Here Comes The Sun

If everything goes according to plan, by this time tomorrow I will be getting on a plane, or at least arriving at the airport, and heading out for the big journey.  Holy scooby snacks.  I have finally begun to panic.  When I think about the fact that I am leaving I get a nauseous feeling in my throat and go a little cold.  So very excited and so very terrified all at once.  I am starting to believe that it is mainly excitement.  I think the nervousness is coming more from the stress of getting there then the thought of actually being there.

And I still have so much to get done!  If I knew my flight information this would not be as bad, but I don't, so instead I have to wait until the day before and then franticly call the airline I end up flying with for information about the baggage rules and all that.  I have come to the conclusion that I will not be able to make things work if I need to get only 50 lbs a suitcase.  the cases themselves weigh a little over 10 lbs, and sadly 80 lbs of clothing, shoes, bathroom stuff, and other things is not enough for a year.

My mom's friend works with someone who's son is also heading out to Korea possibly on the same day as I am and going to the same town. While I have no clue who this person is, I kinda hope he is on the flight with me so we can flip shit together rather than in silence.

So now I leave you all until the next time I post.  If I don't leave tomorrow I am sure you will get an angry rant about it but If I do, the next post will be coming to you live from Daegu, South Korea!!!

Can't Get "Leaving On A Jet Plane" Out Of My Head

Well lovely people, The time is growing closer, I am starting to get more nervous, and I still am having packing trouble. I can not seem to get the right amount of weight into the right number of bags.  I am very close however.

I got all of my finances taken care of, and my banking stuff fixed.  I am starting to clean up my room and office and set it up to be left for a year.  I am saying goodbye to my pets, family, and friends.  I am collecting addresses so I can send people stuff from Korea.

Later today I am heading to Target to buy a new Ipod and headphones.  I have a big old bonfire set up for tonight, as long as the rain holds off.

Even with all of this going on, I have little to say because I have settled into a state of complete shock and numbness.  My visa will be returned to me by monday and I will be leaving within a few days of that.

I leave you with a super adorable picture of one dog and a video of the other.  Two things I will be staring at a lot over the next year.

Packing Pains

I spent the entire day yesterday going through my mountain of clothing, trying to slim it down to a manageable amount of stuff.  I packed up my large suitcase and the little one, ended up with only half of my stuff packed and a two suitcases that are too heavy.  So its on to Plan B.

I'm going to send some of my stuff in the mail.  There is no way around it.  I really do not think I have that much clothing.  I wear all of my clothes all year, adding layers when it gets to be cold.  I have a lot of shoes, most of which are flats or boots.  I have way too many scarves, hats, and mittens because my mom is constantly knitting them for me.

So, I will have the large 50 pound suitcase, the smaller 30 pound suitcase, a 15 pound carry-on, and my purse.  I will also have my parents send one or two 20 pound boxes to me once I get settled in.

Today, I head to chicago to turn in the last paperwork, and I say goodbye to friends tomorrow at the last bonfire.  I still have to get to the bank and call the credit card company and buy one or two more things.  I also need to email the travel and tech folks and ask them what exactly will be happening once I get off the plane, how do I get where I am going, is there going to be someone meeting me?  In fact, I think I will do that right now.

One Week, One Week, One Week!!

This weekend was a weekend of goodbyes.  I got together with most of my dad's side of the family on saturday to see my cousin Niki and her new baby girl, and to say goodbye to them all.  I got really tired of telling people if I was excited of scared and of telling them how come I was going.  I was tempted to make a t-shirt that had all the questions pre-answered.

Sunday I went up to madison to see Jess and Ian for lunch and a bit of halloween browsing.  Then I headed to my aunt's house to see her and say goodbye, then I went to Dana's new place in Edgerton.  Her place is super cute and it is in the middle of beautiful countryside.  She and Joe also have an adorable puppy who used to have the same name as me!  Thank god they changed it, that would have been a bit weird.

A week from today I will be living on the other side of the world.  I still seem to be unable to wrap my head around it completely, but after spending the day organizing my clothing and shoes and other belongings, the panic has definitely gone up.  Tonight I will be going over the exact measurements of the suitcases I can get away with and the right number and weights and packing everything to test it out.  Then I unpack it all, wash it, and then repack it.  I have taken over mot of the house with my belongings and junk.  I have also collected together a ton of stuff to donate.

