Preparations

Hello Friends and Family~
Welcome to my blog! I don't know how much time I'll have to customize the appearance and truthfully it's not a priority right now.
I want to begin the blog before I leave for the United Arab Emirates and Abu Dhabi so you can know the steps I take to get there...it's not just a matter of buying a plane ticket and showing up in time to catch my flight.

So far, I have had to rewrite my entire resume and have had it reviewed several times before sending it to the hiring organization who in turn emailed me the application paperwork. Soon after sending in the completed application I was set up for a phone interview which went very well. The interviewer was so kind and full of information...made me very excited to go to a face-to-face interview.

I decided to rent my house out instead of trying to sell it in this current market because I predicted I would be very busy trying to get ready for my trip and didn't have time to get it "sale-ready" in time. I chose a Property Manager and May 1 we listed it and by the 4th the papers were signed! I had to be out by the 15th! That made the next two weeks extremely busy with sorting, packing, moving and cleaning...and I didn't even have the job yet! Pretty risky, not to mention that my daughter from DC came to put together some of her wedding plans and needed me to help her, which I couldn't do as much as I wanted to since I moved out while she was here...(shed a few tears here).

I moved my things to a storage unit, the family cabin (for a gigantic garage sale) and my mom's house where I will be temporarily living until I leave and when I return next summer.

After a schedule change I ended up flying to Houston, TX for my interview where I was able to meet the HR person as well as five other applicants. The interview went quickly, so much that I was worried I didn't do well. I felt it could have gone either way and there were so many things I wished I had said and some things I felt I shouldn't have said, questions that I didn't answer as well as I could have and a myriad of other doubts as well as the positive thought that I was myself and they either wanted me or not! Copies of the curriculum were set out but I was too focused on the interview that I didn't absorb anything of significance!

When I returned I waited a few days and then checked my mailbox at my "old" house and there was the packet with the contract! Ironically, I wanted to share the news with my family first but was meeting a former tenant to move her remaining things from my garage. I kept my excitement to myself and let out a little wahoo in the privacy of my car. However, when I got to my mom's and let her read it I did a little victory dance!

Since that time I have spent many hours sorting, packing, selling and organizing what I have at my mom's so when I leave she won't have to look at my stuff! I've also married off my last child, July 9th, my daughter married and it was a beautiful day! I staffed at a kids camp last week and now I will be dancing as often as I can until I leave some time in August.

I've learned about scanning documents in pdf format, gathering the necessary documents and having them authenticated by the appropriate governmental authorities,,,thank you T for living in DC and helping me out with part of the process, even while moving and preparing for your wedding, I love you!

I am now gathering my various belongings to pack up for use in my new home in a country I know little about, in a language I don't know, with people I have yet to meet!

I will find out what I am teaching and where I will be living after I arrive in Abu Dhabi. Thanks to my friend who has already been there teaching for a year, I'm sure the transition will be smooth, well, at least I'll have someone to panic with!!