Preparing the House

Sorry for a short and uneventful blog, but packing a house really leaves little to the imagination. We are taking our time with the packing, but have actually put clothes and other personal items into the big red duffles. Joe informed me that he will have the two duffles and I will take the third duffle with the large suitcase. I think this will work well if he chooses to overlook all the stuff that ends up in one of his duffles. The luggage scale from our Cromer colleagues is about to get a workout. I have cleaned out the guest room closet and half of my dresser, so I think the clothing matters are going well, and the three piles (taking to China, leaving in storage and taking to Goodwill) seem to be in proper balance. Today I gave away a dress that has been in my closet for 20 years which I have never worn!

I've had a lovely time discussing prescriptional matters with the geniuses at the Walgreens Mail Service. I knew my order for a full year of pills would give someone pause, so I called Blue Cross to see how they would handle it, then I sent a very detailed letter along with my very clear prescription off to Walgreens. Naturally, I received an email saying that my prescription would not be shipped because it was not covered under my insurance. (My next thought is not appropriate for all audiences, so you can use your imaginations.) I talked to a very nice woman named Jennifer, who probably never understood my requirement, but at least said she could get it put through, so my pills should be on their way this week. I have a second prescription to fill in another week or two and I think I might just walk it over to my local CVS where they all know my situation. Sometimes the personal touch is simply more efficient.

We did receive excellent personal attention from Travel Document Systems, our visa processing service recommended by our friend Nate. We mailed everything (passports, extra pictures, visa application, letters of introduction, travel itinerary) to TDS early last week and received a phone call asking for information on our employer. This is a tricky question, as we really don't have an employer at the moment, but our TDS contact (who never gave his name, just his email) assured me that a former employer would do, so good old FUSD gets to provide us one last bit of service (thanks, Barbara!). I will probably be holding my breath until those passports come back.

Water, Water, Everywhere

A week in the Kentuckiana region (Louisville and the parts of southern Indiana right across from Louisville) really got me started thinking about living with humidity again. Great for my skin and violin, tough on my hair and any outdoor activity. Therefore, we stayed indoors for most of the rest of the Midwestern trip, which gave us time to make some preliminary plans for when Helen and Tim come to Shanghai, which they started talking about as soon as they heard our news in February. I read the first few pages of a book on learning "the basic 800" Chinese characters, a wonderful gift from Joe's sister Lisa, and was greatly encouraged to learn that the system of characters is no more complicated than reading musical notation. I wonder if the authors know how to read musical notation... We also visited with one of my seminary professors who was thrilled with the news and called me "Lottie Moon," a famous early missionary to China so loved by the Southern Baptist denomination that we named our foreign missions offering drive after her. (Remember that, Baptist friends?) In the continuing coincidence department, we ran into one of Joe's multicultural counseling professors as we were walking to our plane in the Louisville airport, so Joe was able to get some quick ideas about resources.

We got back to Flagstaff, thanks to Rhonda and Andy's taxi service, and found Faun with a newly broken hand (fourth or fifth metacarpal, nice waterproof blue cast), and we've spent this weekend hearing news about successive fires on every side of the city. Our home is safe (so far), but where is all that water when you need it? Rhonda offered to take Jack back with her, but I held off, as we'd barely seen him during the summer and I didn't think I could combine Father's Day with moving my dog away. I bought myself four more weeks, so we'll see if the idea gets any easier... hmmm, what are the odds? Also, we've started the party planning for here and in Phx, and the lists seem to get longer every day - whew! Well, I'm off to pray for rain; maybe a modern Lottie Moon can be effective in a slightly different role.

The Farewell Tour Continues

First, we went camping with Faun and Randy, Mira and Bruce, Beth, Carol, and four dogs. It was a weekend of record-breaking heat in Flagstaff, but we still found lots of water in the tanks and even patches of snow for the dogs to enjoy. As an engineer for a large oil company (not BP), Bruce has traveled to many parts of the world, and we had a good time talking about gestures in Nigeria (a smooching sound that is intended to get someone's attention) and Brazil (where it is not OK to make the OK hand gesture). We will have an interesting time discovering Chinese gestures, which I assume will come more quickly than the spoken slang.

