automated birthday message, thanks Dad

I spent three days after my birthday with wanderlust for destinations as varied as Doha, Reykjavík, or southern Europe; and motivation to go back to school to get my bachelor’s degree for elementary education and English. I would spend this time researching both. I looked into school’s from the States, mostly Texas A&M, Fort Hays, FSCJ, ASU, Seattle, and UMASS for their international program, but they wanted to see me on campus first.

social media is at it again, but this birthday message oozes love that’s also auto-generated

The prices are doable with the money we are making here, but I still looked into ways to help pay for school. ASU will lower your tuition if you live on the West Coast and not in Arizona, or if you work at Starbucks full-time after 60 days and 21 credits. I could get in-state tuition if I lived with my parents a year prior to enrolling in Texas or Arizona, and was turned off by Kansas’s university’s ability to update their website – especially if I would be taking my courses online.

post birthday selfie

This left ASU, A&M, and FSCJ to apply for. Their applications are not short and the process not easy. I exchanged emails and called them trying to figure out a way to do the requirements necessary. I’m quickly approaching the deadline for Spring 2015 admission, and the college office on base says I could go to some Maryland Europe university, but they mostly help people get their associate’s. I will be looking into studying abroad.

a happy snack

I also paid rent, my first time with direct deposit here. To save on the 4% charged to my card for paying the Dinar Man directly I had to go downstairs to Navy Federal. I waited behind two people and then was called to the counter. The man began transferring money, multiple times, between our accounts. I knew there would be a mess when I checked on it from home later, but wanted to get through this transaction.

I needed two forms of ID and he had to call someone over to double-check what he had done and then sign the check. I would take the $2,760 up to the Dinar Man where he would exchange it for a check worth  1,041 dinars and then charge me BD1 to deposit the check into the local bank. It might seem like a bit of a hassle, perks of living overseas, but people’s rent payments are spread out throughout the month, so the employees are never stressed about it.

receipt of payment

I also spent time reading Operation Mincemeat: The true spy story that changed the course of WWII by Ben Macintyre while eating snacks and hanging out with the dogs. Now that the temperature is cooling off outside, Sparky is able to sit out there for a ten minute period. He longs for his big San Diego backyard, but passes the time either on the couch in a corner or on a blanket on the floor in front of the sun-filled window.

my reading buddies, Sparky and Piggy

Kamal, our maintenance man, came by to check on the non-working outlets upstairs. He opened the breaker box and noticed that one had popped and Caleb hadn’t turned it back on while fidgeting with it. It’s no wonder Kamal takes his time coming out here, hoping that his clients will have been smart enough to figure it out by then. He spent some time playing ball with Sparky and then took a picture of him on top of the cabinet by the door before leaving. Overall it’s been a relaxing and productive three days.