My documents came in!They're back from the embassy. So now all there is time do is wait and believe me, the waiting is painful. I am glad I'm at my mom's house so when the school year is over at least I can just walk across the hall to my sister's room and complain 100 times a day about how I wish i was gone already. The internet works part time and the other half of the time I'm going insane. Plus, my mom doesnt even have cable. She has the dish which has all of ten channels. July and August are going to be some looooong months! Today after entertaining myself on the computer for hours, I planned my whole year's worth of travel plans.So here goes:
1. in December a two city trip to New Delhi India to see the country side and get a brazilian butt lift, followed by a relaxing trip to Thailand. I'm thinking I should do them in the reverse order so I can actually enjoy the Thailand portion of the trip
2. A wild weekend in Germany in March
3. A summer tour to London, Paris and Spain before the school year starts with the money they give us for tickets
4. a trip home for Thanksgiving before the world ends on 12/21/11.lol. Im laughing but Im not sure if I'm kidding
So, there you have it. The other plans I made today were for spending the next few weeks of my summer before leaving. i dont have alot of people to see before I go but, this summer needs to be a great one even if we are saving. I want once a week to be my wardrobe week where I add at least one article of clothing to my battered, poorly constructed, unfashionable wardrobe. Second, I want to take one weekend in July to go to the beach and another to visit my homie in New York. Third, I think Ill have tone down tuesdays with my aunt since that is her day off and that is one day I can entertain myself. We always have fun :) Last, I plan to schedule in each day a reading block and an excercise block. I am currently 183 lbs! 183! that's almost 200lbs, and I'm sorry to my BBW's out there but aint nothing sexy about 200lbs!So, as many times as i've said this before and as long as I have been dieting without results, which has been an honest months effort, i'm making losing weight my job. I need to lose 15lbs before I go to Abu Dhabi and another 15 once I get there! Well now that I've rambled on about nothing important whatsoever I will leave you to your previously scheduled program.

My Old Blog About Life In Korea

I just thought I would randomly make a post linking this blog to my old blog about my life in South Korea. The URL is www.blackbeautykorea.blogspot.com

UAE Authentication Process

SO, I wanted to do a seperate post for this topic since it has been the center of much confusion. I am a married woman without any dependents so I'm going to explain it as best as possible from that stand point.
1. Take your teaching certification, degree(s), and marriage certificate to the nearest FedEx or office place and make a copy of all your documents. I made color copies of mine but I dont think it makes a difference.( A notoary will not notarize an original document for the most part, so make copies believe me )
2. After you have made copies of all the neccessary documents take them to the closest notary and have all the documents notarized. Many states will notarize out of state degrees and documents, contrary to popular belief. Just call if you have questions, but you shouldn't have tomake any special trips to do this.
3. This is where it splits off. You can simplify everything and use ProEx (info in italics)
Thank you for contacting us regarding your legalization needs for use in UAE.
You will need to send us the following to initiate service:
- a letter requesting legalization for use in UAE; (This is a letter that gives
your information, such as name, address, phone number and which country the
documents are used in).
- documents requiring legalization that have been certified at the Sec. of State
level
- photocopies (including certification pages - DO NOT take documents apart to
make copies) of the documents you need authenticated (for the embassy records);
- letter of accreditation from the University or printout from school's website
showing accreditation (for the embassy's rec.);
- 1 money order payable to ProEx Delivery Corp. for the total of the following
fees:
- US Dept. of State fee for $8.00 per document;
- Embassy of UAE fee for $30.00 per document;
- ProEx Delivery Corp. service fee for $125.00;
- prepaid return shipping envelope.

Turnaround time is currently running 1 week excluding shipping. Please do not
count the photocopies or accreditation letter when determining the per document
fees at the US Dept. of State and the Embassy of UAE.

Regards,

Bill Barnes
ProEx Delivery Corp.
5185 MacArthur Blvd. NW #710
Washington, DC 20016
202.298.6550






Or if you have alot of time but want to save your money You can send them to the US State Department Authentication Division in Washington,
DC. Important: Please have the documents returned to you, not the UAE Embassy. You will send the documents to the UAE Embassy in the next step.
4. UAE Embassy
http://www.uae-embassy.org/embassy/consulate-services/legalization-of-documents
Send or bring the authenticated documents along with these items to the UAE Embassy in Washington
DC for final authentication:
a. All diplomas must be accompanied with a letter from the University or College on their letterhead
stating that the institution is accredited by one of the following bodies: NEASC, MSA, NCA, SACS,
NWCCU, and WASC. This letter does not need to be notarized or legalized but must come from the
school (printed pdf documents are accepted).
b. Money order or cashier's check with the appropriate fee, payable to The Embassy of the United Arab
Emirates.
c. If you send the documents, include a pre-paid self-addressed return envelope.
d. Write your name and address for the sender and recipient of the return envelope or airway bill.

All Done !

Why's it so hard to say goodbye?

SO its been a week since we left our home, our love nest. I usually hate blogging after the fact because the feelings cant be captured the same way that they feel in the moment but the only way I could describe the feeling of turning in the keys to our first apartment is, heartbreak. I didn't expect it to be so hard to leave. At the beginning of the year Massachusetts ahd been my prison. I felt stuck here against my will and I couldn't see the good in anything, but as we packed up all our wordly possessions and tried to consolidate the ones that we would be taking with us, I realized that we have been off to a good start as a young couple, or just young people maing in it general. I realized that in fact that we've had a goodlife and that I was deeply saddend to be leaving the comfy little routine and comfort zone that we've established. I almost cried.
Fast forward a few days and we are all settled into my old room at my mom's house. It's a funny little place for us to be because I practically grew up in this house.We moved in when I was 11 and my parents have never moved since. I even found my old work badge from the era when I lived there and when I worked with Jason (my hubby) when we were only 16 and first in love. So I kind of like it.
Continuing on from the reminisce, It's feeling more official now, but not completely real. I think it's still too far off. we're saving for the trip now, we've moved, next week is my last week of school, and I've sent off all my documents. I'm glad I decided to stay at my mom's for now though. I'm hoping this will be the future layover spot for years to come. I'm dreaming big on this one. I'm hoping to possibly do 4 years in the UAE, a few more years in Japan, and who knows where after that. I;ll keep you updated in the mean time.

A Tornado in Springfield?!

So Springfield actually made CNN with a tornado today. School is closed tomorrow so I definetly only worked 2 days this week, and Im concerned about the baby chicks in my class. Like that's a real issue. I'm not gonna front. I was scared. I was stuck in the car during the initial tornado because I was on my way to the hair shop and I was not changing my plans for anybody. Not even the tornado up the street! literally!!! Women sitting at the dryers saw the debris going by the window! You see thats the thing though. Springfield always gets tornado watches but we've never had a real tornado in my lifetime. SO when one really came we were taken by surprise and it did make a mess. It ripped my husband's cousin's roof right off so that you could see in!
I was afraid too. On our way to go pick up DINNER in the TORNADO, the sky turned a greenish color and got bright as daylight. It was lightning and thundering. I literally started wimpering! I was about to cry for real. I'm glad it;s all over and none of my family had any issues. it's like it skipped around all of us. Even my mom, and it tore up the rest of her neighborhood for quite a few blocks.