I can't help but wonder...am I doing the right thing?  Adam says you don't live unless you jump in with both feet, but I have to admit, as this trip looms closer and closer I am getting pretty nervous.  I don't speak the language, I've never eaten the food, I've never been so far away from my family for so long, and I won't have many of the comforts of home.  No car, no cell phone, no Facebook (many Americans would stay home because of this!).  There are a whole lot of things I'm going to have to get used to that seem right now to be impossible to get used to.

I know that what I have to do is turn all of this anxiety around and try to see only the positive in this situation.  I'll get to learn a new language (hopefully), I'll get to try new foods (which is my favorite part of traveling), and I'll have the unusual opportunity to acclimate myself to an environment in which everything I do takes actual effort and figuring out (something we Americans have sadly left behind with the advent of portable Internet devices).  When I return to the States, I will definitely be a lot more street smart.

It's going to take some time before I'm fully able to turn this frown upside down because right now I'm feeling really sad about leaving my friends and family (and KITTENS) so far away.  It's really smacking me in the face lately because we've been sorting through all of our things in preparation for this move.  Nothing makes me feel more like a hoarder than moving and going through all of my things.  I keep finding things that I forgot I even had and I feel really ashamed at my unabashed consumerism.  I want to make sure that it NEVER happens again.  To be fair, I've always moved from house to house lazily, without truly sorting through my possessions and instead simply packing everything up and continuing to not use it in my new home.  Not this time!  We have already spent several days sorting things into three piles: take to China (and use everyday), store for a year (and then use everyday), or sell in our yard sale on Saturday and Sunday.  It feels really good to see that the largest pile is the latter.  I am a newly determined minimalist and that's the way I would like it to stay.

There.  At least I've gotten my anxieties off of my chest.  I've been feeling nothing but excitement since we made the decision six months ago to teach abroad.  Now that the trip is only eleven days away though, it seems nearly impossible not to worry in anticipation.  I'm very lucky and incredibly thankful that I've found someone like-minded who wants to take this crazy journey with me.  Adam is confident that we are going to have the time of our lives and he's been really supportive in helping me clarify my thoughts and fears.  In fact, he's walking around the house burning white sage to cleanse the house of evil spirits as we speak.  Probably time to go...

Happy travels, everyone!