A Day in the Windy City

1 drink spilled, hundreds of dollars spent, 1 speeding warning and 12 hours of driving later, Jana has her visa! Here's the story:

We woke up at 3:30 Wednesday morning to leave by 4. The plan was for me to sleep on the way there while Jana drove, so she could sleep on the way back while I drove. The first five hours went very smoothly. No stops, no bickering, but of course (knowing us) bickering was inevitible by hour 5 1/2, but it never got too bad. Jana almost hit a van (she would tell you otherwise), but everything worked out well.

We got to Chicago, there was lots of traffic, and we were looping around Michigan Ave trying to find a place to park when we found a lot right next to the pizza joint where we wanted to eat. Perfect, right? Unfortunately we got all turned around coming out of the lot, which I will refer to from here on out as THE LABYRINTH OF CRETE, and we spent a half an hour bickering some more until we found a Mexican cafe called XOCO stamped with the name of Rick Bayless, where all our morning's troubles subsided with some outstanding Mexican cocoa.

Then it started to rain. And we still couldn't find Michigan Ave, which I knew was only a couple blocks away in one of the four directions (now that I think about it, it was probably in the unnamed fifth direction... but we won't talk about that one.) I zipped Jana's visa paperwork into my jacket, looking like I had swallowed the dictionary, and we ran through an annoyingly average rainfall that succeeded to make Jana look like a hobo, but not a drowned rat. I had a hood, so. I just looked like me. Having swallowed a dictionary.

We found the street at long last and arrived at the Wrigley Building, where everything is kept under tight security-- but they still let me in without checking my ID-- go figure. I guess they thought it was good enough that they had to make Jana scan her eyeballs and pass Gandalf in order to get by the security counter. Then, up to the 13th floor, where the British Consulate is housed-- and I will tell you something straight up-- they do not accept any phone calls (the bane of my latest Tuesday), and I swear to god you would never see or hear one phone within that office. Granted, the waiting room gave little away, but the consulate was right behind a glass window, and we knew. We could tell. We could only imagine winning a game of "What is missing here?" while nobody (besides Jana and I) knew that the answer was something as ordinary as telephones. TELEPHONES! We knew.

Well, after all that hullaballoo, Jana was told her passport photo was too small, which is ridiculous because it was the same size as mine, down to the millimeter, and they accepted mine. Go figure. Well, you already know the story turns out well, so do not worry about this unfortunate news! 13 floors, 1 lost Jana, 1 detangler (she looked like a hobo), and 5 minutes processing time later, and Jana had a new passport photo from a conveniently placed Walgreens photo center. All's well that ends well. Or maybe, all's well for Jana always.

Right. So Jana turned in her completed application, and we had 3 hours to kill while they made the visa. We went to Pizzeria Due, got our delicious pizzas, then went to the mall where everything was too expensive except for a fancy-looking Forever 21 where I bought a couple of shirts. Jana found this elephant thing at a Sanrio store and insisted I send a picture of it to Stefani... who then called us about fifty times and threatened Jana to either buy the animal or not bother coming home. We convinced her that it could probably be purchased cheaper on Amazon.

OK, skip ahead some more wait time and Jana has her visa in hand, and we're on our way home. Of course parking at THE LABYRINTH OF CRETE was not as expensive as we had initially imagined it would be (because all's well for Jana always), so that was a major bonus. Jana drove out of the city (more bickering), then I took the wheel for a few hours so she could sleep. She woke up very suddenly at about hour 4 and I said, "Great, you can drive again" (I hate driving), and I slept all the rest of the way home (I didn't really sleep on the way to Chicago).

Oh, and then this morning, I was able to register with the university! I am trying to figure out how to get back into my old e-mail account from when I studied abroad last time (to get my registration confirmation), but other than that, everything is all right. At this point, nothing can really phase me... I can just blow everything off until I get there and figure it out in person, which is a heck of a lot easier than playing e-mail tag. Or in my case, one-way e-mail chase, where the person I am chasing is 4,000 miles away and can ignore me really, really effectively.

T-minus 5 days!

New Stuff on My Blog!

No longer will I post "Hooray, I ran this much today!"-- now, I have added those posts conveniently to my sidebar under the title Running Journal, complements of twitter.

By the way, my visa arrived today! That was quick! Now, off to Chicago tomorrow to get Jana her visa-- then, hanging out with friends until next week, giving myself one day to pack and before you or I know it, I'll be in England! Of course I will keep up this blog and write all about life overseas, giving you information on travel, weather, psychology, and of course, British dialect.

