![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The cloud now has a silver lining
Aug. 27th, 2008 01:47 pmAfter very careful deliberation, I sent off my applications today:
Amman
Damascus
Nikosia
Skopje
Zurich
Unfortunately Valletta had to be struck off the list, because their regulations conc. pets are completely insane (apologies to any Maltese readers), especially if it's impossible to know when exactly you're going to enter the country. Never mind, I replaced it with Damascus. So, Amman, Nikosia and Damascus would be interesting from a financial point of view, Skopje because I like it, and Zurich because of the quality of life in general and the fantastic apartment (205 square metres in the attic of the office building, which is a fin de siècle villa)
It's really funny how things suddenly become relative once you know that you're definitely going to leave within a year. Exactly what I needed. Besides, I'd pledged to myself to have an easy start, and so far it seems I did well. The Ambassador is here, and she's already written strange messages, but every time I open one of them, I tell myself, "Calm down. Whatever it is, don't take it personally, don't get angry. If you don't like it, close it and let it sit for a while." The mantra seems to work.
Speaking of the Ambassador: as I believe I already mentioned, our Embassy is very small, both staff- and space-wise. There was a complaint about the son of a Turkish diplomat not getting his visa as easily as he would've wanted, and I had to write an answer. Fortunately I remembered the case very well: He'd made his application on a Friday, and therefore had got an appoinment for 2 p.m. on the following Friday to retrieve his passport. At 3.50 p.m. (Ankara time) the assistant of the Turkish Ambassador calls me, furious, and asks why on earth the applicant isn't allowed to enter the Embassy at 3, when he had an appointment for 2. I told her that it was 4 and not 3 p.m. in Ankara, and she apoligized.
I had to put this bit into my answer, and gave it to the Ambassador for approval. When I got it back, she'd scribbled "When does the Embassy close?" on the draft.
First I thought I'd misread, then I thought she was an idiot - honestly, an Ambassador who doesn't know the opening hours of her own small Embassy! In the end, I took a deep breath, smiled to myself and wrote down the URL of our homepage, so she can look it up for herself (we close at 4 on Fridays, so of course nobody can enter at 3.55 unless it's a dire emergency)
The heat persists, unfortunately, but the nights are cool and breezy again, so it's not too bad. It was only the night between Sunday and Monday that was horrible, because the wind had died down completely at about 8 p.m., and so even though the temperature went down a bit, the cooler air didn't circulate. I slept rather beadly that night, but now it's OK again.
My cleaning lady, Cristy, has left Turkey with her main employer, an Italian diplomat, and gone to Brussels. I'm very happy for her, because she wasn't legally in Turkey and therefore constantly afraid the police might get her. Her mother Maggie will start working for me (6hrs a week) after 21 September, and until then I'll have to clean up after myself. *sighs* It's not so much the cleaning as the ironing I'm dreading. It would've been nice if she could have left in winter, there's much less to iron in winter. She offered to find me somebody for the next 4 weeks, but I declined - if it weren't for ze boyz, it wouldn't have been a problem, but I'm just plain paranoid when it comes to ze boyz. Crazy cat lady... Maggie, on the other hand, has often been at my flat together with Cristy and knows the rules. Or rather, the one single existing rule: Never open a window that isn't protected by a net, and never leave the entrance door open, even for a second.
Btw, has anybody on my flist read East of the Sun? I did, and I'd love to discuss it - it's such a strange mix of good and awful, and I'd like to know what other people feel about it.
Amman
Damascus
Nikosia
Skopje
Zurich
Unfortunately Valletta had to be struck off the list, because their regulations conc. pets are completely insane (apologies to any Maltese readers), especially if it's impossible to know when exactly you're going to enter the country. Never mind, I replaced it with Damascus. So, Amman, Nikosia and Damascus would be interesting from a financial point of view, Skopje because I like it, and Zurich because of the quality of life in general and the fantastic apartment (205 square metres in the attic of the office building, which is a fin de siècle villa)
It's really funny how things suddenly become relative once you know that you're definitely going to leave within a year. Exactly what I needed. Besides, I'd pledged to myself to have an easy start, and so far it seems I did well. The Ambassador is here, and she's already written strange messages, but every time I open one of them, I tell myself, "Calm down. Whatever it is, don't take it personally, don't get angry. If you don't like it, close it and let it sit for a while." The mantra seems to work.
Speaking of the Ambassador: as I believe I already mentioned, our Embassy is very small, both staff- and space-wise. There was a complaint about the son of a Turkish diplomat not getting his visa as easily as he would've wanted, and I had to write an answer. Fortunately I remembered the case very well: He'd made his application on a Friday, and therefore had got an appoinment for 2 p.m. on the following Friday to retrieve his passport. At 3.50 p.m. (Ankara time) the assistant of the Turkish Ambassador calls me, furious, and asks why on earth the applicant isn't allowed to enter the Embassy at 3, when he had an appointment for 2. I told her that it was 4 and not 3 p.m. in Ankara, and she apoligized.
I had to put this bit into my answer, and gave it to the Ambassador for approval. When I got it back, she'd scribbled "When does the Embassy close?" on the draft.
First I thought I'd misread, then I thought she was an idiot - honestly, an Ambassador who doesn't know the opening hours of her own small Embassy! In the end, I took a deep breath, smiled to myself and wrote down the URL of our homepage, so she can look it up for herself (we close at 4 on Fridays, so of course nobody can enter at 3.55 unless it's a dire emergency)
The heat persists, unfortunately, but the nights are cool and breezy again, so it's not too bad. It was only the night between Sunday and Monday that was horrible, because the wind had died down completely at about 8 p.m., and so even though the temperature went down a bit, the cooler air didn't circulate. I slept rather beadly that night, but now it's OK again.
My cleaning lady, Cristy, has left Turkey with her main employer, an Italian diplomat, and gone to Brussels. I'm very happy for her, because she wasn't legally in Turkey and therefore constantly afraid the police might get her. Her mother Maggie will start working for me (6hrs a week) after 21 September, and until then I'll have to clean up after myself. *sighs* It's not so much the cleaning as the ironing I'm dreading. It would've been nice if she could have left in winter, there's much less to iron in winter. She offered to find me somebody for the next 4 weeks, but I declined - if it weren't for ze boyz, it wouldn't have been a problem, but I'm just plain paranoid when it comes to ze boyz. Crazy cat lady... Maggie, on the other hand, has often been at my flat together with Cristy and knows the rules. Or rather, the one single existing rule: Never open a window that isn't protected by a net, and never leave the entrance door open, even for a second.
Btw, has anybody on my flist read East of the Sun? I did, and I'd love to discuss it - it's such a strange mix of good and awful, and I'd like to know what other people feel about it.