Tomorrow, I drive to chicago to turn in the last of my forms, then i wait three days to hear back and get my ticket and I am gone.  While I wait, I will be notifying my bank, and the post office of my change of address and I need to call up my credit card company as well.  Besides packing and stressing about all that, I spend as much time as possible with my pets and my family.  I can not wait to be on the plane and away.

One Step Closer, Nine Days To Go

After a week of nail-biting waiting,  I got my visa insurance number!  Yay Me!  Monday or Tuesday I head to Chicago to the Korean Consulate to turn in the visa application and within hopefully three days, I will be all set to leave!

My contract begins on the 31st of this month, nine days from now.  I feel like I need to keep repeating this to myself so that it finally sets in.  It is almost too big a concept to get my head around.  I finished my last day at target, I am saying goodbye to family today, I have all but one or two things bought for departure, and I still do not really feel like I am leaving.  I have a feeling it will settle in a little more each day until the moment the plane takes off, at which point I will have a full on breakdown.  Hopefully not.

Right now I am beginning to flip-flop between really excited and verge of panic.  The panic is more related to the packing and keeping myself occupied on the 22 hour flight then with really leaving.  I have waned to do this for over a year and I feel like I am relatively prepared to leave.  I am sure the first night there alone I will have a good cry about missing my family, friends, and mostly my pets, but then I will be so busy learning, working, and exploring that I will forget to be lonely.

Well, I am off to cut my wardrobe in half!

A Whole New Wardrobe For $62

Platteville was quite fun as usual.  It was homecoming, not that that really effected my trip at all, and there were a lot of parents and visitors around campus.  Jess, Ian and I really didn't know anyone at all coming back for it so it was just a basic weekend for us.  Got there late friday.  Saturday, Jess and I sat around watching PBS until Goodwill opened, the splurged there.  Sunday, we relaxed, and watched more PBS, yelling violently at idiot politicans, and then went to goodwill and walmart for a bit more shopping before I headed out.

I spent a total of $62 on clothing while I was there.  I went with specific goals in mind and I followed them very closely.  I only bought one item that I wonts be able to wear to work but I can wear it anywear else.  My goals were to find nice pants for work, shirts to wear under my blazers, tanktops to wear under some shirts that are too low for work, and To find a few more cardigans.

The only thing I bought that I can;t wear to work was a black and red pirate sweater.  It was completly adorable and very me so I bought it anyway.  At a high cost of $2, it was a big slurge!  I will probably wear it all over the place this winter and in spring and, who knows, maybe I could wear it on some kind of holiday in Korea to work.

I found four really great cardigans there as well.  Two of them are plain and very simple.  I need them to go over some of the tank tops and t-shirts that I already own that have lots of colors and designs on them.  The other plain one is not the prettiest color but I loved the style of it.  It feels a little like something from the 50s with the one button on the top, and it looks adorable with a plain tank and a skirt.  The last one I found is a Liz Claiborne, pale blue cardigan with small flowers on it.  I wasn't sure if it was too pretty but it looks great and is so very soft.  Never thought I would become such a cardigan fan.

I also found a plain brown sweater that will work great with the pants I bought.  It isn't fancy or even all that pretty but I will be able to dress it up and it will be nice for those days when I don't feel like putting as much effort into my appearance.  And I got a cute little blue top to wear under my blazers, as well as a olive and black striped t-shirt.  I love that the stripes on the t-shirt are all different sizes and are not straight across.  I also loaded up on tank tops in various colors and patterns, to be worn under lower shirts and cardigans and blazers.  Pictured are about half of them.

I managed to find three pairs of trousers for work as well.  I didn't find a solid black pair, but I got two brown pairs and and a gray and navy pinstripe pair.  There were a lot of REALLY bad pants out there. Many were ankle length which I do not really like and one pair had the zipper sewn on the outside and looked like something a stripper wold wear.  The ones I found are actually pretty good brands, one is even coldwater creek.  The pants alone would have cost me over $100 dollar if I bought them new, which is why I love goodwill.

In addition to the pants, I found two very cute vintage skirts.  They are thick enough to be worn with leggings when it gets colder out and cool enough to wear in the hot summer.  Plus they looked great with a bunch of the tops I bought.

