Coulda Woulda Shoulda

Visas are here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We fly tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't really write anything because I am using my old work machine and I have to get out of here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! bye bye belfast 'she is handsome she is pretty she is the girl from belfast city' xxxxx

I mostly hibernated this weekend and partook in some much needed sleep. I'm not sure why I love sleeping in so much but I am really looking forward to two more days of this. Friday ended tearfully, albeit it was not that tearful for me because I have this weird disease that stops me from crying if anyone else shows the slightest emotion. It's like I turn into 'super comforter', one who will not crack in the face of a tearful person. So I'm also just waiting for the inevitable massive crying 'i don't wanna go wah wah wha' breakdown that tends to accompany every leaving. D is preparing as well, knowing right now is really the calm before the storm. It's weird to think that this time next week I will be in a classroom, teaching. I will be in a place that is warm and humid and so disgustingly hot that I cannot wait. See what 3 years in the UK has done to me??? I'm willing the weather of muggy July Toronto to simply hurry up and get here. I really nee...

Dear Me, This is an open letter to you from youself to remind you why sometimes are a dumbass. It is not wise to avoid the gym all week in an effort to simply 'chill out' at home. You have forgotten yet again that your mental health depends on the endorphins you stir up after a good run at the gym. It is especially not wise when you then have to come to your last day of work, having not really worked out for a whole week. Like they say in the movie Scrooged, you are probably going to have a lot of 'nie-a-gare-a-falls' moments today. Just make sure you have lots of tissues near you. You are probably already feeling a bit weepy and I know you hate that you know what's coming because little-miss-last-minute always panics at crunch time, don't you? Just look forward to some final G&Ts tonight. Not that the old lady drink won't make you depressed enough. Maybe you should try to convince everyone to have a 'sweat' party and go hit the treadmills. Someh...

WE ARE GETTING CLOSER!!!!! We got confirmation numbers from Korea for our visas a few days ago and after planning and executing a stellar book launch last night, I got up bright and early to keep the process going. Trekked down to Dublin today to the Korean embassy office to finishe the final step in the process. If all goes well, (read: INTERNET, CROSS YOUR FINGERS) we will have visas in hand by next Tuesday. I don't really have any more news or words to really say today but I read something so poignant, I thought it best to share. This is the way deal with a difficult situation with grace and beauty

In Leeds, they tend to abbreviated things. You are not 'on the bus' you are 'on boose'. You are not 'in your car' you are 'in kaaa'. You are not...well, you get the picture. I take the boose to work every day and D is often referencing the fact that I get 'on booose'. I can no longer pronounce the work bus...even looking at that on screen, I hear 'boose' in my head. Cleaning the apartment last night, I found a scrunched up piece of paper I had written a posting on months ago. Since my brain is filled with many things, I figured I would share this with you today: 'I scoffed at the thought of having to take the booose to Drogheda to get the train to Belfast. Normally, the train goes directly from Dublin to Belfast but it was Sunday and in Ireland people do work on God's day as there was track works going on. I had arrived at Connolly Station, ready to get my seat on the train, zone out with a book and my lunch. After attending a bo...

Patiently waiting for visa numbers to come through to get the process moving. I have never dealt with a 'no problem' culture as much as this one. They are very serious about their schooling but perhaps nothing else is really that urgent. Must be that whole 'live in the moment Zen' thing. I feel a bit silly going on at this space about the visas - feel like this is the only thing I ever write about. I guess it's just the one thing that is taking a bit longer to fall into place. I laughed in my head when Big A made a comment about all the questions I was asking on Sunday. 'You know', he said in his Big A voice - if you know him, you can definitely hear it in your head now, 'I didn't talk to anyone before I came. I just kinda got a plane and came.' I'm all for the 'just experience it' because I DID THAT when I QUIT MY JOB SOLD MY HOUSE MOVED TO ENGLAND THREE AND A HALF YEARS AGO but you tend to learn things through this process that you ...

(sing) Paved paradise and putting a parking lot..ooooo...bop bop bop bop...ooooo..bop bop bop bop As you can see the positive energy fairy visited this weekend and I am the most excited about this trip as I have been since we decidedt to take the plunge. This song popped into my head this weekend after I thought of ONE MILLION things I could write on my blog. I remember the first time I heard this song was in my high school english 'enrichment' class. I remember feeling so privelaged to be in 'enrichment' english, like I was really cool. D always laughs at my ideas of 'cool' saying there is NO WAY we would have ever dated in high school as I sounded like the biggest nerd. But ANYWAY in we had this funky 'enrichment' enlgish teacher who I think used to be a university professor and in turn married one of his students (this is not so creepy as he did not marry a high school student and oddly enough, it never really seemed weird) but he used to have this se...

