[caption id="attachment_4706" align="alignleft" width="248" caption="My work permit photo"]<a rel="attachment wp-att-4706" href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/?attachment_id=4706"><img class="size-full wp-image-4706 " title="My work permit photo" src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/mmm.jpg" alt="" width="248" height="319" /></a>[/caption]

I don't know if I've made this clear on my blog but here goes: I've signed a contract to teach at ACS for this next school year.

Yep.

I am finishing year three and getting ready for year four. <em>Crazy, huna?!</em>

Three-plus years ago when I applied for my Fulbright I never imagined that I would still be here. Funny how that works.

Now I've got some life maintenance tasks to take care of.

Like a work permit. Luckily for me, ACS really takes care of all of my paperwork. I am told what documents to bring, how many photos are needed and where to sign and I obligingly follow these commands. I am very happy to do these things because frankly, if it were up to me it would be a mess.

Anyhow, today I had to go to Hit and get some passport photos taken for step one of the hoops I'll be jumping through over the next few months to renew my work permit and residency card. The good news is that I am becoming a pro at this after already having done three different times.

So I got my photo taken today. At Hit you get four passport sized photos and a cd with your photo on it--all for five leva. It's really a deal!!

Only today, I look pretty disheveled. It's the first day back from spring break so the students were a little riled up and by the end of the day no one wanted to sit still. On top of this, I taught six hours of classes, met with a handful of students, did some grading and wrote three different quizzes. That's a lot for one day between the hours of 8 and 4.  Then I marched over to get my picture taken.

I looked at my final photos me un-smiling with my glasses falling down my nose, slightly greasy bangs and cardigan falling off one shoulder and thought: Yep. That sums up my day. That's <em>exactly</em> how I feel.

Oh, for the record, it's in my nature to smile for photos but this is forbidden for document photos in Bulgaria.