At walmart I bought a pair of $5 shoes, a $3 necklace, and a $5 belt.  I really liked the shoes, and they were gray flats, which I have been looking for, so that worked out well.  The necklace is long and simple, but I liked that it had some american coins on it.  I thought it would be fun to have some america along when I get to Korea.  I really needed a new black waist belt.  My old one is now to large for my waist and is always falling down.  The little snake detail was a nice touch.  Amazingly, I needed a size small for a snug enough fit!

And that is all the crazy stuff I got.  I joked with jess that I bought and entire wardrobe this weekend, but mine really needed a lot of these basics.  I am now going to try to pack again.  I think I am going to try on all my clothes and make them into outfits.  If it no longer fits, doesn't fit right, or if I can not make an outfit with it, I am giving it away.  I also need to cut back on the number of sweatpants, and old t-shirts I bring.

I also just noticed that this was post 100 for me so congrats to me!

Well Deserved Break, Or Not

I mailed off my paperwork on tuesday, checked and double checked and triple checked. I was told it would take a little over a week to get it all sorted and sent back to me so I figured I would have a leisurely week to pack up everything, add in the things I have been told I should be sure to bring, and get ride of things ?I no longer need.  I also Thought this would give me time to do some real hard workouts to get ride of the few pounds I gained back because of all the stress eating I have been doing (terrible I know, but I couldn't help it!)

I went to bed tuesday night feeling perfectly fine and super excited about all the things I was getting done, only to wake up on wednesday feeling congested, and icky.  It wasn't to bad so I headed to work and after three hours I was completely miserable. Sore throat, stuffy head, fever, the whole shabang.  I left work and went home to sleep with the hopes that I could catch this now and it wouldn't drag on for days or weeks.  Now two days later the fever is gone, but I am still really congested and have developed a lovely deep cough.

I have wasted two day of valuable time and now the stress is back again.  I do not care.  I am going to platteville today so I can say goodbye to Jess and hit up the goodwill there for some nice work pants and maybe some tops.  When I get back I am still going to work out again, I will just have to take it easy until I feel back to normal.  The last thing I need right now is a head cold for a 22 hour plane flight.

Okay, Here We Go!

I have spent the last three days franticly gathering all of my paperwork and payments into a pile to send off with a courier service tomorrow, straight to Korea.  I signed the contract and all the other things that I had to sign and have it all in a stack on my desk waiting for the address to send it too.  This pile contains:

1. The contract, signed and dated
2. Two apostille sealed copies of my diploma
3. Two passport photos
4. My FBI criminal check, apostille sealed
5. One copy of my resume
6. One photocopy of the first page of my passport, signed
7. One completed self health check

After this arrives in Korea it will go through processing and i will get back my visa insurance number, a task which should take about a week.  When I get this al back, I will head to my local Korean Consulate with this number and money for fees and my passport and an application and pray that my visa is accepted.  Then it is Auf Wiedersehen to america and Guten Tag to Korea.

While my paperwork is traveling the globe, I will be here franticly packing up everything I think I will need, or that I have been told to bring along and figuring out the whole baggage system for all the possible airlines I could fly on so I make sure my fees are not outrageous. I have decided to give in a buy a new Ipod Classic because it has enough battery life to last the whole flight and I can get all of my music on to it.  I think I may also invest in some new headphones.  I need to pick up some gifts for my students and for the director of the school and well as some stuff to help remind me of home.  

I am heading back to Platteville one last ime this weekend to say goodbye to Jess and to pick up some more things for work at the goodwill.  Later this week I will update you on changing companies, fright fest, and making salsa!  

And...............

I have only one thing to say right now, tomorrow I will expand on this statement.  For Now.....

I GOT A POSITION!!!!!!

KOREA HERE I COME!!!

Time To Freak Out!

Over the last week I had a couple offers for teaching positions in Korea.  Most were for a month or so from now, and all of them fell through.  Yesterday at about five o'clock, I got received a phone call from Shane at Travel and Teach About an offer that had just opened up.  Another girl had dropped out of a position due to a family illness and they were offering me the opportunity to apply.  The catch was that I would be leaving ASAP, possibly within a week or so.  I have agreed to try for the position and have been freaking out since then.  Excited, terrified, disbelieving....  In a week I could be writing to you from Korea!!!!!!!!

I am going to go back to freaking out now.  I will probably do a more in depth entry when I find out more and explain why I am no longer working with Gone2Korea, How the application works, and other dandy items as the day draws closer.

AHHHHHHHHH!!!!