Get your motor running

Well, it’s been many weeks since I’ve added anything to the blog. I’d like to say there’s been some fabulous reason, but mainly life has taken hold and time has gotten away from me. Here are the highlights:

The V8’s came to Hamilton. Supposedly one of the biggest street car races around, it basically amounted to months of traffic redirection while roads were reconstructed, grandstands built, and fences put up, all so that hundreds of thousands of people could converge upon the city and upset the locals without giving much back in terms of monetary profit for local businesses. And despite all their best planning, they still managed to build the grandstands too close to the track, so not even those who purchased tickets could see the race. Whoops.

ANZAC day fell on a Friday this year, which translated into a long weekend. Jason and I took the opportunity to make a trip back down to Hawera to visit family and friends we haven’t caught up with since October. It was strange being back there after so many months. The town seems to have shrunk, most noticeable when it only took us an hour to walk the whole of downtown visiting the shops. Despite the decreasing number of businesses, I still managed to find something to spend my money on. Unbeknownst to us, all of Jason’s family (minus his twin sister and four children) decided to visit for the weekend, which meant a big family reunion at the Cook household.

Support arrived at work in the form of a second female GP. This came as a very pleasant surprise to me as I have been the most popular thing going for the past few months. She’s also brought most of her 1200 panel of patients with her, which means she’ll be busy, but it’s given me a bit of breathing room for now.

With time to breathe, I’ve been able to get other things accomplished, namely paperwork for a new Idaho state medical license. This required a very scary process of fingerprinting. Having never been fingerprinted before, I had grave fears they were going to lock me up in the Hamilton jail when I arrived. Fortunately, all went well and I walked out ten minutes later, fingerprints in hand, plus some residual ink as a reminder.

With one anxiety associated activity behind, I moved onto a new one with applying for Jason’s Fiancé Visa to get into the states. Thinking all was well; I received an email from the US Immigration Service requiring additional evidence that Jason and I had actually met in person. After copying our passports, flight itineraries, bank statements, and work contracts, I’m hoping we will have given sufficient evidence to prove that we’ve met within the last two years. I guess an engagement ring doesn’t count for much with immigration.

Since then it’s back to filing for the final six-month extension on my work visa (yet another immigration encounter) and attempting to plan a wedding from afar. I think that’s enough for now.