Almost All

It is a very odd feeling to be sitting in our empty apartment, with less than 13 hours before we fly out and move to the other side of the world.

Very odd.

Almost all of the furniture is gone, now. There are just a few pieces left that will be picked up by the Salvation Army later this morning.

Almost all of our possessions are gone, now. Some are in bins, stored away for the future; some have found new homes, both temporary and permanent; some have been discarded. There are just a few left, what we can take with us on the flight this evening.

Almost all of the last minute details have been handled. There are just a few left to be taken care of during actual last minutes.

Almost all of our goodbyes have been said. There are just a few more to say to Jen's family, whose home we are using as the staging area for our expedition.

And then, later this evening, after all of the furniture is gone, after the rest of our things are gone, after all of the last minute details are handled, after the last goodbyes are said, we will leave this world and enter the strange, arcane world of air travel.

On the other side lies adventure, excitement, strange accents, colorful money, excellent beer and left-side driving. What lies between, though, is always a bit of a roll of the dice.

Tune in next time to find out the answers to these burning questions: Will everything go smoothly? Will all of the electronic gear that I am bringing for work get me pulled out of the security line and taken to the "special" room? Will Jen's head pop from excitement when we land in Auckland? Can Northwest make air travel any less fun? Just how much of French Polynesia can one see in an hour, anyway?

Moving Day

In a little over an hour, we're off to pick up the truck that will be used to shift a large mass of our stuff into my parents' basement. Of course, it won't be "our stuff" once it is in their basement, but "Bizz and Nate's stuff".

In typical Michigan fashion, it has been snowing the last couple of days, so we have a fresh inch or so on the ground. Yee haw!

The poor trees!

Last night I was going through all of my "very important" papers, trying to determine which are actually important enough to keep while we are in NZ and which can be thrown out.

It turns out that the answer is "not that many". In consideration to our neighbors, however, I decided that 10 pm was not a good time to crank up the shredder.

On a slightly related note, why did the office temp company for which I worked 5 years ago decided it was necessary to put my social security number on every pay stub? That's another inch thick stack of useless dead tree that I have to shred now.

We made the cut!

I just found out that Scott and I are in a commercial!
Go to http://www.weddingsnewzealand.com/index.htm
Watch the AdShow at the bottom...wait for it!

Excerpt from an email

Just got an email from Jen:

WE GOT THE VISAS!!!!!!! THEY ARE SHINY AND GOOD!!!!! HURRAY!!!!!! WE ARE GOING TO NEW ZEALAND!!!!!!!

Visas Are in the Mail (Part 2)

Jen got an email this morning from UPS indicating that the prepaid envelope, which we included with our visa applications, has been shipped. This could mean one of any of the following:

1. Both of our visas were approved


2. Only Jen's visa was approved


3. Neither visa was approved


4. The NZ consulate decided to send us some fascinating catalogs of NZ made goods to keep us busy while they dilly-dally over our applications

Needless to say, we are hoping for option 1 (though option 4 is a close second). Were options 2 or 3 to be be case, it would be very bad. Especially since we've already given our move-out notice and given/thrown away most of our worldly possessions (or pledged to do so) and paid some fairly large quantities of non refundable monies.

The envelope should be arriving today or tomorrow.

Visa's Are in the Mail!

Hello all! There was a big weight lifted off my shoulders today when I put Scott and my Visa applications in the mail. We ended up actually filling out 2 applications a piece because each of us ended up having a supplemental application for our application, and I still have one more addendum to the application that cannot be completed until I actually obtain the Student Visa. It has been a long strange trip including 3 visits to UofM Hospital (for me and 2 for Scott) to get everything squared away. We can only hope that 4ish weeks is enough time for the NZ Embassy in Washington DC to process them before we try to board our plane on February 18th.
Now I am mainly working on the cat's "passports" which requires me to go to East Lansing to the USDA Veterinarian's office. That is for next week I think. I just made them reservations at the Pussy Cat Lodge in Auckland for their quarantine stint.
Anyways, just wanted to give an update on the countdown to Auckland! Also one more amusing note, our temporary housing provided by the University of Auckland until we find a place to live is the YHA Youth Hostel in Auckland City. That should be interesting...We at least have a private bedroom...as far as I know...