Nov 18, 2006

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Updates

HECTIC!

The only word that can be used to describe the past few weeks. October 26-29 Josh and I visited Washington, D.C. (great trip). Then, November 2-5, Josh attended APPAM in Madison ,WI followed by a couple of days in Little Rock collecting data for his dissertation/office study on the Little Rock merit pay system. I've been working late nights and weekends trying to wrap up the production end of two December workshops. So, our personal, get-ready-to-move-to-do-list is not getting any shorter.

Despite not having yet purchased StudentSafe Insurance, Josh and I did submit documents to purchase plane tickets. All was well, and we quickly received an email from Karmen with RITS stating a suitable itinerary (the flights we wanted on American/Qantas/Air NZ departing Northwest Arkansas Regional on January 25)...until we scrolled down to the bottom of the page and read the cost for my ticket...over $2,400. YIKES!

We emailed her back stating that she should play around with the return date to find cheaper fares because we will have to change the return date anyway as the furthest out one can purchase roundtrip tickets is 331 days and we plan to stay one year. We have yet to hear back from her and it is going on a week now (agh).

The insurance purchase is getting frustrating, too. At least our contact Cherry seems frustrated with us in her ever shorter emails. We do just need to buy it and be done with it. We didn't want to wire money which carries a $50 fee but the hassle of international mail and cutting a cashier's check doesn't seem to be worth the small amount of savings. At some point, you just have to be an adult and quit trying to be so cheap in every situation. I hope we will purchase insurance this week.

But this week is a short week with Thanksgiving and there's work and Josh's dissertation. We have so many things yet to do. Here's what the current to do list looks like (it mostly gets longer rather than having items crossed off):

International Service on Cell Phones

Storage Costs

Insurance-BUY IT!

Purchase Plane Tickets-Expensive!

Email Rotary 6110 with updates

Email Wayne and Roger

Get new driver's license

Tax info

I cried about the move for the first time two weeks ago on Saturday, November 4. I was sitting at the table, surfing the internet trying to find a place to live in Palmy (an impossible feat I must admit) and I walked over to the sofa, laid down with the comforter and cried. I cried because I like where we live and I don't know if I will like the next house. I told the apartment walls one of the quotes Josh and I always say when we like something as we travel, "I can't stay forever."

I am feeling a bit sad about the move and teared up at work while talking to Aimee about it. Josh and I like it here and it is hard to leave something you like. But, I really believe that you grow when you do things like this. I never want to be the person that settles down and is comfortable but never challenged.

Lately, I have thought that it won't really hit me that we are moving until we are on the plane from LA to Auckland (the big plane and the long flight). I have promised Josh that I would give a high leg kick upon landing in Palmerston North, then, he tried to get me to say that I'd do five leg kicks...we'll see!

There was one furnished house on the market (8 Just Place) that looked promising, however, it is no longer listed. Budget-wise we should do fine in Palmerston North. Thus far, Josh is bringing in the cash with his Walton Fellowship money and the Rotary money. The Walton money is roughly $1,500/month for about 6 months while the Rotary money is fixed at $10,525 for room and board. There are also some misc. funds provided by Rotary.

I'm confident that even if I failed to find employment, we could live on this budget without dipping into our savings. However, I will find employment-I'm determined. I would like to live a similar lifestyle (minus all the stuff because we will just be bringing our clothes) and take advantage of the location by traveling in New Zealand and the Pacific. There are some great NZ hotels we can stay at for free with our hotel points.

If we're able to afford it, our big trip from NZ will be to Thailand. Josh has already made up a song about Koh Samui so I know he's hooked on the idea of going. Note: anytime Josh makes a song about something it means he likes it! Heck, Josh even knew how to spell the place so I was definitely impressed. If Thailand is not in the cards, there are affordable flights to Fiji and Australia.

We are at the two month mark, can you believe it?!? Now with work keeping me so busy, I've been saying I wish I could make time stop. It goes on though and through the holidays we will have a lot to stay on top of even while taking off the Monday after Thanksgiving to go to Tunica and possibly squeezing in a Branson trip in the middle of December.

Josh will defend his dissertation proposal on December 1. The meeting needs to go well because technically, he's already working on the dissertation for which he is making his proposal. Once my workshops are finished, I will just need to keep an eye on them through December. But really, I will be wrapping up my work with Pre-College Programs because I will have completed the 3 workshops assigned to me this semester.

On another note, my brother will be visiting December 10-18 before he leaves for Afghanistan in January for a 6 month tour. My mom has talked about how two of her kids will be leaving the country to live abroad in the same month. She seems a bit sad but would never discourage either my brother or myself from doing what we enjoy.