Tom Petty Was So Right!

Here we are sitting at home during Spring Break.  Daddy is on a business trip to Mexico and the children and I are still residing in the States.  All of us still waiting.  Waiting for a contract, waiting to find a house, waiting to register children in school, waiting for movers, waiting for everything it seems. 

So instead of waiting for life to happen, we have decided to make the most out of the time we have been given.   I have been busy cleaning out closets and making new friends at the Salvation Army.  There are some very nice people down there.  I highly recommend you meet them if you, like me, are waiting around the house to move to Shanghai and have too much time on your hands and way too much stuff in your closets.

I have been working in the yard and staying in touch with my favorite people at the local nurseries so that my houseguests will have lovely plants to admire once we actually move.  And come to think of it, more for them to water as well - sorry about that! 

Then there are the house projects that we normally save until we sell the house.  You know the ones, I'm talking about - painting, patching, deep cleaning, organzining, etc.   I never get my house the way I want it until I sell it.  At least this time, we aren't selling it.  We just won't be living in it!   I have been using my time sewing, painting, framing, and crafting.  Hope you like it Jennifer!


The peeps have been busy, too.  They have been busy with their school play, reading everything they can find, learning how to tie shoes, riding bikes without training wheels, and trying to lose some teeth. Now that they are six, they are suppose to start losing teeth.  :)   Not to mention we just celebrated their birthday and they were good citizens for the month of February - wahoo!  They are growing up so fast.  I can't believe the opportunity that awaits them in China.  And they are so full of questions.  What can we take with us?  When are we moving?  What will our house look like?  Will school be different?  Will we have homework?  Do they have Mac n' Cheese in their grocery stores?  Can we ride our bikes to school? 

                                         Why is this taking sooooo long?  I wish I knew babies, I wish I knew!

But there has also been some procrastination.  My relationship with Rosetta Stone is suffering miserably.  Go figure, the one thing that would most worthwhile for me to do while waiting has fallen by the wayside.  I really need to be a better friend and get back to chatting with her every day. 

Rumor has it that we will be house hunting in the very near future.  So while the waiting has been the hardest part, it looks as though it is about to come to an end.  This American Girl has got to kick it into high gear and get these projects finished so I can resume the sorting and packing and learning Chinese.

But for now, we will be enjoying our little vacation.  Sleeping late, wearing pajamas far too long each day, eating leftover birthday cake for breakfast, and squeezing in a little trip so the peeps can stay at a hotel, go swimming, and eat at 5 Guys.   Waiting isn't so bad afterall.  It lets us get on with life and do all the little things we love.  I love my life!

Happy Valentine's from the Equator

No, the Equator is not some flashy new Vegas-esque themed restaurant.  Yes, it is the actual equator.  The part of our beloved planet that remains tropical year round.  That equator that happens to run through Southeast Asia among many other fabulous holiday destinations.  And no, they don't celebrate Valentine's Day there. 

While I am normally not all wrapped up in Valentine hoo-hah, having my chosen loved one south of the equator in Palambang, Indonesia has brought a newly found sentiment for today and it's not one you would probably find on a card at your local Hallmark.  Well, if we still had a Hallmark store.

While Mr. Wells has been gone, he has dutifully sent emails and pictures from all of his locales.  With each passing day, I am more in awe of the world we live in and especially appreciative for the country in which I currently reside.  There is a great big world out there and much of it is underdeveloped, simplistic in it's basic needs of housing and transport,  and ill-equipped to handle even the most basic of technologies.   Valentine's Day is certainly not on their radar.

My family's livelihood is, in part, based on the numerous rubber trees and manufacturing facilities in southeast asia (that have never heard of OSHA by the way.) No tire manufacturer could exist without them.  It is easy to overlook the methods and materials needed to make those tires when living around the corner from the nearest megamart that sells the little black cylinders that enable us to rip and romp over our paved roads. On this Valentine's Day, I love those paved roads even more.  

The terms "raw materials" and "natural resources" have gained whole new meaning for me.   They aren't just lists of products I had to search for during my fifth grade social studies classes.  I now have more refined mental images and thank goodness I got to miss out on the smells.  To say the least, Palambang is both raw and natural.  Dirt roads, houses on stilts, muddy canals, tropical plants and trees, a powerful stench, water everywhere, and flat, flat, flat.  Delta through and through. Quite frankly, I don't know that I could ever live there, but it does hold a certain charm.

I find it fascinating that something can be both beautiful and horrifying.  Just depends on the eye of the beholder.  I suppose the same could be said for Valentine's Day.  Or as a dear friend likes to say "Happy Singles Awareness Day."

Happy Valentine's, Baby!  See you when get you back to this side of the equator!

One Step Closer Through a Flood of Tears

The last week was filled with well-wishes, hugs, handmade notes from students, and lots of tears.  Tears for lots of reasons.  Tears of sadness, tears of emptiness, tears of joy, tears of cleansing.  Tears have always been a cleansing experience for me.  Let me start fresh once the flood had subsided. Kind of the like the beautiful clear morning after a night of torrential rain.  I guess that is why I cry for every emotion.  Always have.  Always will.  On top of that, I am an ugly crier.  I have always been jealous of folks that can shed tears gracefully.  I've always felt that criers should have that trait, it would only be fair.

