What a difference a week makes ...

Well, here I am. Sitting in my Montreal apartment having my last breakfast. Today is my last day in the city; I move all my things tomorrow morning back to Courtice and then in a week I'll be off to Korea. Jean-Marc left for Korea on Tuesday morning. I just received an email from him telling me that he arrived safely and that our apartment is beautiful. I can't believe it is actually happening. I feel like I'm living a dream and it's all coming together. Moving to Korea to teach, something I've dreamed of for over 4 years? Check. Great position, seemingly great colleagues, opportunity to save money and travel? Check. Fantastic boyfriend who is coming with me? Check. And that third one I never anticipated.

So from the last update, JM's visa was processed and he picked it up on Monday no problem. We packed his stuff in my little car early Tuesday morning (3:30am) and took him to the airport. He flew out at 6am but had a 7 hour delay in Detroit, which meant he didn't actually leave North America until 7pm that night. But he arrived safely the next day in Korea.

As for me, I received my visa issuance number 3 days after it was sent for processing. I applied for my visa on Monday and it is ready for pick up today .. Thursday. I can't believe how fast immigration was. I booked my flight today for August 10th. I leave Toronto at 8am and have a 3 hour lay over in San Francisco. Not bad!

Alright, back to packing. I still have so much to do before my Dad arrives tomorrow morning.

Cheers,

Jennika

The smoking dog!

Tonight is our last night in Montreal. We celebrated with Mel and Jo because it also their last night. They move to Quebec city tomorrow. Oi! We went out to Le Chien Fumant; what a great meal. I had the 1/2-Poulet et Morilles Lavalloises and Jennika had the Porc Aigre-Doux a La Rhubarbe et Petoncles. Oh was it good! I can still taste the morilles with the gravy so yummy. And for the first time in my life I had tartare. Making Papa proud I think.

Jennika is packing like a fiend and I'm trying to help but I'm mostly reading "A Storm of Swords". It is hard to help someone else pack. Not because I don't want to, but because you can't organise it the way they want it done. So I've been trying to stay out of the way and help clean up instead.

My last two classes tomorrow, a quick run to the old port with stop at a dollarama, a bit of packing my own shiznak, and a five hour drive to Ontario tomorrow. Time for some sleep.... Or maybe I will see what Tyrion is up to next.

Ciao, JaM's

From Calm to Chaos in 2.5 Seconds

Moving is stressful. But moving to another country? That's another level of stress. You have to be sure to pack all the things you like back home because you won't be able to find them in the new country, or they will cost 5 times the price. Pack enough clothes for a year because they don't have your size in the new country and fit this into 2 suitcases under 50 lbs. You have to worry about visas, contracts, consulates, electronics adapters, paying all your bills back home, vaccines, international driver's licences, oy!

But that is only the start when you live in an apartment that you first have to move out of, before you can even start packing for the foreign country. And this is where you will find Jean-Marc and I right now. Well, mostly me because I've been living here for almost 3 years and have accumulated a lot of stuff in my 300 sq. ft apartment. Yesterday I took pictures of the apartment to advertise it to potential subletters and to remind myself in a few years how I used to be cool living in my own downtown Montreal studio. Since we will be gone for most of July visiting family, and I'm not working, paying rent is going to be a big chunk of my savings over the next 2 months. So I have found a subletter for the first 9 days we are gone. Yay! But that means I have to pack up all my personal items into my 2 door Sunfire and move them back home. I may have to leave a few boxes in the closet because it's not looking too promising.

I keep reminding myself that this is the start of a new life chapter and in a few short weeks (5 to be exact - JM just got his itinerary today and he is flying out of Montreal to Korea on July 31st), our lives will really be changing. I still haven't signed the contract with Bugil Academy, but today I got an e-mail from my boss that said "Dear Jennika. I'd like to inform you about a few things. 1. You can feel easy in your mind about coming Korea. I mean everything is OK." So cute! But of course I'm stressing because there is still so much to do. In the meantime, I have to get ready for work. This is my last week in the lab and the project I've been working on is very much up in the air. I guess I'll have to tackle this packing tonight after dinner. Bye for now!

Jennika

Yesterday = Calm

Today = Chaos