T-minus 8 days

We're getting down to the wire!

Today I get to celebrate Christmas with my brother and my niece! Yay! Mom is cooking up another Christmas dinner and we have more presents to open. I am excited about spending as much time as possible with my family, particularly my niece, over the next week. She has been in Colorado for the past week but now she's back. Woohoo!

I think I have found a renter for my house. They are moving here from Chicago. I had hoped to find someone to move in early January, but it looks like they prefer February 1st. Oh well. I'm just happy to have found someone without having to pay a realtor or property management company.

I checked the status of my car online and it says it has arrived in Germany and is waiting for me. Hopefully, my furniture and stuff isn't too far behind. It would be nice to get it soon, since I'll be able to move into my house January 9th.

The week ahead will be a busy one, mostly with vet appointments and paperwork for the dogs. But there will be lots of time to spend with my family and friends. Obviously the most important thing on my to-do list. :)

Going-Away Party

My official Going-Away party was last night at the Walburg Restaurant. It was lovely to have so many of my favorite people all in the same room. We had some great food and deeeeelicious German beer. The best part was all of the great company!

I still have two weeks here and will manage to squeeze in visits, lunches, and dinners with folks before I head out, in between all of the holiday festivities!

I feel so loved, and so lucky to have such amazingly wonderful friends and family. Thank you, everyone!

T-minus 21 days

Whoa. I knew the holidays were going to be fast and furious, but this is crazy!

Not a whole lot of time left...

In other news, I signed the paperwork on my house and will be moving in January 9th. Not sure when my stuff will arrive, but it will be good to get in and start getting settled as soon as possible. I feel incredibly lucky to have found a house with such a quick move-in time. My new principal said that it was likely that I would be living in a hotel for at least 3 months. Looks like that will actually be a mere 3 days... YEEHAW!

I feel pretty good about setting up in the new place. I will need to buy a bedroom set for the guest bedroom. Maybe a wardrobe or two, depending on what I can borrow from the post. The house comes with an American-sized fridge, and I will be able to borrow a washer and dryer and microwave. Depending on how soon my furniture will be there, I will also be able to borrow essential furniture (like a bed) and dishes and stuff for the short term, if need be.

The biggest chore left on my plate at this point is getting all of the paperwork for the dogs in order. That means microchipping, at least another round of vet visits for shots and whatnot, and a trip to the USDA office downtown to have them sign off on the import paperwork. I got the shipping crates yesterday (Christmas present from my folks) and have them assembled and in my room so the pooches can start getting used to them. They are smaller than the wire cages they are accustomed to, but I think they'll be okay. I am definitely anxious about their travel. I know they will be terrified and barky and mad about all of it. I'm hoping for a zero-incident transport. (Unlike our last flight to Germany with dogs, where our lab Bailey decided she was done in the kennel and busted out during the flight. When they opened up the cargo door, there she was, loose as a goose.)

Three more weeks...

Pictures of the house are posted on my Facebook. Check it out! :)

One month!

Flying out one month from today...

I got my passport. Woot!

I think I also might have found a house to rent. It's 20-30 minutes away from my school, depending on traffic. It is three floors, 4 bedroom and 2.5 bath. The owners are German and American. (The wife is also a teacher at one of the post schools.) From what I can tell from the pictures, it looks like a real find and I am pretty sure I am going to go for it.

Empty house!

So the movers came yesterday and finished moving everything. The move went smoothly, at least on this end. I hope I manage to escape without a whole lot of damage.

Aside from my suitcases, I have a bed, card table and two folding chairs, all generously on loan from my parents. Linens and kitchen gear are also slim pickings, which will mean a lot of take-out. I wanted to make egg salad for lunch tomorrow but I don't have a bowl to mix it in. I guess I could just mix it in the pot?

The house is empty, and sad. :(

I think my passport tried to get here today, but I wasn't here to sign for the FedEx. Not sure how I'm going to pull that off since I will be at school all week. And I have stuff every night this week so I can't go in the evening. Maybe I can go by after work on Friday?

We're just over a month from flying out. I still have a lot to do, but mostly it involves the paperwork for importing the dogs. Since all my stuff is gone, there isn't really much to do here besides play on the computer. I got a couple of movies from Netflix today, so I guess I could go curl up in bed and watch one...