Well...I will not be applying for my visa yet. My mom says to wait till we get closer to the departure date. That's fine by me.

A couple of things I forgot to mention yesterday though which I'm happy to report today.

The first and most exciting is that Monica and Daniel Platt will be joining my soon-to-be side of the hemisphere in 2011! Although they will be on the mainland, Daniel (my high school friends husband, hahaha yeah, mouthful much!?) had ties to Taiwan and Monica has told me they wont pass up the chance to visit my future home. I'm totally excited at the prospect of having someone from home see me in Taiwan.

Next is that my aunt and I are going to trade between being tutors and tutees for each other. I will help coach her in English and she will help me with my Mandarin (and hopefully Taiwanese too).

and lastly... I bought a Chinese dictionary... which I will (try) dutifully to learn some basic characters in Chinese before I get to Taiwan.

There have been a few minor problems I've been mulling around in my head (and maybe yall can help)

• how in the hell am I going to get ALL my shoes over there =)
• how can I possible live without See's Candies/Sushi House/Fenton's/OB chicken/VH...etc.
• I can't help but miss all my books and DVDs i have to leave behind (I gotta make room for my shoes)
• how can I safely package my sunglasses collection/and my lovely perfumes
• am i taking my computer??? (probably not but I will NOT leave my music behind...I'd rather die... seriously)
• Mercury say's that I'll need jackets over there.... but really??? (I just checked the weather... it's raining but its still 73* over there)

Then there's the major problems (well more like one big one)

HOW WILL I SURVIVE WITHOUT MY FAMILY and FRIENDS??? smh...

and I'm actually going to move my shoe problem into the "major" category...

Just had the funniest convo with my cousin Jason... he thinks Taiwan is flat and boring... well when he comes to visit me (which he BETTER) I'll show him all the cool things he couldn't possibly have seen from inside of the airport.

ENDING THIS ON A GOOD NOTE:

Everyday that brings me closer to leaving my fears and apprehension are slowly fading and excitement it taking over. This will be good for me and I know that I can and will do this... and most importantly I will succeed!

Passports, Visas, and documentation... oh my!

So it turns out that my mom will be able to renew her Taiwanese passport without a hitch. But life is never that easy on me. The consulate is making me apply for a Travelers Visa. The only problem is that there's all these things I have to bring to the consulate next Saturday

• 2 passport photos
  
• my American passport
  
• $131 bucks
  
• my Itinerary (which includes a return ticket!!!)
• and a copy of my bank statement (I think it's weird but whatever)

but thats not all... I can start the paper work and get my visa but if I want to apply for dual citizenship I'll have to do that once I get to Taiwan... I guess its better than nothing and it's at least a step in the right direction. *thumbs up* woot woot

There's no real update other than the aforementioned but I must mention that my sister Jennifer's comment on my first post made me cry (happy tears of course) and put the biggest smile in my heart which made my day... and my friend Kristin Hara had to Google Taiwan... and that made my night =)

two steps foward... one step back

Welcome to my first official blog! yay me! (ps thanks in advance for reading)

Well if you're here reading this then I assume that you now know that I have made the decision to move to Taiwan. I know that it seems as though this has come out of the blue but I have wanted to move there for a long time. I really want to go and explore that side of my family and learn the language and just live somewhere else for a while. (This should go without saying that I will miss everyone here very VERY much.)

Rita's super excited and surprisingly Pops is 100% supportive of the move. If I'm not mistaken I believe he's telling everybody it was his idea... and i suppose as long as he's willingly letting me go I'll even let him believe that. =) My mom and I had planned to leave at the end of next March(which would coincide with her Spring Break vacation). Yes, I know that that is about a month away! I know right??? Since the decision has been made my brain has been trying to mentally pack and organize my life and thoughts in preparation for the month ahead.

but....I hit a little roadblock today... named Mom.
Out of the blue she had decided (after I put in my notice at work and after i told a gazillion people that I'm leaving the country in month) to tell me that it might not be the best idea for me to go to Taiwan... uggggghhhh SMH
After talking to her... we've made the decision to wait until the summer (JULY/AUGUST) to take the trip... She's going to give up teaching summer school this year to take off the extra time just in case we hit a couple bumps in getting me settled. (alicia=very appreciative)

Tomorrow I plan to call the consulate for advice on Visas and the Dual Citizenship process... keep your fingers crossed that it'll be a smooth transition. Hopefully after I talk to the consulate I'll be able to set a firm date for departure and buy my ticket!

I will try to update this blog as much as I can... even if its just to tell yall that I've made the tough decision to leave my glee magnets here in the states.

love yall!