This summer has gone by SO extremely fast!! As I have been entangled with getting my shipping all straightened down (imagine trying to fit your life into five 22 gallon buckets...) I have also been working through intensive online training for my new job. It is a different kind of busy and I have had the opportunity to slow down and actually experience some down time of 'vacation.' And I tell you, it sue is all it's cracked up to be...I should have tried this sooner. ;)
Anyways, as I was working through one of my assignments last night, it occurred to me....in a little over two weeks (16 days to be exact) I am going to be on a plane to CHINA!!! Wowza! You know that feeling when you realize something is coming that logically you knew was coming, but now it's here??? All this preparation has kept me so busy I have not had much time to think about it, but reality is coming and it is coming quick!! Don't get me wrong here, I am VERY excited about this move and experience. It has just been a realization that is hard to ignore. I'm really going to miss my parents and the rest of my family. To those whom we have spent years seeing on a consistent basis, it's hard to imagine that in the fall I will not be starting with the 'ole Bordeaux staff, living in the quaint little town of Shelton. Instead, I start school mid-August!! in the BIG CITY of Beijing!
Change. We can handle it, we are adaptable by nature, but dramatic changes (and even small ones) can really put you in a tumbler. How do we adjust to things we do not know? They say you don't know what you don't know...that's where I am. I am not scared of this change, I am not nervous. I just honestly don't know what I don't know. I have gotten more and more adaptable to changes over the years and thrive on finding myself in new situations. I have a strong personality (mostly due to the experiences God has granted me with to make me strong) and a desire to live, learn, and experience. I can honestly say my son is exactly like me. :)
Change is coming and quick. For now, off to crafts with my mom and son.
Amanda :)
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Work Permit!!!
After waiting and waiting, I have finally received my WORK PERMIT and invitation letter from the Chinese government!!! I am now ready to apply for my VISA!!! Documents are in the mail, and the Visa will be here in the next week or so....Only 20 days until takeoff!!!
Our Temporary Home
It has been just over a month since my last log-in. (YIKES!!) I cannot believe how much has happened in the last month. To start things off, my computer got a MAJOR virus and was out of commission for about 3 weeks. When I got it back, everything was wiped clean and I ended up going out to purchase Windows 8 and Office to have the programs which were on here before (they were work related and since the job ended, so did my Microsoft Word programs...) Despite the lack of computer, I made it through the last week of school, completing all of my progress reports before Monday of the last week. Lucas and were at school until 9:30pm Thursday night, cleaning and packing up my classroom. This made the last day of school nice, because I was able to have my room checked off and was out of there by 1:30!! Goodbye school!
After that, despite the fact that it was now, officially SUMMER, I had another excruciating week of work ahead of me. I had just that one week to pack up my house!! We had been working since March, slowly going through things, but since I wanted to keep the "homey" feel, I had a lot to do. And that weekend, two people came over to my hose and said that EXACT THING! I wanted to cry. You can't say that to a person who is packing up the whole house!!! But, all it really did was motivate me to work harder. I was determined to be completely done by moving day (8 days from the last day of school). I worked my tail off that week, getting everything packed, cleaned, vacuumed...
And all the while, I was also trying to create a happy "goodbye week" for Lucas, which was why I created "The week of Lasts" where we looked at all of the things that we usually did around Shelton, and did them one last time. Looking back, I may have been crazy to plan in hours of fun time amidst the packing frenzy, but it sure made leaving the house much, much easier.
I had most of the stuff done by Friday, which was the Goodbye Party Lucas planned for his friends. We (my friend Kelly and I) moved boxes to the garage so there was open space in the house, then Lucas and I decorated, set up activities and wrote "Goodbye Friends" on his ice cream cake. Friday morning was a lot of fun!!! Lucas' party started at 10am with pancakes (his favorite). We had an address book where his friends could write their address and I had them trace their hands for a "LOVE & HUGS" blanket. I am in the process of cutting all of the hands out of fleece and stitching them onto a fleece blanket. That way, whenever he (or me, who am I kidding) is feeling homesick, we can snuggle up in it. We also had planters and the kids planted "Forget me Not seeds along with a popsicle stick flower of us as a little memory for them. Then the kids played, and BOY did they play!! There were 12 kiddos there along with us 6 mommies. It was a great time!!!
