[GC] 労働許可書が届く／EAD arrived

来たあぁぁぁ〜。昨日４月２９日火曜日に無事に労働許可書（EAD) が郵送されました。これで首になっても働ける〜（笑）午後に郵送の旨を伝えるアップデートのメールが来たので、今週末か来週には届くかな？なんて考えてたら同日に届いたのでこれにはビックリ。

カードは大学卒業後にもらったOPTとほぼ同じ。違う点は顔写真が前向き（OPTは斜め横向きだった）なのと指紋がカードに直接印刷されているところかな？一安心・・・

いままでEADが届いたら事務所に引っ越しの旨を伝えようと思案していたのにも関わらず、なぜかイキナリ怖じけずいてます。アパートの契約をあと２ヶ月延ばしたから６月末までは居るので、言うのは早すぎるかなあなんて考えてます。前に数人辞表２週間前に出したのにも関わらず、２週間経つ前に事務所追い出されているの見ているから、なんとなく同様な扱いされるのではないかと多少不安なのでもあるんだけれど。・・・まあ事務所の置かれている状況が違うと言えば違ったりもするんだけど。でもやっぱ不安になるじゃん？！？

やっぱ、面接終わってからにしようかなあ？どうせその時点で１ヶ月もあるんだし。同僚がガッカリすると思うと切り出しづらいのもあるんだよね。う〜ん。悩む・・・

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I got an employment authorization card (EAD) on Tuesday, April 29th (funny thing is that on the same date, I got an update email telling me that EAD has been mailed out o the same date...). I can find a job at ANYWHERE even if I get fired tomorrow!! This such a nice change since for the past 5 years, I was only arrowed to work for an employer who sponsored my visa!

This is a quite step up for me since I've moved in the States. Back in high school, I couldn't work at all due to my visa status. Then in college, I was allowed to work only on campus, selections of jobs were very very very limited... so did $$ I could earned. After college, I worked as a freelancer for 3 months with OPT until I moved to Kentucky for a job with H1-B visa even though I wanted to move to a larger city just like my friends did...

Now I'm no longer bound to my visa status, nor have to worry about my visa is going to expire (current visa will expire January of 2009)!! It's such a nice feeling that I don't really have to worry about needing to move back to Japan in a case something happen to my job...

yay!

[GC] I-765 アップデート/EAD Update

４月２３日水曜日　労働許可書が発行されました〜。３０日以内に届くらしい。やったあ〜。
USCISのメールアップデートに登録しとたので、水曜日の午後にアップデートのメールを受け取りました。

内容はこんな感じでした。
I-765
Current Status: Card production ordered. On April 22, 2008, we ordered production of your new card. Please allow 30 days for your card to be mailed to you.

労働許可書が届いたら、職場に引っ越しの旨を伝えないとなあ。ルイビルに引越す事は随分前からわかってたんだけど、ステータスがH1-Bビザから永住権に変更するまでは言えなくって、済まない気持ちでいっぱいです。はあ〜。今の仕事場は勉強になるからほんとは離れたくないんだけどね。残念！　偏頭痛持ちの私には１時間の車通勤は無理だろうし。

春の色 / Spring Color

先週は仕事が目が回るほど忙しくって、気がついたらあちらこちらで芽吹いていた。これは見逃したらヤバいと、慌てて週末に写真を撮るためにお出かけ。ケンタッキーはなぜか、一番過ごしやすい春と秋が非常に短いんだよね。気がついたら暑くなっているのが常。



天気の良い日曜日に公園にお出かけ。樹木園だから花がいっぱい咲いているはず、との私の予想とは裏腹にほとんどの草木が枯れ果てているか、あるいはバッサリと冬の間に刈り込れすっごく殺風景でした。がっかり！お友達まで誘って行ったので罪悪感が・・・　(￣□￣|||)　なんで〜？！春なのに？去年の夏来た時はいっぱい咲いてたのに・・・

仕方なく公園をぐるりと散歩。結構広いので良い運動になったんだけど、履き心地の良くない靴を履いていったドジ２組は水膨れを経験・・・

怪我中のお犬様コーディーはかわいそうな事にお留守番。窓を開けてたら外に行きたいのかひたすら窓の外をのぞいてはため息中です。

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The last week was hellish--too busy!! So by the time Friday hit, I just had realized that flowers are blooming everywhere. It feels like that spring and fall, the best season to be outside, are too short in KY for some reason. Next time I realize it will too hot to be outside.

Since the weather is great on Sunday, I went to the Arboretum with Beejay and friends to take photos of flowers. Despite my expectation, there were no flowers blooming at the park! Almost everything was dried up or trimmed during winter...It was so odd! The last summer when we were there, there were tons of plans and it was pretty. Why there are no flowers to see? It's spring! ...I felt bad since I invited friends to come with us. :(

Well we ended up walking in the park and that was good exercise. But silly Beejay and I forgot to wear comfy shoes and ended up with blisters. ouch!

Cody the dog who is still recovering from pinched vertebrae couldn't got the park with us. And she's been looking outside with occasional sighs (I'm not joking!) through the windows. Hopefully she gets better and can go outside before Summer arrives...

[GC]面接の予約 / Interview Appointment

来ました〜！！

意外と早く面接の予約日の手紙が水曜日の４月２日に届いた！面接は５月１３日にルイビルだそうです。ミクシィで似たような間隔で物事が進んでいる人のタイムラインを参考にすると、面接１〜２週間前にEAD（労働許可書）、面接３週間から１ヶ月後にはグリーンカード貰っているみたいです。ってことはうまく順調に進むと予定どおり６月末にはルイビルに引越す事になりそう・・・　

ポートフォリオさっさと更新して転職先探さないとやばい〜？！

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At last!

I got an appointment letter for the interview on Wednesday April 2! Things are moving forward at pretty good speed. The interview is scheduled on May 13th. According to other people online who got their biometrics done in similar time line after submitting applications, received their EAD (Employment Authorization Document) a few weeks prior to their scheduled interviews, and got their green cards in mail 3-4 weeks after interviews.

So this means, if everything goes smoothly for me, I should get mine by the end of June! Pretty nice :)