I never thought a binder would mean so much to me. Today I received mail from the University of Cambridge! I was so excited about it! My excitement quickly vanished into confusion, frustration, and sadness when I realized that it wasn't the entire binder I had put together during my time there this summer. From what I saw, all they sent back to me were some of the materials that I used to do my research. All of the extra things that I had accumulated about the university weren't there, nor was the actual binder.
I'm wondering why this happened. The reason I didn't just take it home with me in my luggage was my concern that my bags would be too heavy. Carrie was happy to take the binder back to the DRC; she was sure that the DRC would be happy send it back to the U.S. for me since I worked there for free. I said there was no rush--if it arrived in six weeks it didn't matter. So here it is... eight weeks later and I get not even half of what I had put together. The only thing I can think of is that the full binder was too expensive to send back or that they thought the binder was their property. If I would've known that they wouldn't send the whole thing, I would've happily just left the money or suffered the consequences of a heavy bag. And the binder was one that I had bought while I was there because I knew that I would be taking it home with me.
I'm just so sad about it because the whole thing was sort of a keepsake for me. Not just all of the stuff I used for research was in there, but all of the information on disability legislation and procedures in the UK, and just cool information on the University of Cambridge and the area. I assume that the rest of what I had put in there has been disassembled by now and it really makes my heart hurt. I had so looked forward to getting that back and keeping it forever.
The shitty thing is... I have a feeling that this was done out of spite. There was one person in the DRC that just gave off bad vibes--interestingly, the only other American in the office. She was the only one who didn't say goodbye to me on my last day. She was also the one who signed the note in the package today, as if she were the one who sent it. If anyone other than her had signed it I would think it was just an accident or misunderstanding. Just another reason why I'm so pissed off and hurt by this.
I've emailed Carrie to see if she knows anything about it. I also want her opinion on if I should email John (my supervisor there) or the person who must have sent it. It seems petty and stupid, but I really care about it and want to know what happened, especially if there was no real reason for them to not just send me the whole binder intact. Hopefully I'll find out something soon.
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