A lot of Time in the Van =

Have you ever driven from Winnipeg to Nova Scotia?  When you look at the map it does not seem that far away...then you start to drive and it suddenly seems VERY far away...even longer when there are two very independent kiddos in the back seat asking, "where go we next?" repeatedly and fussing because they are ready to get out of the van.  Therefore I have come up with a list entitled:

``A lot of time in the van equals``

1) A lot snacking for all in the vehicle...especially Dimples.
2) A fussy baby when he decides his diaper is too full.
3) A squealing little girl when a new movie pops on the video screen.
4) Laughter from mom and dad when the two kids decide to love each other and hold hands.
5) A lot of responses to the question, ``Can we go swimming?"
6) Trying to guess what is being requested by the constant "that, that"...from both kids.
7) You guessed it...KARAOKE...especially the 90`s station on Sirius Satellite Radio.
8) Anticipation for our impending destination.
9) Listening to Princess excitedly exclaim ``Turn Left...Turn Left`` after GPS tells us where to go.
10) The trill of moving again at any rest stop, gas station, play park or restaurant.  It always feels good to get up and stretch legs...especially for the little ones.


We have been traveling since Thursday morning. Saying goodbye was not a fun endeavour.  It never is.  It is tough to leave behind loved ones and dear friends.  It is hard to have the kids say goodbye to grandma, grandpa, auntie, uncle and Layla dog.  Family has been our major support over the last three years while I eagerly finished my degree...without them I am sure there would have been many more headaches involved with daycare especially. I truly believe that family plays a vital role in the development of a child and therefore I am especially thankful for my iPad and Facetime.  We have had face to face conversations with grandma and grandpa everyday since we have left and it is making the adjustment easier than if we could not do that.  The kids love to see grandma and grandpa on the screen.  Sure, it is not the same, but it is better than nothing.

We are now halfway through our journey east.  We spent the first night just outside of Minneapolis and got our fill of Albertville.  We have specific dress codes for teaching at the school and needed to replace and replenish our "teacherly" wardrobe.  I was thrilled by some of the bargains we got and am excited to wear the newest additions...particularly the stellar purple 3/4 length sleeve dress shirt...it shimmers (it was so nice I got a green one too...cliche?  Probably.)  The best part of Thursday was a wonderful visit with a dear friend I have not seen since little Princess was 3 weeks old.  We have known each other for nearly a decade and although we live 7 hours apart have remained close through emails and Facebook.  It was so great to catch up over a delicious meal at a restaurant I would have never known about.  Love that girl to bits and I wish we could get together more often!

Friday morning we loaded up the van again for another trip...a short one only 5 hours to Madison, WI.  A stay at the Crowne Plaza and a dinner at Outback rounded out our trip...oops...I forgot.  Our `teacherlyness`kicked in at Target as we raided the school supply section.  School supply shopping has been one of my favorite pass times since I was a very little girl.  I love markers and pencil crayons and new pens...but I did not get carried away this time.  We just do not have the space to take extra supplies!  Waking up in Madison, we discovered that Dimples had a very swollen eye...only one of them and the whites of his eyes were normal.  I figured he got bit by a bug and it was off to find some Benadryl...It seems normal again now which proves that it was probably a bug bite. Momma`s intuition was correct this time.

After leaving Madison we ventured to Flint, MI.  Flint is not my first choice for locations to stop by and visit...nor is EconoLodge as my hotel choice.  But there are only so many options in a city that has been hit hard by the recession.  I do have to say though, that our stop in Flint was met by very hospitable and very friendly people.  We stopped in Flint because it was 7 hours from Madison, but we can say it was a pleasant place to stop.

Today we are in Kingston, ON.  Our hotel looks over Historic Kingston, the home of John A. MacDonald.  It is beautiful.  Boats on the lake, people milling about everywhere and a really cool place to walk around and explore.  It reminds me a lot of the exchange district but bigger!  It is one of those rare gems you discover when you least expect it and then wish you could spend more time there.  Unfortunately that will be impossible on this trip.  Perhaps on our next trip we can stop and visit again.

Dimples loves the chairs that we have had in our rooms...makes him feel at home.

Princess loves to jump from bed to bed...and up and down on them too. 

The view from our room in Kingston.  Absolutely beautiful!

 

So, hears to hoping that the rest of the journey brings more laughs, giggles, squeals of joy and excitement at new discoveries.  The next few days takes us to Quebec City, Fredericton, all over Nova Scotia and PEI!  The trip to PEI will be a first for me and the kids and although I have never really been much of an Anne of Green Gables fan, I am sure I will enjoy the land of Bud the Spud from the great red mud!

