Time is ticking away day by day bringing us ever-so-closer to our departure to Ecuador. Since my last post we have been moving full steam ahead taking care of business that needs to get done prior to our move. This past week Dan, Sam and I got 12 immunizations (shots) between the 3 of us and our blood taken for tests. This next week we have to follow up and each of us get one more shot - then we will go back in about 30 days for more. We will all be glad when that is done. It seems a little over kill, but hey... it's better to be safe than sorry. We have received our flight information from the school in Guayaquil and we will be leaving on July 23rd! The trick will be to get some "summer vacation" in between the time we are our of school here and July 23rd. We are trying to figure that out right now and plan something. Dan and I want to be sure we get some needed rest and relaxation before we arrive in Guayaquil because once we arrive we will begin "new teacher orientation" so there will be no time for rest at that time... besides, we will also be getting settled in the our new place.
We will soon be heading to San Francisco to visit the Ecuadorian Consulate there. We will need to finish our Visa process through the consulate. However, we are not quite sure when that will be because we are waiting on the school to finish up their part first. I have not been to San Fran is quite some time, and Sam has never been there so we may spend the day showing him the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, Pier 39 and the cable cars. I always loved going there when I was a kid!
This past Saturday I was lucky to Skype with a current teacher from the school we will be teaching at in Ecuador. She is a 2nd grade teacher and her husband is the PE/Computer teacher currently. Dan will be taking his PE position and I his computer position since they are moving back to South Africa. She was very nice and gave me tons of information about the area, school, students, traveling, activities, etc. Hearing it first hand from someone there was wonderful! So far all of the people we have contacted there have been so nice and helpful. We are very thankful for that. When our Skype call ended I had a rush of excitement and am now even more excited to get there. Life will be very different from here that's for sure, but for some odd but wonderful reason I believe that Dan, Sam and I are ready for that type of change. We have consolidated our things so much already and have boxes and boxes of stuff ready for our first garage sale. If the weather holds up, we will be doing that this weekend. It is currently Spring Break here and Dan and I are working around here most of the time... checking things off our lists daily. This is the first Spring Break in many years where we have not left town. It feels strange not to be on vacation somewhere... either warm or snowy, but that's okay - there is lots to do!
We are now trying to decide what to bring with us and what not to bring. This is a tough decision because it now sounds like we will each get one free checked bag, and have to pay $70.00 for one more additional bag. We can plan for each of us to be able to check 2 bags and pay the extra, but they must be under 50 lbs. We can not plan to bring a 3rd bag because the airline has embargo's in place often - and we do not want to show up at the airport with a 3rd bag and then find out that we can't take it. So... the trick is going to be packing what we "need" first, and then seeing if anything we "want" will fit into the bags. This should be fun!