Then Saturday morning, I went and picked up the U-Haul truck (those things are NOT cheap!!! They really get you with that whole $19.95 plastered on the side of the truck). This was my FIRST time driving one of these and boy, they will just rent them to anyone I guess. So I got it home, and at 1:00, we started loading. My neighbors and friends all came over to help. There were a total of 10 adults and 12 children involved in this activity. The adults moved, loaded, and cleaned, while the children "helped" when they could and otherwise played. It was so much fun for them. At one point, I think ALL of them were in the empty bedroom with all of the blankets and pillows, hiding, diving, and tossing them around. They were all SO GOOD! Pizza came at 3:15ish and we all settled in the kitchen on the floor and ate. By 4:00, we were DONE!!
It was in these last two days when I had the full feel of what wonderful people I have in my life. Selflessly they all came over helped, and played. I feel so blessed to have them all in my life! It was another wonderful day. After everyone left, Lucas and I got ready and went to Superhero Adventure Night for our last time at the Children's Museum. The next morning, my parents drove over to drive the truck back. We had a few small things to get done and load the last of the stuff, but about an hour after they got there, we were on the road. We took our last pictures at our house, and did a little walk-through video saying goodbye to our house, then we were off. (Now this was the long day) We were unloading the truck into the storage unit before 3pm and my brother Paul met us to help unload. Now this was tricky...Kelly (I deem her MASTER PACKER) really got that stuff into that truck well. The trick was to UNload it all and sort it to make sense of how we were fitting it all into the 8x10 unit, from the 14' truck (granted we were taking the couch to my parents house). But, we got everything we needed to into one unit, then headed to the house to unload the house and China stuff there. Our new room was pretty packed with stuff. By 7:30 we were back at the house, truck returned, ready for dinner (and a nice long relaxation time....) In addition to the wonderful friends, I also have an amazing family! Both my parents and my older brother made roundtrips of 5-7 hours JUST to help us move!!! How great is that?!? Family really is amazing!!
So now for last week...I cannot specifically tell you what was accomplished, it's again been a blur. But I started my training for the PYP programme at my new school (Primary Years Programme). The school is an IB school (International Bachelorette) a school based on the inquiry model of transdisciplinary teaching, which sounds amazing!!! As of now, I am 2/3 of the way through that training. My necessary documents to get my Visa will be here tomorrow, then I can send off for the Visa, and the plane tickets have been purchased. We've had play time, pool time, and lots of great times with my parents! I have unpacked boxes in the room and created two large boxes that have gone to goodwill....with MUCH more of that to do!! And last night, I started again going through t
he China boxes. I need to cut down the stuff that I am bringing, and am packing it all into plastic tubs now, so it's a bit more protected and durable. I have a lot more to do, but at least now we are settled here at my parents house and getting this stuff all done, little-by-little.
And the countdown....in just 21 days, we will be ON an AIRPLANE moving to CHINA!!! This is still really hard to wrap my head around....we are ACTUALLY doing this!!! So. Cool!
After that, despite the fact that it was now, officially SUMMER, I had another excruciating week of work ahead of me. I had just that one week to pack up my house!! We had been working since March, slowly going through things, but since I wanted to keep the "homey" feel, I had a lot to do. And that weekend, two people came over to my hose and said that EXACT THING! I wanted to cry. You can't say that to a person who is packing up the whole house!!! But, all it really did was motivate me to work harder. I was determined to be completely done by moving day (8 days from the last day of school). I worked my tail off that week, getting everything packed, cleaned, vacuumed...
And all the while, I was also trying to create a happy "goodbye week" for Lucas, which was why I created "The week of Lasts" where we looked at all of the things that we usually did around Shelton, and did them one last time. Looking back, I may have been crazy to plan in hours of fun time amidst the packing frenzy, but it sure made leaving the house much, much easier.
