Greetings from sunny Tucson, AZ! Unlike my last post date, I have seen no snow falling, just sitting way on top of mountains where I did not go. Instead, we slathered on the sunscreen and hiked by a roaring creek in the Catalinas on our last spring break for a couple of years. We do have a break later in the spring in China, but it's called "Tomb Sweeping," when we are supposed to go clean up the tombs of our ancestors. If you have any ancestors buried in Shanghai, let me know and I'll see what I can do next year.
So we have started our Farewell Tour (T-shirts yet to be printed) here in Tucson with our friends Steve, Edina, Lourdes, and their various children. This has been very useful for our trip preparations, because the first day here we attended the second annual Tucson Festival of Books (a must do for those of you near the area next year) and I met JA Jance, a favorite author of mine, who was very enthusiastic about the trip and recommended getting at least one Kindle of books, much to Joe's delight (he's been asking for a Kindle for some time now). She also tried to introduce me to Janis Ian, the singer, but I didn't really pick up on that in time and ended up looking like an idiot. That's a story for another blog, perhaps called "How I Manage to Misunderstand Everyone," or maybe that's a new CBS show for the fall. Anyway, Steve and Edina have just come back from an orchestra tour in China (she's a violist), so they were full of great books and even greater ideas. Steve used to work for Delta, so he is my new expert on how to get my stuff to China, and what to ask about transit visas and cargo shipping.
We got our second preparatory newsletter from dear Jeff, and we are delighted to learn that we are the farthest ahead in getting our documentation ready (our competitive spirit knows no bounds). My sister Rhonda attributes this to the fact that she started telling us what to do as soon as we called her with the news of our contracts. She is my bossy older sister and suggests I should be grateful for that, which of course I am. I Googled the school's address and found a pretty specific map location, but couldn't get to the street view, either because Chinese law prohibits it or because I'm not that great with Google maps, I'm not sure which. My new colleague Wendy writes to say that the kids are really great (as in, not that spoiled), but I should brush up on my ESL (English as a Second Language) skills, because some of the new students need a bit of help getting started. Our friend Rick (the counselor who will be in South Korea) had a bit of a health scare, and we thought for a few days that he might not be going abroad after all, but he turned out fine and will be there a week ahead of us, so we can't travel with him as we had hoped. Our friend Nate, who speaks Chinese and therefore travels there on business every three months, has been sending us pictures and news items to help us acclimate. I would post the pictures, but they're not really for public consumption. The news item was about a man who had to be rescued from his apartment when bottles of something unmentionable fell on him, but the really funny story was about a Shanghai lonely-hearts club made up of five women who were fleecing these poor men across China. They were discovered when one of the women claims to have actually fell in love and her would-be suitor turned her in to the cops. The Shanghai Daily News is certainly an entertaining news source!
Jack is currently without prospects, and he's really starting to warm up to strangers, realizing that he's got to find a good family. Tiffany the dental hygienist called to say that she has many reasons for turning him down, including general disinterest on the part of her boys and the fact that she hasn't actually mentioned her current four cats to her apartment manangement. Probably not a good situation, but better to know now than too late. I broke the news to my 90 year old Aunt Clara, who said, "Well, to each his own, I guess. You never know what good you might do there." Way to have our backs, Aunt Clara! I'm also starting work on my "Arizona" necklace, which will incorporate a lot of copper beads and red glass chili peppers. I haven't decided whether to augment this with Arizona gemstones or perhaps try my hand at creating the state flag in beads. I'll let you know and might even try posting a picture to this blog - oh boy!
Showing posts with label Jack. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jack. Show all posts
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Preparing to Go, baby steps
It has been a couple of weeks since we got our big news, and now we are busy trying to get everything done to get to China. The list seems endless, but we have little victories that keep us from the pit of despair. For instance:
Getting a visa: The list of required documents is pretty long, but the good news is that the school will shepherd them through the application process. We dutifully copied passports, transcripts and our marriage license, took passport style photos (10 each) with a white background and both ears clearly showing (gosh, do I wear earrings or not?), and took digital pictures of our diplomas (some of which were a bit hard to find, but we had a nice trip down memory lane). All of this went off in a package to the director's secretary in Shanghai, where she will get it on her second day back after the week off for Chinese New Year, and happy Year of the Metal Tiger to all of you, by the way. If all of this goes well, we will then have to go to LA, the site of the closest Chinese consulate, and our visa will be granted. Probably. We hope.
