House Hunting

So yes, supposedly (picture me giving you a slight roll of the eye) we are moving to Taiwan this summer. I say "supposedly" because within those quotes is just enough wiggle room for me to squeeze through to one of my favorite places, the Land of Denial. It is a lovely place I like to visit whenever the subject of an international move comes up. Everyone- including myself back before I was in danger of experiencing it first hand- thinks that moving over seas sounds exotic and adventurous and wonderful. True, true and true. But what you don't realize is that much must be given up for the opportunity. What I have come to understand about myself is that when I thought overseas living would be awesome, overseas travel is actually my idea of exotic, adventurous and wonderful. Most of this has to do with having little ones whose lives and education we are responsible for. I guess my point is that overtime I have become used to the inevitability that we were moving overseas largely by trying to understand the very real perks and very real difficulties that come with it.... and a healthy dose of the Dory "just keep swimming" attitude that has always come so naturally to me, ha!

My awesome sisters were up to the task of watching our kids again while I left with Nathan for my first trip ever overseas. I seriously should have taken a picture because you would never believe the condition we left our room in for the girls. Laundry, albeit clean, piled high and strewn everywhere. A product of being home from Boise for about 36 hours before we left again. So Natalie and Ashley are pretty much amazing for even agreeing to walk into that sand trap.  

Having said all that I'm about to get very honest. When people ask how I feel about moving to Asia I give most everyone the same answer about how I am a bit apprehensive but I'm sure we'll adjust and the Taiwan American School is amazing and I might even throw in how having a maid is cheap and very standard in Taiwan. But this is me we are talking about. As much as I long to be that woman who when offered this experience doesn't bat an eye and excitedly replies, "let's do this!" and "when can we leave!?"- I am not nor will I ever be that woman. Instead I worry. I worry about driving (I can now report the driving here is like NY cab drivers but on crack) I worry about health care (and that would be a yes, I'm planning on having this baby in Taiwan. Somebody slap me.) I worry about where I will get food to prepare for my family (have I mentioned I'm not a fan of Chinese food?) I worry about being SO far away from family and friends and our DVR- in that order I swear. But thanks to some awesome friends (Allison!) and people I have been put in touch with from Taiwan many of my worries were settled at least partially. 

When Nathan and I left for our trip on Sunday I was excited and looking forward to the experience. Taiwan is sometimes confused with Thailand but Taiwan is actually the Republic of China and they speak Mandarin Chinese. At any rate, I was excited to check this place out. So that makes it a little hard to explain why about 8 hrs into our flight I started bawling. No really, full on sobbing. It started out as just a little teary and I was trying to pull myself together but instead I just lost it. I was trying to be discreet but at some point Nathan realized I was crying (poor guy, he was so confused) and I scared the crud out of him because I was crying so hard I couldn't even speak and so he was imagining something terrible had happened. As my sister explained, I was having one of those, "oh my gosh this is really happening" moments and she's right. Suddenly the reality of moving overseas became a little too real. In that moment I DID NOT WANT TO MOVE. Thankfully though I felt much better after a seriously huge cry. 

I was amazed when on the first leg of the flight Nathan slept and slept and slept. I took a short little nap and then proceeded to read an entire book (A Thousand Splendid Suns, not really a funny ha ha kind of book). During our layover in Japan I started to feel it and by the time we boarded the last leg of our flight I could hardly speak without slurring my words I was so dang tired.  Frankly, I would've blogged days ago but I have been battling jet lag any moment I sit still too long. 

Though pretty much every smell is offensive to my sensitive nose, I have managed pretty well here if I do say so myself. It has really been cool to get to explore a bit of this country. We've spent several days house hunting- hopefully our prayers have been answered and we will find a place before we leave this trip. I have lot's of other details and things that I have found interesting but I'm not really sure if they would be interesting to anyone else so for now I better call it good I think. More later...