Well we are packed (over the limit by 3 kilos I will add and just hoping not to be charged a fee) and the taxi is picking us up at 14.30. Our flight isn't until 18.50, but we'll be there early as we've been waiting for this day to come for a long time.
I'm very excited about starting the new job, though a bit apprehensive too as John will have to live where the university. We are determined to make it work so it will work.
It was sadder than I thought saying goodbye to my friends here. I mean I knew I'd miss them, but it was a bit teary-eyed for a few who I've known almost the entire time I've lived here and kept regular contact with. I'll miss the two little girls of my friend as I've known the youngest one since 6 months old and the older one since she was born. I've slept over a lot at their place, been travelling with them, gone skiing with them and it was even better when John came into the picture because he got along great with them and was able to entertain them even more!
Now we have a new life to look forward to and get settled in and I'm looking forward to when we really do get settled which I know will take time. It'll be exciting to get used to all the new things there and our new home and my new job and John's new school. Hopefully the 4 years for him go fast! It feels a long way away right now, but I know time flies.
Saturday 31 December 2011
Sunday 18 December 2011
I've not forgotten to write....
There hasn't been much news so I've not written here. I've met some of my friends for the last time and said goodbye. It's not hard for us because neither of our family are from here even if I've lived here for the past 11 years and made some good friends. It isn't the same as some people who have been living close to their family the past however many years. We are not in that situation. J's family lives in Denmark, an hour flight away, but we usually only go there at Christmas. My family is divided between Ireland and the U.S., but again, I do not travel to either place so often. When we do decide to travel we choose places that we can enjoy and try to pick a new country each time. Now with this huge trip I think our travels will be put on hold for quite a while.
We've now also come to realise that although we though for J to travel back and forth between school and home would be possible (even if extremely long), we now see this is not going to be realistic. So to prepare ourselves he has gotten in contact with some people who are renting rooms close to where he will study. He's had quite a few responses and he has chosen the cheapest due to me being the only one to bring income into the family. This means I will be on my own in our house Monday afternoon - Friday morning as he will come home Friday evening. I'm not so thrilled with this idea, BUT I know we need to start like this and get settled and then see what else falls into place. The school is not offering distance courses so that is not an option. On a good note, J did the interview with the school via skype and I was so impressed with his answers. I could only hear his side of the interview, but it sounded great. He heard his official answer two days later and it was of course a yes! We were a bit nervous thinking what if, but we didn't need to worry. So we'll just have to take this one step at a time and let him start school and see how it goes with this travelling bit. At least I'll have him with me almost one month before he has to go to school. Then it'll be two months for me to continue (minimum) for immigration requirements, then I'm free to stay where I am or go onwards.
We only have a few weeks left and every laptop we have just seems to be breaking down. I will be asking my job if I can buyout the one I have since I just love it and a new one costs a fortune which we can't really afford to buy now if we don't have to. I will ask tomorrow, but I'm not counting on it being a yes simply because they are new to the school (bought within the past year) and I just can't see them agreeing. On the other hand, you never know.
For Christmas we're celebrating with friends and their two little girls, the same ones we went to Poland this summer with. They have been so good to me all the years I lived here so this year I decided to get them an extra nice gift as well as the girls. Normally we just get the girls a gift, but with us leaving, we wanted to do something special for them too. I love the gift I picked out (a coffee/cappuccino/expresso/hot chocolate/tea maker with the special packages you buy to put in the machine. We bought two different kinds of packages to get them started too. For the girls we bought them a board game which we loved playing in Poland this summer with them, but their game is always in Poland and now they'll have the updated/bigger version for when they are here. At least we have something to play together for Christmas! I can't wait - I think I'm a bigger child than they are.
We have solved all the errands we needed to take care of on this side. We will only have 2 bills to pay once we've left, but we've signed up where they take it out of our account themselves. I'm going to try get rid of my visa card (one less cost) since as long as I have internet banking I won't need the card. Just have to remember to get to the bank to ask about it. Trying to get us to have a joint account in this country was the most difficult thing to do - apparently it's not common here. We simply didn't want to keep paying the cost of two accounts when we've moved since there'll be no need.
So, we're all excited about our move and it seems everything is falling into place and hopefully for the best. Since we applied all the teaching categories are gone from the lists so we were lucky to get in when we did!
We've now also come to realise that although we though for J to travel back and forth between school and home would be possible (even if extremely long), we now see this is not going to be realistic. So to prepare ourselves he has gotten in contact with some people who are renting rooms close to where he will study. He's had quite a few responses and he has chosen the cheapest due to me being the only one to bring income into the family. This means I will be on my own in our house Monday afternoon - Friday morning as he will come home Friday evening. I'm not so thrilled with this idea, BUT I know we need to start like this and get settled and then see what else falls into place. The school is not offering distance courses so that is not an option. On a good note, J did the interview with the school via skype and I was so impressed with his answers. I could only hear his side of the interview, but it sounded great. He heard his official answer two days later and it was of course a yes! We were a bit nervous thinking what if, but we didn't need to worry. So we'll just have to take this one step at a time and let him start school and see how it goes with this travelling bit. At least I'll have him with me almost one month before he has to go to school. Then it'll be two months for me to continue (minimum) for immigration requirements, then I'm free to stay where I am or go onwards.
