Empradronamiento or Maybe I should Home School

I knew the process would be difficult. I needed to enroll my daughter in public school in Madrid and I needed to register her with the local Ayuntamiento (town hall) and get an Empradronamiento (paper showing I lived in the particular district   and was eligible to attend a public school);  a simple piece of paper, with a signature from the Ayuntamiento.  But, I forgot, anytime a bureaucracy is engaged the out come is in doubt.  Complicate this issue by adding the challenge of communicating in two languages simultaneously (Spanish and Bureaucratese) and I should have realized I was going to hit a brick wall sooner or later.  But, I was suckered in my the nice lady at the first office I went to who assured me all my paperwork was in order and talked about my daughter being “muy guapa”(this is where I should have recognized I was heading for quick sand).

You see after getting up to arrive at the Ayuntamiento in the Plaza Mayor at 8:00, in order to be one of the first in line to get in at 9:00 (did I mention it was 2 degrees centigrade and raining); I was issued a Volante.  Which is an Empradronamiento without the signature.  It basically says that I am in the system, but not quite what I need.  There was no one at the Plaza Mayor Ayuntamiento who could sign the Empradronamiento (are you following all this???).  To get a signature I would have to take the Volante across town to the Moncloa Ayuntamiento where someone could sign it there.  Hey, no problem.  Dominique and I bundle up against the weather and dashed to the metro stop–as it was Monday, Wednesday is a holiday and school starts next Monday (1/11).  And I have not even gotten to the point of identifying what school she would go to.

Once at Moncloa I was told I did not have a cita (appointment) and the next appointment available was Thursday, January 14. But, school starts Monday, January 11^th! Again, a nice woman gives me hope.  She checks the system for other offices to find out if there is an opening.  Yes, there is for Thursday, January 7^th (Wednesday is a holiday).  It is further out then I have ever been (probably why there is an opening).  It does not matter.  At this point I am on a mission and fighting the clock.

The nice people at the Ayuntamiento on the other side of town sign the Empradronamiento and tell me I have to go back to the Moncloa office to select schools for Dominique and get the paper that I will need to take to that school.  The person I was told to see at the Moncloa office is not there! A nice woman (they all seem so nice as they are running you around) says the guy who I am looking for is not who I need to see.  I need to go to the comision de escolorization, which is located on Calle Santa de Brigida and you got it–that is another part of town.  Oh and by the way, the comision is only open 9 – 12.

By now it is Friday and I am still hopeful that I can get this wrapped up by Monday. We arrive at the comision de escolorization at 8:45 to find out it is closed! We get on the metro (another cold and rainy day) and travel cross-town to Moncloa to ask in very polite Spanish “WTF”. Apparently this time of year is when a lot of people take off as part of the Twelve Days of Christmas.  They just did not bother to tell anyone.

I am assured they would be open Monday—the day school is to start.  And they were.  But, the new paper I needed could not be processed until Friday as that person was out until Thursday.  Without this paper Dominique cannot go to school.  So we are on ice until Friday.  On ice literally as it snowed Sunday night into Monday morning and schools closed anyway.  I will let you know if we make it into school on Friday.

BTW, we met a nice woman at the school who assured us she would take good care of us once we got the right paperwork.