I realize it's been several months since my last update... It's been full-speed ahead since mid-April!
Also I was convinced nobody was actually reading this, but Mom tells me otherwise :) And, I find myself sitting here with an hour and a half to spare.
Arlanda can schedule me for a minimum of 4 hours per shift, and today I was only needed for one flight. In that case, my day looks like this:
 |
| zzz |
Wake up 2:30am, cycle to station 3am, bus to Arlanda 3:30am, arrive 4:15am, start 4:30am but my flight starts checking in at 5am, sit around and try not to fall asleep until then. Open at 5am, check in for 1h20min, head over to the gate and board until 7am. Now I'm here being paid with nothing to do until 8:30am when I get to leave... Time to grab a giant coffee. First time I've started work when the sun wasn't up yet.., it's getting darker already!!! Nooooo
Since I have sooo many useful things to be doing at Arlanda, here's a quick timeline of the last 5 months (!!)
May: 3-week training course at Arlanda, passed all the tests, dropped out of Swedish class but with extra assignments I can still pass at the re-exam in August.
June: busy juggling Biotopia & Arlanda. Offered two week job at the Uppland Foundation for translation, accepted (dream future job is there!) so wound up with 3 summer jobs.
August: bored at home alone, lots of shifts and coming home to an insane kitten. 5 days at summer place, picked lots of berries, onions, potatoes, mmm. 30+ Celsius for nearly 3 weeks (as of this week, COLD and rainy). Mimi escapes and costs me my savings for a midnight x-ray, turns out she is totally fine, miracle cat. 8 lives left I suppose. First cold of the inevitable season. Lots of planning for mom/dad trip. Finished translating
Biotopia's species lists (project I started last October). Wrote Swedish final exam, no results yet. Signed contract for new apartment,
we will have 5 ROOMS!!! (Ok, bedroom, living room, kitchen, hallway, bathroom... But still!!!!) planning for first ever euro camping trip (
goal: Preikestolen) leaving Sunday for a week.
Bought a $20 tent, we will see how long that lasts...
Cat is coming with us. Her tent cost more than ours...? Mimi is now an official European citizen, she has a cat passport. She can now travel to Norway only; everywhere else requires a rabies shot which she doesn't have yet.
 |
| 'Passport for companion animals' |
Now for the upcoming stuff...
September: I start on a 75% schedule at Arlanda (I'm hourly right now). Mom and dad arriving on the 15th, lots of awesome things planned. Fred starts his last term of classes, internship and thesis coming in Jan. Moving sometime in the first week of Sept.
October: Turning 24!!! And my second month of scheduling at Arlanda, ending 26th with a possibility for extension (to be decided at a later date).
Well, that's that. Cat is growing at an impossible rate, as kittens do. She is very 'jobbig' in the evening, as we say in Swedish... meaning work-y (difficult). Sleepy and cute all day and psychotic come 11pm. She likes fish and ice cream, apparently. And food must be swatted all over the house before it can be eaten... ESPECIALLY treats. Those get an extra lap though the shoe rack before they disappear.
So, a little long-term outlook. Fred is finished his master in June next year. We have the new student apartment max until next December (2015), then it's either find an impossible-to-get non-student apartment in Uppsala, or more likely, move to Stockholm. Much depends on jobs of course, both mine and Fredrik's. I will continue my job search for the meantime, looking for something interesting that doesn't involve working 4am and weekends, hopefully something where I can earn enough to come back to Vancouver for a visit in the summer! The pay at Arlanda isn't great but still better than what I earned in Vancouver, enough to cover living but not much more.
My temporary residence permit expires in February, so in December I'll be applying for renewal/possibly for a permanent permit.
I think I covered everything! Will add some pictures at some point (done Sept 10 now)! XO to everybody.
 |
| enkrona and wasp (about the size of a quarter) ... the summer house has ghastly insects |
 |
| 'burnables' ... found on a garbage can at the 200 years of peace celebration |
Not entirely accurate but worth a laugh.