And It's Out of Here!

Today was our garage sale...the weather forecast was ominous and we weren't sure what was going to happen.  We spent two full days loading up the garage with our precious possessions expecting rain and I had nightmares about people taking things without paying and of those horrible pink and yellow price stickers...and what did the Lord provide?  A cool morning with a beautifully sunshine filled afternoon and incredibly honest people that hardly even bargained...granted there were a few bargainers out there, but for the most part people accepted the prices we were asking.  It was a tremendous blessing.

I could hardly believe it when I looked outside at 8:15 and saw droves of people flooding our garage.  I think that there were 15-20 people in there at one point.  We DID have a lot of stuff in there which was good and most of it is now gone.  If you have read any of my previous posts about the liquidation of our possessions you would know that I have been feeling less burdened by my stuff and today was no exception.  There were a couple things that were harder to say goodbye to, like my Barbie Ferrari from when I was young, but when a little girl pulls on my pant leg and says she only has three dollars and really wants the car you have to let her take it!  I can say that I am a sucker for cute kids!

Hubby was awesome as he dealt with our "customers" and carried around his messenger bag of change.  He is such a great salesperson and I am sure that is a big reason we had such success today.  I have never really hosted a garage sale so I do not know what is normal for a garage sale, but I think it went well.  I don't think it slowed down until 1 PM...and even at that we still had a steady flow of people and even repeat customers!  It is nice to know that our items have found good, new homes and can be helpful to others.

If you have never purged your items through a garage sale I recommend that you try it.  If something has been sitting around for a long time then it is probably worth trying to sell because you never know what people are looking for!  We sold tons of Christmas stuff, even though it is tough to think of Christmas now when it is so sunny and beautiful out!  Two things that we found were incredibly helpful to our garage sale was a) that we advertised for one full week prior to our garage sale on Kijiji.  We had over 2500 hits on our ad and when we asked those that came where they heard of our garage sale, 95% said from Kijiji.  Still put signs up, but ADVERTISE...and make it a top ad and a banner ad, it stays on top as long as you have it posted and pays off!  b) Make your sale space organized and look like a store!  We had many comments on how they could tell we cared about our stuff because we took the time to organize it properly.

Our house is now even more empty...we have no plates to eat on or pots and pans to cook with...we will probably be eating out for much of the next week, but our goal was to store as little as possible and I think that we have reached that goal!  Thanks to everyone who stopped by to say hello and goodbye...we appreciate and love you all, and if you picked something up on your visit I hope that you enjoy it!

Developing New Eyes

Take a moment to consider the following quote:

"The true voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes."

When I read this quote yesterday it immediately struck a cord with me.  This is exactly why I have traveled.  It is exactly why we want our children to experience other parts of the world and other cultures.  When people ask us why we are moving to Egypt with our kids, we always respond by saying that we want to them to see the way other people live, but this quote is far more elegant in that statement.  It is all about DEVELOPING NEW EYES!

Have you ever traveled?  When you traveled did you explore the landscapes or the people?  Did you investigate how other people lived, or did you take the pictures?  I am not trying to make anyone feel bad because there is a time and a place for everything, and I can certainly say that on our last trip to Mexico I relaxed by the pool and took pictures and it was glorious!  But, did I develop new eyes from that experience?  Not really.  Did I have a great vacation?  Absolutely!  But, the purpose of this move to Egypt is just that, a MOVE.  It is not a vacation, or a quick trip to take the pictures.  We will be living with and working with Egyptian people.  We will be living in an area most tourists do not visit, although we will be 12 km's from where thousands of tourists trek daily.  Will we take pictures of Egypt YES!  But the most valuable thing that we will take from living in Egypt is seeing how people live...living with them.  By doing this, our eyes will be open to different lifestyles and ways to go about things day to day.  

By going into a new place with eyes wide open, you are open to developing a type of worldly empathy that makes a stronger person.  It allows a person to step into another persons perspective with ease because they have had the opportunity to experience life on the other side.  Will we ever be exactly like the people we live with? NO! And we know that, but to truly connect to the people we are working with and living with, we HAVE to try.  

The true voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.  As our adventure begins, I hope that our family is able to develop new eyes and have the ability to see things from the other side.

