Rapid developments...

Whoa! I found out Thursday at 5pm my Chinese language scholarship will be extended from six-months to a year. I'm thrilled! The one drawback is I have to BE IN Taiwan by August 31st. I wasn't planning to move until February 2010 - I have a tremendous amount of work to do.

The past day and a half has been a roller coaster ride. I gave my notice at work yesterday... I tear up thinking about it. I have a tight team that I've been working with for the past four years. It's hard to think about saying goodbye.

I also had to cancel a trip to Maine that has been planned for months with some of my best friends from the college days... Pretty disappointing for everyone involved although it's good to have understanding and supportive friends.

I believe the solution to the sadness is that everyone will have to promise to come visit me! As soon as I get my bearings, I hope to find an apartment that has space so I can open Hai Lun's B&B (modelled after the Wichmann B&B of course!). By the way, Hai Lun is my Chinese name. A Taiwanese friend of mine in Chicago came up with it. My full name is 陳海倫 (Chen Hai Lun). Here's how it translates: Chen=Chen, a Chinese last name. Hai=Ocean, and Lun=Coherence/Order. I really like the name and am pretty excited that this is the name that will be on all my student IDs, etc.

I feel incredibly lucky... The moment I heard I needed to move the people in my life swooped in. I feel buoyed up by the help I'm getting. Tina, my friend living in China, sent a list of everything I need to think about (I'll post Tina's list in case anyone reading needs it too). My brother Pat found me a laptop. My parents have been helping with difficult decisions... I also have a buddy that NCCU assigned to me; having someone to chat with who's currently living in Taiwan eases my mind and nerves. There's also a 1% chance that this could fall through for whatever reason; maybe my flight gets cancelled and I don't arrive in time... My boss was kind enough to say if anything falls through I still have a job. I woke up sick with with dread yesterday, but today, I feel this move is possible.