'Twas the Night Before Jo'burg

Just a little update from the road to Lesotho!

We've had a wonderful array of going away parties and early birthdays for Jay. A huge heartfelt thanks to everyone who had a part in those. I'm including a few pictures of the gatherings for you here:

From our trip to Tennessee in Julyto visit Sarah's Dad and family:
From our final Sea Dogs game with the Blanc family:

From a friends goodbye party at Steve and Kim's House:

From our Harrington Going Away Bash/Birthday Party for Jay:

From an 8 Red Reunion/Goodbye at the Blanc's house:

From a farewell picnic/concert with our 6 Grant neighbors and friends:

From a final farewell and Birthday bash in Montana:

We love you all and are excited to keep in touch with you using the blog and e-mail and skype and all those fabulous technological communication tools that we have to stay close. This is all part of the adventure!

In other news, we had a fabulous time in Montana visiting everyone and hanging out in Glacier Park. We hiked quite a bit and saw some amazing animals like these Grizzly Bears (Yep. They were that close!!):

And this pooping Whitetail Deer:






We also made a pilgrimage to one of Sarah's favorite spots on earth, Avalanche Lake:We spent the evening re-packing bags to make sure they aren't overweight. We now have five 50 lb bags and one 68 lb bag. It was a lot of rearranging and use of the luggage weight, but all is well now! We aren't quite sure what a 15hr 25 min flight followed by a 4 hr drive feels like, but we're interested to find out. It's all part of the adventure!

Okay, that's all for now. Next time: A review of our trip and first impressions. Stay tuned!!

The Move: A visual update

If you can't get the movie to work on this page (it takes a while, I've found), try clicking here to view it right on youtube.

It's been a long three days, but we're still hanging in! Thanks for checking in! We will depart for Johannesburg on August 17, arrive on August 18 in the morning and then drive to Maseru by car.

Spice Cabinet Memories

Do you remember, Mom,
when I used to make "witch's brew"
by mixing up spices from our cabinet
with reckless abandon?
You'd go do work smelling
of cinnamon and sage

Today I made "witch's brew" of a different sort.
A grown up version
in the trashcan
with all the spices in our cabinet
that were overdue or almost used
I smelled
of cinnamon and sage

And I thought of how I loved it then
the freedom I had
to mix
laugh
make a smelly mess

It was enough to make me laugh again
and look forward to the freedom
that a new adventure brings

The little girl inside
found it very refreshing

Empty Nest

I startled awake
before the snooze alarm screamed
the familiar sense of urgent responsibility
shook me into consciousness
but Nubs was absent from her nightstand perch
and Yttik didn't nuzzle in my armpit like she does
an empty nest
a little reality check
eleven days left
in Maine

You can't take it with you...

We've been scaling down a bit recently! I went through my wardrobe, which ended in 3 bags for Goodwill, 2 "winter bins" for storage, and a much slimmer dresser. I'm down to a mere 10 pairs of shoes (a miracle by all accounts!).

We also sent two boxes of curriculum materials to Lesotho. We get to use the diplomatic pouch for school supplies, which means that the boxes are expedited since they don't have to go through customs, and it costs a lot less since the U.S. mail only has to get them to the embassy in Virginia. There are a lot of books that need to be sent in the coming weeks as well, but we were delighted to have something on its way over!

We decided to part with both of our cars and came up with a great plan for my 1998 blue Toyota Carolla -- we gave it to Jay's niece, Sarah, who just graduated from high school and is planning to commute to the University of Massachusetts at Amherst next fall. She was

delighted (as you can imagine). We're putting feelers out for possible buyers for the Chevy Aveo, and might have a taker this week! We won't plan to part with that one until August so that I can continue to get to my summer practicum in Gorham and we can finish up our moving errands. Giving the blue car to Sarah felt good since I got it as a gift for my college graduation and because it will enable her to fully participate in college life. It was a "pay-it-forward" kind of move. We are so happy that life gave us the opportunity to be generous.

In other moving news, we have people lined up to babysit our bed and to take some rugs, chairs, the file cabinet, a bookshelf, some cubbies Jay built, and the twin bed. We still have a few things to arrange for (the biggest of which is the cats!), but we're feeling pretty good that it will fall into place. The apartment is beginning to take on the "moving out" feeling, which is bitter-sweet. One month to go...

We got news from Lesotho that they secured us a 3 bedroom ranch-style house. The word from the director is: "[It's] in one of the "in" areas, and you will likely be very jealous of many of your neighbors who live in "mansions"! Your house is going to be comfortable, but not necessarily of the quality you might be used to. The kitchen is simple, but clean. The bathroom layout is odd (toilet in one small room; sink and tub in another - pretty common in Maseru). Homes here are not built for cold weather, but you do have a small coal stove/fireplace in the living room. You will have space in the yard for a vegetable garden if you choose, and the lot is very simply landscaped with lots of opportunity to "garden" with flowers, etc. if that is your thing." We are delighted to hear that the new place is arranged and especially that it holds the prospect of a garden and a grill! Having a sure place to live make moving on just a little less hard.

Cat Flyer

Here's a link to the flyer we are using to try and find a foster family for our cats. Surely we'll find something suitable...who couldn't fall for these adorable little creatures?!

Lining up those unwieldy ducks!

We've taken some big steps moving forward. I (Jay) just finished up the ETEP program and, the American International School of Lesotho will be glad to hear, am now a certified teacher -- pending state of Maine processing of course!

With my new free time, I've set about trying to get us ready for the big move. We've decided to ship our books to Africa in order to compliment the school library and have a diverse collection in our classroom as well. I volunteered to develop a catalog of our books and discovered that we have WAY more than I ever imagined (Sarah was hiding a lot in her classroom). 225 books into the catalog and I wonder if I've even scratched the surface. Maybe we will be storing some volumes after all...

We've also been trying to get ourselves as healthy as possible before we go. Sarah had a minor eye surgery to make sure her retina stays right where it belongs. We gave our last donations at the American Red Cross for probably a very long time. Tomorrow, we're getting our second round of immunizations (polio, yellow fever, Hep A #2, & Hep B #2). We're sure to be the most invulnerable people in Maseru by the time we arrive! Oh, and Thursday, I'm getting a tooth pulled. Does the tooth fairy visit 32-year-olds?

We're also trying to digitize as much of our lives a possible. Two 1TB hard-drives are humming away as I type and we'll probably subscribe to an online storage service as well -- you can never have enough back-ups of your back-ups -- plus, the homesick moments in Africa would be amplified if we didn't have some photos, music, and movies to remind us of home.

On the horizon, we'll be trying to balance between packing up our lives here and prepping for our lives at AISL. I'm really looking forward to diving into designing our curriculum for the year and hopeful that we'll soon find a nice, peaceful home for our two cats.

Well, that's enough rambling for now. 'Til next time...