The past two months have given me a chance to stay with my kids and parents. Now I am on the second round of “sponging” off them!

I spent one week at Lisa’s in Muskoka although I really didn’t do much other than crawl from the couch to a chair to bed and back. I was nursing my bad back! She took me to the doctor and looked after me. At the end of the week the whole gang arrived for our Annual Muskoka Chic’s weekend. We surprised Lisa with a wedding shower. She even modelled her wedding dress for us as most of us will not be able to make it to the Dominican for her weddingOver the past 8 weeks I have enjoyed doing things and going places with my kids and their families. I went to the African Lion Safari with Darren, Saylor and Canyon. I went to the Snowbirds Air Show with Kevin, Renate, Emilie and Jake. I have also been to one of Emilie's soccer games and two of Jake's hockey camp nights. I was also here for Hallowe'en for the first time in six years. Canyon was old enough to get the concept of “candy” this year and enjoyed being carried by his Dad from house to house!
We had nineteen people for dinner at Kevin & Renate’s on Thanksgiving. I enjoyed a great meal and evening with my brother, Craig, his wife, Tari and kids Colby and Colton. I’ve had coffee with my friends and drinks with some old friends. I spent a few days in Woodstock at my Dad & Mom’s new house in September and then a few more days in October. It was a nice quiet time to reminisce with them and do some computer training with my Dad. He’ll be a real whiz soon! And of course the highlight is always that good home-cooking by Mom! Yes, she still bakes pies and cakes as good as ever!
Rose came to Brantford Thanksgiving weekend for our high school’s 50th Anniversary. We met up with some old high-school friends – tooks pics and went out for dinner. It was a memorable afternoon and evening! Because is was still here at the time, I also got to attend the surprise Dinner Party for Lisa & Rob on October 29th in Port Carling. Darren, Renate and I did a quickie roadtrip together up and back the same night. We had a great meal and met lots of their friends. They were married on Tuesday, November 6th in the Dominican Republic. Unfortunately I could not go................

Ok, I’m semi-packed and ready to go. I check email 50 times a day waiting for the one that will tell me a package has been sent via courier that contains my visa and signed contract. It will take 2-3 days to arrive.
I have known about this for 2 weeks now. Wayne Duplessis, the DOS (Director of Services) tells me the Chinese government is really, really slow. He submitted my contract and passport information to them as proof that I will be working for English First. That way I enter mainland China on a one-year working visa and will be working there legally. (As opposed to Taiwan where I cannot get a working visa and would have to work illegally with the chance of getting caught and deported. You can only get a legal visa in Taiwan if you have a BA)
Once my courier package arrives I have to take the papers to the Chinese Consolate in Toronto to get my passport stamped. That will save a lot of time and paperwork at Chinese customs and speed up the process. Then I have to take my signed original contract to the OHIP office in Hamilton to have my Ontario health insurance extended for one year. Yes, you can do that if you can prove you are working outside the country. Sorry, Snowbirds!
So the waiting game continues…………it’s Wednesday, November 3, 2004 and no email yet…………………….

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

Hurray! The visa paperwork finally arrived! Now I have to make a trip to the Chinese Consolate in Toronto and I can make my flight arrangements. The original plan was to fly into Hong Kong and spend 2 days arranging my visa. That way I did not have to go through the consolate in Toronto. If the paperwork had come through sooner this would have been a faster way of getting into mainland China. Since it took so long I am now doing the consolate thing and can fly directly into Beijing and onto Changsha. One thing I have learned through all of this is patience and that things can change at the drop of a hat. Red tape is out of my control so I just had to wait, wait, wait.

More to come on final arrangements and an exact leaving date.