It was January 2017 and I was excited for a new adventure that I was about to go on. I was about to start my Globekick program, where I would stay in a different country each month. It was supposed to be Valencia, Spain in February, Lisbon, Portugal in March and Bordeaux.
I had sold everything that I had and terminated the lease agreement with my apartment. As I would be travelling in Europe for three months I dint see the need to have an apartment and put all of my things in 5x7 storage and a carry on backpack. I had my tickets booked and everything seemed to in place.
I told my manager that I will be working from Europe and he was cool with it. As I was meeting my friends at work, before my trip to Europe.Julie, a really good friend of mine at work asks me if I can meet her friend who would be the future project manager of our team so that she can get more insights before officially joining our team.
I meet Julie and her friend Kristy and five minutes into the conversation we come to a conclusion that Kristy will be working on project that is related to us but not our project. I then tell Julie and Kristy about my trip to Europe and Julie was asking me all the logistic questions, about what I did with my apartment etc. It was after this meeting that I became friends with Kristy on facebook.
That weekend I go to Chicago to drop some things off at my friends house and at my sisters house as I was supposed to fly from OHare to Valencia. I go to my friends house, Srikanth on Friday to drop some of my stuff at his place. We have a beer that night and the next morning when I wake up. I get a text from my employer asking if I am still in the country. I call him and I find out that the US government has put up a travel ban on 7 countries but a lot of people coming into the US were facing problems and that it is not a good time for me leave, as it might jeopardize the process of me coming back to the States even though I had all the right papers.
I was devastated, I had been really excited for this trip. I call Globekick and I let them know that I will not be able to make it. They said that they understand and that I can join their future programs. However as they say everything happens for a reason. A lot of other friends have offered me help if I wanted to crash at their place. A friend of mine Inderpreet who just bought a house offered me her basement so that I can stay their till I can figure things out. I get on with my life.
Come June 2017 it is the international day of yoga. I was introduced to yoga by mom when I was a kid. After taking a break from yoga for almost like 10 years, I started doing yoga from 2015. I saw a post on facebook that there is an event where 3000 people will be doing yoga in downtown Indy(Indianapolis) at the monumental circle and Kristy is going to that. I like her post on facebook.
On Summer Solstice June 21, 2017 I go to downtown after work with my yoga mat and I run into Kristy, who is with her friend Anna and she takes this picture
It is almost an year now. I am currently in India as my work visa in the US has expired and my extension was not approved. We are now applying for our K1 visa next week