The first new word I will teach you today is dongle. This word can be used like so:

Let's not buy cable for the internet in our new house; it is much cheaper to use a dongle.

Do not confuse dongle with a general world like doohickey; a dongle is a type of flash drive or memory stick that may specifically be used to form an internet connection. Of course, I will add other such words to my blog as I learn them. Aren't you excited to speak like a Brit?

T-minus 7 days!

My heart leapt as I realized...

I'm leaving in 10 days! A week and a half. I don't have much more to do-- just pack. And I'm still waiting on my visa. I checked the Border Agency website and it has updated its visa processing times-- now they say that 93% of visas will be processed within 10 business days. It has been five. I will wait until 8 and then call to see if I can pick up my visa at the British Consulate in Chicago. I feel like this is something they will not allow, but I'll try anyhow. They told me they would send an e-mail when my visa has been shipped. I hope this happens sometime between tomorrow and Wednesday because Jana and I are going to Chicago on Thursday. At any rate, the visa is my last and only travel worry, and once it is safely in my hands, I will be able to relax!

I can't wait to be back in Leicester! Jana has never been, but I know she'll love it. The university has such a great feel to it, especially the brand-new library (where I saw the Queen of England come to cut the red ribbon!)-- it is very modern and has lots of study space. It is also full of textbooks and relevant materials, unlike the outdated Kent State library where dust lines every shelf from nonuse. Well, I can't say the KSU library is all bad-- we did catch a glimpse of the Rosetta Stone tucked away behind locked doors one fateful afternoon... ha ha! Ancient secrets are hidden here. Or maybe just ancient references, whatevs.

All of England feels different. It's just different, in a very very good way. It's old and green and temperate and beautiful-- all of it! Even London with its constant smog cover. Even the small towns comparable to Streetsboro (you know, connection towns, just going through to get from one place to another) have fifty times the charm and beauty and history.

I've been reading blogs lately about young people who teach english in Korea. More kids than ever are doing it fresh out of college, because it's so darn easy. All you need is a bachelor's degree, preferably in english (but it could really be anything). And there's such a demand right now for english teachers, academies will pay for your housing and plane ticket on top of giving you a job with a salary and benefits. I applied last year when I didn't want to work at Borders for another year, but it never came of anything. I admit I didn't try very hard. But I fantasize about life in a non-western country... and Korean food looks AMAZING. I will have to take a trip someday, at any rate. But I am a little jealous of the adventurers who travel across the world to submerse themselves into another language and culture for a year...

I might still do this one day. :P

I've realized that I tend to dream of distant lands, and every time I reach one, I dream of something even further. Should I be grateful that I've traveled twice overseas? Yes, and I am. But I will not settle-- not until I have explored the whole earth, and probably not even then! This yearning that I have to travel to other countries is deeper than almost any other-- it's a constant ache, like a soul ache (not a soul cake-- LOL Sting!)-- and I know it will never subside! I feel like it is instict, that kind of everlasting, primal, powerful feeling. How is that human nature? How is that evolutionary? Isn't a creature supposed to stake out its territory and roam within those boundaries? Most people end up living and dying within 20 miles of where they were born, but already I have shaken that statistic. Maybe I have the blood in me of the ice age travelers who crossed the Bering land bridge- my heart is running on the blood of the restless.

Okay, enough poetry. I'm going to go vacuum the house.

T-minus 10 days!

I have a feeling Jana was more on top of things than she let on...

Jana's favorite hobby is raising my blood pressure. Oh yeah-- she's back, and I forgot to blog about it! Oh well, we've been busy taking care of her visa problems. Now that that's taken care of, we're all ready to take a road trip to the British Consultate in Chicago, which will probably happen sometime next week. Oo, Chicago! Sounds like so much fun! It might be, but we might just make a very long day trip out of it because I'm cheap and I want enough money to buy laundry detergent, toilet paper,,, and pillows when I arrive in England. See how I did that with the commas? Laura told us the definition of the Oxford comma yesterday. She also said that Stephen respects and enjoys it. Well, Stephen, if you're reading, take TRIPLE Oxford comma action!

There's so much that has happened in the past few days... picking Jana up from the airport... coaxing Jana to blister her feet... gaining bun advice from strange Chinese men... newspapering the bathroom so I could put grassy mud in my hair... Boja leaving as mysteriously as he'd appeared...

