China - My Backwards New Home

So, my plans for China have changed YET AGAIN.

The first time they changed was after I bought my tickets to fly from Seattle to Medford to see the mom and my tickets to fly from beautiful Medford to LA so I can see Adam when his ship comes in from deployment. I was, at that time basing my plans on being in China on September 1st, when they said I would start.

The first change was that I needed to be there on the 26th. This was then boiled down to me needing to be there by the 30th, which meant I could keep my 2 flights as they were and would just have less time with Adam. I used other information provided at that time to book my tickets to China from LA.

The second change came after I booked those tickets. These changes came straight from the source - my college in China. They apparently wanted me there on August 24th and I the airport I was told to fly into was 9 hours away from my soon-to-be home.

Doesn't that just make you want to laugh RIGHT OUT LOUD. Yes. And punch things. SO, now I have had to change my tickets from Seattle to Medford, and Medford to LA, AND LA to China. The bummer is that everything got moved up a week so I am going to miss Adam entirely. Oh, and I most likely won't be reimbursed for the fees associated with changing my tickets.

ANYWAY, this is where my schedule is at now.... If you aren't an early planner, don't worry, I will remind you closer to the date as well.

I will be flying into Seattle on August 10th. This will be at 3am so if anyone in Seattle wants to see me really bad, you can come and pick me up :)

I will be IN Seattle from August 10th to August 17th.

I will be in Medford from August 17th to August 22nd.

I will then be in LA for about 6 hours on August 22nd and then flying out of LA to China on the same day.

My first week in China is apparently going to be doing work with a local middle school. What I have been told is that there is a week training program for the kids at this middle school and the school requested my college supply two foreign teachers to assist in this training. I have no idea what I will be training these kids to do, but I bet they will be adorable.

I officially start teaching at my college on September 3rd. They are concerned about me getting settled before I start...I am concerned about recovering from my jet lag and the loss of an entire day (literally, not just in time spent on the airplane).

So, that is where I am at now. Tomorrow I have to go pick up my medical form from my doctor. Everything has been tested and it looks like I will live although the results for my syph test are still not in. Keep your fingers crossed for me on that one.

The next steps are simple: applying for my China VISA, surviving summer school and NYC heat, selling most of my belongings and weeding through the rest, getting my paperwork in line for CA when I come back, packing for living abroad for a year, and preparing for my 2 week stint in Egypt. Should be good times! At least the Egypt people seem to have their stuff together a little more.