3...2...1...blast off!

We did it! Well, sort of. We've made it to San Francisco for a few days of rest and sightseeing before our flight to Taipei. The movers came on Thursday and Friday of last week and we shut down everything in Houston. I think we were more relieved than anything. We weren't sure we were going to make it out of town at all. The final two weeks in Houston brought some unexpected challenges...

We have discovered a fascinating game we're calling Docu-nopoly. To play, you first head to the Houston branch of the Taiwan consulate (called the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office or TECO), where you file for a Visitor Visa to Taiwan. Then, when you return to pick up your family's passports with newly added visas, you find a tiny yellow note in Chinese affixed to the top one. You have now officially entered the phase of the game in which you will interact with the administrators there every day or so by having them tell you other things they would like you to do so that your Visitor Visa can Pass Go and Be Converted to a Resident Visa once you've moved to Taiwan. Here are some of our favorite "moves" on the Docu-nopoly board:

• Please submit marriage certificate and children's birth certificates to TECO office for authentication. (This was something we overlooked in our original instructions so we were thankful for the reminder. But there is more....)
• Please translate your marriage certificate and children's birth certificates into Chinese.
• Please find your own translator because TECO is not allowed to recommend anyone.
• No, you won't need a form to allow the agency translating your documents to present TECO with the documents on your behalf.
• Yes, you WILL need a form to allow the agency translating your documents to present TECO with the documents on your behalf.
• Please download the form from the TECO website. (They were shocked when we told them all the forms were in Chinese and we couldn't read Chinese. Email from their office was not allowed but they agreed to fax an English version.)
• Please have the faxed English version notarized, one form for each document, each one notarized.
• While documents are being processed, please go to Houston PD and get a copy of husband's criminal record.
• Criminal record for husband is unnecessary. Please go get a copy of wife's criminal record.
• Please have the (non-existent) criminal records notarized by the police department. (Unfortunately hearing the last three statements had the effect of making me laugh hysterically and then start crying. Shortly after my fit, we received word from our immigration assistance contact in Taiwan that this was an unnecessary requirement as was the translations of everything, but by now we were already well into the game.)
• TECO needs to verify that your notary is in fact a real notary (the stamped seal and notary number could possibly be a forgery?). Please fax additional address and phone number information for the notary who notarized the Document Authentication Forms.
• TECO has called the number for the notary and determined it was invalid because a woman answered the phone. (McLeod explained that the notary WAS a woman...)
• All documents can now be authenticated.
• Sorry, marriage certificate cannot be authenticated by TECO office in Houston because it is not a Houston marriage certificate. It must be sent to TECO office in Atlanta. (Since we were now one day away from leaving, we had our agent gather everything up in whatever state it was in and return to us with hopes that the American embassy could help us over there.)

BUT, there were some bonus points when we got our package of documents back! Other than the marriage certificate, they had authenticated the kid's birth certificates (relief) PLUS their immunization records. I had accidently sent over the immunization records with the original batch of documents and requested that they just be returned to me by the courier. I laughed when I saw the cool authentication stamp on them. So basically the kids are Officially Immunized but McLeod and I are Not Officially Married. Did we win the game? Was it a draw? Who knows?

And frankly, now that we're happy San Fran tourists, who cares!

Packing up

We are in the final three weeks of packing and prepping for the move, and indeed, it is a move, not a trip. I think the moment of realization came when I began sorting through the toys. With a small, though lovely, apartment waiting for us, we simply cannot take everything we own. Each day brings the agony of choosing.

For my four-year-old, choosing which toys get to come has been particularly hard. Obviously his things represent the known world to him. So each mangled Happy Meal treasure we unearth from the toy box brings up all the emotions of moving.

I find myself stealthily shoving odds and ends into black garbage bags while he’s napping or engrossed in a movie. I’ve boxed up toys on the sly and hidden them in the closet just so he won’t have to choose from among them. However, I am nagged by the feeling that I need to allow him to learn to let go of some of his things. This came to a head when he realized a long-broken dinosaur-shaped race track was no longer anywhere to be found.