Saying good-bye to precious fourth grade babies hasn't gotten any easier over the years.  Their little innocent faces always left wanting.  And their little thoughts bleeding out all over the handmade cards, so fresh and free and honest.  What a good place to be.  I think that is what I love most about teaching children - their honesty.  These are the tears of sadness.  Then there is the love and support of the family that surrounds you.  The family that wasn't chosen or dreamed of, but instead, pieced or even thrown together my many different administrators. While we all have our own classrooms, no one teaches alone.  We rely on one another for support, guidance, counseling, venting, brainstorming, creativity, and building the best school possible.  How can you say good-bye to these folks that have been with you through the fabulous times as well as the tough times.  It feels like you are leaving them behind, one woman down in a fight for sanity, integrity, and honor. 

Then there are the tears for leaving a job that I LOVE.  Those are the tears of emptiness.  I was a teacher long before I was a mother.  I was actually a teacher long before I wanted to admit it all those years ago during college.  A teacher is who I am.  Not always the best in the eyes of some, yet always trying to do what was best for my children.  For I felt they were my children since I didn't have any of my own.  I always tried to provide a learning environment that I would want for my own children: tough, open, and honest.  A sense of pride and a sense of humor.  Characteristics that were actually quite similar to the students in my room.  I will miss building that learning environment every year.  Maybe someday we will meet up again in a new classroom, creating a better environment,  in a school that appreciates innovation, creativity, and something besides a number.

Tears of joy are my absolute favorite tears.  When I think of the opportunities that Robert and Emma Grace are going to have over the next few years, it just blows me away.  They are going to meet so many different people and get to travel to so many exotic places and take part in a culture that is thousands of years old.  I am so excited for them I can't even stand it.  We will get to visit places that my father trekked all those years ago during the Korean War.  We will get to stand in Tiananmen Square, walk the Great Wall, and see botanical gardens that are hundreds of years old.  We will be living in a global community with folks with passports from fifty different nations.  What an awesome experience.  My children will have stamps in their passports from places I only read about in fifth grade social studies.  God's most amazing blessings are the ones we don't see coming.  We just have to grab them and go in faith.  We are about to partake in one amazing experience.  I'm so glad that I can share it with you.

Enough with the tears.  Time to get on with this adventure.  One more round of shots, waiting to go back to Shanghai to get a house and pick out a school, movers, paperwork, more waiting, and finally getting to embark on an extraordinary chapter in the life of the Wells family.  I know my daddy is just shaking his head in disbelief.  He never would have dreamed in a thousand years that his little farm girl from Lincoln, IL would have such opportunities.  I just wish he was here to take part in this with his grandbabies.

The Name is Stone, Rosetta Stone

I use to joke about having Sesame Street Spanish skills.  Now I joke about having Kai Lan Chinese skills.  Problem is, Kai Lan skills won't help me much in Shanghai.  "Xie xie" (thank you) won't keep me from eating the duck tongue, quite the opposite I'm afraid.   Which brings me to the following confession (in my best Italian accent for some reason):  

         I donta speaka the language.  

Or even recognize a single character of the "alphabet", or tell the difference between a word and a sentence, or I tell when I am being blessed out for being an overweight American.   But hey, why let that little intellectual gap keep you from moving half way around the world?

This language barrier is truly the one thing, besides the drivers in Shanghai, that causes most of my anxiety.  It is a completely different ballgame than the Romance languages I studied in high school and college.  Thank goodness for the creation of Rosetta Stone Language Learning System.   Rob is sending the headset so I can start practicing from home.   Rosetta and I are going to become fast friends.  She is the cure to my language inferiority complex.   She has to be the person to keep me from eating duck tongue.   Actually, I figure that as long as I can tell my ayi that I don't want turtle, insect, or rodent anything for supper , I figure I'm in good shape.   I'm excited about getting started and filling in my intellectual gap.

Excusez moi, do you put duck tongue on your pizza?

I may even brush up on my French.  I may even get you to brush up on your french.  We could do this together, well separately.   Once we all have at least broken French, we could meet up in France, say Paris, and enjoy a cup of coffee together.  We could even have french toast, french frites, or even french crepes and speak to each other in our newly found French accents.  This is totally doable!  Get your passports, Chickies.  Allons-y!

Who Knew I Wanted to Move to China?

The beginning of this great adventure actually started about 6 months ago when my husband found out his next job assignment would be in Shanghai, China.  While he had talked about the opportunity on different occasions, I didn't really think it would ever happen.  SO imagine my SHOCK when it did! Then the questions started: 


      Where would we live?         What would I do?      What clothes would we need?      How am I going to communicate?     Where would my children go to school?      What would we take with us?    What would we eat?   
    

(See children, all great thinking begins with questioning!)  :)

                                        View of Shanghai from my hotel room last summer


I realized all my questions were about my fears of the unknown.  When I stopped worrying about all the things I didn't know, I realized that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me and my family.  So my dear children, this is my story about how dreams can come find you when you are least expecting!  Always keep your mind open and grab dreams when you can!