Next, we met many of my relatives, including my father's remaining siblings and sister-in-law, at a seniors' bowling tournament at Sam's Town in Las Vegas. I've been going up there for a few years to watch my Uncle Steve burn up the alleys in the Primetimers annual tournament, but this year we added a Maywald/Hayes family reunion, with family coming from the Houston area, San Antonio, Phoenix and suburbs, Vegas, Indiana (my side) and South Dakota. It was a blast to see everyone and we got lots of good pictures. We still have a big farewell party in Phoenix in July, but this was a nice start, and I got to show off the school brochure with the nice picture of the new auditorium.

Finally, we flew out to Louisville for a week with friends and family there. Again, we had a huge showing from Joe's family, with four generations represented. We were originally scheduled to meet in a city park, but local heads prevailed to move to a restaurant, and no sooner had we been seated than the northern Indiana skies opened for a "frog-strangler," as Andy Griffith would say. Nevertheless, we had a great time and everyone agreed that we should do it more often. Maybe next summer.

We've had more communication from our school about various opportunities. Jeff Stubbs, our old friend, wrote to ask about interest in pursuing online doctorates (EdD), although he hasn't nailed down a school as yet. He's talking to places like UCLA and Princeton, which really makes me think twice about adding yet another diploma to my wall. Jeff Martin wrote to give some basic details about our duties in activities, where each staff member leads or works with two after school clubs. He talked a lot about sports (probably because he's a PE teacher), so I'm wondering if I can start a bowling club. Today as we were driving through Indiana, we donated to a football team because the mascot was the Dragons, so we felt like that would give us a leg up on supporting our new school (also the Dragons), so there's our little bit of karma for the week.

Next week: getting home and starting the packing/yard renovation/clothing decisions... or maybe we'll just take some long naps.

Face to Face, More or Less

Joe got an email from Tammy Rodabaugh, my name doppelganger and his new Chinese principal, asking if we could Skype with her about general counseling issues and a potential Lower School music position for me. After a few tries, we finally got together on Tuesday night (her Wednesday morning) and had a very nice talk. She has very pretty long brown hair and large round glasses, which is not particularly relevant, but I like to remember first impressions. Her proposed music position was also an excellent first impression. One of the current music teachers, who happens to be Chinese, is leaving at the end of this school year (next Friday), and because Ms. Rodabaugh doesn't want her music teachers to be overloaded, she is hiring two people to fill the departing teacher's position. One person will be a local hire so the school can maintain Chinese cultural music, and the other person could be me if everyone agrees. This would be general music for 1st-5th graders, 40 minute classes twice a week, and grade levels would be bunched together, so I wouldn't have to try to switch gears from class to class. I would probably also teach some strings in an after school setting, which means that my teaching day might start later than others' because I would go later (maybe 8:30-4:30). Anyway, it's up to our head of school, Michael Donaldson, and I should know something within the month. Joe also got to speak briefly with the school librarian about his "bibliotherapy," which made her put her hands over her heart in love, I think. Winning hearts from across the ocean, that's my husband!

The SCIS school year will be done on Friday (June 11) and the kids are taking a trip to the Shanghai EXPO 2010 (also known as the World's Fair). I have been reading great things about the fair, and we are looking forward to going when we arrive, because it runs through October, but we'll probably wait for the hot summer weather to break. I'm hoping to get a preview from one of my email buddies.

FUSD is done, or rather, we are done with FUSD, having turned in all our keys, computers, etc. Our colleagues at Cromer were very generous, giving us a lovely sendoff at the annual awards assembly, complete with awards for each of us and a beautiful bouquet of roses, then following up with a travel bag full of travel items at the end of year luncheon. There is much drama to come in the next week, when the district will make its decisions about which schools to close and what grade levels will be included in the remaining schools. Already two different parent groups have hired lawyers to sue the district for whatever decision is made. The rehire process for the teachers who will have to transfer buildings and also those who received RIF notices sounds a bit confusing to me, but my friend Faun seems to know what she's doing. I'm glad I'll be out of town until the dust settles, at least for the big decisions. Legal dust will probably take a bit longer; it usually does.

Storage

It's nice to be an affluent American (I know I'm affluent because I had to pay taxes this year when President Obama was giving tax breaks to middle and lower income Americans) and have a lot of stuff, but that stuff can really get in the way when you need it to fit in a small bedroom. We started our packing process this Memorial Day weekend and got the china cabinet packed (Joe likes that irony). Also, we ordered both our three 62" rolling duffel bags (red for good luck) and vacuum storage bags, and we'll see how well that works.