Getting immunizations: China doesn't require any immunizations to enter the country (which I found surprising), but we found strong recommendations for hepatitis, tetanus, typhoid, malaria, rabies, Japanese encephalitis, and even some lively discussions of yellow fever. I was donating blood last Tuesday and answering the questions about any recent immunizations when I noticed that the hepatitis question was for the last six months. Fortunately, this was before I gave blood, so my brain was still working and I asked the interviewer about the vaccine, which it turns out is given as three shots over a six month period. We called the county health department right away to get our vaccinations, and even so, the last hepatitis B vaccine will have to be administered in China. By the way, we skipped the rabies and Japanese encephalitis vaccines and went with hepatitis (a series of shots) and typhoid (an oral dose of four pills).
Taking care of the house: We are keeping our house in Flagstaff, and don't want to leave it sitting empty, but finding the right people is a tough call, especially as we would like to come home over the summer break. We had some ideas in the form of two lovely college girls we have known for two years, so we invited them out to dinner, plied them with Wildflower Bread Company pasta, and sprung it on them. They really did look like deer in the headlights, but they recovered gracefully and said they would think about it. A few days later, they called and asked us to meet them at Starbucks, where they plied us with Americano coffee for Joe and a rather bad iced tea thing for me, and accepted our offer! We are really pleased, because we know these girls very well and feel completely comfortable in having them in our home. We still have a few details to work out and have to draw up the lease, but that was a large burden lifted, so thanks girls! Also, we've had this dirtbike in our garage since the summer, when our former neighbors moved out and asked us to store it for "a few days." We were worried about what would happen if we left and it was still there, when we got a knock on the door from our neighbor coming to pick up the bike.
Taking care of Jack: We have been told that Jack could come with us, and it is possible in this present reality, but the more we read about it, the worse it sounds. Assuming he survived the 14 hour plane flight (a dog who is terrified of loud noises), he would then be in seven days of quarantine and we would be unable even to see him (a dog who doesn't like being alone and has severe food allergies). At the risk of being unkind to my new country, there's no way I'm trusting the communist government with the safekeeping of my dog! There is much more to this whole issue, and I'll just say food and fur trade and leave it at that, but the upshot is that Jack needs to stay here in Flagstaff. Joe keeps reminding me that God has been very busy putting the rest of this China package together, and He will take care of our precious Jack as well.
Meeting new friends: Jimmy Buffett says that "everybody's got a cousin in Miami," but I think he might be a little behind the times. As soon as we started sharing our good news, everyone said, "Hey, I know a friend/sister-in-law/former co-worker/father's former wife twice removed/whatever who lives in Shanghai, so I'll give them your email!" It's really great to know that when we show up, we'll have the Chinese version of Welcome Wagon (kids, ask somebody old to explain that reference). Also, we are amazed at the similarities between us and the current staff of SCIS: four NAU graduates and two ASU graduates (well, I can be nice when I'm that far from home, I guess). Also on staff, a recovered attorney now teaching first grade (she and I have already exchanged emails) and a medical doctor who decided to teach science AND plays the violin. We are going to love these people!
There is probably a lot more, but we are learning things as fast as we can. My sister and brother-in-law sent us a DVD to learn Chinese, or at least to start. We are checking out library books on China in general and Shanghai in particular and devouring them. Did you know that Shanghai has a magnetic levitation (maglev) train that takes you from the airport at 270 MILES PER HOUR? I didn't think so! and aren't you glad I shared that important piece of information? Well, then, more in the next post; I've got to go read some more!
