After all these technical posts (and there are a few more to come), it’s time for me to give you some news.

After a somewhat chaotic journey, I FINALLY joined my husband! Security has increased at the prison for visits and it is wasting a lot of time. Before, after the registration, the search and the passage to the metal detector, we could walk to death row by ourselves. But as some general population prisoners spoke to us (shouting), they first put a black cover all along the fence, and according to their moods and/or the visitor, they made us wait for an escort. I found myself several times waiting alone on a bench 15 or 20 minutes for a guard to deign to walk me there while other people had been able to walk there directly.
In short now, no more discrimination according to age or size of breasts, everyone must wait for an escort. But now they wait until we all have passed security to take us as a group, and there is a group that leaves only every 30 minutes. From the outside, you probably don’t see too much of a problem, but this is how it goes:

• Doors normally open at 8:15 am (often 8:30 am), but to be sure to get in visitors arrive as early as 7 am at the prison. For death row, there is never a crowd, so now I arrive a little before 8am and that is enough, I’m almost every time the 4th one (at the same time there are always the same people every week, with their habits). Visits begin at 9am.
• Unfortunately, at this time, they don’t open before 8:45 or 9:00 am.
• We all pass security and we wait for the escort…
• People who don’t come until 9 am start to go through security… so now we wait for them too.
• As a result, we find ourselves in the park at 10 am, we still have to wait until the inmates arrive, we lose a good hour of visit.

So yes it annoys me, on top of having to walk barefoot so that they pass my heels through the new X-ray machine every week. Before, if your bra was setting the detector off, they would scan you in an airport way and that was it. Now, if your bra is setting it off, you must go back to the search room and remove it so that they can observe it, and they scan your chest (which is likely to be fun with piercings the day that it happens to me). And yet, I didn’t know, but I was told that at FSP (the neighboring prison, death row prisoners go from one to another) a few years ago, when you had your period, you had to show it!! I thought I was misunderstanding but the women confirmed that yes, they had to lower their panties to show their dirty pads (I suppose to be allowed to take changes with them). Fortunately, it’s not like that anymore, because (TMI) I always have my period on the weekend and it’s still a step in humiliation that I don’t feel ready to cross.

BUT WE ARE TOGETHER! Finally, and without this limit of a precise number of visits before saying goodbye for months. It changes everything, even if I get annoyed still for the slightest minute stolen. We have so much lost time to catch up!

Alan lost a lot of weight, again, because he was saving for me to have a little bit more money when I arrived (as the immigration and so on ruined me). I hope that I will find a job quickly to be able to fill him up a little.

Unfortunately, his prison (all Florida state prisons actually) ended up on lockdown last week and the visits were canceled. Exceptional measure (since in general it is the only thing left in case of lockdown), the mail was also stopped 😑. On the other hand they were given a 5-minute phone call to warn us so it was pretty cool. Ironically, this lockdown took place during (in response to) a march for the rights and human treatment of prisoners, in Washington DC. The lockdown was lifted Monday and I started to receive his letters again, so I’ll see him on Sunday. 🙂

Since I’ve arrived, I’ve been busy dealing with my paperwork problems. But I also started looking for a job. I will make a post on their way of proceeding here… that I do not like at all! Especially when you don’t fit the boxes when you are an immigrant! I applied to 10 jobs and I had no feedback, not even to say no, well on this point I’m not disoriented, it’s like France! My resume is also circulating in a company possibly creating new positions, and they are interested in my profile. I do not know if it will lead somewhere but it reassured me a bit on my US version resume.

The opening of my bank account allowed me to reopen my Etsy shop – I will make a small post right after to announce it.

And the question everyone asks… “how is the weather, not too hot? “. The answer is yes, it’s way too hot! I can’t stay 5 minutes outside without getting sweaty (while I’m usually lucky on that side). It is only vaguely bearable at the beach, feet in the water .

But it also rains a LOT, not for a long time, but a lot, at least once a day. And when I visit Alan it is often the deluge, and it takes me forever to go back home because I have to drive so slow.

For those who worry, I was driving at 16 mph and I was just holding the phone, I was properly watching the road 😉

The sky was so covered that there was nothing to see during the “Great American Eclipse” on Monday and that I had to watch it on TV.

Yes, I do weather updates on Snapchat (because my life is not really thrilling yet) @SweetUndertone, I post only in story (and rarely) and it is accessible to anyone (at least for now) if you want to follow me.
😊