A mountain to climb first

Now that we are through the holiday celebrations of Xmas and New Years, seems the question of the day for J and myself is- Are you excited for Shanghai.  The short answer to that is yes, but it’s not that simple.  

It’s not that we’re NOT excited, but it’s a different thing once you do it.  

There is so much to be excited for that it’s hard to know where to start or how to even start thinking about it.  It’s the third largest city in the world, so there is a ton to be excited for in that kind of melting pot of humanity.  The infrastructure is also exciting.  The trains and public transit is said to be wonderful, efficient, on time, clean, and easy to use.  Public walkways are maintained and walking is easy.  We will also get climate; Not like BKK with Hot, F&@#$*g Hot, or Rainy and F&@#$*g Hot.

Add to that the international and expat flavor of Shanghai.  The food.  Our ability to travel.  Bullet Trains.  Between Kiddo, J, and myself, we could probably give you a list of about a thousand things that we are excited for in the move to Shanghai.

We need to get there though.  

THAT is the hard part.

The VISA paperwork.  Packing and closing the house.  Finishing the year out here.  Traveling to the States (approx 25-28 hours in transit) to visit, only to get on a plane and move to our new home (approx 20-22 hours in transit)  where we will know no one on top of not knowing the language, culture, or even where our house is in relation to the airport.  And that’s just day one.  Where do we get food?  Is there a market?  Learning currency.  Cell phones.  Internet.  TV.  The million little things that are needed to make a house run.

Also, even the people with kids that have asked me that and brushed off the travel and all of it, well, all of them had their child IN Thailand.  Yes!  I agree.  We will be fine.  We will figure it out.  However, we have a small person in tow.  With her own feelings, emotions, questions, anxieties, and everything else that goes with it.  J and I can shuck and jive as we need and figure things out on the fly if needed.  A just 7 year old makes the equation a little different.  Also, she has very very vague memories or California and life there.  To her, it’s a lot like here.  She had a bed and room, she had people who cared for her and spoke different than Mumma and Dada (Miss Mabel mixed in Spanish with the kids and Nanny Beer speaks mostly Thai to Kiddo), she had friends, we played with her and took her to parks, zoos, museums, and the like, and she ate a variety of foods, but we’d stick with HER types of foods most days of the week.  She will really experience The States this summer, to some extent, but that will happen as she deals with the move, leaving Beer (whom she loves and cares for so much and we know Beer feels the same), leaving BKK- a place where she gained SO MANY core memories, and having to move to a place where it’s all going to sound, feel, and look different.  

So, are we excited.  Yes!  HELL YES, as a matter of fact.

However, there is a mountain to climb before we get there.  We will climb that mountain, of that I’m certain, but that doesn’t mean we have to like all of it.  There will be parts of the path that suck.  There will be parts that discourage one or all of us.  There will be setbacks or slowdowns.  There will, I guarantee it, be tears.

It’s a journey.  It’s a day at a time thing.  It’s keeping focused on the job to be done.  Kiddo needs to finish Grade 1.  J needs to finish out her year here.  I need to support and love both of them while also chipping away at all of the above mentioned million little things.  

I guess my real point is that I am trying to temper the excitement.  It’s good to be excited, but you also need to keep eyes on the task at hand.  We’ve also done this before.  It was exciting AND exhausting.  It was interesting and frustrating.  It’s a helluva lot of work to give away almost everything you own to move across the world, let me tell you that.  It’s our path, though, so we accept it and know that the process is worth the efforts.  The experience will be different this time, but it will also give us more practice and more tricks and tips for next time and next time after that.  

We tell Kiddo all the time that learning is hard.  When she’s frustrated with homework, or melting down after a big day at school, or even when she’s into a new toy or game and figuring it out.  Learning is hard.  It’s fun.  It’s exciting.  It’s cool.  But it’s hard.  As we explore the world, we learn.  Even in moving and packing and paperwork, we learn and learning is hard.

So, are we excited.  F$%& YES!

It will be hard though.  We will learn.  We will stumble.  And we will live in Shanghai for two years (or more, who knows).  Then we will do it all again.  And again.  And again.  Until we stop.  And then we will learn what that life holds and have those adventures and experiences.  

Sometimes, however, I wish I could just snap my fingers and have the Fantasia broomsticks do all the packing for us.  And if they aren’t too busy, the VISA paperwork as well.  LOL

Let’s go, Kiddo… School starts again on Monday and before you know it we will have Chinese New Year, a birthday, and then moving.  It’s only gonna get faster from here.  Buckle up and enjoy the ride.