Five days left: preparing...

After getting acceptance from the university, we started looking into the visas.  The visa process is not an easy one, and we could not start it until it was 3 months prior to commencement of classes.  Thus we waited with calm anxiety to get the process started.  We didn't want to get our hopes up without the visas.  The time finally came in which we could start working on our visas, after a huge amount of paperwork, probing and answers.  I mean what kind of person keeps tabs of how many times they have spent outside the country in the past 10 years?  I had to guess hundreds.  We were getting nervous about getting all the documents together that they wanted, they wanted original documents only and sometimes that proved to be impossible.  For example, Chuy's pay stubs are made electronically, there is no such thing as a original copy of that...  We live in the electronic age, it is quite unreasonable to ask for original documents!  We also were asked for proof of funds, and the banks were confused when we asked for an original bank statement in letterhead paper...  That's how much business/people are moving away from hard copies.  We were quite worried about being denied because we lacked some original documents.  But we figured, we had to give it a try even if we thought we were doomed for failure.

Then came the appointments to get our fingerprints.  Well that was odd...  Entering government buildings always feels odd, they are usually cold, unfriendly places, with security barking orders at you.  Thankfully Lisa was there to accompany me and pass time, while I waited for quite a long while to get the fingerprints done.  The fingerprinting process was strange, they roll each finger multiple times along this pad...  But when the appointment was over, our wait to submit the applications was pretty much over.  We sent the applications and hoped for the best.  I got an email saying they received the applications, and they usually take 5-10 business days.  Each day that passed, we saw our visas getting farther and farther away.  By the ninth day, we were pretty much sure that we were not getting the visas.  But suddenly a check of inbox and we got an answer, and the answer was positive!!  That happened in the middle of the day while I was still at work, and I was pretty useless the rest of the day.  All I could think about was England!!  And that we were gonna be living there!!

After a celebratory eating out, feelings started to settle, and then we realized, oh man we are moving to England, in less than a month!  We need to get things rolling!  No time to lose.  We bought airplane tickets, canceled services, and started posting our possessions on craigslist.  That was hard.  Trying to price the objects that you have accumulated.  We felt ripped off the whole time,  but we saw our apartment getting emptier with a feeling of relief.  Freedom never felt stronger.  We felt so much relief from getting rid of our stuff, that we will try to be minimalists.  At least, less materialistic.  It is true, what 'they' say:  Things you own end up owning you.

At first we thought we were going to have to live by our savings since Chuy's job had refused to allow him to work remotely.  We looked ahead to a life of rice and beans, but we were still positive about the move and adventure that lay before us.  Then Chuy whipped out his negotiating skills and earned himself a contracting job, doing exactly what he does now, but remotely.  A huge relief.  I mean, going to place with no place to live, no one you know, and being from another culture is pretty hard already, so to not have to worry about the income is a welcomed with open arms.  We still have to get the apartment ready to leave, all clean and empty.  Our bags are half packed, and waiting to be processed.  Things are waiting around to see if they make it in the luggage.  There is very limited space.  We have weight restrictions to worry.  Our 800 discs will have to be separated and distributed among all the luggage...because apparently 800 discs weight a whole lot.

There is only 5 days to go, and the pressure is on.  The countdown has gone from days to hours.