An Empty Living Room and A Rubbermaid for a Couch

Okay, as of this writing, we are leaving our beautiful house in 11 days.  After living here for almost 2 years, the house was finally becoming a home.  We were just finishing renovations and were planning what to do next with the house when the job posting for Heritage International floated into my email inbox.  Intrigued, I applied with no expectation of receiving further contact, sometimes you just have to test the waters and see what turns up.  Then low and behold, not only do I receive contact, I get a CONTRACT and the preparations began in a flurry.  The day after we finished renovations our house went on the market and within a week, our home was sold.  Now, just one month later there is virtually no furniture left in our living room, rec room and office.  It is all slowly drifting away.  I am thankful for kijiji despite the many issues I have had with it over the past several weeks.

The packing process is beginning to ramp up now.  There is only so much that you can do in the month before.  I want to pack, but I cannot pack clothing because we still need it.  I cannot pack up the kitchen because we need the food and pans still.  I cannot pack up our stuff because we are selling it all our garage sale this coming weekend.  So, for  now, we are living in a shell of what used to be our home and quickly it is just becoming another house again.

The kids are getting used to seeing things leave although for some mysterious reason Little Princess was particularly attached to the chair that we sold the other day.  She was on the verge of tears but then quickly recovered saying, `The people need our things`.  Pretty good for a little girl to catch onto that.

So for the next 11 days we will be sitting on rubbermaid bins and suitcases, especially after the weekend.  But we will make due, it is only for a short time.  I still cannot believe how quickly the time to depart is coming, but I am clinging to the fact that the adventure of a lifetime is waiting for us on the other side of the world. 

I Just Looked at the Calendar!

Today is Tuesday, July 12th.  We leave Winnipeg on July 28th.  That seems like a lot of time still.  But when I looked at the calendar today it looks much shorter than it seems.  Just over 2 weeks until we leave Winnipeg.  The fact that we are about to embark on a 2 year journey is real to us, but still seems like a distant reality.  It really should not seem so distant.  Our house is becoming more and more empty, and we are winding down our responsibilities here, but it still seems far away, except when I looked at the calendar.

The other day we had the opportunity to meet some of the other new teachers that will be arriving the same time as us.  It is a very diverse group with people teaching Kindergarten and others teaching Physical Education or high school.  We really are all quite different, but are embarking on this journey together.  I was thrilled to discover that there is another couple going to Egypt and that they are planning to attend the same church as us.  That was quite reassuring to us.  I am sure that we will become quite close with this couple.  One of the teachers that we got to meet has taught at Heritage for 4 years.  She had so much information for us that was reassuring and relieving at the same time.  Everything I have read so far about dress codes and such seemed extremely different from what I would normally wear here.  Apparently it is much more lenient then I originally thought and that made my packing anxiety decrease substantially.

The idea of living in Egypt is still a foreign idea for us even though it is getting closer.  We have read books and articles, watched documentaries and have drawn from our own experience, but nothing will prepare us for our time in Egypt more then getting there and immersing ourselves in the culture.  That does not come without its difficulties and imagine that amongst the joy and thrill of arriving in a new culture many new questions and concerns will arise.  Things we will never have thought of before.

So, that brings us to today, July 12th.  My basement is very sparse, we sold our couches yesterday...our little Princess struggled with the fact that they were leaving, especially "her" chair, but all in all does not seem to care today.  We sold our car yesterday, so now we are down to our van.  The luxury of having 2 vehicles at our house was certainly taken for granted as I was free to come and go as I please during the day, but now I am at home with no vehicle...and no stroller for that matter because it is with hubby in the van.  So, today I am purging more things, configuring suitcases and arranging some packing, but still I feel like I live in disarray.  Stuff is everywhere and no matter how much we get rid of, the more stuff I feel like I am finding.  I cannot wait for it to all be gone!

Our journey to Egypt will begin early in the morning of the 28th of July.  We will be driving to Nova Scotia to bid farewell to hubby's family.  It will take us a week and we will take our time getting there with stops in Minneapolis, Madison, Flint, Kingston, Quebec City and Fredericton.  I will have the joyous experience of traveling to PEI for the first time and hopefully get to see Green Gables.  We will spend a week or so in NS and then on the 15th of August we will board a plane with our 7 bags (we HAVE opted to take less with us! We will see how long that lasts!) and begin our LONG day of traveling to Egypt.

It will be a busy couple weeks here as things wind down and we pack up the house and clean the house (the most dreaded part of moving).  We hope to see as many people as possible before we go!

So, just over 2 weeks to go.  I am sure we will encounter some hiccups along the way, but for now, Egypt still seems distant although our departure date is looming.  I guess I am more focused on our cross country trip at the moment then the cross the ocean one.  I am sure that will change as the 15th of August draws nearer.