I had most of the stuff done by Friday, which was the Goodbye Party Lucas planned for his friends. We (my friend Kelly and I) moved boxes to the garage so there was open space in the house, then Lucas and I decorated, set up activities and wrote "Goodbye Friends" on his ice cream cake. Friday morning was a lot of fun!!! Lucas' party started at 10am with pancakes (his favorite). We had an address book where his friends could write their address and I had them trace their hands for a "LOVE & HUGS" blanket. I am in the process of cutting all of the hands out of fleece and stitching them onto a fleece blanket. That way, whenever he (or me, who am I kidding) is feeling homesick, we can snuggle up in it. We also had planters and the kids planted "Forget me Not seeds along with a popsicle stick flower of us as a little memory for them. Then the kids played, and BOY did they play!! There were 12 kiddos there along with us 6 mommies. It was a great time!!!
Then Saturday morning, I went and picked up the U-Haul truck (those things are NOT cheap!!! They really get you with that whole $19.95 plastered on the side of the truck). This was my FIRST time driving one of these and boy, they will just rent them to anyone I guess. So I got it home, and at 1:00, we started loading. My neighbors and friends all came over to help. There were a total of 10 adults and 12 children involved in this activity. The adults moved, loaded, and cleaned, while the children "helped" when they could and otherwise played. It was so much fun for them. At one point, I think ALL of them were in the empty bedroom with all of the blankets and pillows, hiding, diving, and tossing them around. They were all SO GOOD! Pizza came at 3:15ish and we all settled in the kitchen on the floor and ate. By 4:00, we were DONE!!
It was in these last two days when I had the full feel of what wonderful people I have in my life. Selflessly they all came over helped, and played. I feel so blessed to have them all in my life! It was another wonderful day. After everyone left, Lucas and I got ready and went to Superhero Adventure Night for our last time at the Children's Museum. The next morning, my parents drove over to drive the truck back. We had a few small things to get done and load the last of the stuff, but about an hour after they got there, we were on the road. We took our last pictures at our house, and did a little walk-through video saying goodbye to our house, then we were off. (Now this was the long day) We were unloading the truck into the storage unit before 3pm and my brother Paul met us to help unload. Now this was tricky...Kelly (I deem her MASTER PACKER) really got that stuff into that truck well. The trick was to UNload it all and sort it to make sense of how we were fitting it all into the 8x10 unit, from the 14' truck (granted we were taking the couch to my parents house). But, we got everything we needed to into one unit, then headed to the house to unload the house and China stuff there. Our new room was pretty packed with stuff. By 7:30 we were back at the house, truck returned, ready for dinner (and a nice long relaxation time....) In addition to the wonderful friends, I also have an amazing family! Both my parents and my older brother made roundtrips of 5-7 hours JUST to help us move!!! How great is that?!? Family really is amazing!!
So now for last week...I cannot specifically tell you what was accomplished, it's again been a blur. But I started my training for the PYP programme at my new school (Primary Years Programme). The school is an IB school (International Bachelorette) a school based on the inquiry model of transdisciplinary teaching, which sounds amazing!!! As of now, I am 2/3 of the way through that training. My necessary documents to get my Visa will be here tomorrow, then I can send off for the Visa, and the plane tickets have been purchased. We've had play time, pool time, and lots of great times with my parents! I have unpacked boxes in the room and created two large boxes that have gone to goodwill....with MUCH more of that to do!! And last night, I started again going through t
he China boxes. I need to cut down the stuff that I am bringing, and am packing it all into plastic tubs now, so it's a bit more protected and durable. I have a lot more to do, but at least now we are settled here at my parents house and getting this stuff all done, little-by-little.
And the countdown....in just 21 days, we will be ON an AIRPLANE moving to CHINA!!! This is still really hard to wrap my head around....we are ACTUALLY doing this!!! So. Cool!
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