Saturday, February 25, 2006 - Post-Citizenship Ceremony Events |
It seems that news of my
absence during part of last week to go Charlotte, NC for my citizenship
interview/oath ceremony was spread throughout my floor at work.
I realized this when I turned up at work last Friday, February 17th,
and my coworkers were asking me about if I was successful. I thought it
a bit odd because I told only a few people about the purpose of my trip.
The reason why so many knew about my Charlotte trip was that on
Thursday, the day of the interview/oath ceremony, there was a lunch for
all February birthday owners (and there's about four or five of us) and
people were asking why I was absent. So, the group of about twelve were
told the purpose of my trip.
Anyway, fast forward to this week. This past Wednesday, I attended a
big group meeting and the group threw me a surprise naturalization
party. A sheet cake was ordered for the ocassion, specially decorated
with red, white and blue frosting, a plaster bear in patriotic colors and someone had stuck a little Stars and Stripes flag in the cake.
That's not all. I was bought a Stars and Stripes top hat to wear and
was presented with a gift. This turned out to be in tasteful Stars and
Stripes pin.
I was really quite moved by the occasion. The group wanted to know the
ins and outs of the interview and oath ceremony and at one point, the
group of 15 were trying to remember the thirteen original states of the
US (they failed to get all 13).
Immediately following the meeting, which ended at 12.00pm, my manager
and my team took me, as planned to a celebration (citizenship and
birthday) lunch! This was fun. We went to the local Macaroni Grill,
with me wearing my patriotic hat. Why not?
I was rewarded for my "silliness" by the restaurant when one lady
waitstaff sung me Happy Birthday in Italian. She had a great voice
too! My table was then presented with a very large piece of
chocolate cake with two lit candles on it.
That day was a day to remember too. My coworkers were all genuinely thrilled for me to join "the club"!
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About Me
Former Londoner, now living in Durham, NC since 2002.
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