I just turned in a rough opening to Perfect Girl as my last assignment for the writing class. It puts Sarah in the Earl's Court district of London, talking about how ordinary she is, how her American accent gives away her family history (starting with great-grandfather Sanford, who moved to America in the first place), and how she was born carrying his name and lived as a boy for eighteen years. It's far from perfect, but I will look forward to some final comments rolling in. One thing I added: I made Sarah's grandfather a US Air Force pilot during the Korean War, which will translate into Sarah's own interest in aviation - and her links to Kirsten, born in Seoul to an American GI and his Korean wife.
Now that I decided to put Sarah and Kirsten in London at the end of the timeline, I need some legal basis for getting them there. I just did some research on the Britain in the USA website. It looks like Kirsten will be able to work with a work permit and the appropriate visa. Getting Sarah work-eligible will require the same-sex partner process, it seems - which may require the two to open joint bank accounts and such well before getting married. The eventual goal is to presumably get the two naturalized in Britain, well after the storyline ends; they certainly do not wish to come back to the US, due to the hostility against gays.
I also made a brief stop at the United Airlines website and its history section. Not only does it show the company's history in excruciating detail, but I can also access advertising paraphernalia - including those "United WILL Stand!" pins that Sarah will wear - as well as a history of flight attendants, both at United and in the airline industry at large. This will be an extremely valuable resource as I put together Sarah's five-year stint. The bad part: United is not actively hiring flight attendants right now, so I must go to third-party sources to get an idea of what it is to train, and be hired, as one.
