American Expat

It finally came, my Indefinite Leave to Remain Visa, and I am now officially an American Expat.  It does feel weird that now it is unlikely that the Home Office will invade my home and send me back to the U.S.  Now I can skive off the government just like everyone else, but at the moment this seems unlikely as....

...I got a new job.  Well it isn't really new.  I have moved Costa stores.  I will now be working at the Shipley Costa Coffee, the difference is that this Costa is a franchise cafe, so I had to apply and be put on a test run like everyone else.  I have been told that working for a franchise isn't that much different from the corporation.  The main difference are, we don't get the perks of the Whitbread empire (the people who own Costa), the franchise can (and will) pay more, and the franchise can cut some corners (ie, not put as much syrup into your Vanilla Latte).  The franchise is expected to uphold the Costa Standard (except for the syrup thing, can you tell I am mad about that?) and therefore puts their baristas on the same courses as a Whitbread barista. 

I decided to move because they are able to give me more hours and as I am the only one, besides my manager, who has worked at a Costa I will be involved in the training of the other Team Members. They are able to give me the promotions in a short period of time because the store is brand new, and it is only a 15 min walk away from my house.  Oh yeah, and after 3 months I get a pay raise. 

So hurrah, I guess. 

American Expat

It finally came, my Indefinite Leave to Remain Visa, and I am now officially an American Expat.  It does feel weird that now it is unlikely that the Home Office will invade my home and send me back to the U.S.  Now I can skive off the government just like everyone else, but at the moment this seems unlikely as....

...I got a new job.  Well it isn't really new.  I have moved Costa stores.  I will now be working at the Shipley Costa Coffee, the difference is that this Costa is a franchise cafe, so I had to apply and be put on a test run like everyone else.  I have been told that working for a franchise isn't that much different from the corporation.  The main difference are, we don't get the perks of the Whitbread empire (the people who own Costa), the franchise can (and will) pay more, and the franchise can cut some corners (ie, not put as much syrup into your Vanilla Latte).  The franchise is expected to uphold the Costa Standard (except for the syrup thing, can you tell I am mad about that?) and therefore puts their baristas on the same courses as a Whitbread barista. 

I decided to move because they are able to give me more hours and as I am the only one, besides my manager, who has worked at a Costa I will be involved in the training of the other Team Members. They are able to give me the promotions in a short period of time because the store is brand new, and it is only a 15 min walk away from my house.  Oh yeah, and after 3 months I get a pay raise. 

So hurrah, I guess. 

What's going on???

The cake from Richard's parents

Well as you may have noticed, I am not in the US, but still at home waiting for my passport...WHOOPEE!! I just decided to get my plane fare credited for whenever my passport does arrive, I am hoping soon.

On Saturday for my birthday, I took Richard to see the Transformers new movie (very cool animation, but in true Jessika style, I fell asleep...the movie is 2 and 1/2 hrs long!!! I have decided that I need a movie to be 90-100 min to not fall asleep.) We also had lunch at one of the newer Indian restaurants called Tulsi. It is a vegetarian restaurant and is very good...the weird part is that it has a bar. In Bradford it is very strange for an Indian restaurant to serve alcohol. you can usually bring your own, but they don't sell it.

On Sunday, Richard's parents came up and we went for Sunday Dinner in Shipley, but otherwise I had a very uneventful birthday day.

Richard and I have finally started a bit of gardening. We have some lettuce and tomatoes coming up and some squash and carrots on the way. At the moment everything is planted in temporary pots until we can get to the store to buy HUGE pots to put them all in. Last week I had to declare war on our back neighbour's big flowering bush that hangs over our garden. The bush is beautiful, but it was covered in aphids, so the bulbs I planted when we moved in were COVERED in aphids. So I cut the branches on my side off...and it seems to have worked. I was very proud of myself.