But really, I missed blogging about these things as they happened, and it wouldn't be fair to post in retrospect. Just assume my life is amazing and leave it at that.



T-minus 14 days! SO THERE.

My Very Own Second Grade Wisdom (checked for spelling but words remain the same)

If I could be different, I would be a brown bear.

Mrs Stewart wrote:
Reshanne,
What do you like best about yourself?

I replied:
Being a brown bear.




I was really looking for some old school reading lists to add forgotten books to my Shelfari when I found a milk box labeled "2nd grade" deep in basement storage. Inside the box were two spiral-bound notebooks (one for Jana and one for me) which had been used to write journal entries back and forth to the teacher (whose name was Mrs Stewart). The wisdom penned here was derived from these journals of ages past. Enjoy.

Jana's Second Grade Wisdom (checked for spelling, but words remain the same)

If I was twelve feet tall, I would throw up in a river because I'll be too big for the toilet.



The best dream I ever had was when I had a very very white dream it was black too without any color.



Instead of water, I wish it would rain real hamsters and kittens and puppies.



If I were a dragon, I would never ever go by castles because they will kill me.



If I were a bat I would fly around the dark and scare ans(?) that are outside and inside my cave. Continued on the next page: And I live with my friend Aroomfis. (Picture of a mouse)
I have no idea what inspired Jana to name a mouse Aroomfis.



Sometimes I pretend that I'm lots and lots of animals and even this morning I was even a peacock.



If I could invent a candy, I would call it athingee thing.



The color red makes me feel mad because boys always say it is a boy's color and then tease me, saying "You like a boy's color"...



I would like to ask Martin Luther King how he got friends with Rosa Parks.



I like being a kid because I never want to grow up. I think it would hurt.



And my very favorite:
I wish I could fly and have magic powers to kill Reshanne and to vanish her from the Earth for ever and ever until she's bones in the dirt and they're all broken.

Freeeeee!

So, my last day of Borders has come and gone. My farewell present from the co. was an extra 4 hours tacked onto my shift when the GM decided to have a breakdown the day the VP visited the store. Wee!

We went to a bar called The Blue Fig for my going away party-- our usual Thursday haunt, where you can get 39 cent wings and listen to drunk people sing karaoke; also, it's been held up at least twice already. But it's a hip place with a good vibe, especially on the roof where you can spot the elusive praying mantis in his natural habitat, drinking a beer (no joke).

A lot of friends were able to show up, including this weirdo I knew in high school who has since moved to Maryland. That weirdo is my good friend Boja, who drove all the way to Ohio so he could watch me cut myself, eat NO pie, and say "Whatever you want to do," in this chill, Tao kind of way. He's reminiscent of a young Tim Roth, without the accent or the impossible amount of blood. He squints right before he says something snarky, and apparently he used to be a gymnast (he claims he can still do a front handspring). Whoa.

So I'm picking Jana up at the airport tonight. She's comin' home! I was just reading a journal of hers from 2nd grade, where she literally wrote, "I wish Reshanne was bones in the dirt." We are so past that now. I wrote in a 5th grade journal, "I don't really like being a twin." Then I cut all my hair off and turned psycho for a couple of years.

Oh, and we must go to Chicago at one point, but right now I don't know when. Jana has yet to obtain her visa. I don't have mine yet either, but I'm working on it. I received a message yesterday that my application is being reviewed by the border agency, which will determine whether I am worthy of dishing out thousands of US dollars overseas. My biggest fear of the day is that they won't accept my visa picture because it was taken by an idiot at the licensing bureau and that idiot didn't ask me to take off my GLASSES. Cool blue Chicago might not be impressed by small town idiots. Also, it can take up to 15 days for my visa to be reviewed, so I am cutting it really close. Whatever, I've left my life up to fate-- which usually doesn't turn out so well. Well, we shall see.


Hey!-- JOFFREY BALLET TOMORROW-- I completely forgot! Another weirdo just called to remind me about it. Exciting!

Also, I made tapioca! This is how you do it: Dish 3 tbsp of tapioca into a pan, add 1/3 cup sugar, 2 3/4 cup of (soy) milk and add one egg. Stir constantly until it comes to a boil, remove from heat, add 1 tsp vanilla, let cool for 20 minutes, then enjoy your pudding while watching 13 episodes of Hey Arnold on Netflix Instant Play.

T-minus 18 days!