Today's the BIG DAY!

T-minus 11 hours until my flight from Logan to JFK.  Then a direct flight to Abu Dhabi, where we will be spirited away by fellow teachers to a fabulous dinner ... while we look not-so-fabulous after a 13 hour flight!  

I'm mostly packed, waiting to dry my hair, pack my straightener, and PRAY that my suitcases aren't more than 50lbs!  I did the math.  Extra weight is NOT CHEAP!  

So in an attempt to expedite these extra charges, I picked up a couple of Flat Rate boxes from the USPS.  Little did I know that I would spend $108.44 to ship 2 "large" boxes to the UAE!  (WHERE, might I ask, does the US Postal Service get off by calling an 8x10 cardboard box a "large"?  Don't they know that we live in a Super-Sized America where when you want a "large", that means getting a 44oz Kidney-Buster Diet Coke for $1.49??)

Therefore, I keep pulling things from my suitcases and deciding that I don't need a 14th cardigan (when really, I do!!!  but it's heavy and I never wore it anyway ... right?) or 4 pairs of flip flops and my pink suede flats.  

How do you decide what to take on a 2-year journey?  What matters more?  7 Harry Potter books or 8 years worth of journals?  Hairspray and a Lancome dual-coverage compact or my CC&H textbook?

I guess none of it really matters now, though, because I must leave my lovely apartment forever and say good-bye to Boston and the USA ... and all those things I leave behind.

Abu Dhabi is NOT a Third World Country!

I think that this is a fact that I forget everyday!!!  

I've always wanted to travel - Europe, Asia, South America, Africa, Australia, Antarctica ... okay - EVERYWHERE!  But I also always wanted to join the Peace Corp - it was my dream!!  And now that I've been given the opportunity to do some expansive traveling, it's so hard to remember that I will not be living in a hut constructed of palm fronds with a dirt floor (... and a coconut radio that The Professor built from pieces leftover from The Minnow shipwreck!).  Rather, I will be living in a beautiful city on the Persian Gulf with malls filled with stores that I will never be able to afford to even walk into! (No matter how badly I want a set of Bang & Olufsen BeoLab speakers!)

So is it really necessary to pack shampoo, lotion, toothpaste, and Sharpie extra fine point markers in 12 assorted colors?  But what if I can't buy Paul Mitchell salon products for under $20 at Abu Dhabi's answer to Target?  Do they sell Sharpies in the UAE?  And if not, is it worth paying [1/25 of the total ticket price per pound] if my suitcase is over-weight?

Even if Abu Dhabi is one of the wealthiest cities in the world, will I be able to survive without the creature comforts of home?

A Week Away!

One more week!  I can't believe that I'm leaving the States in a week!  I think that it is just really starting to hit me ... Why now?  Well, I just woke from a dream about it!  I dreamt that I was unpacking in my gorgeous and huge apartment and I had a bathroom with 3 toilets (okay, 2 toilets, 1 bidet).

I dreamt the flight and the unpacking and the whisking away to our "welcome dinner" ... which consisted of an appetizer of pudding that no one wanted to eat (but luckily I had a SnakPak in my purse and was eating yummy chocolate pudding under the table!).

So, since the move date is officially in one week, everyone has been asking me, "So... are you excited!?"  Yeah, I'm excited.  I've wanted to do this for more than a year (since I found out about the job)!  But only now is it beginning to dawn on me that in order to go I must also leave.  Crazy concept, right?  I should have immediately made that connection!  But now that my departure date is so imminent, the "leaving" part is really starting to hit me.  

Not only am I leaving my home country and everything that's familiar about it, but I'm leaving my family (nothing new, right!?  I'm always doing that!), my friends (new and old), and my wonderful, wonderful children!!!  

I can only hope, however, that these next 2 years will be so filled with excitement and wonder, that it will pass by so quickly that no one will even realize that I've been gone : )

Move Date and trip home

Verified Move Date:  August 21st.

I'll be going home one last time before I leave at the end of July.  I just got back from a week-long vacation down South - it's the longest I've been away from work since I started!  I went to DollyWood with my sister (we rode every single roller coaster and ate funnel cake until we were about to explode!).  I took my little cousin to the zoo and we saw every single animal there!  I promised her a camel ride next time : )  Then I went to Sundown In The City with my sister and her boyfriend where we listened to Grace Potter and the Nocturnals perform and then went for sushi at Nama (THE BEST SUSHI I'VE EVER HAD!!!).  Then Friday I went to see UP! with part of the ol' ACHS gang - saddest movie ever!  

...then came the 15+ hour drive home.  I hate my GPS!  In my attempt to avoid the $15 in tolls, I asked my GPS very nicely to take an alternate route, avoiding all tolls.  Result?  Driving through downtown Manhattan!  I guess I can chalk this one up to experience (now I know where the TRIangle BElow CAnal is!).  

Now I'm back at my FountainHead apartment with my roomie and fighting sleep because that means going back to work tomorrow!  ...although, I did miss the kids like crazy!

Good News!

I'M GOING TO ABU DHABI!!!  

Thus, the name of my "blog" - Finding Nermal (I'm dating myself ... Nermal, the cute little kitten that Garfield was always shipping to Abu Dhabi ... anyone?  Kim, I know you're singing the song right now!!).

Q: Why am I going to Abu Dhabi?  

A: Work transfer.

Q: When do I leave?

A: Early-August.

Q: What will I do there?

A: Teach at the "School for Children with Autism" - Abu Dhabi.

Q: How long will I be there?

A: 2 years.

More to come!