It seems I've underestimated what the police clerk was telling me the other day: "you should get there early in the morning, since it's usually a bit crowded."
I had plenty of time reminiscing those words, as I was, as I AM more correctly, standing in line, literally that is, for the past 3 hours in front of the police registration office for foreigners - or Aliens, as they call us here.
humpph! Aliens, I was thinking to myself. I had nothing better to do but to think to myself. The line was miserably long. The old chap that helped me with directions inside of the 'Brandon Building' told me to take a left at the corner of the building and I won't be able to miss it. Indeed I didn't miss it. As soon as I turned left, I bumped into a lovely little Russian girl, who was last in line... at least until I showed up.
Don't bother searching for the end of the line.
The first hour and a half passed while I was outside the building. All of us in the line were huddled close to the building bricks, in a useless attempt to cover our heads from the droplets of rain that were pouring here and there. The sky were, of course, gray, and next to us was the usual procession of central London. Red double deckers with various commercials came and went, people walked by, some with obvious puzzled looks at what it perhaps seemed to them a bunch of people standing in line with no apparent destination... maybe a new store is opening...
Like I said, I had plenty of time to think. Me and Raquel were thinking about moving into a new place, closer to her hospital and my school. It offered a chance for me to notice how much people are paying in London for housing rental. Usually it goes by weekly payments, I've seen houses offered for more than 500 pounds a week. 500! that could amount to 15000 shekels a month easily! What are people doing here for a living to earn enough money to sustain this kind of luxurious lifestyle, not adding the fancy car and fancy food.
More important, What do I have to do to earn like them?!
Of course, getting a job would be a good start. Little did I know, that by the time I got back home after finishing with the registration process, I would have been rejected for my first job possibility.
Like I said, hour and a half later, I was privileged enough to get into the "inside" part of the standing in line. Instead of a nice straight waiting line, as soon as the people went inside the building, they formed some sort of a self made snake game coming straight out of the holocaust. You wouldn't have guessed in a million years where is the tail and where is the head.
It was pure fun.
two hours later, I went outside, with a piece of paper in my hand. And that has concluded my day, basically.
FYI - There's suppose to be some sort of a "Pancake day" today in Britain. Don't ask me why.
3 comments:
come home courageous g-bar
the sky are blue and the sun is shining.
I know about the Pancake day! I actually had it here in Japan too, with my English friend and our other friends from the calligraphy class. As he said, when I asked why today of all day: "it's something about Jesus, but who cares? Do you want a pancake?"
I wanted a pancake, so that was the end of the conversation...
Pancake Day is celebrated on Shrove Tuesday which is the day before Lent. Lent is a Christian holiday that was established in the 4th century as 40 days and is generally a period of fasting or other forms of self-denial. People generally eat a lot and have fun the day before Lent begins. Shrove Tuesday is often referred to as Pancake Day because fats, which were generally prohibited during Lent, had to be used up. People would take all the eggs and dairy products that they had left in their kitchens and use them to make delicious pancakes.
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So there you have it.
As you can see we have the internet connection back which likely means that we will never finish unpacking.
Hang in there, being new on the job market is never easy, even in your own country. You'll be fine (or die trying :)).
Hugs and kisses to Raquel from us and from little Guapo (who is sitting! and crawling!)
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