We only have a few weeks left and every laptop we have just seems to be breaking down. I will be asking my job if I can buyout the one I have since I just love it and a new one costs a fortune which we can't really afford to buy now if we don't have to. I will ask tomorrow, but I'm not counting on it being a yes simply because they are new to the school (bought within the past year) and I just can't see them agreeing. On the other hand, you never know.
For Christmas we're celebrating with friends and their two little girls, the same ones we went to Poland this summer with. They have been so good to me all the years I lived here so this year I decided to get them an extra nice gift as well as the girls. Normally we just get the girls a gift, but with us leaving, we wanted to do something special for them too. I love the gift I picked out (a coffee/cappuccino/expresso/hot chocolate/tea maker with the special packages you buy to put in the machine. We bought two different kinds of packages to get them started too. For the girls we bought them a board game which we loved playing in Poland this summer with them, but their game is always in Poland and now they'll have the updated/bigger version for when they are here. At least we have something to play together for Christmas! I can't wait - I think I'm a bigger child than they are.
We have solved all the errands we needed to take care of on this side. We will only have 2 bills to pay once we've left, but we've signed up where they take it out of our account themselves. I'm going to try get rid of my visa card (one less cost) since as long as I have internet banking I won't need the card. Just have to remember to get to the bank to ask about it. Trying to get us to have a joint account in this country was the most difficult thing to do - apparently it's not common here. We simply didn't want to keep paying the cost of two accounts when we've moved since there'll be no need.
So, we're all excited about our move and it seems everything is falling into place and hopefully for the best. Since we applied all the teaching categories are gone from the lists so we were lucky to get in when we did!
Friday 2 December 2011
All set, ready to go shortly
Well it'll be a simple move now and nothing else to think about.
Shippers (Interdell) came and shipped our belongings - paid that bill (33,330 kroners roughly). We did our best to be sure that whatever things we have left here to take with us will fit in our carry on or our 20kg limit. I'm still thinking of calling Cathay to see if there is anything they can do in regards to our limit especially since we're migrating. Doubt I'll get anywhere if J didn't get anywhere.
Everyone at work knows now. I now get to begin work January 12th instead of February 1st which is fine with me since it gives us access to the house immediately. It turns out water is included in our rent which I love! We are going to be trying to keep our expenses as low as possible with the least amount of monthly payments at a time. So the less amount of 5 dollars here and 10 dollars there each month out of our bills will be what we're aiming to do. We're even thinking instead of renting our appliances that we just buy them and ship them with us whereever we move next time in the country. This idea of paying out a fee each month and not owning it seems silly. Of course I'd gladly consider it for leasing a car because then the problem isn't yours if something happens to it and that's an expensive problem compared to appliances. So we'll see. So all we really need is internet which turns out you must have a home phone to have that which is horrible. Also, the internet there isn't supposed to allow you the free amount like we get here so we're going to have to be very careful. We're both avid internet users and that won't happen. I guess we're just worried if there's a fee if we go over or if it just slows down. We're quite happy if it just slows down, but if we have to pay a fee then that'll be a worry. So again, internet, rent, food, gasoline and I'm presuming there's some odd expenses I'm missing. If we can get a prepaid phone card for the mobiles we'll be doing that, but we're not having a monthly bill for that. We live in a small area so as long as we have money on the phone we'll be fine. At least until we get settled and see where my small salary will get us. It'll be much easier when John finishes school and he can also get a job. Then we'll be free, but that is many years away.
Oh by the way, John reached the 7.0 minimum on the writing test and raised his score on everything else except speaking since that was good anyway! So he made the requirement to enter into the teaching program. I'll never forget the day he took that test. He was so focused for passing the writing part and when he met me after the test he was almost crying saying how he failed because he was so focused he had mixed up the number of words for essay part 1 (even though he had read it) and found that instead of 150, he wrote 250. So when he got to essay 2, by the end he was rushed for time and had no time to reread his work (which has always been something he needs to work on). I felt so bad for him because I don't think I'd ever seen him so sad. He was kicking himself saying that was the only reason he went for the test - everything else he has no problem with. Well the 13 day waiting period was very long this time and I was at work when he called me up saying "Yes, Yes, Yes!" I was too nervous to jump to any conclusions as I had just called him about 5 minutes before to ask if the results were in the post and they weren't. Apparently, it got dropped in the post late and after I called. Oh my goodness what a relief it was since at least he now meets the requirements to get in. Hopefully now they make a real offer compared to a "Conditional Offer" which he has had all along.
