366 Project: Week Twenty-Three

Okay, this is going to be a short one because, well, in less than 24 hours we will be on a plane...moving to another country. Our passport country, but still. And, I won't get any sleep tomorrow night with a toddler strapped to my chest and two bigger children to deal with, so I need to sleep well tonight!

155/366: Our end-of-school picnic. Shauna said we should get a picture together, and I'm so glad she did, because she may have been the only person that I took a picture with. Whoops. Best laid plans.

156/366: A shot of one of the local grocery stores with all of their produce outside on the street. I'm trying to remember the things that seemed strange at the beginning!

157/366: Day one of Japan! We literally walked right into a parade and festival when we went to find our hotel, so we strolled through that for a few hours before getting dinner at the brewery in the harbor just behind our capsule hotel. Pretty much couldn't have asked for a better day.

158/366: We packed it in on day two of our #Tokyotripfor2. Starbucks at Shibuya Crossing, Meiji Shrine, sushi and shopping in Harajuku, followed by the Tokyo skyline view and dinner in Shinjuku. Almost 19,000 steps and 9 miles. The girl was passed out by 9:00 again!

159/366: The day's original plans were thwarted by rain after our trip to Tokyo Tower and Zojoji Temple. We made do with lunch and shopping before heading to the airport for our return trip home. Eventually...maybe...you'll read the details of our trip!

160/366: The kids got in a few hours with our friends and neighbors at the playground before they left for the airport. It was a heart-wrenching final goodbye for them.

161/366: We spent our final day in Korea packing, cleaning, shutting off phones, and closing accounts. Then, we spent our evening strolling through our old beloved neighborhood and eating at our favorite Korean restaurant. It's hard to believe that our time in Korea has come to an end. The past five years have been been full of ups and downs, challenges and victories, and have changed us in more ways than we can count. I'm so thankful that God brought us to this place and these people for this time. Tomorrow, we return to 'Murica, and I'm excited and terrified at the same time.

366 Project: Week Twenty-Two

There are no words at this point in this particular week. We're all tired. Emotionally and physically. And so...

148/366: We began (ended?) our week with a little "reunion" dinner with our original Lost group. Remember how we had dinner and watched Lost with this group our first two years here? Well, since then, we've done a terrible job of all getting together at the same time in the same place. They've all been over for dinner a couple of times this year, but we decided we needed to have them all over at the same time one last time.

149/366: Saturday night was the YISS Mom's annual "goodbye" get-together. It has evolved over the years from coffee shops to brunch to dessert. These evenings are always emotionally draining, but so needed on the road to ending well. I've spent years fearing my time on this "stage" (it's so awkward to sit and cry while a room full of women tell you why they will miss you!), but I survived the spotlight--exhaustaed but relieved. It's so hard to imagine not seeing some of them regularly. Expat bonds run deep, which makes this life a great one but such a hard one come June.

150/366: Sunday was our last Sunday at church because Kennedy and I will be in Japan this coming Sunday. Again, it's a little awkward because our church has a long tradition of praying for those who are leaving on their last Sunday in Korea. But again, we survived, and then did all of the small talk afterwards at the church picnic. After the picnic, Eric and Cade were off to a goodbye party while Kennedy, Reece, and I headed home and worked on notes for friends. Gah. So many emotions all the time.

151/366: Monday was Cade's end-of-year class party. As a classroom teacher who enjoys structure and organization, the elementary classroom party drives me mad. So much chaos. So much noise. So many kids with nothing to do. But, I've never been willing to be the one to organize these things, so props to the mom who is. And mad props to the elementary teacher who puts up with it! I was happy to show up late and leave early! (And of course, there's another one coming!)

152/366: I spent the morning watching Cade receive his Honor Code award and Kennedy play with her classmates at the 3rd grade class party. All while chasing a toddler, of course. Even after spending all morning at school, Reece was a trooper and waited until we got home (actually in the apartment this time, as opposed to the two previous days) to fall asleep in his crib. It was a busy week for him!

153/366: The last day of school was a roller coaster of emotions: elation at the end of another great school year and the start of summer, broken-hearted as goodbyes began in earnest to classmates and students, and then a whole lot of laughter as we ended the night with dinner and noraebang with great friends. This transition has been so much more physically and emotionally exhausting than I ever could have expected, but I'm so grateful for the fact that it means we've built unforgettable relationships in our time here. Here's to #endingwell and #startingstrong.

154/366: I feel an obligation to include a shot of Reece because you haven't seen or heard much about him recently. I'm spending the moments that I'm not packing with my pinky in his mouth as those canines make their way through. He has been talking a lot more ("more" being his new favorite), but not eating or sleeping well this week with those teeth bothering him. I had a feeling that they would start to rear their pearly heads just as we started getting ready to board another plane. It just seems to happen that way!

And now that the obligatory weekly blog post is done, I'm going to relax for a bit before I fall fast asleep because this week has been utterly exhausting and tomorrow is the mother-of-all goodbyes--the last gathering before everyone takes off for the summer--which means a whole lot more tears are coming. 

Ballard and Mt. Rainier

Well, last week was one of those weeks. The kind where you're running around all the time, but you pretty much accomplish nothing? Oh yeah. It's a great source of pride.

