surviving frustration

so ive just survived my first working-world-fuck-over. this past week has been one of the most frustrating and disenchanting of my life. i found out that at the beginning of my contract my employer had original put me in category 2 on the payscale, and i trusted them so i let it be. 9 months later i find out that when someone has a university degree they automatically start in category 4, and with my previous experience i should have been put in a category 5. that means that over the past year, my employer has neglected to pay me over 2000 bucks, which is almost 4 million colombian pesos, which could pay my rent for the next 2 years. i felt extremely disheartened and "engañada" (its a strong word for tricked) when i found out, but now im alright. i have learned an extremely valuable lesson through all of this: never EVER let anyone make you feel like youre not worth what you get paid. truth is you are worth more than what theyre paying you but theyre being stingy by trying to trick you into think youre not worth as much as you are.

im glad i learned this lesson now, in a job that i have already decided to leave because they wouldnt let me have a life outside of the institution because im a foreigner. (long story short, i had a meeting with the bosses to try and negotiate my contract so that i could work less hours and study my specialization, at the end of which they told me flat out no and that if i worked there they had to have the option to own me and have complete control of my schedule).

onto the next adventure...lets see what i learn this time :)

reunion

just booked my first ever plane ticket to the midwest, where i will have a heartfelt reunion with abbey in chitown and then trip it to madtown to have a big cuddle-slash-inappropriate amounts of drinking fest with tank ass duke lonney and arthur. 

im excited. real excited.

the third world my ass

i just went to my first doctors appointment ever in colombia. i was in and out in 15 minutes and i felt like i received really friendly and thorough service. when he said it was over and he hadnt done a blood or urine test, i asked "what about the blood and urine tests?" his answer: "we dont do those tests unless we feel they are necessary (for example if the person is overweight or has a history of diabetes or other diseases) because otherwise its a waste of resources and money." then i go to pay my copay..."7,700 pesos please"...the equivalent to less than 4 bucks.

i just got the same if not better healthcare service in a third world country that cost me less than 4 bucks. so far i gots one nothing colombia versus the land of the free.

note to self:

facebook stalking always gets me in a strange mood and unnecessarily overwhelmed about moving back to the states, which is something that is not going to happen for a long while. 

ok so update: im actually doing great, getting a few job offers for next year, and just being instead of planning. its nice not being constantly upset or stressed out, im not going to lie.

starting over

today i feel like im sort of starting over. mariana left, and she took julian, my other closest friend with her. see i have this tendency to connect people, and it may turn out to be a deep profound friendship or a whirlwind romance (in this case the latter). now that seems awesome, and in a way it is, but the downside in this case specifically is that they turned out to have such a strong connection to each other that now im left in the dust, alone and family-less. im extremely happy and excited to see what comes from their lives (whether they stay together or decide to go their separate ways), but my ego who wants company and doesnt like being abandoned is screaming at me telling me im stupid and now im left alone, with the responsibility to start over. 

but guess what? the ego isnt taking over this time. im an extremely blessed person for having the opportunity to create a family here in medellin, a family consisting of a brazilian, a paisa and a street cat. i will always and forever love these people for who they helped me to become, and for continuously teaching me how to love with my entirety, not just seek ego satisfaction.

mari, juli y gus: los llevo en mi corazon para siempre. 

amen.

"You listen to your parents because they have known this world longer than you. But do you think that just by being here a long time anybody knows anything? Do you think time gives understanding? Understanding is not temporal, it is not more experience. It is not the quantity of experience that makes you wise, it is the quality. A single experience can give you more wisdom if you bring the quality of awareness to it. A man may have made love to many women, thousands of women, thousands of time. Do you think he knows what love is? There is quantity, but has he known love? One single love can give you wisdom if you bring quality to it. That quality is awareness. If you make love to a single woman for a single time, with your total being, fully alert, you have come to know what love is. Wisdom is something that happens when you bring awareness to any experience. The meeting of awareness and experience is wisdom." (osho)

and that folks is what i am continuously striving for here in colombia, here in what is viewed as my "year off" by many on the outside, here in life. 

woops

so yea ive been neglecting the blog for a while. heres a small update on life for a. those who still read my blog and b. for future sydney who would like to remember what was going on in life in sept 09...

1. so im staying in medallo next year. this comes as no surprise seeing as life rules here.
2. im in the process of applying to a one year specialization (like a minimasters) in "Proyects of Interior Architecture" that would start in february of next year. its getting me all tingly inside.
3. my 2 best friends are moving to brazil come the 13th, so ive been going through an emo-rollercoaster (ps they should TOTALLY make a themepark ride based on the "emotional rollercoaster"...maybe ill design it in one of my projects) but im handling myself and being honest with them, myself and my emotions, and though im going to miss them terribly, they will be in my life no matter what because they have no idea how much they both have changed me and allowed me to become the person i am today
4. still liking the job, but am needing to negotiate my contract for next year due to the specialization and all, so ill keep you updated on how that goes
5. contemplating moving to an awesome sector called carlos e restrepo or somewhere near there, but its turning out to be extremely expensive so lets see how that works out


all in all, livin the good (and oh so real) life.