Our next step to think about is whether he will travel this crazy distance of two hours a day to school and home from school or study distance. We know the 1st term he will travel as it would be of a benefit to him. I joked and told him to make friends so maybe he can stay with someone the days he has school and then come home after the days. We simply can't afford to rent two places. We know this isn't the best option, but it's what we need to do. It also comes down to getting free money from the government of his birth which allows him to get quite a sum IF he studies at the university and not distance. Not really sure how they would know he's studying distance unless whoever does the letter for him clearly puts that it's a distance course. So even though that money would pretty much be going towards the gasoline, it's still not money we need to fork out if they continue paying which would allow him to be at the university and hear the lectures rather than trying to do everything at home himself. He's sending in all that paperwork now to get it approved. I'd also like him to experience the university itself (and I'm sure he is thinking this way too).
Who knows, maybe later on I can apply for a job closer to North Palmerston so we can live there instead, but right now we're staying where we are first because it's part of why we got the visa so we do need to show that I've taken up the job with immigration and 2nd since this job did consider hiring someone from abroad I want to show that it was worth their while considering this. I mean we are so lucky to land us into a job with a house attached. Now if the house were free it would really be worth it ..... hehehe
Well I think now that this is no longer a secret I'm going to open up the blog again for public reading. I kept it private for a while until everything was public knowledge where I am .... just in case.
Shippers (Interdell) came and shipped our belongings - paid that bill (33,330 kroners roughly). We did our best to be sure that whatever things we have left here to take with us will fit in our carry on or our 20kg limit. I'm still thinking of calling Cathay to see if there is anything they can do in regards to our limit especially since we're migrating. Doubt I'll get anywhere if J didn't get anywhere.
Everyone at work knows now. I now get to begin work January 12th instead of February 1st which is fine with me since it gives us access to the house immediately. It turns out water is included in our rent which I love! We are going to be trying to keep our expenses as low as possible with the least amount of monthly payments at a time. So the less amount of 5 dollars here and 10 dollars there each month out of our bills will be what we're aiming to do. We're even thinking instead of renting our appliances that we just buy them and ship them with us whereever we move next time in the country. This idea of paying out a fee each month and not owning it seems silly. Of course I'd gladly consider it for leasing a car because then the problem isn't yours if something happens to it and that's an expensive problem compared to appliances. So we'll see. So all we really need is internet which turns out you must have a home phone to have that which is horrible. Also, the internet there isn't supposed to allow you the free amount like we get here so we're going to have to be very careful. We're both avid internet users and that won't happen. I guess we're just worried if there's a fee if we go over or if it just slows down. We're quite happy if it just slows down, but if we have to pay a fee then that'll be a worry. So again, internet, rent, food, gasoline and I'm presuming there's some odd expenses I'm missing. If we can get a prepaid phone card for the mobiles we'll be doing that, but we're not having a monthly bill for that. We live in a small area so as long as we have money on the phone we'll be fine. At least until we get settled and see where my small salary will get us. It'll be much easier when John finishes school and he can also get a job. Then we'll be free, but that is many years away.
Oh by the way, John reached the 7.0 minimum on the writing test and raised his score on everything else except speaking since that was good anyway! So he made the requirement to enter into the teaching program. I'll never forget the day he took that test. He was so focused for passing the writing part and when he met me after the test he was almost crying saying how he failed because he was so focused he had mixed up the number of words for essay part 1 (even though he had read it) and found that instead of 150, he wrote 250. So when he got to essay 2, by the end he was rushed for time and had no time to reread his work (which has always been something he needs to work on). I felt so bad for him because I don't think I'd ever seen him so sad. He was kicking himself saying that was the only reason he went for the test - everything else he has no problem with. Well the 13 day waiting period was very long this time and I was at work when he called me up saying "Yes, Yes, Yes!" I was too nervous to jump to any conclusions as I had just called him about 5 minutes before to ask if the results were in the post and they weren't. Apparently, it got dropped in the post late and after I called. Oh my goodness what a relief it was since at least he now meets the requirements to get in. Hopefully now they make a real offer compared to a "Conditional Offer" which he has had all along.
Our next step to think about is whether he will travel this crazy distance of two hours a day to school and home from school or study distance. We know the 1st term he will travel as it would be of a benefit to him. I joked and told him to make friends so maybe he can stay with someone the days he has school and then come home after the days. We simply can't afford to rent two places. We know this isn't the best option, but it's what we need to do. It also comes down to getting free money from the government of his birth which allows him to get quite a sum IF he studies at the university and not distance. Not really sure how they would know he's studying distance unless whoever does the letter for him clearly puts that it's a distance course. So even though that money would pretty much be going towards the gasoline, it's still not money we need to fork out if they continue paying which would allow him to be at the university and hear the lectures rather than trying to do everything at home himself. He's sending in all that paperwork now to get it approved. I'd also like him to experience the university itself (and I'm sure he is thinking this way too).
Who knows, maybe later on I can apply for a job closer to North Palmerston so we can live there instead, but right now we're staying where we are first because it's part of why we got the visa so we do need to show that I've taken up the job with immigration and 2nd since this job did consider hiring someone from abroad I want to show that it was worth their while considering this. I mean we are so lucky to land us into a job with a house attached. Now if the house were free it would really be worth it ..... hehehe
Well I think now that this is no longer a secret I'm going to open up the blog again for public reading. I kept it private for a while until everything was public knowledge where I am .... just in case.
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