Tuesday, December 19, 2006

London calling, part two: The electric bugaloo

My dilly-dallying from a few days ago about "do I keep the apartment / do I put it all in storage" has been solved, by powers beyond my control (thank you, "Dangerous Liaisons," for my all-time favorite excuse). Turns out, THEY would like me to come to London on January 8th. Okay, fine, sort of short notice, but I can do it. However, I cannot (and will not!) pack up my apartment and move it all to a storage unit in about 20 days, while working and trying to tie up every other loose end in my life. MAYBE it's possible but I sure don't wanna do it, so I'm not gonna. Anyway, tomorrow I'm going to buy a ticket to London. From there I will eventually make my way to Saudi Arabia, and I will be chillin' in the desert for a few months...maybe until May. July, at the LATEST. But it all depends. On you know, trying to live in 120 degree heat, wearing an abaya and a niqab, eating rice and lamb, all that stuff. And over the next 20 days, I must buy an airline ticket (yes, I will be reimbursed!), a laptop, new clothes (on the more modest side), cancel my utilities, change my address (to where?! I don't know yet...), make copies of my passport, organize and file my papers, visit my doctor, load up on my prescriptions, buy oodles of dog food...sheesh, there's way more stuff. Oh yeah, tell my boss I'm leaving. That's a biggie. On top of all that stuff, say good-bye to my family and friends and my wee precious niece and my dogs and try really hard not to cry every minute of the day because it would really hinder my plans of getting all this stuff done. Each time I picture saying goodbye to the dogs, I well up. I'm going to be a mess.

The weirdest? Thinking that I won't be wearing pants or driving a car for so long. I have so much more to say about this bizarre adventure I'm about to embark on...I think in the near future I will start another blog devoted to it...and I think I will call it Arabian Nightshifts.

Now, back to knitting tiny things. Distraction is a wonderful stress reliever.

2 comments:

girl_in_greenwood said...

I am so excited to read about your adventure! I hope when you come back you'll consider doing a brownbag at Shoreline to tell us student nurses all about it. Best of luck!

Anonymous said...

Oh man, that's what I get for reading blogs in reverse order - now I'm dying to see what Part One says! : D