It's D's last day at work and as per usual with our journeys, I'm still at the office for another week. He always seems to end up finishing before me, ultimately taking care of all the last minute details while I scramble to leave my job intact for the next person to take the seat. I have been trying to put together a 'leaving document' for my predecessor ever since I gave my notice 3 week ago. But things are so busy for us that I have only gotten as far as writing the title. I'm having an 'anxious day', possibly because I have not been to the gym at all this week and also because I was taken out last night by work and perhaps have the 'hangover fear' looming over me. I'm getting used to the up and down roller coaster of this whole experience but the negative feeling of anxiety is the worst one. We're still waiting on visa numbers and I can only hope that things will fall into place very quickly next week. It dawned on me yesterday, after...

We both decided that we needed books for this adventure. Last week, we sat down in front of an Amazon screen to purchase some. We compared our wish lists. He - How to teach english as a second language, teaching for dummies, teaching grammar to non-english speakers, all-things-related-to-the-job-you-will-spend-30-hours-a-week-doing Me - Lonely Planet 'Korea', Culture Shock 'Korea', Hot Spots in Korea,all-things-unrelated-to the-new-job-you're-hoping-to-do-in-Korea. Perhaps my calling is for a travel agency and he should just go and be the teacher.

We have been so busy at work that I am finding it hard to find room in my brain to actually process that in 3 weeks time, I will probably be on my way or almost on my way to S. Korea. I'm a very last minute type person. I feel emotions at the last minute. I deal with situations at the last minute. I finish all assignments at the last minute. I suppose this is called procrastination and I'm certain I've written a blog about that. I'm certain that I will suddenly realise at the last minute that the plane I'm getting on will be taking me to a place where I don't know the language, I don't know anyway (minus our friend A who got us the job) and I have NEVER TAUGHT ENGLISH BEFORE. There are a few things causing anxiety: I have a place to live and a job. This sounds strange I know. And it should make it easier. Suddenly we don't have to worry about finding those things. But I don't really have the freedom to up and leave if it's not working. No one is ...

One of my favourite home tasks has always been grocery shopping. I love the look of a full fridge, full cupboard, filled with a variety of food that I can choose from because, being a Gemini, I never quite know what type of food I'm going to want. I love heading to Tesco but mostly Sainsburys to wander the aisles for such necessities as pesto and sardines and sun dried tomato paste and kalamta olives. You know, just the basics. I can't count the number of times I get the 'big-D-sigh' 'eye-roll' and 'Why on earth did you buy that? You won't eat that'. He's gotten his way with fresh things like grapes (I love them but always seem to forget to eat them and therefore have been relegated to 'food A should not bother buying as it will go bad in the fridge'.) but I can still get away with cupboard food though because it never goes bad....ah the mini victories of compromise. With this new 'heading-to-S. Korea-to-teach-english' plan, we ...

I am a proud Canadian because of the recent courage and intelligence shown by some of the brave men and women that every day work hard to keep us safe. When this story first broke, I felt a sense of great pride and honour, somehow wanting to express to our intelligence agents how happy I am that they are willing to 'fight for their country' by working - and sometimes living - in the underworlds of our society. And then of course, we come to our politicians. If all the law enforcement involved with the recent arrests and seizure of explosives were as asleep at these dumb asses , we certainly would be in trouble. Proud and disgusted all in the same day. Canada rules, eh?

The city break for my birthday started this way: Crazy birthday girl on a double decker bus in Times Square. Okay this wasn't the EXACT beginning. I'm leaving out the flight, which was not delayed. The arrival at the hotel, in a TOWN CAR, the surprise Broadway show SPAMALOT which even D enjoyed, despite not actually always enjoying Monty Python and the wandering in awe at night in Times Square. But above picture expresses the glee I was feeling from the moment we left Belfast until my feet touched the ground last Tuesday. If I thought I was happy in this picture, I didn't know the half of it. That night this happened: MY PARENTS SHOWED UP AT THE HOTEL ROOM TO TAKE US FOR DINNER!!!!! MY PARENTS LIVE IN CHICAGO!!!!!! I couldn't stop jumping up and down when I saw them at our hotel room door. I couldn't believe D had pulled it off. I am the nosiest person on the planet. I speak to my mom EVERY SUNDAY. She hates keeping secrets. I thought that was the icing on the cake ...