It’s been a trying couple weeks. After two unsuccessful consulate visits and three rejected visa applications, I’ve given up on an upcoming trip for which I bought $4000 USD non-refundable flight tickets. I don’t often get excited for trips anymore but I was excited for this one. I won’t say the country but it’s one that has ongoing tensions with Canada after a suspected assassination a few months back. While I wasn’t told why my visa was rejected, I was told they’re not accepting any Canadians right now, likely because of the political conflict.
Amidst the visa stress, I was faced with two wake-up calls to the precariousness of my living situation and my job. With fears that I’ll lose both top of mind, I’ve awoken each day to slippery fingers that seem to drop and smash everything I touch. One day it was my favorite banana lamp, the next it was an empty glass jar of peanut butter that shattered into hundreds of tiny specks of glass. As I begrudgingly cleaned up the glass, some of t…