We decided that the kids and I will do AWANA this year (I'm still not convinced this was a good idea!), and there was a lot of paperwork and things that had to be done in order to gain base access to participate. My friend and I took about four trips to the security office on base to get our fingerprints done before I was finally successful. What fun.

In addition to all of that, either Eric or I (or both) were gone most evenings last week, so we were really just getting the bare minimum done. The kids did homework. We ate dinner and cleaned up. That was about it! We tried to get out for bike rides, but our evenings feel so short these days.

And, of course, just as soon as we had all of the biking gear we needed and everything was figured out, one of Eric's tires went flat and we were so busy that it was probably about five days before he was able to get it fixed. He finally got it taken care of on Saturday, and we were able to ride 11 miles on Sunday. Biking is definitely our new favorite way to get to Seoul Forest because the line for the parking lot was ridiculous!

This week, we're working on preparing for Lindy's visit. We finally got some of those little things done that had been bothering me like throwing away stuff the old tenants left behind and hanging pictures on the wall. This is a four day school week for the kids before the Chuseok holiday weekend, so we've got the lazy bug in preparation for a few days off. It keeps getting harder to get out of bed in the morning!

It's always my goal to get through the last round of pictures before another one comes along, but it rarely works out. I'm close to finishing up the summer pictures, but no doubt the pictures of Lindy's visit will be delayed (if I actually manage to take any that is!).

After our trip to Skamania, we had a couple of down days to get some more shopping done, and then we began the countdown to our departure date. It was time to start saying those last goodbyes once again. So, we spent one day with my brother in Ballard, visiting the locks, hanging out at the park, and walking through town to find dinner. It was a beautiful day, and a great way to spend some quality time with him before he started his new job and we were headed back to the Land of Morning Calm.

The next day, we got up early and headed up to Mount Rainier for the camping trip with Eric's aunt, uncle, and cousin that we'd been talking about all summer. Unfortunately, we were only able to fit in one night, and we really didn't get much of a chance to check out the beauty that is Rainier because of our time constraints, but it was fun nonetheless.

Reece was more than happy to hang out in the pack'n'play, go for walks in the stroller, and sleep in a tent. In fact, I think it was one of the handful of nights that he slept straight through. The glory of the great outdoors! And the big kids, sleeping by themselves in the new tent that Eric picked up for hiking, slept in past 9:00 the next morning. We actually had to wait for them to wake up to leave because Eric had pretty much packed up everything before they got up!

But right now, as I reminisce over our summer, my youngest is chatting it up in his crib and starting to communicate that he's done in there. So, I'd better break out of the bubble before things get ugly!

It's June!

The goodbyes this time of year are always abundant and emotional. On Wednesday after school, I watched many tearful goodbyes of both parents and students in the lobby, but the last day of school for us is okay because we don't have to say the goodbyes for a couple more days. Today was that day for our staff.

Honestly, I don't have much left to say at this point, so I thought I would just share this video put together by and featuring many of our staff and students. It's just a glimpse into June for an expat, and I watched it with tears streaming down my face, but I am full of hormones these days!

TCKs in Transition from Ross Williamson on Vimeo.

If you are looking for resources on helping expats or TCKs with the many transitions that they go through (moving on, traveling, being left behind, or repatriating), The Culture Blend is a great resource!

We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family that have been so supportive. Last night we had our last Bon Voyage dinner with my family, and while it is hard to say goodbye to everyone, they did their best to make it easy for us! We have such a strong support system at home that there is a large part of me that wonders why on earth we would leave it...then I remember that God called us to do this, and we will have a new support system when we get there. Thank you to each and every one of you for your prayers and support! I will do my best to keep you posted on everything that goes on upon our arrival in Seoul!!

Goodnight and Goodbye



Grandpa with a sleeping Kennedy

We have had a very busy and very fun last week! Last weekend, Eric's mom threw a nice party in our honor in Tacoma for the Carlson side of the family. Then we spent some quality time with family (and packing again!) throughout the week. This weekend, I had dinner with a group of women from work to say goodbye and last night we had a great party for my aunt's birthday where we were able to say goodbye to several others we won't see in July. Tonight we leave for Mississippi for PFO. The flights alone will be an experience, but we're looking forward to being in one place for almost two whole weeks!

Eric with the birthday girl!



First Goodbyes

It’s hard to believe that the time has come to say our goodbyes to some. When we tell people that we leave for Seoul July 20^th, they say, “Oh, well, you’ve still got some time.” And, while this is true, there are so many steps that we have to go through during the next two months that to us, it feels like no time at all. We have to measure our time left here in small increments: 3 weeks left in the house, 2 weeks at Dad’s before we leave for MS, 2 weeks in MS, 10 days back in WA before we leave for Seoul. When you break it down that way…it doesn’t sound like two months to me!

So, this week we had our first goodbyes. My brother left for Alaska, so we had a great farewell dinner with him and some of his friends. It’s hard to imagine not seeing him for more than two years. At this point, we are not planning on returning to WA until next summer. Since he fishes in Alaska during the summer, he won’t be here when we come home to visit. So, if he doesn’t come visit us in Seoul, we may not see him until we move back home!

We have been so busy planning, packing, and preparing for the future, that we haven’t really thought about how to wrap up and say goodbye to our lives here. It looks like I've got another list to write!