time...

This is it people... this is the beginning of the countdown... 61 days and counting yall!

I need to add one of those countdown thingies to my blog.

Thinking about the time I have left has brought up some very difficult things that I'll have to deal with very soon...

first and foremost... leaving my DADDY =(

which is probably the worst of all of this.

leaving my family and friends...

second worst of all of this.

but all this thinking has got me wondering exactly what am I leaving behind.

I'm giving up my family, my friends, my home, everything I've known... even my last name... I know it sounds like whining and complaining but it's actually true.

We're getting the release of my last name notarized tomorrow. On Thursday my mom and I are submitting my application for my Taiwanese passport.

Once I get to Taiwan and apply for my citizenship the official-ness of no longer using Garcia will be well... official.

...

I've spent some time in the attic clearing an area for storing my stuff... I've even started to haul stuff up there... yeah, I'm sore.

I've also gone through my shoes and I've narrowed it down to 19 pairs (plus the four I forgot i had stored in my closet... look I'm going to need my rain boots... and my caramel colored riding boots... and my mid calf black boots... the hiking boots I'm debating about...)

I KNOW I KNOW... I can't take them ALL with me... but I'll try my damnedest

I've sorted through my clothes and separated things to donate to the Goodwill/Salvation Army

some of them I literally had to cut up so i wouldn't try to take them with me... I KNOW I don't need 5 black camis, 3 white tees, or 6 v neck shirts all of different colors.

Folks... I am making progress, I promise.

The downside to the new focus of packing is that my self teaching Chinese is almost at a standstill... I'm pretty sure I've got the first 30ish or so radicals.

Well its 2 in the morning... I think that's time for me to go to bed but I DID promise a more lengthy blog soon and I kinda failed on that... so hope you enjoy... I'll try and perk it up more next time.

love yall

woooo.saahhhhhhhh

Hello World!

I just wanted to do a quick post before I hop in the shower and then straight into bed. I'll either rewrite this into a longer post or add another soon but I wanted to give everyone a really quick update...

I got my tickets on Tuesday... Yes, that means I finally have my departure date.

I'll be leaving on Thursday, June 28th... Yes, that's in about 2 months.

We will be flying out 6/28-1:30 AM and arriving 6/29-6:00 AM... Yes, that means the flight is 13 1/2 hrs long...I lose a day of my life in the sky.

(I thinks that's pretty cool and not all at the same time.)

that's it for now... but ill be back... ♥

aahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh......

I AM SO FRUSTRATED AND MAD RIGHT NOW... I could cry...

I thought everything was set to get going...

my mom got her passport...

I was on my way to getting mine...

I finally picked my name...

I got the the GREAT news that my Sister and her Boyfriend were going to come too (well Chris is a maybe.. but maybe I'll convince him with surfing and yummy food)...

and then my mom squished it like bug under her heel....

SHE JUST TOLD ME THAT SHE MIGHT NOT WANT TO LEAVE AT THE END OF JUNE

and CHANGE IT BACK TO AUGUST...

seriously?! SERIOUSLY?! I'm going to shoot myself in the eye if it changes one more time...

I'm sitting in Borders literally shaking because I'm so pissed right now... (why Borders you might ask... it's because we're cheap and we steal WIFI from a neighbor and its quite unreliable...) I came here to book my moms and mines ticket... and when I call to check if the dates and prices were okay for my mom... she drops that bombshell on me... gee thanks

I know I had more to write before this happened but I just can't... I can't even think straight right now... work is definitely going to SUCK tonight... FML seriously!

passport photo nazi... need I say more?

Hello world… Hello readers… all five of ya!

Moms and I finally went to the consulate today! TWICE!

Well here’s the skinny or the fatty, whichever you want, so we go to the consulate to renew my mom’s Taiwanese passport and we were able to do that without a problem and…

We got some answers to the questions that we had…

• My mom can renew here passport
• She has to verify her Taiwanese citizenship when we get there
• I do not need to get a travelers visa
• We can buy our tickets with the names on our American passports

The best thing that we found out was that I can apply for a Taiwanese passport!!! I know, right? I don’t exactly know how it’s possible for me to get a passport for a country I’m not a citizen of… but I think it’s kind of like a temporary visa or the first step towards getting a residency visa or even my dual citizenship. ::shrug:: I still need to register with the local department of housing or some shiz when I finally settle in and find an apartment.