Miki in the garden

Miki is getting more brave outside, although she still needs the door to be open and prefers that we are outside with her. She goes to greet most of the cats, but because our fence is high, she can't figure out how to get to them, which I think is OK. Recently she has found herself a hidy-hole under the deck that she curls up in...but then I forget about her and she ends up being outside with the door closed...OH NO!! I am hoping she will find that it isn't scary to be outside without a straight shot to the inside.

I have managed to knit 2 ridiculous hats from scratch that the sprout will have to wear because they are hilarious...

Stress City

Well in the end it is all my fault. I didn't double check that I had the right form or paid the right fees for my application. I didn't physically force Richard to get his pictures taken when I REALLY wanted him to. It only serves me right that I have yet to receive my visa stuff and I leave for home in 11 days.

I called the UK Border Agency to see if they could help me out, but because my application has only been pending for 4 weeks the people at the telephone centre can't help me. The only way to get my passport back is to withdraw my application, forfeit (notice that the spelling of this word does not follow the "i before e" rule) the £460 and have to do it all over again and I wouldn't even know if the passport would get to me on time for my journey home anyway...

So I am going to fly by the seat of my pants...it would be a lot cheaper if I really could do that, I would probably still need my passport though...and wait. Hopefully the post fairies and I are on good terms and and my visa shows up in the next week. But as £460 is a lot of money, I am willing to wait and change my flight at the last minute...I am hoping that my passport will show up at the last minute instead.

Update

I have an appointment for my Biometrics on the 29th of May, proving they can move when they want to.

The Star Trek movie is awesome...you have to go see it...in the theatre.

12 weeks

Babycentre.co.uk

Woo Hoo!!! I have made it to the 2nd trimester!! Only 6 1/2 months to go...

And now for what Molly wants to hear more about:

My tummy is sore almost all the time (I think it is more like my innards are sore), I have serious heartburn, I am able to go to bed at 10 pm but still get up around 1-2 am for a couple of hours, I get sick if I do anything too quickly especially straight out of bed. I am tired all the time...but for the first time ever, my emotions are completely stable (which is the opposite of what is supposed to be happening, Richard is pleased).

I have had really bad allergies this year. I went a week without taking anything because I wasn't sure what I could and couldn't take (it is all a load of crap, but I am trying to appease the drs.). My dr did give me a name of an allergy medicine I could take, but when I got to the pharmacy, I forgot what it was and the Chemist was no help, so I went herbal...and you know, it worked! I took pollenna. I was really pleased, although for the first day you have to take 2 tablets every 2 hours (you suck or chew them so it isn't a big deal).

So I am sorry to say, that for some of you this is a direct cut/paste of an email I sent off a week ago, but there is an update at the end:

Last month I sent in my application for my visa which expired on the 20th of April. They sent it back to me on May 7 saying that I had filled in the wrong form...they had changed it 2 days before I sent it off...and so I had also sent them the wrong amount of money. I am so pissed because they had taken the money right away and have had my application for a month and knew I had the wrong form and amount of money. So I needed to send it back, with all the right stuff (because I am here illegally until they start the process again), only problem is, it takes about a month for the money to be put back into my account, so...Richard and I scrounged up just enough money, and who knows when I am going to get my visa.

On top of all this, I had booked a ticket home for the 23rd of June for 3 weeks...I just have to hope that all this gets sorted before then, because I also have to have biometrics done as part of the application process...if I have to leave before I get all that done, I have to withdraw my application and I will have to stay in the US until it is sorted...MAN I AM SO MAD!!

Well I checked, and the money has been taken out for my new application and they sent me a letter saying that they got everything (although it doesn't say if it is all right). I am not out of the woods yet, because last time, they were very punctual about taking the money and sending me a letter and then sat on the application for 3 weeks.

And yes, if you were reading closely you will have read that I am coming home on the 23rd of June. My mom and I are going to Montana for our cousin John's wedding, which I am looking forward to.

One more thing I have to comment on is Dancing With the Stars...or I guess the fans of Dancing With the Stars...SHAME ON YOU!!!! for voting Lil Kim out of the Semi-finals!!! I can't believe they did that knowing that Ty the Rodeo man isn't going to win the trophy.