A Working Orientation

Our last two weeks in Covington have been fairly hectic! We have taken on more than what I think most people can handle. With Luke working and me not, we figured we would follow Nike's motto of Just Do It!

Last week, we went to our Aberdeen Cultural Orientation in Houston. This was something we should have attended over a month ago, but it fell through the cracks due to Luke working offshore and me having to close out my school year. We flew to Houston on Tuesday night and luckily got to eat at Pappasitos before it closed for the night. Those of you who have never experienced Pappasitos mexican food should go to the nearest one to eat. I mean it... drive 5 hours and it will be worth it! On Wednesday morning, we went to our orientation not expecting to learn much. We figured that since we had already done so much research ourselves, we would be bored out of our minds listening to someone tell us what to expect. We were definitely wrong in the end. We got to hear from a former expat of Aberdeen, and also an Aberdeen native. It was great to hear both view points and ask questions that the internet just doesn't have answers to. We met one other couple that will be arriving in Aberdeen a few months after us. That Wednesday was our anniversary, so for dinner we went to The Melting Pot which I have been wanting to try for years. We ate way too much food! It was a fun experience but not something I would do often... especially since our pot of oil was way too hot and was popping on our arms. Oops! On the second day of our orientation, we started off with a tax orientation to learn how our taxes will be done while out of the country. Let me just say - those poor people who have to do our taxes deserve A LOT of respect. I understood it all, but I will take teaching rowdy kids any day over doing these kinds of taxes. After two days of useful information, we were exhausted, but we werent stopping there.

Our rental during our Cultural Orientation

Friday morning, Luke's family came to Covington to take any items they wanted from our home... within reason. We packed up a u-haul to go to a storage unit in Jennings. Luckily, there were quite a few of us doing this task so it went pretty quickly. And we got to spend time with the family which is a bonus. That night we went to The Chimes for dinner... ate oysters, had some drinks, watched a building fire down the road... and of course on the way home we went to Menchie's to eat some delicious self-serve frozen yogurt (I will miss Menchie's very much).

After saying good-bye to the family on Saturday, Luke and I geared ourselves up for a day of organizing. We have some guys coming to pack our house for us, but we wanted to make it easier for them (and probably us too) to know where our stuff was going. We have piles and piles and piles of things that have a certain destination. Domestic Long-Term Storage, Sea Shipment, Air Shipment, Luggage, and Donations. Our house went from being neat and tidy to insanely unorganized. I'll say this, our buyer's Realtor came by today for the termite inspection and was shocked when I opened the door. Embarrassing! I don't understand how people can live like that on a daily basis. Anyway, Luke and I continued our sorting through Sunday night. We packed up the TV, so I am stuck with a messy house, no TV, and a half-the-time-working internet connection. Luckily, any booze left in our house cannot go with us, so I am taking care of that situation :-)

Monday comes and Luke leaves for Houston to go to a conference with his future boss. Not the greatest timing for Luke to leave, but he will be learning more about his next assignment, so I guess its okay :-) Since he has left, I have been doing more sorting, tossing, organizing and the big task of packing our luggage. We are allowed to bring 6 checked bags total and then we get the normal amount of carry-ons. It is weird to pack when we really aren't leaving for a month. It is very confusing, and it has gotten to the point where I am just throwing things into space bags and sucking out the air. I figure, it is in the suitcase, we will need it eventually, its in there, so its all good! Ask me later how I feel about that method when I have to iron everything - grrrrr.

Luke comes back from Houston tomorrow (Thursday) and we will begin staying in a hotel until we leave Covington some time next week while our house gets packed up. Poor Luke has his 30th birthday next Thursday during this whole craziness. We will celebrate in Scotland soon at the Glenfiddich Distillery!

-Debbie-