Goodbye

It was a tearful goodbye. We shook hands, touched chest (some do not shake hands with a woman) and slapped backs. We shared jokes and remembered old stories, as in “you remember way back when…”

I said goodbye to the entire crew, Abu Ali and Abu George, Madame Joumana and ‘Isteez M’.



I bid farewell to all the secretaries I had come to know so well over the two years that I spent most of my Saturday mornings there.



After 2 years, this little paper could finally be discarded



I heard the elevator tell me – as it had been telling me all those Saturdays – for the very last time, “Doors are closing. Going? Down.” I always though it curious that the elevator was the only element in the entire building that spoke English. Even though it was the Ministry of Higher Education.

I saluted the doormen and security guards. They always waved me through, while others visitors had their handbags checked and got patted down. You could always see people think; ‘wow, a foreigner passing like that! She must be somebody way up high to receive that kind of treatment.’ Little did they know. We were, after all, on first name basis.

But I got it, folks! I finally got it! After a two year wait, I have – at last - received my Lebanese equivalency to my Dutch Bachelor’s degree.



The much coveted paper



Someone asked me why I would even need a Lebanese equivalency when I work in a foreign company. The fact is that - even though it is a foreign company - its employees, when hired locally, need to pay into the Lebanese government funds. And so I have been faithfully paying a substantial amount over the past 16 years into a Lebanese retirement fund. The payment into this fund depends upon the degree you have attained, because it is linked to the salary you get. I had, however, no right to claiming this money, ever, since that very diploma, upon which my salary is calculated, was not recognized by the Lebanese government. It needed to receive a Lebanese equivalent.



Well, I can now safely retire. Although chances are that by the time I do retire, the Lebanese government will probably have filed for bankruptcy. And I spent all these Saturdays for nothing. But it sure gave some material to blog about though . . .



If you want to know how it all started, then here is post 1, post 2 , post 3, post 4, post 5, post 6, post 7, post ....... etc etc.