Unemployed girl

Yesterday was the day I'd been counting down to since July 11th, 164 days ago. The day I quit my job. I'd been building up to it slowly but surely. There were days when I was focused and worked hard but they were few and far between. There were days when I worked in short bursts, now writing frantically, now lounging apathetically, my head on the gel pad before my keyboard. And there were days when I sighed, moaned, groaned, and made repeated trips to the kitchen and the front desk (for munchies). Those increased in number as the number of colleagues I cared about decreased. Needless to say, I was completely disfunctional by the last day. I really did think I could finish that last topic but in the end, there were just so many distractions on the day, that I barely got into it.

The going away gathering was held early in the morning. I almost missed it. I was taken aback by the sincerety of Roger's speech. It was so tinged by nostalgia that I suddenly realized that I'd miss Laragh, particularly the Laragh that used to be, the one on Kloof Street with the intimate little rooms, run down though they were, with the friendly people who'd smile and introduce themselves, and show an interest in your life. The laid back Laragh.

I got a card that said "Congratulations". It had penguins on it, wishing another penguin goodbye as he flew off in a hot air balloon. It was sweet. Even the generic Good Lucks and Take Cares were sweet. Particularly sweet were Kirk and Karien's messages - short and sweet but signed "Love". I choked up.

My going away speech was impromptu but I really felt a gush of emotion for the place. Sure it hadn't all been rosy and great. There were some dire moments, it's true. But for the most part I was happy there, accepted by others, and valued for my contribution. For that I guess I'll always cherish it and look back at it with nostalgia.

At lunch I was ambushed by the Magic peeps. I suppose I should have expected it, since we've all become so adept at keeping secret the suprise gatherings and gift givings that we throw each other but I really didn't expect it. I honestly thought we were getting together for one last coffee break. There were Ethne and Sharon (my Alt+130 is not working on this laptop coz there's no keypad!), with chocolates and flowers, and a personalized card, which made the leaving so much more real. It wasn't just random people or casual acquaintances saying Goodbye from Laragh but also those who I'd been closest to during my time there, and those who'd managed to escape before me.

It was the first job that I've had where I can tell someone "Remember when..." and laugh about it. But it's over now. And I've three or four weeks left. Unemployed, future slightly uncertain, back in my mum's house, hoping things will go well and turn out they way we want them to.

US visas approved

At about 9:30 this morning, the DHL people came to deliver our passports. Sameer received them and found our passports inside. His first comment was "You look like you're on drugs in this picture." It's true. I do look like a bit of a druggy in the picture. It's all Ferzana's fault. I was trying to smile with my eyes. :P Anyway, my visa is valid until the middle of June but apparently we are allowed to stay on for an additional 60 days after that. Sameer's visa only expires some time in 2010! I thought that was kind of odd but anyway. So yay. Two down, one more to go.

America, America, from sea to shining shore (lyrics?)

So we had our interviews at the US embassy this morning. We got there about ten to ten and left about ten past twelve. It was a fair wait but it was alright. They were quite organized and the guy behind the window pronounced Sameer's name correctly - "SameeR" not "Sameeye". The passports will be DHLed to us on Wednesday morning so by then we should know whether we have our visas or not. Fingers crossed!

Schengen sorting

Well, after a long spell in which we didn't do anything, we're finally back on the ball. We decided to go ahead and book a trip somewhere in Europe so that we could get our 90 day Schengen visas. This will allow us to go on random trips around Europe as long as we have time and money.

So anyway, we decided to go to Paris because it's romantic, close to England, and we haven't been there before. :P Finding accommodation was a major schlep! We didn't want to spend much money on accommodation and as we can only really afford a few days, we didn't want to have a long commute to the outskirts of the city each day. So that means dodgy lodging in the center. We found a few nice looking places on the internet but most of them got terrible online reviews from other travelers. It was really scary stuff! For others, our friend Zulaigha had reservations, and so we nixed them too. With all the horror stories we were getting from review sites and with all the time we were wasting looking for places to stay we eventually got fed up (we're that kind of tourist :P ) and decided to go for a chain of hotels. My argument was that they'd have standards at least. Probably very low standards, but standards all the same! Anyway, we booked three nights at the 2* Ibis Hotel near Gare du Nord so hopefully we'll spend very little time commuting. And then Sameer booked our flights on Easy Jet. We're leaving for Paris early on the morning of Friday the 18th January, and arriving back at Luton airport the same time the next Monday morning. I wanted to get an afternoon flight back but Sameer is keen to get to Cambridge at roughly the same time that the rest of his class does.

And then today we called the French embassy's visa hotline (so funny!) and booked an appointment for January 7th. We'll sort the Schengen visas out then. Apparently it only takes 24 hours to do! So yay. :)

Waiting...

There's absolutely nothing happening on the planning front. I'm back at work supposedly working and Sameer is back at campus working on his thesis and going for interviews.

In other dramatic news, Izzy has assimilated the entire Dalvie household. She is now Queen of that domain.

And we're not really booking or planning anything. Just plodding along. Ho-hum. Tick tick tick. Waiting, waiting.

I'm BORED!!!