...and I'm not even on the plane yet. Oh, the joys of putting off packing until the last minute, combined with multiple loose ends to tie up from my old life (with some limited success). I'm in the Seattle airport now, gate S15, and we board in about 45 minutes; I figured I'd take advantage of the free wi-fi and post a final US-based blog before leaving--*really* leaving--for Taiwan.
Today was wonderful, but complicated. My parents and I got to the Eugene airport plenty early and began wrangling my massive heap of luggage to the ticket counter--which was, as it turned out, closed. When we finally did get an employee there, she informed us that, because my connecting flight in Seattle left 15 hours after I got in, rather than 12, I could not check my bags all the way through. In addition, she informed us that I would be re-charged baggage fees in Seattle as, contrary to the information I found on their websites, each airline charges individually, even though they're partnered. Unfortunately, that was to become a recurring theme.
So I said goodbye to my parents and set off for Seattle.
Once there, my dear friend Anna met me at the airport--fortunately sans bags, which I left in the unclaimed baggage area--and we set off. After a stop to see and say goodbye to Melanie and Marissa, we got stuck in traffic, and as Anna maneuvered through the black-coded freeway, I tried my hand at coordinating a pick-up for Flavia, and a meet-up with Lindsey. Eventually, after a long wait and a few false starts, we all ended up at a lovely little park overlooking the Puget Sound, with scrumptious Red Mill hamburgers. Because hey, if you're going to do American food, you've got to do it right!
After that we headed out to the place Anna is housesitting, to walk the dog up to Bustle for a great cup of coffee, where Mollie joined us. Then it was off to Theo Chocolates to meet Annika and buy a few last-minute gifts for my carry-on.
Annika, brilliant person that she is, then reminded us that it was a Saturday night, and that City Church had a service, so we drove off for Kirkland, where we had a great time. Then, after a quick stop to see Angie, we explored downtown Kirkland in search of a restaurant, before settling on a Mediterranean place which, while my food was delicious, was otherwise disappointing. We were there for waaaay to o long, but we finished in just enough time to go by Zoka's for one last coffee. :)
Then it was time for very sad goodbyes, and Mollie drove me to the airport, where I got to relocate and reload my luggage, and then discover that EVA has a weight limit on their carry-on items, and that mine was almost twice as heavy as the limit--meaning I had to either unload half my bag into one of my other bags, and pay the extra weight fee, or check it as ANOTHER extra bag. And, being overtired, I misunderstood the ticketing agent and thought he meant I had to put it ALL in my other bag, so I now have 4 checked bags! Talk about expensive. Thank goodness for extra first-month funds.
Overall, though, it was a fantastic last day in the US for a while--got to see some wonderful friends and do some great Seattle-y things one last time. And it was all at a pretty leisurely pace in beautiful weather--unheard of, at least around here! But, beginning tomorrow/Tuesday (since I lose a day on this flight due to the time change), today's warmth will be ordinary, and maybe even a little cool.
Boarding in 15 minutes. This is surreal.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Saturday, July 30, 2011
PACKED!
It is finished.
The packing, that is. Yep, with the (notable) exception of last minute carry-on additions that I need tonight and tomorrow morning, I am PACKED and ready to go, which is good, since it's 1am now, and I have to be at the airport by 8am, since my first plane leaves tomorrow at 9:50am. Nothing like a little exhaustion to start off a long trip right.
At final count, I'm bringing:
3 checked items--two bags, one crate. Which weigh in at...
183 lbs--67lbs, 46lbs, and 70lbs, respectively (a little too close to the limits for comfort, in all honesty). And that's not even mentioning my....
2 additional bags--one rolling carry-on, and one stuffed-to-the-gills messenger bag. My shoulder will soon feel the pain.
Now, we just get to see how all the confusing multi-airline, multi-airport, 15-hour-layover-in-Seattle thing will come into play; hopefully I won't be hauling all this stuff around Seattle with me all day tomorrow. At least it's all wheeled.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Preparations
I am now in the throes of preparations, wading through reams of paperwork to get my loans from several different servicers deferred (oh, the joys of the federal financial aid system changing while I was in school), and gazing with naive expectation at the heaps of stuff I have sorted out to take with me, but know will never actually fit in my luggage. And all the while, I am trying to mentally prepare to say goodbye to friends, family, and country in a matter of three days.
Oh, preparations.
On the plus side, I got a new Moleskine planner the other day (organization nerds, join me in celebration!). And, since making a beautiful to-do list in it, I feel more productive already. And, honestly, I AM more productive--got to check quite a few things off my list today.
But still not enough.
As of right now, I've given up packing for a while--it just got too stressful. My big bag is full, and I do mean full--70lbs--and my medium and small ones are getting there, though not yet weighed. Yet, with all that fullness, I still have random crap scattered all over the family room and my bedroom. And by 'random crap,' I actually mean 'stuff I don't really want to think about ever leaving behind.' Stuff like shoes, books, clothes, photo albums, coffee mugs (not to worry, though, my coffee beans, grinder, cone, and filter are all packed), cookbooks, and English measuring utensils (I make enough cooking mistakes with the right implements).
Also, my poker set. It weighs a ton, so I probably won't be able to take it in any case. But it will be missed.
I've never been great at decisions. Add a time limit, multiple weight limits, and multiple unknowns (How much space will be in my apartment? How much stuff will the apartment already have in it? How easy/hard will it be to navigate Kaohsiung airport? Would it be better to ship stuff later?) and I'm pretty much a mess.
Goals for tomorrow: decide what third piece of checked luggage to bring, buy gifts to bring for local English teachers and host family, finish packing.
