Because of some minor, but annoying, technical difficulties with Blogger, I'm moving over to WordPress. Here's the new travelogue: http://scities.wordpress.com/
Here's a quick update on the work permit situation. I spoke to my case officer at the Migration Bureau, and she said that she only needed a clarification of my job title (!) to move forward with the application, so she was glad I called. Now it goes via fax to the Stockholm County Labor Board for approval, then back to the Migration Bureau, then to the Consulate of Sweden in New York (where my passport sits waiting), and then back to me. With luck, that will all happen this week.
Last night was a fantastic going-away party with a metallic theme: we began at the beach at Golden Gardens and ended at the Scandinavian bar The Copper Gate. Luck ruled the evening: we found a parking spot straight away and instantly secured a grilling spot, and before long we also had the picnic table next to it.
There was a short spell of rain, but after the hot week, it was actually sort of refreshing. And the rain came right after a brilliant crack of lightning, just across the Sound from our beach -- all very dramatic, with the sun setting in the background, partially obscured by the humid, cloud-scattered sky.
Thanks to all the friends who came, particularly David Hsu who organized it. To mostly everyone I chatted with, I said something along the lines of "Well, I hope to leave on June 10th but I'm still waiting for my visa." Since last night, however, I have a bit of new information.
We tied up the evening at about 12:30 a.m. at the Copper Gate, a recently renovated bar with Seattle's best stock of aquavit. But when I got home, instead of collapsing into bed, I willed myself to stay awake and take advantage of the time of day (and free cell-phone minutes) to go ahead and call the Swedish Migration Board about my visa case. It was all quiet in Melanie's
house in Bryant, just me and my phone and the monotone "beep...pause...beep" of the Swedish ring tone, periodically interrupted by a voice in Swedish asking me to hold on until the next available operator can help me. Finally I got an operator, and it took me a second to snap out of my half-dozing and sputter my reply "hej, kan du pratta engelska"? (Of course she could speak English, but I figure it's only polite to ask.) So I explained my question, and she replied by asking me to wait while she transferred me. Then, 5 more minutes of "beep...pause...beep", when finally I got another answer. After the same conversion to English, this next person asked me my date of birth, my surname, and my nationality, and she found my file. Now I was ready for some action to be taken on my case! But her response was only to say, "yes, the person handling your case is Innalie Strand, phone number ###, but she will be on holiday for this week, you'll have to phone her next Monday." My mind was racing..."next week? that means I have to cancel my flight! is there another way?" It was all I could do to get this person to repeat the name and number, when she suddenly said "OKThankYouBye
Well, so the bad news is I need to change my flight but I don't know what date to change it to. Plus I'll be couch-surfing for another week, possibly longer. And I won't really know anything else until a week from now. But the good news is that I'll be for a bit longer, offering more happy hours, more SIFF films, and more hanging out with the Seattle crowd before I go.
The last six years, since I first moved to Seattle, could be delineated by pub trivia. When I moved here, it was one of the first regular social things I got roped into, and then I was soon hooked by winning a nice $350 jackpot from a question about Jimmy Carter ("I've looked on a lot of women with lust. I've committed adultery in my heart many times."). When I lived in Stockholm for my Valle Fellowship, I was roped into the only pub quiz in town -- at an English pub in Östermalm. Back in Seattle, I quickly burnt out on the Irish Emigrant, but after a break I eventually found myself occasionally bouncing between trivia nights at the Kangaroo & Kiwi and at The Jones.
So it's only natural that there had to be some kind of final trivia night in Seattle. Thanks to Kapena for arranging it -- he rallied all our regular team members to come to the K&K, even bringing the legendary Tim back out of retirement from India. When Tim had his "final" quiz back in...March(?)..., we did the same thing, and we pulled out a dramatic win by coming in strong in the last couple rounds. So we had high hopes for my final night as well.
What we didn't anticipate, however, was the competition. It wasn't that there were so many other teams (actually, it was a slow night), but that one particular team, two tables over, were professional competitors: the Seattle Storm. Yes, the Seattle Storm, our city's WNBA team, including the one-two-punch of Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson. Now, this was true
challenge. Sure, they weren't too shabby with random facts and figures, but even worse, they were distracting some of our players from the game ("oh...damn, she caught me glancing over there again!")...you see, not only are they national-championship basketball players, but...they're also hot. But after a few rounds, we got a grip and sailed through to a big first-place win. As to the Storm? Well, I'll just say they didn't place in the top three. I have to hand it to them, though, they were fiercely competitive: gloriously excited at every right answer and vocally indignant at some questionable wrong answers. Now that's the way to play pub trivia.