I also have landed in a rather unique situation. A woman I sat by when I worked for Thomson got my blog passed to her from a mutual friend. She adopted a little girl from Ukraine 11 years ago (well, she was a baby then). She has space in her house and offered it to me for the next couple of months, so I won't have to live in Hutchinson for that long. This means a few different things:
- I can continue with my volunteer work in the Twin Cities. Schlepping from Hutchinson, which is an hour plus away, was not going to work. And besides the fact that I like doing this volunteer work, it makes the time go by faster.
- I don't have to live with my parents for two and a half months. To some of you, that may not sound like a big deal, but to an almost-40 year old who had her own house, etc. it was going to be. I love my parents but, no. That's too long.
- I get to learn about Ukrainian language and culture first-hand! Sadie (Gail's daughter) goes to Ukrainian school on Saturday mornings and I get to go too! Sadie also does Ukrainian dance. They are very involved in the Twin Cities Ukrainian community.
I have to admit, these past few days have been very, very hard, with much crying. I dropped the cats off at their new home on Saturday morning and by Saturday afternoon, had moved the last of my possessions out of the house. Then this morning I signed the closing papers. I guess to a lot of people it does not sound like a big deal but it has been a tough couple of years and it is a lot of change all at once.
At least I am getting the difficult things done now, so by the time I leave at the end of March, I will be adjusted and more than ready to go. I am down now but now I have something to look forward to. A year ago I could not say that. So give me a few days to get my crying done, then I'll be back to my usual self.
Wow Karin, that sounds like a great opportunity to get a jump-start on learning!
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