Too legit to quit

Last week I became a bonefide expat again. I finally got my visa and work permit and became a member of the large and diverse expatriate community in Bonn. It is pathetic how satisfying it is to become legitimate in the eyes of a government bureaucracy and yet when I finally jumped through the last hoop, I felt more at home here- like I could simply flash my visa and work permit around at the bar and say, "See?! I'm one of you now!" It is also not lost on me that to bask too long in the light of legitimate employment in a foreign country is to lose sight of a key element of my presence here- If I leave this job, I am out of the country. kaput. My existence here is defined by the rules of my work permit, which gives me a week to get out of the country once my job is over. Legitimate as I am, with one wrong turn I could lose job and legal status here quite quickly. Thus I am, as a wise man once said, "too legit to quit".