The Labraventures of Carbón, Spanish (ex-) foster dog extraordinaire

Emily_Babbelhund

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
Location
Regensburg, Germany
Xena Dog Princess said:
Now you just need your residency to come together, and Carbon's health woes to clear up and you'll be golden!
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Thanks for the reminder that MOST things are going better...I have to admit I'm a complete ball of frustration, nerves and GRUMP over the fact that I've heard nothing in three weeks from the immigration office.

AND this week my lawyer appears to be ghosting me. :hmm:

I've got to go into the old town this afternoon, so I'll be dropping in my lawyer's office as usually he is in on Friday afternoon but has no appointments. It's a bit underhanded of me, but my father always said the squeaky wheel gets the oil, so it's time for me to squeak a bit louder...and in person.

Carbon is doing very well. I've not used the prescription stomach protectors (omezapole?) for a week but have been using the vet-approved supplements from Spain and his digestion (and poos) seem better than ever. So maybe we simply don't need the prescription tummy med. The main thing is that he's bright and happy - even if he has a grumpy foster lady - and taking all in his stride. :)
 
Natalie

Natalie

Hi Emily, a bit late with this but 🎉🎈🎊🍹🥂 that's such good news about your job, and part time, even better! And such a long stay in Cornwall, how fab. Are you going to be labratouring a bit as well when you are over in the Uk?

I hope stalking your laywer worked. I often do this with people I want to 'bump into' at work, make a point of using the water cooler or loos close to their office 😁

And good to hear positive news about Carbon's digestive system too!
 
Emily_Babbelhund

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
Location
Regensburg, Germany
Natalie said:
Are you going to be labratouring a bit as well when you are over in the Uk?
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Yes, definitely! Right at the moment, after six weeks of moving every week, all I really want to do is go down to Cornwall and stare at a beach - or out the window at the rain, depending on the weather. Then I need to be back in Germany the last week of June. In between I have two months to play with, so a visit to @RosieC in Ireland and to friends in the UK. Not quite the frantic pace of the last trip as I'll need to work a bit, but still some Labratouring. :)

I'd also meant to visit my father in California this winter/spring, but we'll see. That was originally meant to happen in January and of course the whole residence permit thing threw that out the window.

Natalie said:
I hope stalking your laywer worked. I often do this with people I want to 'bump into' at work, make a point of using the water cooler or loos close to their office 😁
Click to expand...
There was quite a bit of drama yesterday, but a funny bit was that I was stomping my way to his office...head down, doing my serious walk...when I hear "Carbon!". It was my lawyer walking down the street and I was so focused on getting to his office that if he hadn't said anything I would have likely walked straight by him.

He seemed thrilled to stop and have a chat, even though at that point I was conscious of impeding on his personal time. He'd not yet reached the head of the immigration office, but he promised me he would hunt him down on Monday and 'influence' him to get a decision this week. Sometimes I don't really want to know what he means by such odd turns of phrase! While I think that my lawyer was simply giddy at the prospect of finally having a Friday afternoon off, he was MEGA (and I don't use that word lightly) optimistic that all would be resolved next week.

And mainly he was thrilled to see Carbon. That dog is like some kind of lawyer snake charmer. :D
 
Emily_Babbelhund

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
Location
Regensburg, Germany
Despite my lawyer being incredibly sure that he'd have my residence permit sorted - or at least the interview bit for which I need to be here in Regensburg - it is now Thursday and the likelihood of a deus ex machina falling on our heads by tomorrow is seeming a tad optimistic. However, here's to hoping I'm very wrong and that good news comes some time today.

In any case, in part thanks to a fortifying chat with @Beanwood yesterday, I've gone ahead and booked my travel to the UK starting off from Regensburg on Tuesday morning. In what I'm going to grab as a good omen, my two favourite hotels for the route had unexpected availability - the last time I checked two days ago they were fully booked for the nights I wanted - and we are now set for overnight stops in Metz and Calais.

Next Thursday morning, it's UK or bust! This time with the ferry instead of my beloved Eurotunnel as beloved Eurotunnel was inexplicably more costly than normal. Who knew a random February Thursday morning would be a peak period? I'm not a ferry fan - as I've well documented here :sneaky: - but Calais to Dover is only 1,5 hours. Hey, a new adventure, right?

I feel like a schmuck having waited around Germany for the past two months in what has turned out to be a costly and likely futile effort to sort out my residence permit, but yesterday I came to terms with the fact that I made the best decisions I could with the information I had at the time. If it turns out that I will now have to make a ridiculous 3 day trip from the UK to Germany and back, then so be it. I need to get the heck out of Germany, as I'm really starting to hate the place. And that's not me: I don't actually hate Germany at all, I'm just worn down from eight months of fighting the immigration office. Time to lick my wounds, get back into fighting shape and tackle it again in a few months time.

On a happy note, Carbon seems truly unaffected by all the drama. Could it be because he is secure in the knowledge that at least HE is a European citizen, with his Spanish passport? Sorry, couldn't resist. Bad Emily, jealous of a dog's passport. :sneaky:

He is a happy guy, though. I had a podcast going in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep and suddenly, despite me thinking he was sound asleep, Carbon's tail starts to thump, thump, thump on the bed. What the heck, I thought? Is he having some sort of happy dream? Then I realised, no, he was reacting to the sound of laughter on the podcast. Someone on the podcast would laugh, and the tail would thump. What a funny dog!

Finally, ran across this photo yesterday from Carbon and Paul's first days out of the shelter and it made me smile. Thought I'd share. :)

Screenshot 2019-02-21 08.22.23.png
 
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