In Ottawa!

I just noticed that I did not post a single entry in my blog since Carla had left Zagreb. The reason why is that I was so busy trying to wrap things up, that I did not even think of writing something down. I kept thinking, I'll write something when I get back, and now that I am back, it is "writing time."

When Carla left, I was feeling so sad. The house was empty and there was still the unknown of when I would see her again in Ottawa. Before I could leave Zagreb, I had to sell the car, visit family close the bank accounts, clean out the apartment, sell/distribute the house stuff, and so many other little things that I can't even remember right now.

I spent several days visiting family and enjoying my time with them. That was the enjoyable part of my last ten days. The not-so-fun part was selling the car. I posted ads in the paper, and on the internet and no one was buying. I even lowered the price of the car so much that it was better than anything else out there on the market, but the problem was that it was the time right after the New Year's and no one was looking for a new car.

I did eventually get a few offers, but they were conditional that I give power-of-attorney over the car to these people, who would then drive it under my name, and try to avoid paying the car tax. I did not want to have anything to do with that, so I sold the car to a used car salesman. As you can imagine, I did not get a good price at all, but when you are in a hurry, you'll take anything.

The other hold-up was closing the bank account. On the last day I went to the bank to send all the money from my accounts to Australia so that I can close these accounts. Well, you would think that this would be easy. But no, they would not close my accounts as the charge for my international money transfers would only be taken from my account in three days. So I had to give power-of-attorney to my cousin and he will wrap it all up next week.

Wednesday night, I phoned Aeroplan to see if I can change my return ticket to Thursday and was so HAPPY to hear that the ticket agent was able to find a seat for me. That meant that I would be leaving the next morning. I started packing and cleaning the house frantically as I had to leave for the airport at 7am. Well, I finished everything in the wee hours of the morning and went to bed at 3 am, setting the alarm for 5:30 am. Ouch!

Getting up early in the morning after 2.5 hours of sleep is NOT fun. Anyways, it had to be done. My cousins came to pick me up, loaded my stuff in the and we were off to the airport. We had a nice quick visit at the airport and said goodbye to each other. I was glad to have spent these past months with them and their families. The time we spent together definitely brought us closer and I think that we will be able to continue our friendship easily over the internet.

The flight to Ottawa was excellent and the reception in Ottawa was even better. I will write about my Ottawa experience a bit later, as I am trying to rest up and enjoy it while I'm here.