Well, I suppose every adventure must have a beginning.
I will begin by saying I have never had a blog before--in fact, I don't think I have every so much as read a blog in my entire life, so sitting here trying to set one up has been comical, if nothing else. For example, did you know that you can have little computer fish that you can feed with computer fish food? I did not know this, but the idea was so funny to me, that I added some. Well, because it was funny and because I didn't have anything else to add. As incredible as it would be to have an internet matchmaking uplink in my blog, the fish seemed far less weird. Call me odd...
The goal of this blog is that this will be something that I will update with something like relative frequency about the day-to-day goings on of my life for those of you who know me and actually care enough to find out. I figure mass emails are kind of annoying to all those people who are mildly interested in that Facebook stalker kind of way (I know this, because I have been that person more than once...)
Right now, I am still in the United States, and have started filling out the innumerable forms that are needed to set things in motion...
I have to write a support letter tonight to raise the funds for my plane tickets and start-up costs (sheets, picture frames, and so on...) Frankly, this terrifies me. I hate asking for money. Hate, hate, hate! When I was in high school and my Girl Scout troop was going to England, I got a job and did not, I kid you not, spend a single penny for a year and a half because I hated fund raising so much...And now I have to do it, because I certainly don't have $3000 just laying around. (Incidentally, if you are reading this, and you do, I would be more than happy to be the beneficiary of your kindness!) How, I wonder, do you ask for money in an economy like this one? Particularly when you hate doing it anyway? Oh, well. I just have to suck it up and do it, I guess, and putting it off (what I want to do) is not going to change the fact that I am going to have to do it (which is what I would really like to have happen.) In the end, I am just leaping out in faith on this one. After all, it's what I've been doing since the start of this little escapade, and it seems to be working for me so far...
I also have to look at the elementary music curriculum that someone sent me to go over for the school. I guess the teacher three or four years ago worked it out. I need to go over it and (I am guessing) start the overhaul process so that it fits me as a teacher. This is difficult to do, as I am still waiting on a list of exactly what I have to work with. For example, you can't very well start a drumming unit for a third grade class with only one drum, or a unit based on a song that doesn't exist in any book you have. I am anticipating some hefty shipping costs, sending all my stuff over there for use. I have to say, though, just looking at the size of the files in my inbox makes me a little squeemish. It's going to be a lot of stuff to go through.
And that's just the start of the list...there's my passport to find and renew (probably will require a trip to Chicago for that one...), my passport to get, my apartment to take apart, pack up, and divvy up between the various persons who agreed to store some of it, my visa to obtain, and about a zillion other things that need to happen all in the next month. I am a little overwhelmed. Actually, take that back...
A lot overwhelmed.
...Which all brings us back to my mother, and her mantra, "The plan is good, Emily, the plan is good!" And in my heart of hearts I know she is right. I am completely caught up in details and incidentals that are no problem for my Papa who can just sell a couple cows and make it happen. So, I guess that's where it stands...at the beginning, with a lot of problems, not too many answers, but a great, wide-open door, complete with a neon sign saying "GO THROUGH ME..."
So...
Here we go!