So after we renew moms passport they give us the news about me being able to get a Taiwanese passport but they need us to bring my birth certificate and my parents marriage certificate. So we end up running back to Oakland then right back to SF in under an hour! I know, right?!

It’s not till we get back to the consulate that they tell us that they need my dad to be there to sign off on a document. Seriously I wanted to smack my forehead.

The paper that my dad has to sign off on is him basically relinquishing my American name… weird right? He has to sign in front of a notary to make it all official.

There are a couple of other papers that need to be filled out, my mom has to translate some of my documents and her marriage certificate into Chinese but other than that I should be set to get my passport too!

Funny story: The Taiwanese consulate sent us to get our passport photos done at this place up the block. This old Chinese dude, totally a passport photo Nazi (the equivalent borderline on being worse than Seinfeild’s Soup Nazi), was the meanest old man you’ll ever meet and it was WAY over priced!!! Twelve bucks for six 2x2s, yeah, I wanted to smack HIS forehead on that one… well anyway we got our photos done…. And there are all these crazy regulations on the way the photo needs to be taken things like…

• No hair should be covering the forehead
• The hair must be pushed back behind both ears
• Glasses are not allowed to be worn in the photo

AND

• You can NOT show your teeth

(…the rule makers obviously never heard Lady GaGa’s song… I digress)

Well the dude is yelling at us to push our hair behind our ears and to get the bangs off our foreheads. My bangs keep falling over my forehead and he's yelling for me to push it back slowly... NO MORE SLOWLY... NO SLOWER... I SAID SLOWER. ugggghhhh....

Then he tells us we only get three shots and then we get to pick. The dude doesn’t count or anything its all CLICK CLICK CLICK… Seriously, could ya warn a girl?! I couldn't even concentrate on taking the picture I was so worried my bangs were gonna fall over my forehead then he'd run up on me and smack me in the forehead with a light meter or something. We finally pick our pictures and get the photos and head back to the consulate.

End of story… but I really wanted to smack that dude… that big ol’ meanie. Dislike!

Although I didn’t walk away with my passport at least my mom got hers… Its going to get mailed here which should take about 3 weeks. Once her passport gets here I’ll be able to submit my paperwork and it should take about 3 weeks till I get MY Taiwanese passport!!! I’m SO excited, YAY ME!!!

P.S. I also put my Chinese name down on an official document FOR THE FIRST TIME TODAY!

♥, 艾
俐

29 down... 185 to go

I would like to start this blog by thanking my sister, Jenn, for sending me a much needed boost of support and love. I hope that her trip to Kenya was rewarding and fulfilling.

I know that she loves and believes in me. Her faith in me gives me strength and I love her more everyday for it. ♥

I think I should start posting more... there are major time lapses between my posts... my bad! And I'm also sorry for throwing the biggest pity party ever and the lapse in confidence. It wasn't like me and I'm over it, promise! Girl Scouts Honor!

My mom and I are finally making our way to the consulate in the city on Tuesday! I'll be excited to get some answers. I feel like I've had to wait forever for this visit before we can move forward. But hey, you know what they say! Slow motion's better than no motion!

I must admit not having my tickets and a date set has been the cause of all my anxiety. Not having my tickets made me feel like at any moment my idea of moving could just stay an idea. I am still a little ehhh about not having my tickets yet but I'm hopeful that once we go to the consulate on Tuesday we will at least have a heading and things can get rolling from there.

As far as I know the possible dates of departure are June 24th or the 28th (we're waiting on a weekday so it'll be cheaper) ... this means that I have a little less than 3 months to get all my shiz straight.

Besides going to the consulate I will also be clearing out the attic to make room for storing my stuff... I will also need to start sorting through my belongings as well. The more I think about it the more I believe that it shouldn't be TOO hard to get rid of my stuff... some things i just hold onto because I don't have the heart to throw it away.

I've also started to tackle the traditional radicals and I've got the first 29 down...
Okay, okay... so there ARE 214 but I managed to get those first 29 down in a day so I think I'm going to be okay. =)

As I've said before my mom gave me a manly man name... my name might as well have been Mr. Manly Mann...
At this point I would like to end this blog thanking Monica Platt. It's because of her nickname for me that we've settled on my Chinese name. Yesterday my mom, aunt and myself finally settled on a name that everyone seemed to like. The pinyin is Chou Ai Li (sounds like: zhou-eye-lee). It's actually super cute because when I introduce myself it's going to sound like I Love You. And of course I will be using my mothers last name Chou....

周
艾
俐