Changes

(The picture above was taken in Egypt in a cafe at the Kahn el Khalili market)

It seems forever since I last wrote and so many new developments have occurred personal as well as external. I want to try to keep up with the blogging in the future.
But I am not sure how much time I will have.

Since November the following has happened in my personal life: I went to Egypt during the last two weeks of Winter 2010 to visit my husband in Cairo. I was on the airplane for New Years Eve, only to land in New York, open the newspapers and see that the cover story was Alexandria, Egypt where a church was bombed on New Years Eve. I guess we can say that was only the beginning and a clear sign of major unrest to occur subsequently. In January the Ross University Medical School accepted me in their fall medical school class. January 23rd I turned 26th years old!!! Hurray!
January 25th, protests in Egypt began to which my husband did not go to, I might add, even though I tried to encourage it. In January, I also send in my application to the American University of Beirut Medical School. Yes, if you are wondering that is correct the school is in Beirut, Lebanon. In February, I received an acceptance to the St. George University Medical School in Grenada. My husband almost changed work companies but decided to stay with his old company. He went to Syria, came back to Egypt, thought he was going for work in Saudi Arabia only to go back to Syria. But it all worked out for the better as it always does. March 12th and March 18th, we celebrated my little sisters 13th birthday and my Dad’s birthday (sorry I don’t remember how old he turned, we just don’t keep track with parents or grandparents). Unfortunately, the week of his upcoming birthday my Dad was unexpectedly laid off from work. So we are in major trouble at the moment, and just pray that he finds a job soon and that everything turns for the better as it is supposed to always do. USCIS, answered my what seems hundred inquiry only to tell me that they understand how stressful my situation is but that the background checks are not complete and that I should not put in another inquiry for at least another 6 months.

I am waiting to get the acceptance from AUB but decided to go to SGU in Grenada in the fall. I have to be on the island for mandatory orientation August 10th! In March, Medtronic the company I work for decided that they will lay off 4% of the workforce which comes to about 1500-2000 positions. During this time they were offering Early Retirement and Voluntary Separation of Leave. March 10th or so I did what I had dreaded to do for three years but what I new was long overdue, and I put in my notice and request for Voluntary Separation. To my surprise it was approved. The day I received the call from HR stating that it was approved, I was so scared and thought I had done a terrible mistake. The economy is terrible and I am giving my notice. It took some time to settle in my brain that it is the right thing to do and that FINALLY I am going to medical school in a few months! My last day of work will be May 13th, 2010. Afterwards, I will be on payroll for another two months, I will also receive some lump severance amount of money. Before, my last day I do have to monitor two sites one in Iowa and the other in New York and those will be my last monitoring visits ever! That will give me enough time to sell my beloved car and other items and prepare to move to Grenada in the fall. In addition, there are many work changes happening, my group will not stay the same much longer and we have moved into the beautiful World Headquarters building.

June 20th through August 3rd I will be in Sarajevo, Bosnia in my beloved country and in the most beautiful city in the world! The plan is that my husband will join me in Bosnia during this time, so we will be together with the family. My entire family was supposed to go and my parents were planning a party for our marriage but now that my Dad was laid off this will not be a possibility at least not this summer.

June 6th, 2010, in only two months or so it will be our 1st Anniversary. Hopefully, many more are to be planned…… I can’t believe that it has been a year already, where does the time go? It seems it has been such a busy year. I will post soon my reflections on married life that have accumulated over the past year and especially married life separated 5000 miles, in two countries, on two different continents. Hey, I think some day I should write a book about it. As you might guess, we will not be together on our anniversary! Bummer I know. But we have pushed it back to July 6th this year because that is when we will be together in Bosnia and we will be able to celebrate!