Trying something new

 

 

 

1. what's something you've eaten and liked, but didn't think you would?

     

     Chicken feet.  Bart and I went out for Dim Sum in Chinatown when I visited Chicago before I moved here.  They looked like the feet of dead chickens, but man were they good!

 

2. plastic surgery..yay or nay? 

 

     Yay!  I definitely plan on buying myself boobs after I have kids.  I'd really like to feel womanly confident in a bathing suit at some point in my life.

 

3. 2 things you love about spring are.....?

 

    Warm weather!  And seeing the world come alive again after a long, cold winter.

 

4. when's the last time you went on a picnic?

 

     Last summer.  Bart, Tommy, Jason and I all had a picnic dinner (complete with two bottles of wine and paper cups) on the lawn at to listen to the outdoor symphony in Grant Park.  It was one of the best nights of my life.

 

5. what's your favorite app?

 

     I am way behind the times.  I don't have a smart phone, so no apps.

 

6. who does the grocery shopping in your house?

 

    I do the grocery shopping.  If Bart does it, he gets the wrong brands, the wrong type of item (i.e. pork ribs instead of pork chops) or completely random stuff!

 

7. would you rather take a spin class or zumba?

 

     Whichever would whip my body into shape fastest.

 

8. how often do you go out to dinner?

 

     Sigh.  According to our bank account, too often.  But there are so many great restaurants here, how can we help ourselves???

It's Official...

we're staying in Chicago until September.  I didn't want to stay, but I also didn't want to leave Bart behind to deal with his externship and stuff alone.  So, I prayed and prayed about it, and I feel that I am supposed to stay here with him until we can go home--together--in the fall.

Things sort of worked out in his favor, which is really the only consolation we have right now.  He was able to get five hours (per week) of clinic time in Cornea/Contact Lens.  We wanted ten hours since he wants to do a residency and specialize in that area, but beggars can't be choosers.  The other five hours will be filled in Pediatrics, which makes Bart visibly cringe every time he says it out loud.  He loves kids, but you try taking a little one to an eye doctor and see how much fun it is.

Bart had to tell the people who wanted our apartment that we were staying, but it looks like they are going to move into the other apartment on our floor.  I was so happy to hear that it was still open so that they didn't have to suffer as a result of this whole mess, too.  Well, at least that little bit of stress is over!

As for me, I'm going to begin looking for jobs today and hope that I find a halfway decent one ASAP so I can get out of the job I have now.   And I'll be dreaming, daily, of all of things we could have enjoyed if we had been able to go home.

In case you haven't heard enough whining...

Bart and I found out this week that his first externship site got canceled.  But at least they were nice enough to give us less than two months' notice.  Jerks.

We are pretty much heartbroken over this news, for so many reasons.  This site was his V.A. site, which is required for him to graduate.  They bailed on him because (after he personally set this site up with one of the O.D.s there) they were given more budget money and decided to hire an extra resident.  The extra resident takes up the room they would have given Bart, but more importantly, the resident takes up the exam room Bart would have used.  The only other sites left?  One in Alabama and one 2 1/2 hours outside of Chicago--to which Bart would have no transportation.

Clearly, I'm also furious with these people.  They never gave him a heads-up, and they have also completely put his education in jeopardy.  I wish there was something we could do, but there isn't.  We just have to try to switch things around, hope that the V.A. can take him in the fall, and hope that his school approves all of the maneuvering.  If we do the switch we are praying for, Bart would miss out on 10 hours per week of Cornea/Contact Lens care.  This is the area he wanted to specialize in, so now he could be getting screwed from two different directions here.  Probably the worst thing we are up against is the fact that no one at his school is particularly helpful or reliable.  It is as though we are standing alone and trying, frantically, to make some sense out of this mess.

This now leaves us asking where I will end up.  We had planned on going home to the east coast in May, where I would stay permanently, and where Bart would be except for one quarter here in Chicago in the fall.  Now, I'm not sure what I should do.  I HATE my job.  I actually almost quit this past week because it has gotten so bad (but we need the insurance, so I'm stuck).  The only thing that has kept me going is that I knew I was going to be out of there forever in May.  I honestly CANNOT stay there longer than that. Bart and I were so thrilled to be leaving this city behind us and heading back to our families, friends and country life.  People, we had such fantasies.  I had envisioned eating dinner on the deck as the sun went down with my family; listening to the tree frogs and the crickets at night, and smelling the good, clean air.  I dreamed of having dinner with Bart's family at their home and after, sitting in the twilight on their enclosed porch and talking and laughing.  We had planned to go fishing, kyacking, walking, picnicking.  And now, we might lose a whole summer of that happiness with our families.