My little Baraky wishing everyone a Happy 4th... Happy 4th to all... regardless of race, colour, religion, political beliefs... may everyone be happy and just get along in life... and happy belated Canada Day for the Canadians... and happy whatever to anyone else...
(A sunrise from Hillsboro Beach, Florida - just thought I would throw this in. I took it last week when we were away for a little bit)I know I am not around to visit people as much right now... but things are busy... not only with work but travelling when I can... still getting some paperwork done... getting things for Shauna together... I have decided to not stress about the 'lists' of what to and not to take to China... I figure that the country has been around long enough that if I don't have a certain medicine I could either get it there or I am sure that there is going to be someone over there who has something I need that they don't and I can buy it/trade it off them, and vice versa... I will split Mike's, Shauna's and my clothes into our carry on luggage (not sure if we will check it through or carry on) and so if one bag disappears, we will be good with the other. If we need to buy clothes for her there, then we will buy some for her there and get through our agency a backpack that has diapers, medicines etc in there and then when we get to Beijing it will be waiting for us in our hotel room...
Though having said all this... the Immigration Office has asked for my mother and father-in-law's police clearances from the ages of 18 years old... even though we are doing the I800a and of course I hit the roof... though the lady I deal with at the Immigration Office is nice and helps as much as she can - we were grandfathered in, the only thing I can think of is that they were using a 'template' of a letter that was meant for the I800a... we need to do these and a fingerprint statement for my mother and father-in-law as they need their fingerprints done all the time as they don't ever 'take' so that is an endless thing... of course I was beside myself - considering we are so incredibly close to getting our referral and so I am desperate to get this figured out but at the same time... I am sure things will fall into place... so, once everyone starts working again after this little holiday I will get hold of the Immigration Office and make sure that things are getting fixed... fingers crossed for that... I am trying to not stress over it.
The guy at work still hasn't spoken to me and to be honest... it is actually peaceful and I have that little bit less stressed :) So, I can live with the silence! Though I be the bigger person and say 'Good Morning' and 'Good Bye'... I am to old for this stuff and besides that I have got bigger things to deal with...
As you can see, the picture of Mama Bird on her nest in the rain... I had to admire her for sitting there on her egg protecting her baby... I go into Shauna's room every other day and look out the front window there to see if Mama Bird is doing ok... I was going to put a shelter there for her but I am sure she wouldn't know how to get to her nest or something...
I will try to catch up when I can... If I am not around for a while... I still think of all the friends I have made along the way... cannot wait to the end of the month for our Colorado trip - have to find my happy place at work so Colorado it is :)
9 pearls of wisdom:
Happy 4th! Hope you had a wonderful evening!
Love the pic of Barack.
Oh the red tape eh? Hope things happen quickly for you!!! Com'on CC@@
I would be going nuts over the fingerprinting and what not as well. But I have heard that others have had to do it. Good luck.
when things start going crazy, that means referrals are coming right???
I wouldn't stress about what to take to China either..we took the bare minimum and we were fine.....the only thing I WISH we had was snack foods...we spent a great deal of time in the hotel and quickly were tired of that.......
I love the picture of Barack. Too cute.
I hope your trip is restful and that you are worry free from work and the CCAA.
I'd love to get together with you when you're here if we can work it out!
Hugs,
Natalie
aaaah Barack is so precious
Great birdy pic!
That's a smart idea dividing up things across suitcases!! Losing your luggage can fairly ruin a trip, but with your idea, you would just be a bit irritated, not totally devastated!
Yep...you can pretty much get anything you need there. Here are my caveats though...good prescription medication, specifically antibiotics are NOT easily gotten, at least not the good ones. Spend time getting THAT if you want.
Also, finding clothing was a little more interesting. One of our travel mates had not packed large enough clothes for her daughter. It was much harder finding clothes than I thought it would be, or it could have been the guide's lack of help. We did find some in an expensive store...but baby clothes were a little harder to find than I thought they would be. If you have a few outfits though, you should be good.
Hope the right clearances come back for you. I remember well that headache!
Happy belated Fourth to our resident Aussie! And I love your Barack... he is too cute.
Fliss....you can get almost anything you need in China so don't stress. The only things you want to have on you for sure are your documents, money, camera, and a sense of humor!
Now having said that, we bought so much stuff for Kerri that we were glad we had the suitcase. But you can always buy one there or ship stuff back here too.
One of these days we have to meet up or talk on the phone!
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