Halloween is over and when the radio is turned on it is all Christmas music non stop. At our neighbor (Briarwood Mall) they have gone christmas decoration bonanza, the shops have started to display gift boxes galore AND last but not least, we have found our contribution to the annual contest between my sister and I about who gets to find the most absurdly ugly ornament for the Christmas tree. You wont get any pictures here, as it is supposed to be a surprise, but I can reveal that you will probably not find it anywhere else than in Michigan and that it might be related just a tiny bit to deer hunting season.........
Der er gang i brændeovnen og græskarret på terrassen er så småt spist op:
The fireplace is in use and the pumpkin on the patio will soon be all gone:
Den forgangne uge har været lidt af en mental rutchebanetur. Planen er jo at Kristian skal ha´ sig et job, da vi ikke kan få det hele til at løbe rundt med min løn alene og alle tilbagemeldinger vi har fået har været, at med hans IT baggrund bliver det ikke noget problem. Det lader det faktisk heller ikke til, men da han ikke har arbejdstilladelse og har brug for at få dette sponsoreret af en potentiel arbejdsgiver, så kølner interessen for at ansætte ham temmelig hurtigt og drastisk. Han søger primært i den offentlige sektor (læs universitetet) da de ikke har begrænsninger på hvor mange arbejdsvisums, de må udstede. For private virksomheder bliver der åbnet for 65.000 visums hvert år pr den første april. I 2014 var de brugt på 7 (ja kun SYV) dage!!!! Så der er der vist ikke så meget at komme efter. Han har været rigtig tæt på en universitets stilling med flere interview runder, men blev valgt fra i sidste øjeblik. De lovede at vende tilbage inden udgangen af oktober men først i onsdags fik han sit afslag - uden at få nogen form for forklaring. Så vi regner med at det er det s.... visum, der spænder ben igen. og det er simpelthen SÅ frustrerende. Vi er gået i gang med at undersøge om jeg evt ville have mulighed for skifte visum til J1 (det samme som sidst vi var afsted), da det ville kunne give Kristian arbejdstilladelse. Den anden mulighed er at søge Green Card og jeg har været i kontakt med nogle immigrations advokater, der mener at jeg sagtens ville kunne få et EB-1 NIW, som basalt set kræver at man overbeviser myndighederne om at man er SÅ særlig indenfor sin profession at man fortjener at få lov at få arbejdstilladelse her i nationen over dem alle ;-) Var det ikke for den nette sum af ca 10.000$ havde vi nok allerede været godt i gang med at søge.
The past week has been a mental roller coaster ride. The grande plan is that Kristian should get a job, as we cannot make it with my salary alone, and all we have been told beforehand was, that with his IT background this should not be a problem at all. This seems to hold true, but as he does not have a work permit and needs to get this sponsored by a future employer, the interest to hire him cools off fast. He primarily applies for jobs in the public sector (the University that is) as they do not have any limits to how many H-1b visas they can apply for. With private companies there is a limit with 65,000 visas granted each calender year. The fiscal year runs from April first and in 2014 the gap was reached within 7 (yep only SEVEN) days!!!!! So there does not seem to be much to come for with that. He has been incredibly close to get a position with several interviews completed. They promised to get back with a decision before the end of October but not until Wednesday did he get a flat rejection without any reason. We are pretty sure it is that visa issue and it is SO frustrating. We have begun to look into whether I can change my status to J1 (the same as last time), as it would enable him to get a work permit. The other option is getting a green card and I have been in touch with some immigration laywers that are quite sure that I can be granted an EB1-NIW green card, which is all about convincing the immigration authorities that I am THAT special that I should be granted permission to work in the nation above all nations ;-) Had it not been for the cost of roughly 10,000$ we probably would have started applying already.
Den primære grund til at det stresser os så meget er udover pengene at vi faktisk rigtig gerne VIL blive her i 3 år. Jeg er mere glad helt ned i maven end jeg har været hjemme i DK længe, hvilket nok hænger sammen med at jeg ELSKER mit arbejde. Jeg har fuldstændigt frie rammer til at lave, hvad jeg har lyst til, samarbejder lader sig gøre uden videre, og med en professor, der ikke bare vil hive data ud af dig, men også prioriterer at fungere som mentor og hjælper os post docs med at tage de rigtige beslutninger, for at komme derhen hvor vi gerne vil, gør en verden til forskel. Nå ja - og så er der store mængder humor involveret hver eneste dag. Fx "The-SteveWoods-Bobblehead-awards" der går til den person, der under en general prøve præsentation kan finde den mindste fejl på en power point slide. Vi er ude i små forskelle i skriftstørrelse på grafer, en manglende apostrof osv. Vinderen får æren af at have en særlig udvalgt bobble head stående på sit skrivebord til næste omgang.
