Last Night in USA!!!

It's odd to think about, but the next time Alex and I will be in the states will hopefully be in December (keep your fingers crossed that we get the time off!) for Scott and Anna's wedding in Vegas. We spent some time with Alex's parents, pawned the buns off on Alex's brother and sister in- law, and drove with his sister Tina, and baby Jason to Albany to see Grandma Clum and the Siamons. We are now at Dan and Debbie Hansen's house watching the Olympics, and we had the pleasure of meeting baby Will Hansen. We have technically been homeless for over a month, and although it's been really hard not having much time alone, I feel very fortunate that so many people have let us stay with them. I guess we can't expect people to feed us anymore... I'll have to take some cooking classes in Shanghai so I'll know what to get at the market. Alex has been pretty much fearless through all of our preparation, and I have been less confident, but at this moment, I am so ready to start teaching, and finally have a place to come home to every night. Wish us a safe flight. We leave at 2:30 pm tomorrow, have a 10 hour flight to Tokyo, then after a 2 hour lay over, there's another 3 hours to Shanghai. I'll write whenever we have some down time.

SPACE BAGS!

Alex and I have started packing, and discovered the wonder of Space Bags! It's amazing how a full bag of whatever can condense to just inches. Wal-Mart seems like the cheapest place to buy them, and anyone who travels (especially if you are like me, and want to bring everything) absolutely needs them. The biggest downfall is that it makes our bags very heavy.

Alex and I made it back from our honeymoon in Costa Rica, and had a fantastic time! We snorkeled, went on a zip line, river rafting... you name it, we probably did it (or thought about doing it). However, I must say that one of the highlights was seeing mountain crabs travel through the town to the ocean to mate. We are glad to be back in the states, and are enjoying our last few weeks here. We are currently living in Spokane with my parents, and will be here until August 15th, then we are going to spend some time with Alex's family in Seattle. His brother and sister in-law are going to be taking care of our two rabbits Lionel and Bridgett while we are overseas, and I'll miss watching them hop around my family room. We fly out of Portland August 21st, have a 10 hour flight to Japan, and then it's another 4 hours to Shanghai. Reality is setting in, and whether we're ready or not, this is happening!