Yahoooo!!! We got notice last night that they have accepted Olivia into the Western Academy of Beijing.
We are very happy about this. Another worry offf the list.
Not necessarily the cats point of view.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Tidbits straggle in
The other night Mike says "By the way, we are committed." 'Of course we are' went through my mind in a flash. Continue Mikes quote "I bought tickets today, we are going to China." Oh boy!!! Olivia will stay with her friend Alex. Thank you, thank you Erin for offering to take her in and get her to school. It is not an easy thing to ask friends to take your kid for a week (and I didn't even have to ask). Especially a week involving school days. Sooooo appreciated. Now Sparkles and Onyx are covered as well because Erin offered to drop by with the girls to take care of them too. Wow! it takes a big worry off my mind. Wonder how easy it will be to find help in China when we go away.
We have had suggested to us, by Mikes boss in China, not to come until the end of July or as close to school starting on the 14th of August as we can. He says all the ex pat families leave China for the summer the day after school gets out and the neighborhoods are deserted except for the working parent. They return a day or so before it starts up again....I guess we will plan accordingly.
We now know a bit more about getting the fuzzies across the sea. They provide door to door service. When we have more dates, etc... they pick them up and when we can have them back they drop them off at our new house. Makes that easier...still worry about our babies. Mikes says cats have no memory so they won't care:(:)
We have had suggested to us, by Mikes boss in China, not to come until the end of July or as close to school starting on the 14th of August as we can. He says all the ex pat families leave China for the summer the day after school gets out and the neighborhoods are deserted except for the working parent. They return a day or so before it starts up again....I guess we will plan accordingly.
We now know a bit more about getting the fuzzies across the sea. They provide door to door service. When we have more dates, etc... they pick them up and when we can have them back they drop them off at our new house. Makes that easier...still worry about our babies. Mikes says cats have no memory so they won't care:(:)
Sunday, February 12, 2012
New information everyday
Just when I think I know what we are doing it gets different.....go figure. It turns out that they (GE) do not send the kids over on the 'look see' visit. That means we, as a family, will not be going to China as soon as school gets out, instead Mike and I will go in March for a few days. It means when we go in July it will be Olivia's first trip and it will be for living...not a visit. I will scope out the school and get some more pictures for Olivia. I will also scope out the grocery store.....I know I have to learn to use local ingredients but I will still want to cook old favorites, just hope I can get the ingredients I need. We will check to see what kitty food they have too...I wonder if I can bring in our own from here. Soooooooooo many questions!!! We will look at houses too, Mike has seen some and they are big, bigger than this one! What on earth we will do with more room is beyond us, he says we will have a puzzle room:) We plan to look in an area near the school Olivia hopes to go to. She has applied and we got an email saying they should have an answer by the end of February. Mike bought her a new bike last weekend to ride to school. Keep your fingers crossed, this is the school we would really like to see her attend.
The other change of recent days is we are probably not bringing our electrical things. They run on 50Hz/220 volts and we run on 60Hz/110 volts. That will certainly run havoc with everything. Sooooo, I said to Mike "What about my sewing machine, I can't live without sewing?" I guess I will have to get a new one for over there, my poor Bernina, left behind:(
Best news of all we are moving closer to getting someone to live in the house while we are gone, yipee!! A major worry and it is near to solving.
Still cannot figure out the picture thing, working on that:)
The other change of recent days is we are probably not bringing our electrical things. They run on 50Hz/220 volts and we run on 60Hz/110 volts. That will certainly run havoc with everything. Sooooo, I said to Mike "What about my sewing machine, I can't live without sewing?" I guess I will have to get a new one for over there, my poor Bernina, left behind:(
Best news of all we are moving closer to getting someone to live in the house while we are gone, yipee!! A major worry and it is near to solving.
Still cannot figure out the picture thing, working on that:)
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Let's start at the beginning.
Many of you have said I should start a blog about this whole moving to China experience, so, that is, along with Sparkles and Onyx, with a little input from Mike and Olivia, what I am doing. It could get messy as the computer and I are not the closest of friends but I will try.
We have kind of known since last summer that we might end up in China so when it finally came about it was almost anticlimactic. Then, we had to keep it secret for so long we had time to let it sink in without the million questions that have come along since. I have typed the same information so many times to family and friends it does make sense to put it down in one place.
Sparkles and Onyx are blissfully unaware they will be spending a month in solitary confinement. At least I hope it is solitary as they do not really get along. Onyx would love to run and romp with Sparkles, however, Sparkles would rather just hiss and spit at her. I am not really sure what they do with the cats in China (not make dinner!!) but they do have to get through a month of quarantine. I hope they can't send them back to the US after getting them all the way there:( Several people have asked if we have pets....next question...."Are you taking them with you?" One lady in my quilt group just shook her head.......Mike says they are trying to teach the people that Westerners (that would be us) consider these furry creatures as loving members of the family, not as a possible first course. I hope they remember us after we get back together.
As for us I have spent the better part of the last two weeks getting medical stuff done and gathering records. Many things you have to do to live in China versus just going for a visit. Olivia had to have a physical for the school she wants to go to and Mike and I do just to go, oh such fun.
I feel like I am rambling so I will post pictures when I figure out how of the school. Meanwhile if you are interested go to http://www.wab.edu/ , it looks like an amazing place.
We have kind of known since last summer that we might end up in China so when it finally came about it was almost anticlimactic. Then, we had to keep it secret for so long we had time to let it sink in without the million questions that have come along since. I have typed the same information so many times to family and friends it does make sense to put it down in one place.
Sparkles and Onyx are blissfully unaware they will be spending a month in solitary confinement. At least I hope it is solitary as they do not really get along. Onyx would love to run and romp with Sparkles, however, Sparkles would rather just hiss and spit at her. I am not really sure what they do with the cats in China (not make dinner!!) but they do have to get through a month of quarantine. I hope they can't send them back to the US after getting them all the way there:( Several people have asked if we have pets....next question...."Are you taking them with you?" One lady in my quilt group just shook her head.......Mike says they are trying to teach the people that Westerners (that would be us) consider these furry creatures as loving members of the family, not as a possible first course. I hope they remember us after we get back together.
As for us I have spent the better part of the last two weeks getting medical stuff done and gathering records. Many things you have to do to live in China versus just going for a visit. Olivia had to have a physical for the school she wants to go to and Mike and I do just to go, oh such fun.
I feel like I am rambling so I will post pictures when I figure out how of the school. Meanwhile if you are interested go to http://www.wab.edu/ , it looks like an amazing place.
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