In my reading, I finished "Shanghai Girls," which I recommend if you like novels about Chinese women who survive the 1937 Japanese invasion and then fight against discrimination when they emigrate to Los Angeles. I loved it, especially the author's (Lisa See) use of Chinese vocabulary in various dialects. No, can't remember particular examples of the vocabulary; I'm still not really working on learning my Mandarin. I have started "Life and Death in Shanghai" by Nien Cheng, an autobiography of Ms. Cheng's experiences in a Chinese labor camp after the Communist takeover. So far my most probing question is how she was able to get iced tea in 1966, but I haven't read very far.

As the school year ends (two more days with children remain), I have been collecting my instruments, taking inventory and cleaning out my rooms. As that process completes, I turn in my keys to my schools, something I have never done in the past. I tried turning in the first set of keys this week, and ended up weeping all over the office, much to my surprise. Yes, I liked the school and my colleagues very much, but just didn't expect the simple act of turning in keys to be so emotional. This doesn't bode well for my upcoming farewell parties!

Pajamas Are Not Street Clothes

Or so says the Shanghai government. Like many people here in the US, the Chinese have recently taken to wearing their pajamas out in public, and with the Expo in full swing, the Shanghai officials are cracking down on this less-than-elegant habit. Citizens have signed up to be "pajama squads," taking public pajama wearers back home to get some pants, for pete's sake! Once again, I find myself coming down on the side of the communist government.

Our papers came from the school and they look really beautiful with all the characters. No idea what any of it means, but the document processing service says they can handle everything with no problem, so we'll send our passports, visa applications and introduction papers when we're done with school here in June. We'll be getting a 90-day visa at first, then upgrading to a multiple-entry visa after we get there, but I'm not sure how that works. I think that's one of those things taken on faith.

I also had a little experience this week that reminded me of something that's been happening in China recently. My kids and I were involved in a lockdown at one of my schools when a robbery happened in the neighborhood and the authorities thought the robber might be in our vicinity. We had an interesting 30 minutes or so (during which I did almost nothing according to protocol except for locking the door), and then everything was fine. My colleagues in China have not been so fortunate. The rural areas (not Shanghai and certainly NOT my school) have had several incidents where individuals have broken into the school and killed both students and teachers using things as basic as a hammer, which is a real heartbreaker when you consider that these parents only get one child. How will the government respond to this?

Just the same, we're still excited and amazingly, still finding people to tell. I spoke to a couple of my former teachers, my neighbor down the street (who had already heard and was really just confirming), and even the author of the book I read this week ("Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" by Lisa See, a great novel about the relationships among Chinese women in the 19th century, and I highly recommend it). One thing agreed on by people in the know: Shanghai in August is "hot and humid" (Ms. See) or "hot and sultry" (Wendy, my email buddy). Ugh. A recent point of contention centers around continuing confusion about the blocking power of the Great Firewall. Beth (a recent NAU visitor to Beijing) says Facebook is fine and blogging is blocked, while Chris (the IT genius at my school) maintains just the reverse. I guess I'll find out when I get there, but I've read more opinions supporting Chris than Beth. Also, my Australian email buddy is very enthusiastic about Chinese health care and medications, so I wonder if I'm not suffering from some American bias (or is that bigotry?). Problem is, China doesn't produce any credible healthcare stats for comparative purposes. Again, something to take on faith.

More Farewells

We have eleven days of school remaining, and I am finishing up my final concerts. My colleagues at Knoles gave me a lovely send-off this week, complete with two pairs of earrings, nice and light so they will fit in my still unpurchased luggage. Joe is trying very hard to stay focused at work where most of the meetings and discussions deal with next year's schedules and personnel. Our visa supporting documents will be sent to us in the coming week, and Ms. Kasono has also sent quite a few emails about what and what not to say in our application. We will have to call our chosen consulate to find out if they will require us to have a round-trip ticket. If so, the school will contact its travel agent and help us out on that point, which is a relief to us and our checking account!

I'm still having a good time announcing my plans to the very few people in Flagstaff who haven't heard. I was waiting to get some blood drawn when the woman sitting next to me asked what I was reading. I had "Being Chinese" with me, which sounds pretty nuts when you look at my blue eyes and curly hair, so I got to explain my reading choice. By the way, it's a great book of stories of people who are ethnically Chinese but not born in China. I am fascinated by the importance of maintaining Chinese culture, regardless of the person's country of birth, as well as the rather recent history of paper sons and daughters (where Chinese children moved to other countries using immigration papers of other people), and I'm learning about Buddhist worship practices and Chinese holidays and festivals. I should probably put some of these on my calendar!