The past two days have been frustrating completing my permanent residency visa forms, but I sent them off to the migration service about 30 minutes ago through US Post Office Express Mail. Yippee!
The process of filling out the details of my life for the past 10 years uncovered some interesting facts:
- I've lived in 7 different flats and apartments in Chicago.
- I've traveled to over 13 counties including Cuba, France (3 times), Hong Kong, and Australia, of course.
- I've held only three jobs since graduating with my PhD from Stanford, with an average stay of 3.3 years. Swinburne will by my fourth job.
What has been really interesting is that random women in Riverside (the public notary, the Sheriff who did my fingerprints four times) are "so proud" of the fact that I am going all the way to Australia as a professor. The public notary gave me a hug this morning. I
The amount of documentation required, such as letters of service from your previous employers, has been daunting. Most the HR people I knew at Sapient or Arc Worldwide are not even around anymore. I don't keep job offer letters. Yet, the rest has been mostly tedious data searching and listing. I would have never gotten the list of all the places I lived in in Chicago without the people search services offered for $3.95. = )
Yesterday, we got Jerry his Giant-sized crate. This morning, Uncle Sonny, cut the holes in the back and added a fan for ventilation. It's going to be a posh palace for the dog, and he is worth it.
Now that the paperwork is done, I can feel like I can begin to relax and reflect before leaving on Tuesday. Let the count down continue.
Wow! Congratulations! I've not been giving my RSS feeds enough attention so I missed all the Melbourne updates.
It's the most beautiful city, you're going to love it! Relaxing on the beach at St Kilda is one of the nicest ways to spend a Sunday afternoon!
And don't get tme started on the food!
Good luck with a smooth move :D
Posted by: Mathew Sanders | July 03, 2009 at 06:12 AM