7 days, Read that, seven days!

Not till we leave, ha ha.   Cat quarantine in Beijing has been changed to seven days, down from thirty.
I am sure the fuzzybutts will like that:) I have finally heard from the folks in charge of moving the cats.  Of course that plays a bit of havoc with our timing but we will adjust.  The other night Mike and I made up our travel/move timeline then yesterday afternoon I get the news that quarantine has been shortened.  We may have to board them a few days if Mike doesn't have the house yet.  We don't think the Hotel will want pets, but, you never know.  The service provides brand new cat carriers and will ship them to me this week.  Gives fuzzybutts time to get to know them, haha, I doubt they will ever like them.
We have a lot of things to get in before we move.  Our trip to China in a couple weeks. Our trip to New Mexico in April.  Mike goes back to China for about two weeks in April.   A flute recital on May 12th, Olivia's last one with her friends.  Our trip to New York to celebrate Mike's parents 50th Anniversary. All his siblings are planning on being there, we are having a party somewhere in Lake George.  Mike moving to China mid June and being out of the house by the end of June.  Olivia and I going to Indiana in early July (please Lark) living out of suitcase's till late July when we finally go to China too and what ever else crops up since compiling this list.
Got my haircut yesterday, slightly different than recent cuts, really like it. Anyone know a good hairdresser in Beijing??
Had my first Chinese lesson today.  I don't know what Xuemei/Linda thought about it but I felt like I got somewhere.  She explained a lot of things that I was not grasping. It was also good to have someone correct my pronunciation.  I have been using this online site I found but without the feedback I know I just was not getting everything right.
Zàijiàn

 

Time, never enough

Nǐ hǎo
It seems like it is a long way off before we set off on our adventure across the sea, but really, we have to be out of the house in about 16 weeks!!!!  Eeeeekkkkk!  We aren't actually going to China then but just out of the house to become nomads, Olivia and I anyway..Mike and the fuzzies will probably go over near the beginning of July.
On Friday 'Matt' came over to do our survey.  For those who have not moved with a moving company, he is the guy who looks at all your .....stuff...and tells you if it will fit in the container.
When I walked into the sewing room with Matt I said "Everything in here." His eyebrows went up about a foot.  The kitchen was 'almost everything'.  Those are the two main things I do, cook and sew. 
When I asked him if it would fit, he said "It will be very full."
Mmmm, that got me to thinking about what I said would go or stay, so....
I went into the attic today to assess what, in there, of my sewing/fabric stuff is going with me.  Not much actually and I consolidated the things I am taking into smaller containers.  Well, that is good, a square foot of spare space regained!  The sewing room is very scary.  For those who have been there, you understand.  For those who have not, just trust me on this one.  My sister and Olivia's Art teacher will be the beneficiaries of this need to purge.  I have carted several things to the teacher already and have two more boxes ready to go.  My sister gets not only sewing stuff, (Hope you never have to move Lark.) but when we go through the closets she gets some of that too:) 
I have been reading these relocation magazines Mike brought home last fall.  I am called the "Trailing Spouse" in all the articles relating to family.  Such a lovely tag to add to Daughter, Wife, Mother, Sister, Friend....Trailing Spouse.  Sounds a bit like a serious condition!!  They say the move is hardest on us because of our lack of contacts or interaction with other people.  Employee has fellow workers and Kids have classmates, I will have our driver and the grocery store clerks, oh boy!  Some of the words I am planning on learning before I go are, thread, fabric, sewing and where?
zàijiàn!

We know a bit more

The things we have to do to make this move seem limitless.  We have had to get medical exams and reports from said exams and shots and........Even the fuzzies will have to have exams and shots and they won't even be going outside!  Ours are now complete, thank goodness, except the shots.  We even have to provide a copy of our marriage certificate.......Know where yours is?  We thought ours was in the BOX.  Not!  Mike kept going from place to place looking for it and everytime he went through the living room he would say something like "I don't think we are married." or "There's no proof, so I'm off the hook."....you get the picture.  So, yesterday after going through all the possible places I could think it might be I ended up calling our old hometown and going about the process of getting us a copy.  Can't do this type of thing over the phone...think identity theft.....so I had to get a bank check (no personals accepted) (that process in itself is a whole other story), copy my drivers license, print the form from their website and get it notarized.  And don't think just anyone can get a copy, nooo, only the husband or wife on the certificate can get this.  Wouldn't have been able to send my mom to get it!!  Like a little old lady (sorry mom) would be into identity theft!
Talked to the guy in charge of our 'container' on Tuesday.  Who knew you are only allowed 400 personal books when you move to China?  We don't plan on taking tons but, come on, what about someone going to teach?  He says there are lots of other rules as to what you can take and will send me the lists soon.  I will highlight the interesting ones and let you know.  We are leaving a lot of stuff here so aren't worried about fitting it all in.  The container is 13 feet shorter than a moving van and not as tall or wide.  No yard work tools, no electronics.....don't work over there, no food from the cupboard (GE says NO), leaving a lot of furniture........Mike says the house we get will likely be bigger than the one we have here so it will probably look a bit sparse, we can always go to IKEA, fun, fun.
I am thinking of changing the name of my blog.  My friend Jodi calls it Eggleston's Excellent Chinese Adventure.  Seems more exciting.  The cats aren't really very talkative anyway, I do all the talking.  I talked to two friends yesterday, one is Chinese and one is Taiwanese.  They both said they will help me with learning my Chinese.  GE provides Mike and I with 100 hours of lessons, 20 here and 80 over there.  I just think this old brain will do better with more help than that so until next time,
zàijiàn!

Western Academy of Beijing

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.

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:(:)

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:)

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.