And now time to talk about this and that.

I'm having a long weekend. Tomorrow is Labour Day, and it's off in Algeria. Not sure if that's the case everywhere in the world, but it's also a holiday in France and Finland. In fact it's a pretty big friggin' deal in Finland. Everyone and their mother go out and get drunk (which could be describing any Finnish holiday, now that I think about it.) In Algeria it's just that; a day off of work, and since it's the first of May and the weather tend to be fantastic this time of the year, people usually take the kids and go out somewhere. I think we did that last year. We went to this neighbouring coastal town and had a picnic by this huge water dam that looked more like a lake. We're not going to do anything of the sort this year because we are still in mourning and not feeling like having fun (at least I do) but also because tomorrow is the final of the Algerian football cup, and it's between the two major clubs of the capital, and so whoever wins there will be a lot of noisy celebration, huge traffic and the occasional rioting and looting. Better to stay behind closed doors, eh? Plus I really need to recuperate from the exhaustion of last weekend. So anyway, I'm not sure I said it in a previous blog post, but where I live, weekends are Friday/Saturday, so I figured if I'm not working on Wednesday, I might as well take Thursday off, hence the four-day weekend. Apparently half the company had the same idea so it's going to be abnormally quiet around here.

My plans for this prolonged weekend are to sleep, cook, sleep, eat, sleep, watch lots of TV shows and possibly a movie, and sleep some more. I'm really looking forward to that. I might go clothes shopping on Saturday, but that's not set in stone. And I have no idea what I would buy if I did. Probably a couple of pairs of jeans. I wanted to wait until I lost more weight to buy new ones, but it doesn't look like it'll happen anytime soon. Not that I mind much.

I'm still in limbo when it comes to my visa. I don't mean the residence permit to move to Finland, but the short-stay Schengen visa that would allow me to travel to Finland on June 16th as I had planned (and booked tickets for, too.) I had said in the Vet forum that my appointment at the agency that works with the French consulate had been postponed til 15 days before the start of my trip, which is cutting it a bit too short. I asked a coworker with lots of connection if she could help me get an earlier date, and she was nice enough to try, but for now it's not possible because the staff at the French consulate is on strike. And the French bitch about being stereotyped. Seriously. It's been going on for over three weeks now and it doesn't seem like they are anywhere near solving the issue, and thousands of people are waiting, like me. It's beginning to be stressful. I wish I had renewed it just two weeks earlier; I would have it by now. But yeah, no use to whine over that.

I could pursue the option of applying at the Finnish embassy, but as I said previously the lady I talked to when I applied for my RP said that she wouldn't recommend it because it would probably be denied on ground that they didn't trust me to come back home. Which is stupid because I have shown enough good faith in my previous stays in Finland, and by applying for the permit in Algeria when I could have applied in Finland and stayed there legally while it was being processed. I'm still tempted to try, though. I mean I have nothing to lose, except a bit of money. I don't need an appointment, for one. Visa days at the embassy are Tuesday and Wednesday every week. Also I don't have to pay the visa fees since I'm spouse of a citizen. The only issue is that the Schengen application form has to be signed by the EU family member (my husband) so if we do that, he'll have to send it to me via UPS or FEDEX, and that would cost over 100 euros. I feel bad about making him pay that for such an uncertain goal. I thought I could put a letter in my application stating that I only ask for a one-entry visa valid only during the period I'm planning on staying in Finland, that I have my work here (I would of course add documents from my employer stating that I'm still with them) and that I just want to visit my husband and family because my sister-in-law is pregnant, but it sounds too much like a sob story that anyone could write, doesn't it? :/ I think I'll just wait til next week and see what happens.

Speaking of my sister-in-law... well, I'm not sure I can call her that? She's not married to Tommi yet, and even if she were, would that make her my sister-in-law? Anyway, Jaana is doing a little bit better. She'd been in and out of the hospital since her pregnancy started because she couldn't keep any food down, and while they never said she had HG, I'm sure that's what it is. So, her fifth stay was over ten days ago and she's still home, recuperating slowly. I hope the worse is over. At least she isn't throwing up again for now. Baby seems to be in a terrific health, though. I can't wait to see them all again

Huh. Turns out I had less things to talk about than I initially thought.

Until we meet again!

ETA: So what's up, Tanja?