24hrs to go in Saskatoon. One week left in Canada.
19 November, 2005. 12:45pm. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
The countdown is on, so to speak. By this time tommorow I'll be at the Saskatoon airport preparing to depart Saskatchewan to spend a week with my family in Ontario. By this time next week, I'll be on my way to Slovakia (via Toronto, Chicago, Copenhagen, and Vienna). This past week has been stressful. In addition to packing up my apartment and putting my remaining belongings into storage, I completed my term as Special Collections Librarian at the University of Saskatchewan Library. This past week also saw me panicking a little with regards to my Slovak future. The Canadian Language School, with whom I've been corresponding for the past several months, at the last minute announced that I would be working in Zilina, rather than Trencin, where I'd believed I was going to be posted for the past four months. Zilina is a fine city, but without a car, train and bus travel to Bratislava can take up to four hours (or so I've been told). This makes the prospect of travelling to Bratislava regularly on weekends seem unlikely. So at the last minute I decided to look into other job opportunities. As it turns out, there are no shortage of jobs in Trencin/Trnava/Bratislava, but the legalities of changing employers at this late date are rather complicated. Turns out a Slovak Temporary Residence Permit is only valid for one employer. If I want to change my employer, then I need to resubmit the entire application. This would mean hanging back in Canada for at least a month while I get all the necessary paperwork and translations taken care of. But I'm ready to go, and I'd inevitably lose money if I was to change my departure date now, so it looks like Zilina will be my new Slovak home. At least for the time being: Jana at the Canadian Language School has assurred me that she will try to transfer me to Trencin or Trnava, if possible, as soon as possible. I guess I can live with this, although my excitement has been dulled considerably. Not only do I want to teach and experience Slovakia, but I want to build on existing Slovak friendships. Unfortunately most of my Slovak friends are in Trnava or Bratislava. I hope my residence in Zilina will not mean that I never get to see them. Time will tell.
Last night I held a going-away gathering at the Black Duck Freehouse in Saskatoon. A good number of my Saskatoon friends from the Library, History, and English Literature communities showed up. But it was a little overwhelming to say goodbye to everyone all at once like that. Thank you Saskatoon. Hope to see you all again in the years to come....
The countdown is on, so to speak. By this time tommorow I'll be at the Saskatoon airport preparing to depart Saskatchewan to spend a week with my family in Ontario. By this time next week, I'll be on my way to Slovakia (via Toronto, Chicago, Copenhagen, and Vienna). This past week has been stressful. In addition to packing up my apartment and putting my remaining belongings into storage, I completed my term as Special Collections Librarian at the University of Saskatchewan Library. This past week also saw me panicking a little with regards to my Slovak future. The Canadian Language School, with whom I've been corresponding for the past several months, at the last minute announced that I would be working in Zilina, rather than Trencin, where I'd believed I was going to be posted for the past four months. Zilina is a fine city, but without a car, train and bus travel to Bratislava can take up to four hours (or so I've been told). This makes the prospect of travelling to Bratislava regularly on weekends seem unlikely. So at the last minute I decided to look into other job opportunities. As it turns out, there are no shortage of jobs in Trencin/Trnava/Bratislava, but the legalities of changing employers at this late date are rather complicated. Turns out a Slovak Temporary Residence Permit is only valid for one employer. If I want to change my employer, then I need to resubmit the entire application. This would mean hanging back in Canada for at least a month while I get all the necessary paperwork and translations taken care of. But I'm ready to go, and I'd inevitably lose money if I was to change my departure date now, so it looks like Zilina will be my new Slovak home. At least for the time being: Jana at the Canadian Language School has assurred me that she will try to transfer me to Trencin or Trnava, if possible, as soon as possible. I guess I can live with this, although my excitement has been dulled considerably. Not only do I want to teach and experience Slovakia, but I want to build on existing Slovak friendships. Unfortunately most of my Slovak friends are in Trnava or Bratislava. I hope my residence in Zilina will not mean that I never get to see them. Time will tell.
Last night I held a going-away gathering at the Black Duck Freehouse in Saskatoon. A good number of my Saskatoon friends from the Library, History, and English Literature communities showed up. But it was a little overwhelming to say goodbye to everyone all at once like that. Thank you Saskatoon. Hope to see you all again in the years to come....
posted by BFRE at 9:58 p.m.
1 comments
