A Traveling Newbie

My visa just arrived!  At least I thought it was going to be my visa.  I ran down the stairs to get to the door before the dogs who make it sound like they are going to tear off the leg of any FedEx man who dares step on the porch, and grabbed the envelope I've been waiting for for weeks.  As I climbed back upstairs to my sister's bedroom (my current gear staging area) I tore open the envelope.  Inside was just my passport.  Floating around in the giant envelope as if to say, "haha you thought you were going to pull this off."  What does this mean?  Couldn't they at least write me a post it or something to tell me what I did wrong?  Do I need to change my flights?  Can I still go? OH NO OH NO OH NO!  As I was dialing the LA consulate a funny piece of text in my passport caught my eye.  And there it was, my visa.  Such a newbie. 

I also spent some time looking through the customs page to see what I can take in to New Zealand.  I was concerned about the 3lb. of Pike Roast from Starbucks currently nestled in gift mugs in my suitcase.  And then I wondered if it was a big deal to be bringing Starbucks coffee anyway.  What kind of coffee do they have there.  A quick google search gave me an answer.  There is a Starbucks 6 minutes from my address in Lower Hutt.  So much for my unique Seattle gifts.  

I could take these two mishaps as a bad omen, a sign that I am in way over my head.  But the thing is they are just me and how I operate in the world.  I am sure I will have many more little mishaps like this as I head out on this new adventure.  But hey, that's what makes it worthwhile I think.  

Feeling so excited.  2 days left!

One Week

One week from today I will be at the airport and ready to go.  I have so much to do between now and then. Preparing to travel and to teach at the same time has been a bit daunting.  I have Hemingway and Shakespeare to read and lessons to plan.  Not to mention the epic suitcase hunt that is about to happen, or the amount of teaching outfits I have been working on putting together.  Also the nice woman at the consulate in California informed me that usually visas take 3 to 4 weeks this time of year, not 1 like my instructions said.  Not to worry though, she said she would rush it for me.

The pieces will fall into place and I will be off.  I know the next week is going to fly by.  Feeling super excited today, but a bit overwhelmed by what is left to get ready.  

I went up to Seattle yesterday to visit with Lauren and Judy.  We ate at a great Thai place on the Ave and I wondered if they have good ethnic food in Wellington.  Then Lauren and I went to Pike Place and bought touristy things as gifts for my hosts and mentors in New Zealand.  We ended up picking out some nice Seattle themed mugs and Pike Roast from Starbucks.  

Goodbyes

Leaving Bellingham felt much different this time.  There are so many memories there now.  It is the first place I made a home for myself, and I fell in love with the town.  I know that I probably will not live there again, and if I do it will be a long time from now.  I went to practice my last day in town and spent some time being nostalgic at Lakewood.  I remember this feeling from leaving high school.  I was happy with Odyssey and JagWire and all of my friends, and leaving them felt scary and kind of like putting my whole life in a blender.  I feel that way again now.  Like my life is getting dumped into a blender and I don't know what it will look like after the mix-up is done.  The thing is I was happy in college too.  I left one wonderful community and found another, or built another for myself.  The blending parts of life are good for me.  I grow and change and learn from my life and the world.  I am leaving people I love very much in Bellingham, places that hold cherished memories, and pieces of myself.  There are things that are unresolved there, but it is time to move on.

Yesterday I mailed my laptop back, researched banking, and goofed around most of the day.  Today I am cleaning and packing and washing things from snowshoeing.  I feel like I have a million things to do, and also like I'm spinning my wheels at the same time.

I think I'm preparing for goodbyes.

Getting Ready

I fly out in 11 days and I am getting incredibly excited for the coming adventures.  I have lessons to plan and packing to do, but I keep finding myself on sites to research tramping (that's Kiwi for hiking).  I think it's my way of remembering that this is an adventure.  It's ok that everything is up in the air because it's time to explore, dream, discover and all that jazz.  There are so many details of things I hadn't thought about before now that have come up in the last week.  Between finding time to say goodbyes and researching banks, costs, computers, and a myriad of other things, I haven't found much time to be bored.

In the last two weeks I've been excited, terrified, anxious, stoked, sad, amazed, and just overall incredibly in awe of what the coming months will bring.  I have no idea what my life will be like there, and what the place and people will teach me.  All I can do is jump!  This is a huge step for me personally and professionally, and in 11 days off I go.