“Where is my T-rex?”

“Honey,” I said, feeling the guilt again from the moment I buried T-rex in the outside garbage can, “T-rex is no longer with us. He was just too broken and missing too many parts.”

His voice cracked and wavered as he said, “I didn’t even get to say goodbye.”

“You can say goodbye right now, just into the air!” And he did. And I realized that kids can and need to say goodbye, and perhaps I don’t need to shelter him so much from the pain of leaving.

So that leads me to today. We were going to be visiting his preschool for the last time. I decided to go through the children's books to find some that were in good enough condition to donate to the school. Somehow knowing that they were going to someone else made it easier for my little guy, though he still had to lift each book near his face and say goodbye. (And there were some to which he just couldn't say goodbye. So you know what? They will go in storage with my blessing along with the tiny baby clothes to which I just couldn't say goodbye either).

How to watch a movie in 4 to 10 easy steps

My husband and I are in Taipei this week locating an apartment, visiting the American school, and generally trying to learn our way around the city with assistance from a relocation company. Because we are comfortably ensconsed at the Grand Hyatt downtown, it is tempting to see this as a vacation--children safely and happily staying with the grandparents in the States, room service breakfasts each morning, beauty salon on the 5th floor for his and her cuts and manicures--and truly, I am taking advantage of the second honeymoon aspects. It's just that, well, things are so different here. Simple tasks tend to take me three times as long to complete.

For instance, after a few jam-packed days of apartment hunting, we took some time off to see Pirates of the Caribbean last night. It took us several attempts to purchase our tickets and combo snack from the kiosk. My husband couldn't seem to get the touchscreen to work for him beyond the first screen. Thankfully, the first screen was a language option, allowing us to select "English" so that we could not know what we were doing in our own language. He would get to the next page and then in trying to choose our movie, send it back to the beginning page all over again. My theory on the touchscreen? His giant American meat hooks overwhelmed the computer. After several tries, he let me try with my smaller fingers--I would peck away at the screen while he read off the instructions. We still pushed some wrong button and had to start over at least one more time, but finally with our movie selected, we viewed our seat selection. Should we change our assigned seats? (Nope, we'll keep them. No way would we risk messing up and having to start over.) Now, we were zipping through the Snack options. What exactly is a churros? we wondered as we selected combo 1 from the menu. (Don't know but we'll take one...and only one because trying to buy 2 combos was "Sorry not an option.") Payment time. Why won't it read our ATM card? (Just keep swiping until it finally does.) "Your ticket is printing." As we stood there, dumbly staring at the machine that seemed to be doing nothing, hubby McLeod muttered under his breath, "Please let them be in there," and tentatively reached into a little slot at the bottom. Success! Two tickets and a Combo voucher. It felt like winning the jackpot of a slot machine.

Of course, we then had no idea how to get to the right theater at the multi-plex (understanding the Chinese movie stub was not happening), so with our "dumb American" looks plastered on our faces, we simply held out the tickets to various staff people who waved us in the right direction. Arriving outside the correct theater, McLeod approached the snack counter with the Combo Voucher. The teenager at the register fired off something in Chinese to which McLeod responded hopefully, "Coca-Cola?" The young man efficiently filled a cup and asked something else. This time McLeod gave the deer in the headlights look and the guy shifted to English, "Sweet or Salty Popcorn?" Sweet! And the mysterious churros turned out to be a kind of cinnamon stick similar in taste and texture to a funnel cake.

Inside the theater we settled into Row L, Seats 9 and 10, and I felt quite a sense of accomplishment. We watched as 10 or 12 other patrons wandered in and dutifully took their seats in rows K and L, all of us huddled together in these two rows against menace of 24 empty rows around us. I laughed like a crazy woman at the series of service announcements and advertisements before the movie. (Strange anime characters passing out from green sewer gases as they descend into manholes without the proper oxygen equipment, etc.) I then checked out of reality for a few hours as we watched our movie. Afterwards, I was overcome by the strangest wave of shock as I exited the theater and suddenly remembered that I was not in fact at the AMC movie theater back in Texas and had no idea where the exit was. Ahh, there it was: the exit sign with the green stick figure running for his life for an open door. Evidently when you exit here, you exit with gusto. And so, we did just that, rushing with the crowd into the steamy night air, thankful to know how to do one more thing in our new hometown.

