I made it

I'm here in Langely now....after lots of travelling yesterday, Bastet and I made it safely home. Well, almost home, not quite to the island yet :-). Bastet was great through all the travelling, not a sound from her while driving, or while on the plane, and she was SO good when I had to take her out and carry her through security - clining to me for dear life, but totally ok, and not trying to get away or anything.

Bye bye MA, bye bye Shrewsbury :-) Hello Langley, and soon...hello Victoria!

Somehow, I went from having no plans for while I was here, to having every minute practically booked up. Today I have to go to the bank with my parents, and I get to go visit my great aunt, and later today my nephew. Then tonight D. arrives, and we get to run away for a night at a B&B, and then head up to my parents to pick up all our stuff with a moving van tomorrow. Then I"ll be back at some point tomorrow afternoon, then Friday a meeting for work, and off to M's for a night! I'm SUPER Stoked about that :-). My ears are burning to hear "STELLLLLLAAAHHH." Hilarious!

But that little schedule leaves almost no time for anything else! Good thing I'm coming over several weekends in the next little while. Oi!

Almost there...

I've finished work now, and the car has sold. It's almost time to head home. I had to say goodbye to my students on Thursday, and to my co-workers yesterday. It was hard, and there was lots of crying, but I am very excited to be heading home soon.

Last night a bunch of people from work all went out for Thai food and to go back to someones house for what I thought was just a typical night out. The Thai was excellent, and then we went back to one friend's house. I walked into the kitchen and there were streamers, and balloons and signs posted everywhere saying "We'll miss you T." I was overwhelmed. It was a goodbye party for me. No one's ever thrown me a party like that. They also knew me well enough to know that I would do back flips over the Ikea gift card they gave me (even though Ikea isn't quite the phenomenon here that it is in Canada). I absolutely could not believe it. We had a wonderful night - it was the perfect ending to my time here. I managed to hold it together while I was there, but when I walked in the door at home this morning (I stayed over night there), I finally realized I had just said goodbye to so many amazing people, and I cried. A lot.

As I mentioned, the car sold, for less than we were hoping, but just in a knick of time, which is a big relief! Now I just have to do the rest of the packing and somehow read, and hopefully study the material for my two exams on Monday. Oi! It's maddness.

Trudging along...

I shouldn't say trudging, because my parents are here now, and that is wonderful! We had an amazing dinner at 1790 (I've blogged about this before). I had pecan encrusted chicken, topped with apples and brie, with the most spectacular mashed potatoes and this amazing squash side dish (TO DIE FOR). I had Lobster Rangoons for my appetizer which were also wonderful. Dad chose a great wine, a real Zinfandel (not white) from the Nappa Valley, by Ruthurford Ranch. I've never had a real Zinfandel before. Mom tells me that the true Zinfandel's are only made in a particular region in the Nappa Valley, from grapes grown on 80-100 year old vines. Interesting!

I'm very much ready to be done work and getting ready to go home. I'm glad my parents are here, because I'd be going batty having to work this week and not being able to get everything done. Thankfully they are here to help with the packing and cleaning, and do things I dread like calling around to car dealerships to see what they'd give me for the car, in the worst case scenario that it doesn't sell. I've had three people show interest in the car, one offer significantly below the asking price, but still more than I'd get at a dealership. so, I'll have to probably make a decision in the next few days if no other offers come up. Sigh.

I can't believe I have to go back for a week of work tomorrow! But tomorrow will be my last 12 hour shift, and this week is it. So much to do, and I'm trying so hard to keep myself moving and motivated.

Big perk to having mom and dad here - I can use mom's laptop, which actually works! I don't have to walk away from it while it loads a page! Wow! lol not that I'm bitter :-)

Snow day?

Well, we finally got some snow....not as much as expected (only a few inches) but it's here nonetheless. Fortunately, I'm using my last 20 hours of vacation time and taking today and tomorrow off, so I don't need to trudge into work. So I can have a real snow day.

BUT - I was supposed to write two exams this morning, and the college that I write them at (that proctors my exams) is closed today due to the weather, and I cannot contact anyone there. The problem with this is that my exams are only available for a 3 day window - if you don't write them in that window, you get a 0. Today is the last day to write for one of the exams (and the first day for the other). So I've emailed my prof pleading with him to allow me to access the exam tomorrow or Friday, so that I can reschedule them. Oi.

The good part though is that I was really not ready for these exams - I let the studying get away from me, and was up till 1am last night studying, and woke up at 6am to continue. So now I'll shower and study my butt off all day, get totally prepared for these two tests, and start my reading for the next tests.

Though the warm cozy bed is looking very inviting. I'll go to the cafe accross the street to study so I'm not tempted.

Where in the world has my blogger life gone?

I was humming "Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?" as I typed that...Anyhoo..

I've been a blogging slacker lately. Various things occur to me throughout the day or week, that would be good blog topics, but I haven't quite gotten to the signing in and blogging part yet!

Updates:

We have found an apartment. After much adue, we've found a 2 bedroom + den place. It's ground level, and though it has a smaller kitchen, it does have a deep freeze, the extra den, and a nice patio. It also doesn't have a lease, so we'll have a chance to live in it for a while, and if we find it's not ideal, we can always find a new place. I am just SO relieved that we've found something. Daryl literally looked at/called/investigated close to 15 places in the last 2 weeks, taking up large amounts of time! The landlords at this place are also wonderful, and that makes a big difference.

I still, after reposting 2 times, and posting an ad on the bulliten board at work have not had one response about our car!! I'm so irritated, because I would give anything to be able to keep this car, because I love it, and it's in such great shape! But I have to get rid of it before I go!

My parents will be here in just over a week! I'm very excited to get to show them around, and have them visit. Our MA life seems like a bit of an island - no one from our west coast life has seen it, so it's exciting to be able to show them around, and have them here. It will be so helpful to have them here to help me get everything packed up and on it's way too.

Our landlord here (who is wonderful) has offered (and we've accepted) to buy all our furniture and everything else we want to leave from us before we leave. She'll be paying us literally exactly what we spent furnishing the apartment, which is amazing! I won't have to deal with posting things on Craigslist, having people come look at them, and worrying what to do with things I can't get rid of. Also, we know for sure we won't be loosing anything financially on the furniture part of the move. It also means I'll have a fully furnished apartment up until the day I leave!

My work is completely set up for when I return. I'm going to be working with two different supervisors, both of whom I've worked with before and learned a lot from, and both with clients I've worked with before, but in a different role. I'm very excited about returning and getting to work with these clients, and supervisors again, but in a different role, where I will learn so much.

I'm actually getting a bit sad about leaving. I will really miss the students I work with here, and I've actually made some good friends while here, that I will be very sad to leave. It's really funny. In 3 years in Victoria, I think I really didn't make more than 1 new friend completely on my own. There were people that I became friends with through Church, but not one person, really, that I became close with that I met through work or school or any other route. But, here, in 5 months, I have become quite close to a number of people, and it's getting a bit hard to think about not going to work here again. About not seeing them on a daily basis and going for our after-work pub nights, and watching grey's anatomy with them etc. I think it is the nature of this job though, in this setting. Our students and positions are very challenging, and we spend a LOT of time together. It would really be impossible to avoid making some close friends along the way. MA is just so far away though - I know I won't likely see them again soon. So, the sad part of leaving is finally starting to sink in. I'm still SO excited to go home, to see everyone, and to get started in my new work positions. Most of all, I'm dying to get home to my husband - life just isn't right without him. But, I am finally starting to feel sad about leaving - I think the realization that my parents will be here in just over a week has made the leaving part more real.

Long ramble. But that's where I'm at.