Diploma est promptus. Finally

Writing from my cubicle, not Shanghai, but with important news. Kate is driving down to St. Mary's College to pick up a reprint of her diploma--the last hurdle before we can send our immigration documents to the Korean consulate for processing while we're in China. This has been a nail-biter for about a week because we needed to mail this packet before we left for China in order to have enough time for the visa process to happen in time to begin our contract. Kate ordered a reprint of her diploma about three months ago but the SMCM registrar has been either inept or indifferent up to this point.

So, we'll mail these documents tomorrow and get on a plane for China on Wednesday. When we return we'll interview with the Korean Embassy here in DC, our recruiter will facilitate the purchase of our ticket to Korea and we'll be all set (barring the growing list of personal tasks that we need to tackle). One step closer.

Getting into and around China

We just had what will probably the last normal feeling weekend of our lives in DC/tkpk. We leave for China on Weds and once we return we'll be rushing to move out of the apartment and getting ready for Korea. Mom and Dad took some boxes home with them after a dinner visit on Thursday night, but our apartment doesn't look like we're moving out just yet. Once we get back from China that will change fast. So Kate and I have just a couple more days of feeling settled into the nest--if we even manage that while we pack for China. It's a bit melancholy--I'm going to miss this place.

But, on to China. Our flight takes off from Philadelphia on Weds so we're going there on Tuesday night to take Audrey our for her birthday and sleep on her floor. Our friend Ian will let us leave our car at his place in a suburb right outside of the city and he'll drive us to the airport on Weds (thanks Ian!). For those of you who have been asking about our itinerary to/around China, here it is:

Weds, Jan 13: Depart Phili at 12:40pm EST
Thurs, Jan 14: Arrive Shanghai at 7:20pm China Standard Time (flying through Detroit)

We'll spend a few days in Shanghai and then fly north to Harbin with Kate's Mother. We'll be there from Jan 18 to the 20th. This is going to be a relatively guided trip, with such activities as, "After breakfast, drive to the Sun Island Park to enjoy the enormous ice scultpures. Then proceed to the Siberian Tiger Park, where you will be caged in a specially protected bust to visit the tigers. After lunch, take part in some ice activities (i.e. take the horse/dog drawn sled, etc...) and then visit the Saint Sofia Church and Central Street." On day three we will visit "the highest steel tower in Asia--Dragon Tower" OK!

On the 20th we'll fly (Kate thinks) to Beijing, and stay there with Kate's ma until the 23rd. We'll all take a night train back to Shanghai that night and Kate and we'll stick around the city until departing on:

Thurs, Jan 28th: Depart Shanghai at 9:20am CST
Thurs, Jan 28th: Arrive in Philadelphia at 4:52pm EST

Next time from Shanghai.

China, Korea, Packing, Moving

A quick update with more details to follow.

Kate and I have signed contracts to teach at the Eastern Language School in Yeoju, Korea. It's a city of about 100,000 an hour or so southeast of Seoul. The perks are great--a three bedroom apartment (most couples teaching in Korea only get two) and a car will be available for use in the city if we need it.

So, our contracts are in, but this isn't the end of the process. We still need to send a bunch of paperwork to the Korean embassy for our visa application. When we get back from China we'll do an interview at the Korean consulate in DC and then (hopefully!) we'll get on a plane for Korea somewhere around Feb 12/13th. It's not unheard of for this part of the process to not go exactly as planned so we haven't popped the champagne just yet, but we're feeling good.

But before Korea, we're going to China for a couple of weeks to visit Kate's folks. We'll depart Philly for Shanghai on January 13. We're still working on the details of our travel agenda, but we'll make it up to Beijing and Harbin for their outrageous "International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival." And for their Russian architecture!

We'll have two weeks at the most between returning from China (end of January) and departing for Korea, and we have a lot to get done in that time. On top of our Korea prep, we need to say goodbye to friends, put the boat to bed for a year +, completely move out of the apartment, and--what I'm looking forward to most--do a good cull of all of our stuff so that we can return from Korea with streamlined material lives.

Before too much of that happens, I need to finish up some projects at work (my last day is Jan 12) and Kate is taking the GRE today. I don't think that we'll slow down or be able to establish any sense of the "new normal" for a few months. But it's exciting.

Welcome to the world, Blog!