Why Taiwan?

When we first tell people that we are moving to Taiwan, we generally get the same questions: 1) Why exactly are you moving there? 2) How do you feel about it? 3) What are you going to do with your (TX) house? In the course of the conversation, we also usually get an apologetic question about where Taiwan is located. So, here are answers to those questions!

Geography first: Taiwan is an island off the southern coast of mainland China and north of the Philippines. It stradles the Tropic of Cancer so it's the same latitude as the Bahamas and Egypt. We will be living in Taipei, the capital city at the northern tip of the island. (I bet you've already launched Google Earth now and found it!) That leads into the question of why, exactly, we are moving there. Taiwan is centrally located within Asia-Pacific, so it makes a great home base for us as my husband works to develop market opportunities in the region.

As for how we decided to go - for that is the real question, isn't it?--about 3 years ago, we began to discuss whether we would like to live outside the U.S. at some point. I had lived in Finland with my parents when I was 12, and I was forever changed by the experience. The world--or at least Europe--became a place to explore, to make myself at home, and I was able to make two more European trips over the next two decades. When we began to discuss pursuing an expatriate opportunity with my husband's employer, I was all for it...as long as it was in Europe. Perhaps Munich or London or Zurich. I never imagined Asia would be on the radar. I will never forget when my husband mentioned (about 12 months ago, now) that his division was seriously investigating their presence in Chinese and Indian markets. I knew what was coming. Yep, he asked me what I thought about living in Asia. Honestly, I wasn't sure.

It took a year for the details to develop. Singapore was mentioned; then, Taiwan. Other people were offered the job. We thought the opportunity had passed us by. We both felt strongly that God was leading us toward a major change for our family - perhaps a new position inside or outside the company or a chance to move to a new home - so we had been preparing our house and personal affairs. We had even had a discussion on Memorial Day, prompted by watching a fascinating bio on George Washington, about moments in our lives when we are faced with a choice of paths: one path that attempts to maintain the status quo and meet short-term desires and another path that "follows where history is leading" (a quote from the movie) toward a larger, global purpose. Then, the day after Memorial Day, my husband was offered the opportunity to move to Taiwan, and we were researching, discussing, preparing, agreeing to go. Our hearts and minds were ready. Now we just have to get those suitcases packed.

As for the house, we are still not sure we are meant to sell it. It is in a fantastic location, and we have discussed in the past about turning it into a rental property. I believe God is opening that opportunity for us with a chance to rent it out in the short-term, and I am thankful that it will still be in Houston waiting for us if we need it. This seems especially important for our young son--he needs to know it is there--and frankly, so do I. But one of the fascinating truths I have learned this year as I've prepared the house for eventual sale is that a house is just a house. A home is where I choose to make it. That gives me great peace.

So, why Taiwan? Because it is there! Because Asia is a vastly under-appreciated region, brimming with possibility on all fronts. Because it is where history, and more importantly, God, is leading us. Because we are ready to go.

Lists, Logistics and Launch Dates

The countdown has begun - though we are still a bit vague on our official move date to Taipei. Most likely we fly over the last week of September. I am learning that I can actually still function without knowing all the details ahead of time. For those of you who know how I rely on fixed dates and definite plans, you will agree that this is a big deal for me. That being said, I still have a pretty big to-do list of things I do know about. Children's passports applied for, vaccinations on schedule, rental plans (both for our Texas house and our flat in Taipei) in progress. We got a giant document from the corporate relocator with requirements for Visas, Alien Resident Certificates, and the like - they relish checklists as much as I do. Then there are random things that I think about in the middle of the night like, "What should I do with my piano?" and "When was my last dentist appointment?" I look forward to getting the logistics behind me and settling in. At the same time, I am soaking up these final two months in the States. What a blessing to laugh with old friends even as I eagerly anticipate new friendships on the other side of the world.