Today's Risk

Today I started working for my sister. And by that I mean I have quit my piddly part-time job at the Evil Corporate Empire and am acting as nanny/housekeeper for my sister until July. All my debts are paid, but I have $0.03 in the bank (more or less). The risk is that my sister will be able to pay me every week. If she can't, I'll be moving to Abu Dhabi on pocket lint and empty hope.

I am actually excited to get to take these 2 months and not have to deal with petty manufactured stress at a bookstore. I look forward to regaining some modicum of control over my life again: I get to cook the meals, clear out the cupboards, generally put this lace in order. AND, we might just put in a lawn before summer's end. (I may not be here for that, but hope springs eternal.)

I might teach my niece some Arabic once school lets out. Maybe we'll both learn something.

And in the meantime, I have narrowed down my belongings (and have a clear start on the last bits...and the journals) and made a gym schedule so I can get back in the pool.

Other than the money worry (which will be there until I get that first pay packet in AD), I think I'll enjoy this in-between time. And I WILL get this house cleaned!

A Note About Authentication

I am not sure why document authentication presents such a difficulty for so many of my fellow US LTs, but it is. So I'm going to break down my authentication process thus far. Perhaps it'll help.

First and foremost, GET STARTED EARLY!
If you haven't got your passport, get your pennies together (currently $140 plus the cost of passport photos - get extras, as they're multi-purpose when travelling) and get down to the post office today. Seriously, today. Passports can take 6-10 weeks to process (though it's never taken mine that long), and with a thousand or a million other people applying for their passports as well, why on earth would you wait?

Now. I only had two documents to authenticate: my teaching certificate and my Masters degree. I started the process on 28 February and just got back my last stamp and seal today. That's a month and a week. And I am fortunate to have the essential forms and formats already in my files, and to live in my state's capital city. That and paying for overnight mail in both directions cut my time down significantly. But here's the breakdown:

• Had copies of my 2 certs made, added a note stating "This is an authentic copy of the original document", took copies - and originals for notary to compare - to a notary public (found at your local bank often enough). I signed the copy in front of the notary, who notarised my signature. 2 hours finding a notary and figuring out exactly what was needed, 2 minutes to get the stamp, seal and signature. No fee.
• walked my 2 notarised documents into the Secretary of State's office. I called them first to make sure I knew what to do and where to go. (If you're not 100% sure what to do, always call first!) Requested a "foreign use stamp", got an authentication of notary for international use (nobody actually has a foreign use stamp, regardless of what Teach Away advised). 20 minutes, $2 per document. Sometimes it's good to live in South Carolina.
• Mailed notarised, authenticated documents to the US Department of State with an attached form/cover sheet found on the State Dept website. Elected to pay for express mail (overnight shipping) in both directions. $8 per document, plus $18 per express mail envelope. Took a full month to receive documents back from the State Department with signature and seal affixed.
• Mailed notarised, authenticate documents to the UAE Embassy. Also enclosed a letter (emailed to me) from my university declaring its accreditation. For extra assurance, I also printed off a copy of the accreditation record from the CHEA website. Again with the express mail cost. This step cost $30 per document, plus mail fees. Time: one week. 

If you have documents of identification (marriage certificates, birth certificates, adoption certificates, or other miscellaneous items (divorce & letter from ex-spouse permitting child to leave the country, death certificate for your child's other parent, etc), those documents follow a slightly different authentication process - basically, you have to get them directly from your State, not get notarised copies (the copy sent from your records dept will be notarised or whatever already), and carry on from there. These documents will take longer to get, and if they're from other states or countries, you must get them authenticated at the Secretary of State for the state (or equivalent for country) of the document's origin. (Certificates can be notarised anywhere.) 

Key item: Photocopies must be notarised and authenticated in the same state. And a notary will only do an in-person notarisation (because he's authenticating your signature, which he/she can't do unless you're signing it in front of them). So do what you can locally.

I think that's all I have for today. Other than a small celebration that I have all my paperwork completed now. And another celebration that it was far less effort-intensive than the stuff I had to do for my UK work visa. 

So I'm going to work. Happy paperchase, everyone!

Tired.

It's not that I don't have anything to report about my journey to the UAE - I do. (Nothing concrete, though. Just places along the psychological path.) It's just that I'm so darned tired. Particularly right now, but also in general. Maintaining and overseeing (and kind of resenting that I "have to" oversee) a group of nearly 100 teachers on facebook, working nights, sleeping during my few short hours of alone-time...I'm just tired. And I don't feel like sharing all my thoughts and plans and so on. 

Then I think...if I'm this worn out now, what will next year be like? Ha. More alone-time, as I shan't be living avec ma soeur and my niece. Is it wrong that I look forward to moving halfway around the world just so that I'll have room to think again?

Preparation

from September 2010

If Abu Dhabi governmental red tape is anything like South Carolina governmental red tape, I consider today's ordeal to be training for the future. It took me 4 trips to three buildings, including the insufficiently labeled Federal Building downtown, where, God bless their efficient hearts, it took longer for me to go through security (3 minutes) than to process my request for a new social security card (2 minutes). And about $10 of gas. And about 4 or 5 hours of my life.

Doing what, you ask?

Getting a SC state driver's license. And in case you think this really isn't that big a deal, I got my Texas license in about 30 minutes, one trip, one building, done and done.

I have rarely been so bothered by governmental inefficiency as I was today. But then, that's South Carolina. It's like living in a different universe, living here. I cannot wait to leave!

(Also, on a more TEFL-related note, I got an email yesterday saying IPIs will be in early November. Woo. Now I just wait. And do background checks, and pare down my belongings...but mainly wait.)