July 26, 2013

This morning we woke up fairly early, 7am, even before the alarm. One thing I have noticed was that beds in China, not soft….the mattresses are much firmer than any I have slept on in the past.  After getting up, I started my list of things I wanted to get at the store to start us off in the apartment. The listing agent was going to be here at 9am, which gave me time to dig out the stuff I brought for pancakes, and make breakfast. I was SO thankful that Mom gave me that little frying pan, which was where the pancakes were made. Unfortunately, I did not bring a spatula, so was trying to flip pancakes with a wooden spoon, which brought about a new game “Guess what shape the pancake is.” Luckily they left us some water (and some Oreos and apples). We had breakfast and got dressed for the day. Then we decided to go for a little walk, hoping to see a store nearby, though we ended up in a walk through the nature trails of our apartment community and then around the complex, then headed back to the apartment.

When the agent arrived, we went over the information for the lease and I shared with them the lack of cleaning and if there was someone who could some to clean today. They said it was cleaned only yesterday, so it sounds like it was just done quickly, without much care to the quality. After going over the information, we headed out to the store. We first stopped at the bank to exchange some cash, which I was unable to exchange at the airport due to the offices not being open. After that, they drove us to the “Metro” stopped the car, pointed out the Metro, then said “we not able to park the car there and have some things to do, when you are done, you take taxi home.” I probably looked like a deer in headlights, here we were about to be dropped off and on our own to get back to the apartment (granted only about 6 blocks from our apartment and a straight shot to the apartment). 

We timidly got out of the car and headed on our way to the shopping center, when I saw a familiar sight….STARBUCKS!!!!!  YAY, coffee!!!!! We stopped in and I ordered a Carmel Machiato for me and a Juice for Lucas. Then we headed into the shopping building, where we were met with a MALL! We found a lot of the things we were looking for: bed sheets, towels, cleaning supplies, dishtowels, water, and some more snacks. We even found a little store full of toys where they had none other than….LEGOS!!  This was perfect, because I had told Lucas that when we got to Beijing he could get a “big set” to start his Lego City (“just like Uncle Pauly’s” he says). He chose a Police set that had a car, a shutdown gold mine and a criminal transport vehicle. Then it was back to the apartment in our first attempt to take a taxi back home. Luckily, all I needed to do was make sure we went straight from where we were. We made it back without incident!!  Woohoo! Once back in our apartment, I went to work cleaning things up and putting our things away in their place. Lucas was working busily and contently on his Lego project while I was unpacking.

I made pancakes for lunch, yes again. But this time, I had a plastic noodle spoon to use (I forgot to get a spatula). Again, another game of “Guess what shape the pancake is.” As we were eating, I got a call from our agent, who was in the management office to get what we needed for our temporary residency certificate that we would have to get from the police. We rushed through lunch to get down to meet her. It took about 10 minutes to get what we needed from management, then it was taxi time to the police station to get the residency certificate. This took a little longer, because it was lunchtime when we got there, and it is like the DMV…so we got our ticket and waited…about a half hour later, we had our certificate and back to the apartment. I had asked about laundry detergent and when the agent called management, they said there was a little store in Building 10. (score!!) When the taxi dropped us off, we headed to Building 10 to get some laundry detergent so I could wash the couch pillow covers. Once we finally found the entrance (it was in what looked like an alley) we found a STORE!!!  This was the first actual store we had come across that sold food. (We had yet to find a supermarket, which I was told the Metro was a supermarket, but all we found were mall stores). This was a WONDERFUL surprise!!!! We spent quite a while here looking through all of the items to find some snacks and other things to add to our current pancake diet. The best find was the watermelon and the kiwi! There were several fruits and veggies, but this looked by far in the best condition and was a warm addition to our current stock of food. We found the detergent (of course), apple juice, popsicles, peanuts, crackers, soymilk, soda and Lucas even found a little toy sword. With our newfound treasures, we were off back to the apartment, Lucas walking behind, and I was carrying everything, and of course NOW he decides is the time to walk slow as a turtle….but we did finally make it back to the apartment, without any bags ripping (bonus!). And it was time to make dinner. Pancakes and Watermelon.

By bedtime, I had everything disinfected, our things put away from the store, and had unpacked all of our tubs (except the school supplies).  The only thing left was the clothing, which I was going to need hangers for and decide how I was going to get it all into the one closet (!!!), which was in my room. After a very long day, we went to bed at 7:30pm (on our new sheets, but still without pillows).

Things I realized today that I took for granted: tap water, my car, common language, non-humid air

Things I learned: There is a different standard of clean here.