Sidste torsdag var der housewarming i professorens nye hus, og jeg havde samlet ind til en gave til ham og havde egentlig tænkt mig at finde en god flaske whisky, men så gik der "nu skal vi have skovlen under Randy" i gaveideerne. Jeg blev udvalgt til at købe en lille fe dør og binde ham en historie på ærmet om at her i Ann Arbor tror man på feer (det er faktisk ikke skudt helt ved siden af: fe-døre i Ann Arbor) og at det derfor er kotume at sørge for at tiltrække dem - især hvis man har et helt spritnyt hus. Han blev ærlig talt ikke svært begejstret for hverken den lille dør, den lille postkasse eller det lille "welcome fairies" skilt. Gnæg gnæg. Han fik nu også en flaske velfortjent flaske bourbon med teksten: "Don¨t see any fairies? Try this!"
The primary reason for this to be really stressful is that besides the financial issues we would really like to stay for the full three years. I feel more happy deep into my guts than I have done for years in Denmark, which is most likely related to the fact that I LOVE my job. I am free to do exactly what I want to, collaborations are easily achieved, and with a PI who is not only about making you produce data, but who also highly prioritizes being a mentor for us post docs to help us make the right decisions to make us reach our long term goals, makes a huge difference. Also there is a lot of humor involved every day. E.g. the "SteveWoods-bobblehead-award" which goes to that person, who during a rehearsal presentation is able to find the smallest and most insignificant error such as different font size on the graphs or a missing accent on a power point slide. The winner gets to have the specially chosen bobblehead doll at his/her desk until the next contest. Last Thursday the professor hosted a house warming and I collected money for a present and was considering just getting him a really nice bottle of whiskey. But then the ideas for a potential present turned into a multi colleague "lets get him with a scam present". I was chosen to buy a small fairy door and tell him a fake story about how people in Ann Arbor believe in fairies (which is not entirely untrue: fairy doors in Ann Arbor) and that it is really important to attract them - especially when you move into a brand new house. He was NOT thrilled with the little door, the little mail box, nor the little "welcome fairies" sign..... He did however also get a well deserved bottle of bourbon with the text "Don´t see any fairies? Try this!"
Ungerne trives fortsat rigtig godt. Teresa er færdig med at spille hockey for denne sæson og slår nu sine folder på skolens basketball hold. Læg hertil Physical Education som valgfag og hun har omkring 2 1/2 times hård træning hver dag. Hun er godt mør om aftenen men sover vist godt om natten... Luca udvikler sig med raketfart i forhold til at lære og få lavet sine lektier. Han er så glad for at gå i skole, at vi næsten må knibe os selv i armen ind i mellem. Ulrik klarer sig også rigtig godt. Her i den forgangne uge har han haft til opgave at lave en model af en cellemembran (gæt selv om mor her slet ikke kunne styre sig....). Her er vidunderet (komplet med en 7TM receptor, glycoproteiner på enzymet etc):
The kids are still thriving. Teresa is done with the hockey season and has started to play basket ball instead. Un top of this there is physical education every day which adds up to roughly 2 1/2 hours of hardcore exercise every day. She`s exhausted by bedtime, but seems to sleep well..... Luca is growing into learning all he needs to know with rocket speed. He loves school so much, that we almost have a hard time believing it. Ulrik is doing really well also. During the past week he had to do a model of a cell membrane (try to guess if his mom got excessively excited about this.....). Below is the wonder (complete with a 7TM receptor, glycoproteins on the enzyme etc):
Han er startet i en "international students" club i spisefrikvarteret hver onsdag, han spiser frokost med Jack fra tysk undervisningen de fleste andre dage, og skyper med Christian fra Danmark næsten hver eftermiddag. I nat var han til "lock in" med de andre teens fra kirken, der holdt sig vågne hele natten, åd chips i store mængder og gik på opdagelse og legede gemmeleg i det store mørke bygningskompleks fra kælder til kvist. Klokken er i skrivende stund 19:40 og han sover allerede!
He has joined the "international students" club at lunch break every Wednesday, he eats lunch with Jack from german class most other days, and skypes with Christian from Denmark almost every day. Last night he joined a "lock in" with the church teen group, where they got to stay awake all night, eat large amounts of chips and went exploring and playing hide and seek in the giant dark building complex. As I am writing the time is 7:40 PM and he is fast asleep!
