Less than three weeks to go...

You should feel special, I'm taking a few minutes away from watching the St. Mary's Hospital Royal Baby Cam to update, ha ha.  Actually, things are starting to happen quickly.  Thanks to extreme jet lag, I was up at 4:30 AM the morning after I got back from Europe, so I took advantage of the extra time and completed my visa paperwork.  And yes, I do have to send in my actually passport.  Until you've had to put a passport in the mail, you'll never know what it feels like to have it pried from your hands by a well-meaning postal employee.
    I went to an orientation on the 17th, with two of the program directors, a local Chinese teacher, the other "recruit," and 7 teachers who have done this before, and are going back for a second or third year.  We talked about housing, job duties, what to take, etc.  It really helped though, to hear that it was a positive experience, and that they are all eager to do it again.  I even made some money!

One of the veteran teachers gave 1,000 Taiwanese dollars to each of the new teachers, with the expectation of paying it back eventually.  Actually, it's only worth about $30.  But still a very nice gesture.  Now if I can keep track of it until August 11th, it'll really help.
           I got an email this morning, my work permit is done, and my passport is on its way home.  PTL.  The next step is getting my housing in order, I'm still waiting to get confirmation that I will have a place to live.  As for my current residence, it is slowly regressing to what it looked like five years ago, when I moved in.  Everything is off the walls, there are no curtains, and some of the furniture is gone.  About half of what I own is now in a storage facility.  But I'm ok with it.  18 days!