JULY 24 2013-TRAVEL DAY

TRAVEL DAY!!!
This morning started with a relaxing sleep in, where even Lucas slept in until about 9!! We had to get everything ready to go and left the house just shy of our target of 1:30 to head to the airport. The drive over was not too bad, though I did find my eyes “sweating” (a term later to be coined by my Dad) a few times during the drive. I have been preparing for this for months, and though there was this knowledge of what it was that I was preparing for, it hadn’t really felt real until we got closer and closer to the actual day. As we were driving to the airport, my main thought was that we were moving halfway around the world and would not be able to see my parents again for another almost 5 months…the LONGEST I have ever gone without seeing them. This left quite a sad spot in my heart. We are very close and it will be difficult to not see them for this long of a time. When we got to the airport, there was the bustle of getting the 8 tubs and suitcases onto the cart to check them inside. Thought the process went very smoothly and there was no time we had to wait in line, there was still a bit of stress with getting through this process. But finally, everything was checked and on its way down the conveyer belt to the plane. Paul met us there too, so after getting checked (it was only about 4:30) we all sat at the Seattle’s Best Coffee shop and had some snacks and just hung out. I soaked in as much as I could, because this would be the last time we spent together in almost half a year. Over the years, it has come that the 5 of us spend EVERY holiday together.  I am reaaaaaallllllly going to have a heavy heart over missing this.
Around 5:45, we made our way to security, though a little part of me really wanted to just stay sitting there because I knew once we got into line, that was that…but on we went. Then I was faced with probably the hardest time in my adult life, saying goodbye. We tried to keep it not sad, but how in the world do you do this when you are saying goodbye to the biggest part of your life? We said our goodbyes, and I forced myself to leave, Lucas saying, “Come on Mom, let”s go to the playground.” (An example of a 4 year olds Big Picture) All the way through security, I was like a water faucet, and with one last glimpse of my parents and my big brother waving to us, we waved back and passed the point of no return. I was leaking for about another 45minutes after that, all through the corridors and during much of Lucas’ play time at the playground. He got some good running around time, jumping and playing tag with many other children. I let him play for about an hour before we went to get something to eat and headed to the gate. We took the tram and walked to our gate, S6, where we saw some ‘friends’ from the play area, a boy and a little girl with their mother. The little girl had taken much time to show me all the cool tricks she could do while on the play toys. The kids played for a while, laughing and jumping cars until they had to board their flight to Anchorage. This was when I noticed the time, 7:50, and the fact that there were only about 5 other people next to this gate. When I got out our tickets, it said boarding began at 7:35, so I knew something was wrong… We gathered up our things and headed to the ‘big board’ to check…sure enough, we should have been at gate S9!!!!!  Whoops!! I guess looking through the water in my eyes, I missed flipped the number…we rushed over to S9 to find that at that exact moment they were calling our names to board. It was a bit of a frenzy, but we finally made it on the plane. Lucas carrying baby, and me carrying everything else onto the plane, bumping into everything along the way. What a mess…
So, FINALLY, we are on the plane and seated, waiting to take off. Now, this is a big plane and we were one of the first to board, so I didn’t really think much of the amount of time it was taking to take-off, until an announcement came on over the speaker, “Ladies and gentlemen, we just wanted to inform you that we have completed some maintenance on the left engine and will be starting it up and shutting it off to test it out.” (!!!!!!!!!!!) My thoughts are we are flying on this plane halfway around the world, and there is ENGINE maintenance happening now!!!!!   You can only imagine the thoughts that were going through my head at this point. So they started it up and shut it off, then we sat there for a bit longer (my thoughts festering and multiplying into ‘bigger’ and ‘better’ scenarios). Then it was time to take off. We made it down the runway and into the air in a very smooth takeoff (thank you Captain). About ten minutes into the flight, with my mind still mulling over this whole “left engine” thing, there was a loud POP and something flew past my head and bounced around the cabin. OH …..(insert choice word)!!  I about threw up!!!! We are almost up to cruising altitude and now a BOLT has popped off the cabin of the plane, I’m imagining part of the plane breaking apart and now, we’re going down….UGH! That left engine, I knew taking this plane was a bad idea!! So, with my eyes as big as the moon, looking around the cabin, the girl in front of my said something and looked really embarrassed. She held up a small champagne bottle, from which the cork had popped as our altitude increased. It was slightly humorous once I got past the whole I’m-going-to-throw-up-because-the-plane-is-going-down thing. The rest of the flight was uneventful, we chased the sunset for many hours, so mostly what I saw was beautiful sunsets amidst beautiful clouds. The plane had small tv sets on the back of the seats so everyone could watch their own choice of TV, movie, etc. This was perfect, because they had Cars 1 and 2 so Lucas could watch these without me having to get out my computer. He fell asleep about two hours into the flight and slept most of the time. I tried to doze here and there, but this was difficult in this confined space, while also trying to keep Lucas asleep. 