Vi er så småt begyndt at få et socialt liv op at stå. Vi har tilbragt mange gode timer i selskab med Carlos og Maria fra Brasilien. I går aftes var ingen undtagelse hvor vi var inviteret til mad sammen med andre brasilianere (der er tilsyneladende giga mange af dem her i Michigan - i Californien mødte vi derimod ikke en eneste). Så nu har vi smagt Cachasa, der er brasiliansk rom og vi har grinet til vi næsten havde tårer i øjnene over Carlos, der er jura professor og dommer, men fuldstændig havde misforstået spørgsmålet, da han blev spurgt om hvor mange børn han havde. Han hørte forkert og troede han blev spurgt om antallet af sager (kids versus cases) og havde nonchelant fortalt at han jo altså havde været dommer i del år og nok havde ca 5000 fordel ud over hele Brasilien!
We have slowly started to build a social life. We have spent a lot of wonderful hours with Carlos and Maria from Brazil. Last night was no exception, where we were invited over for dinner together with some other brazilians (there seem to be a lot of them here in Michigan - in California I do not recall meeting a single one). So we have now tried cachaca - braziliam rum - and we laughed till we almost cried when Carlos, who is professor of law and a judge, told that someone asked him how many kids he had. He got it wrong and thought he was asked about the number of cases, he had been involved in and nonchelantly replied that he had been a judge for quite a few years and probably had 5000 all over Brazil!
Det blev ret sent inden vi kom hjem, men Ulrik skulle hentes kl 7 om morgenen, så i dag har vi været noget trætte. Her til eftermiddag har vi haft besøg af Kim (dansker) og Sarah (amerikaner) og Samuel (halvt af hvert og temmelig gnaven baby) og i morgen står den først kirke og siden en tur i skøjtehallen med brasilianer flokken. Det skal nok blive underholdende -jeg er ikke ligefrem en ørn til den slags.
It was quite late before we went home, but Ulrik still had to be picked up at 7AM, so today we have been quite tired. This afternoon we had Kim (Danish), Sarah (American) and Samuel (half of each and a quite grumpy baby) visiting, and tomorrow after church we will go iceskating with the Brazilian bunch. That will most likely be lost of fun - I am NOT good with skates.
Bottom line er at vi selvom vi er stressede over at Kristian endnu ikke har fået et arbejde, er ved godt mod. Vi føler at dørene er blevet åbnet for os på en måde, så vi slet ikke er i tvivl om at vi er, hvor vi skal være. Men vi føler os også meget små og sårbare. Vi har haft bedt rigtig meget om at der må komme en løsning på arbejdssituationen, så vi slipper for at bekymre os om Kristians hverdag og penge til at betale potentielt astronomiske varmeregninger, hvis vinteren bliver rigtig kold. I torsdags fik jeg så en mail fra skat om at min årsopgørelse for 2011 var blevet ændret???? Jeg klikker ind på hjemmesiden med en noget dårlig smag i munden men ser at vi har 13.000kr til gode, fra 2011! Det giver jo ingen mening - seriøst!. Fredag får jeg yderligere en mail om at jeg fra 2012 har stort set samme beløb til gode. Det er vist et ret konkret bønnesvar og det har lettet os i en kæmpe grad. Nu har vi råd til at sende Ulrik til Detroit med kirken i sommerferien, Ulrik og Teresa kan komme på vinter retreat, vi behøver ikke bekymre os om varmeregningen og vi kan sende julegaver til DK og have penge til overs til at tage på nogle flere udflugter. Vi har allerede planlagt at besøge Eastern Market i Detroit på lørdag og kombinere det med et besøg på Institute of Arts. Skønt!
Bottom line is that even though we are stressed out about Kristian not having a job yet we are fine otherwise. We feel that the doors have been opened for us to come here in a manner that leaves no doubt that we are where we are supposed to be. But also we feel small and vulnerable. We have prayed quite a lot about a solution for this work situation, so we don´t have to worry about Kristians everyday life and money to pay for a potential astronomical heating bill, if the winter gets nasty. Thursday I got an email from "Skat" (the Danish IRS) that our tax file for 2011 had been altered???? I went to the homepage feeling a quite uneasy, but it turns out we will get a refund of 2,500$. That has NEVER happened before! Friday I get an additional email about having roughly the same amount available from the tax return of 2012. We take this as a very concrete answer to our prayers and it has been a giant relief. Now we can send Ulrik to the church event in Detroit next summer, Ulrik and Teresa can both go to a winter retreat, we don´t have to worry about the heating bill, and we will be able to ship some christmas gifts to Denmark. Finally this also means that we can make some more local trips and we have already decided to visit Eastern Market in Detroit next Saturday and combine it with a trip to the Institute of Arts. Nice
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