Beach, friends, cats
Saturday, Aug. 10, 2019 - 3:30 pm.

This is our Saturday to do nothing with the cats. They'll be taken to London on Monday, and will fly out to Chile on Tuesday, arriving there on Wednesday. We'll see them again early September, but we still don't have the date of our own flight, let alone know when we'll have a place to bring them back with us and call it home.

I can do with missing the cats for a while. What drives me nuts is knowing that this time will be stressful, scary and confusing for them. There's no way for them to understand why they're being taken away from their cocoon by strangers, why they're on the move with loud noises around them, why we're not with them, and when all this is going to stop.

Having said that, they'll be extremely well taken care of. The people at the company handling their trip are so nice and hands-on. Then, our vet friend Karin, who's had years of experience traveling with cats, will pick them up at the Santiago airport, and bring them with her to her vet clinic. She lives in the southern city where Andrew and I used to live before coming to the UK, and where we're returning. Our friend will keep the cats until Andrew and I find a place to live.

And we do have seem to have a house waiting for us! Our closest Chilean friend here, another PhD student in our same year who was also Andrew's classmate as undergrads, is not returning to the country yet and she offered us her house. This is fantastic for everyone involved. She and her family will stay in the UK in December, and until then, Andrew and I (and the cats!) can stay in her house.

We'll look after her house -her brother was living there but now he's moving out- and we'll just have to cover her monthly house payment, what'll look like rent to us. The place is kind of far away from the city, but it's a fucking roof under our heads. It will buys us time while we find a job to figure out whether we're staying in that city or going somewhere else.

Hashtag blessed, for sure.

Moving away from cats, Andrew and I dedicated this week to some goodbyes, or better, see-you-laters. On Thursday night we met with a married (straight) couple of friends for a casual dinner at a pub. It seems so far away now that I had a crush on the female partner of this couple, this was the one crush that made me look back on all my female crushes and made me realize that I was bi.

Anyway, they're both delightful people, so having a separate meal with them was in order. Then last night, Friday, we met for drinks with members of the Chilean community who were closer to us. It was fun! I'm not a very sociable person, but it was great having a Spanish-speaking community for support whenever needed.

The highlight of this week, however, was going to Brighton on Wednesday. Andrew and I hopped on a 6 am train, and by 10 am we were meeting my friend Anna, who came to pick us up at the train station. We had a delicious breakfast, then went to a beautiful, isolated beach, and spent the rest of our day walking around the pier and the city. The weather was better than expected, and it was just such a beautiful day with beautiful company. We arrived home at almost 10 pm, exhausted but smiling.

Lastly... I got news that my manuscript is being read... in Mexico! It was an old former editor of mine who said he'd pass on my manuscript to his own editor, but I don't know if this second editor passed it on to someone else from the publishing house in Mexico, or my editor's editor lives there. Neverthelesssss. Yeah, I know that's not a guarantee that I'll get published. They might not like it, or we might die as a species very soon. Nevertheless! My manuscript is being read. That's always a win.

I would like to continue writing, but I'm doing so while lying on my stomach in our makeshift bed, for lack of a table or desk, and it's so fucking uncomfortable.

Less than a month left in the UK, most likely. Jesus Christ.

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