Okay, that last one's a stretch. But it's got to happen sometime...
Oh, preparations.
On the plus side, I got a new Moleskine planner the other day (organization nerds, join me in celebration!). And, since making a beautiful to-do list in it, I feel more productive already. And, honestly, I AM more productive--got to check quite a few things off my list today.
But still not enough.
As of right now, I've given up packing for a while--it just got too stressful. My big bag is full, and I do mean full--70lbs--and my medium and small ones are getting there, though not yet weighed. Yet, with all that fullness, I still have random crap scattered all over the family room and my bedroom. And by 'random crap,' I actually mean 'stuff I don't really want to think about ever leaving behind.' Stuff like shoes, books, clothes, photo albums, coffee mugs (not to worry, though, my coffee beans, grinder, cone, and filter are all packed), cookbooks, and English measuring utensils (I make enough cooking mistakes with the right implements).
Also, my poker set. It weighs a ton, so I probably won't be able to take it in any case. But it will be missed.
I've never been great at decisions. Add a time limit, multiple weight limits, and multiple unknowns (How much space will be in my apartment? How much stuff will the apartment already have in it? How easy/hard will it be to navigate Kaohsiung airport? Would it be better to ship stuff later?) and I'm pretty much a mess.
Goals for tomorrow: decide what third piece of checked luggage to bring, buy gifts to bring for local English teachers and host family, finish packing.
Okay, that last one's a stretch. But it's got to happen sometime...
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Beginnings
I'll be honest: the main reason for my writing this first post is so my blog no longer looks like an empty shell. I created the blog structure a few days ago, toyed around with the fonts, colors, etc., and then thought, 'OK, now it's set. As soon as I actually get to Taiwan, I'll start posting.'
But that didn't happen. I have far too much to do (and, therefore, too much to avoid doing) and it's been far too long since I've written to allow me to wait until August. So I'm starting now, despite the dozens of emails and phone calls I have hanging over me, and the plentiful paperwork I still have to fill out.
Welcome to my blog! As my 'About Me' says, I'm Bekah (Chinese name 百合, pronounced Baihe), and I will soon be moving to Kaohsiung, Taiwan, where I will work for 11 months as an English Teaching Assistant through the Fulbright program. I speak maybe 20 words of Chinese, mostly simple yet functionally useless stuff like 'teacher' and 'little brother' and 'father.' Not quite what I'll be needing to, say, haggle in the marketplace. But I'll learn!
Last week, I attended the Pre-Departure Orientation for Fulbright English Teaching Assistants in Washington, D.C., which was wonderful. The sessions were a bit long, and occasionally irrelevant to those of us going to Taiwan--we were grouped in with Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Macau, Mongolia, Thailand, and Laos--but the people there were fantastic. I got to meet the other ETAs I'll be living and working with in Taiwan, and my worries on that front melted away: we meshed instantly, and I am beyond excited to get to know this group of people better.
Of course, in order to do that, I have to get through the next couple of weeks and actually make it into the country.
As of right now, I am still very much in the middle of preparing to leave: I'm waiting to get my final test results back so I can apply for my residents visa (I'm unfortunately rather behind in that process); my stuff is strewn across three rooms in my family's house, waiting for me to sort it into 'bring,' 'leave,' and 'toss out' categories (and then actually do those things); and I still have loads of loose ends to tie up in my life here in the States (student loan deferments, last bills from my old house, final purchases before moving where my sizes are mostly unheard-of, for instance). And I leave July 31. Needless to say, it'll be an interesting 12 days.
So, perhaps I should go get productive, rather than writing a blog post just for the sake of filling up space. I'll keep updating. :)
But that didn't happen. I have far too much to do (and, therefore, too much to avoid doing) and it's been far too long since I've written to allow me to wait until August. So I'm starting now, despite the dozens of emails and phone calls I have hanging over me, and the plentiful paperwork I still have to fill out.
Welcome to my blog! As my 'About Me' says, I'm Bekah (Chinese name 百合, pronounced Baihe), and I will soon be moving to Kaohsiung, Taiwan, where I will work for 11 months as an English Teaching Assistant through the Fulbright program. I speak maybe 20 words of Chinese, mostly simple yet functionally useless stuff like 'teacher' and 'little brother' and 'father.' Not quite what I'll be needing to, say, haggle in the marketplace. But I'll learn!
Last week, I attended the Pre-Departure Orientation for Fulbright English Teaching Assistants in Washington, D.C., which was wonderful. The sessions were a bit long, and occasionally irrelevant to those of us going to Taiwan--we were grouped in with Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Macau, Mongolia, Thailand, and Laos--but the people there were fantastic. I got to meet the other ETAs I'll be living and working with in Taiwan, and my worries on that front melted away: we meshed instantly, and I am beyond excited to get to know this group of people better.
Of course, in order to do that, I have to get through the next couple of weeks and actually make it into the country.
As of right now, I am still very much in the middle of preparing to leave: I'm waiting to get my final test results back so I can apply for my residents visa (I'm unfortunately rather behind in that process); my stuff is strewn across three rooms in my family's house, waiting for me to sort it into 'bring,' 'leave,' and 'toss out' categories (and then actually do those things); and I still have loads of loose ends to tie up in my life here in the States (student loan deferments, last bills from my old house, final purchases before moving where my sizes are mostly unheard-of, for instance). And I leave July 31. Needless to say, it'll be an interesting 12 days.
So, perhaps I should go get productive, rather than writing a blog post just for the sake of filling up space. I'll keep updating. :)
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