Getting a visa: The list of required documents is pretty long, but the good news is that the school will shepherd them through the application process. We dutifully copied passports, transcripts and our marriage license, took passport style photos (10 each) with a white background and both ears clearly showing (gosh, do I wear earrings or not?), and took digital pictures of our diplomas (some of which were a bit hard to find, but we had a nice trip down memory lane). All of this went off in a package to the director's secretary in Shanghai, where she will get it on her second day back after the week off for Chinese New Year, and happy Year of the Metal Tiger to all of you, by the way. If all of this goes well, we will then have to go to LA, the site of the closest Chinese consulate, and our visa will be granted. Probably. We hope.
Getting immunizations: China doesn't require any immunizations to enter the country (which I found surprising), but we found strong recommendations for hepatitis, tetanus, typhoid, malaria, rabies, Japanese encephalitis, and even some lively discussions of yellow fever. I was donating blood last Tuesday and answering the questions about any recent immunizations when I noticed that the hepatitis question was for the last six months. Fortunately, this was before I gave blood, so my brain was still working and I asked the interviewer about the vaccine, which it turns out is given as three shots over a six month period. We called the county health department right away to get our vaccinations, and even so, the last hepatitis B vaccine will have to be administered in China. By the way, we skipped the rabies and Japanese encephalitis vaccines and went with hepatitis (a series of shots) and typhoid (an oral dose of four pills).
Taking care of the house: We are keeping our house in Flagstaff, and don't want to leave it sitting empty, but finding the right people is a tough call, especially as we would like to come home over the summer break. We had some ideas in the form of two lovely college girls we have known for two years, so we invited them out to dinner, plied them with Wildflower Bread Company pasta, and sprung it on them. They really did look like deer in the headlights, but they recovered gracefully and said they would think about it. A few days later, they called and asked us to meet them at Starbucks, where they plied us with Americano coffee for Joe and a rather bad iced tea thing for me, and accepted our offer! We are really pleased, because we know these girls very well and feel completely comfortable in having them in our home. We still have a few details to work out and have to draw up the lease, but that was a large burden lifted, so thanks girls! Also, we've had this dirtbike in our garage since the summer, when our former neighbors moved out and asked us to store it for "a few days." We were worried about what would happen if we left and it was still there, when we got a knock on the door from our neighbor coming to pick up the bike.
Taking care of Jack: We have been told that Jack could come with us, and it is possible in this present reality, but the more we read about it, the worse it sounds. Assuming he survived the 14 hour plane flight (a dog who is terrified of loud noises), he would then be in seven days of quarantine and we would be unable even to see him (a dog who doesn't like being alone and has severe food allergies). At the risk of being unkind to my new country, there's no way I'm trusting the communist government with the safekeeping of my dog! There is much more to this whole issue, and I'll just say food and fur trade and leave it at that, but the upshot is that Jack needs to stay here in Flagstaff. Joe keeps reminding me that God has been very busy putting the rest of this China package together, and He will take care of our precious Jack as well.
Meeting new friends: Jimmy Buffett says that "everybody's got a cousin in Miami," but I think he might be a little behind the times. As soon as we started sharing our good news, everyone said, "Hey, I know a friend/sister-in-law/former co-worker/father's former wife twice removed/whatever who lives in Shanghai, so I'll give them your email!" It's really great to know that when we show up, we'll have the Chinese version of Welcome Wagon (kids, ask somebody old to explain that reference). Also, we are amazed at the similarities between us and the current staff of SCIS: four NAU graduates and two ASU graduates (well, I can be nice when I'm that far from home, I guess). Also on staff, a recovered attorney now teaching first grade (she and I have already exchanged emails) and a medical doctor who decided to teach science AND plays the violin. We are going to love these people!
There is probably a lot more, but we are learning things as fast as we can. My sister and brother-in-law sent us a DVD to learn Chinese, or at least to start. We are checking out library books on China in general and Shanghai in particular and devouring them. Did you know that Shanghai has a magnetic levitation (maglev) train that takes you from the airport at 270 MILES PER HOUR? I didn't think so! and aren't you glad I shared that important piece of information? Well, then, more in the next post; I've got to go read some more!
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