We arrived at the airport just about 11:40pm (Beijing Time) on the night of July 25^th. So, not only were we on a plane for 12 hours, but then we lost another 12. After finally getting off the plane with all of our things, much more gracefully than the trip onto the plane, thank goodness. The moment we stepped off the plane, there was the overwhelming rush of HOT, MUGGY air, hello Beijing….Next step was to follow the masses to the baggage claim. We grabbed one, then two of the big, bell-hop style carts and waited for our boxes and bags. They all came out in one rush, so it was a mad frenzy to grab them all off of the turnstile, with Lucas at my heels pointing them out. Finally I got them all off and onto the cart, then  with Lucas ‘helping’ to push, we got these two large carts through the “nothing to claim” aisle. One of the security men came up to help us push one through the big gate to where the ‘non-flight’ folks wait. We saw the “BISS” sign almost immediately. Phew!! Once we met Joyce, we went to the van, loaded everything and headed to the apartment. A half hour from the airport, we were finally at our apartment! YAY!!  After making it through the maze of the parking garage, we were at the garage door, leading to the elevator. Joyce took us up to the apartment and we looked around. It was 30 degrees Celcius (and muggy) in the apartment, so I knew my first task was going to be how to figure out how to cool it off. We put the bags we brought up with us into one of the rooms and went down to get more. Joyce and the driver helped to get everything up the elevator and into the apartment, then after leaving us with the emergency numbers, settling in allowance, and copies of the lease, she left. Now it was 2am Beijing time and we were hot, tired, and alone in Beijing. Our apartment is a two bedroom, with large beds, there is a small kitchen, spacious living/dining room, and bathroom with a shower. We have a washing machine but no dryer, and a fridge in the living/dining room. There is a microwave, but no oven. We have a large window overlooking the city, and a window/sitting area in my room. First thing I did was look around the place, which was not “furnished” to the extent I imagined. I had expected the basics: sheets, pillows, dishes, silverware, etc. What I found was an apartment that was not cleaned fully, the floors were dirty, dusty under the furniture and in the corners, the fridge had clearly had something go rotten in it, there were no towels, the bedding that was left had stains, there were only a couple dishes (not clean), the microwave was dirty, and the pans that were left were scraped and yucky looking. Clearly I had a LOT of work to do to get this place up to my standards of living. Luckily one of the mattresses was brand new, still in the plastic, and since I did not bring any bedsheets, I tore off the plastic and that was where we slept on night #1, when we went to bed at 3am.

JULY 2013-Last Weekend before the Move to China

So, this last weekend was the hardest one yet. At this time, there are only 2 days until we fly to China. We spent great (though very short) time with some very important people in our lives, and as we have gotten closer and closer to the time of departure, my heart gets heavier with thoughts of those I love and will be leaving. My family is so important to me and has been such a big part of me growing up. We always had family celebrations and traditions that we kept alive from year to year...and as you know, we got older and things changed. Distance separates us.
We traveled for the last time to my hometown, where we drove by the house I grew up in. It brought back so many happy memories of the times I had there as a child. It is funny how you have in your mind a perspective, a picture of how you remember a place or time and when you return to this place, time has changed it. Time changes all things, and to go back it all seems so much bigger. And yes, a lot of it was, the trees are taller, the bushes fuller....and though basically things were the same, it was different.
One thing people have said to me over and over is how big of a move this is, how brave I am to be doing this and asking me if I am scared. And no, I'm not scared.  Though I never really understood what the big deal was... To me, I was just following my dream, going somewhere that I have always wanted to go, doing what I have always wanted to do.  My trip got me thinking more and more about this though. People each have their level of comfort, looking around you will see people who move away from their hometown's and people who stay and raise their own families there. It occurred to me how big this was.
We went to church this evening with my brother. We hadn't been in a while, and my home church is always welcoming and the best to come back to, though over the years it too has changed. 

So....I'm moving to CHINA!!!

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 :)

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!!!

Amanda  :)

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!

Moving Meetings!!

Ni hao! We have been well underway with packing and going through things.  In an effort to make the transition easier for my son, I have organized "moving meetings" for us to go through his things. Our first was the Stuffed Animal Moving Meeting, where we put all of the animals on the floor of Lucas' bedroom, and started by telling all the animals, "We want to start by telling you that we love you all, but we just can't take all of you to China with us." We then went through all of the animals and Lucas decided if the animals were "China, Storage, or New Home." After the animals, we had the Book Moving Meeting where we went through all of the books. We have been doing daily "China Chores" in order to keep focused on the move and making progress towards our new adventure. We have quite a lot done, but still so much to do! The good thing about packing up your life?? You get to make a super cool BOX FORT with all the boxes of your belongings. :)