanksgiving is in November” . It can’t get easier than this right ?! It should have been what they say a cake walk for me.

Except It was not! Yes, you read that right! The moment she said “November“, I went “Uh no, I never get the spelling right”.

And guess what I did not get the spelling of November right the first time🤪” It was after Ms. Young phonetically spelt the word “November” for me the second time, that I placed the “m” right where it belongs 🤐.

If you have young children, you know exactly what I mean when I say phonetically ! For the benefit of those who may have perhaps forgotten, let me refresh your memory.

When I say phonetically, Ms. Young sounded every letter in the word, slowly, /nOHvEmbUHR/ pausing at Em. And that is when I placed Em right before the bU. Yes the elusive Em that finds itself right before the bU decided to play the mind games with me.

In my defense, hmm…. let me just not. I am just going to own this up. I did not know how to spell “November” 🤐😑. You bet I can now spell November even in my sleep 😂😜.

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Had a good laugh? Go ahead, I did too 🤣. I am glad to have played a part in brightening your day today 😂.

Believe it or not, we are barely three weeks away from stepping in to 2023. And here I was making my new resolutions just few months ago. Wasn’t I? How did you do on your resolutions this year? While you go figure that out, here is something from Mickey Mouse for you..

“To Laugh at Yourself is to Love Yourself” ~ Mickey Mouse