Ready for DC... or am I?

Tomorrow night we are leaving for Washington DC for a week-long Fulbright orientation.  We will meet our partners for the first time (in the flesh, at least) and I will get to meet the other grantees who were not in Denver.  When we leave tomorrow night, we need to basically be "out" of our place because we will return on the 8th with Sophie.  I am excited to spend a few days showing her around the school and helping her to settle in.  However, the panic is setting in.  I've been running around our condo like a chicken with its head cut off, trying to figure out what I must bring with me, what can stay, what I can give away...I've cleaned cabinets and drawers, checked expiration dates on canned goods...  Isn't it a shame that often, the time our home looks the best is when we are leaving?

I remember when we moved out of our last place, we scrubbed, organized, and repainted.  The place had never looked so good!  Why can't I ever find the time in my regular life to keep my place in tip-top shape?  *sigh*  I guess that's just life.  There are always better, more important things to do than reorganize the spice and utensil drawers.  That's right - I did both today!  It was quite satisfying.  I can at least rest assured that we will make a good first impression with our place.

Every time we tell someone that we are "swapping," they almost inevitable say "Oh!  I could never do that.  I wouldn't want a stranger to live in my home.  What about your stuff?"  Well, our stuff is just stuff.  Yes, a lot of it holds sentimental value, but the world will not fall off its axle if my favorite Shrek collectible glass from McDonald's breaks. It's a huge amount of trust that makes the program work.  We blindly trust that our partners will be good people, hopefully life-long friends.  It's a balancing act where we promise to take care of their things as if they were our own and we leave our stuff in their hands as well.  We hope and we trust.

sick and tired

Literally.  Last week my husband, Dan, was down for the count.  He had a terrible cough, stuffy nose, and aches.  Trying to be a good wife, I took as much care of him as I could while keeping a safe distance.  I told him not to breathe on me ;) and reminded (ok, nagged!) him about taking his medicine.  Out of love, of course!  Anyway, he is on the road to recovery.  Guess who is sick now?  I've been bed/couch-ridden for the last three days, with a cuddly blanket and the remote to comfort me, surrounded by a tower of tissues. 

We are leaving for our DC Fulbright Orientation in three days.  We have more than three days worth of work to get done.  Our dear partner, Sophie, reminded us that she will forgive a little dust in our house if we will do the same for her.  After all, can we ever really be ready to turn our house over to another?  Of course there are many improvements I'd like to make in our apartment.  Little problems that we have lived with for years suddenly seem unacceptable for our partner.  This, of course, leads to interesting "discussions" between my husband and me as we define our own "acceptable" conditions.  Oh well.  It will have to do.  I will do my best to leave our condo in a condition that will not shame me!  My husband has pointed out  that he is tired of waiting, and I agree.  After a certain point, we were just ready to get this experience started already.  Waiting is hard!  We are too excited to be patient!  I can't wait to meet Sophie, who seems like an old friend already.  I can't wait to meet the East coast Fulbrighters - I wonder if we will visit each others' sites?  I am eager to start school and to meet my new students.

So now, what to pack..?!?  Why is this so challenging for me?  I could just wrap my arms around my closet and shove it all into my suitcase...  but will my aloha attire make me stand out too much in Bretagne?  I do expect to stand out a little.  My husband does too.  He stands out here, somehow.  I think it is because he is tall and strong and has a unique little goatee.  He is recognizable.  I fully expect our small community to recognize us as "that American couple" and that is ok.  In fact, it may help us to strike up conversations. 

My thoughts are a bit scattered - is it my maladie or just everything that is going on?  I don't know.  Three days to go. 

As the days fly by...

How will we ever be "ready" to start this exchange?!? 
Yes, I have written and read dozens of emails.  I've completed my online orientation.  My partner, Sophie, and I feel like old friends already.  I am so eager and excited to be there already, and yet, I have a hundred lists of things to do.  We are three weeks away from meeting Sophie and all the other Fulbrighters in Washington DC.  After a week-long orientation and some East Coast family time, we will head back to Waikiki to help Sophie settle in.  We'll spend a few days with Soph, then "on y va!"  ...off to France!

What's been going through my mind?
Are my flights booked?  (pretty much...pending confirmation of our visa appointment)
Are all my documents prepared, filled out, and stamped?!?  (Who knows, at this point... I hope so!  I'll feel a lot better once I actually have my visa!)
Is my classroom ready for Sophie to make it her own? (as ready as it can be...)
What can I get rid of in our condo?  (Actually, trying to de-personalize and prepare our condo for Sophie has been like a much-needed Spring cleaning.  I have made several trips to GoodWill where I dropped off clothes and things that I always thought I couldn't live without.  Turns out, I can.  And I will!)
What will I pack?!?  (OK, maybe I am getting a little ahead of myself - I do have three weeks left!  But the thought has crossed and recrossed my mind.  After having a much-needed and anticipated skype conversation with Sophie, I learned that teaching in jeans all year would be perfectly acceptable.  Hmmm, not sure if I'll feel acceptable...  Actually, Dan and I will have to do some shopping upon our arrival in France.  The weather in Quiberon will be mild, but for us, that means COLD.  I know, I know. Coming from PA it's not cold, but having spent the past 6 years in temperatures that barely dip past 70 or climb above 88... 50 sounds freezing!)
Am I ready to teach English? (and I mean English English!)  (Hmmm, good question!  I do need to brush up on my British vocab ["lorry," "loo,"  "jumper"...]  but teaching my own language will be interesting and likely quite challenging.  In many ways, I expect teaching English to be similar to teaching French - they are both languages and certainly must have similarities in the way they are taught and learned.  My Shippensburg English degree focused a lot more on literature...maybe I can incorporate some T.S. Eliot or Robert Frost into class?) 

Yes, I still have tons to do and plenty to worry about, but overall I am simply excited!  I can't believe I am going to trade lives with Sophie, a "real, live French person" to teach her classes.  She is going to live in my condo and I will live in her cottage.  I am going to work with her colleagues and she with mine. "My" students will now be "hers."  Her neighbors and friends will soon *hopefully* be mine.  And I finally will get to a have a kitty!!  I can't wait to meet my new feline companion, Nausicaa!

So here's to three weeks and counting.....