I got my Visa!

Yesterday i recieved my visa in the mail! Glory! I am now just focusing on the last little bit of debt and then i'm ready to go! So exciting!

Did you know that a visa is just a sticker in your passport? I did not know this...i thought it was a whole other document like a little mini passport thing. Nope! Oh well.

24 days! YAY!

1 down, 1 to go!

I just paid off a credit card! YAY! I just have a little bit left on a line of credit and then i'm debt free! YAY! Please help me pray that the funds come in to have everything paid off by the end of the month!

40 Days!

I have 40 days left! I know some of you are not in favor of me doing a countdown, but....i don't care. I want to. So i am. I'm happy to be starting this adventure and i'm excited!

Visa?!?!?!?!

So today i UPS'd the paperwork to the South African Consulate General. It's so nerve racking! It should be there (LA,CA) by Monday. They say it's a 5 - 10 day turn around time. I really hope it's more like 5, rather then 10. Once i recieve that back, all i have to do is wait! It means i am ready to go! YAY!

Please keep me in your prayers that it all goes smoothly and that i sent in the proper paperwork that they need.

Thanks Friends!

one step at a time

So today we secured medical insurance for while i am over there. What a crazy list of things that need to be done just in order to apply for a visa. It's a lot of work, but mom has been a HUGE help! You are amazing mom! I love you! (and all you who know her will agree with me)

I just have a few more things on the list that i need to get this week and then i can send in my paperwork! Exciting! then i cross my fingers and start praying again that i get the visa approved!

My apartment! YAY!

So i just found out today that my apartment is rented! The one gal that wanted it signed the lease! YAY! Such a huge relief!

I will be moving home December 1st. What a huge change that will be. I am excited to have some quality time with mom and dad, going from a 1/2 mile commute to a 30 minute commute will be rough! That means getting up early! UGH! Anyone that knows me well enough knows that getting up early is rare for me. But i guess if i am going to be going to school soon, i will have to learn to get up early huh!

Thank you Lord for the right person to rent my apartment!

TV Dinners and TANG!

I love Fred Meyer. It has everything! Everything that i need, and everything that i didn't know i needed until i see it. I have lived in Issaquah the last 4.5 years. I go to Fred Meyer weekly. If i have no reason to go, i will just go and wander around. I mainly love to go late at night. Around 10:30 is my favorite. There are some INTERESTING people that come out at night in Issaquah.

This last Saturday, i had to waitress at Rooters. I worked from 10am to 9:30pm. It was a long day, but not busy so i got some good reading done! After i got off, i drove home to Issaquah and pulled into my parking space. Just sat there a moment and then started the car back up and drove to Fred Meyer. I needed to wind down for a little bit. And Fred Meyer relaxes me. My home does not.

I get to Fred Meyer and find a parking spot, get out of the car, grab my purse and then close the door. Then, i realize that i left my keys on the passenger seat. (why i put them there i don't know) So i open the door and reach in to grab the keys and somehow lose my balance and do a face-plant into my cup holder. OUCH! Stupid Keys! I rub my head as i enter Fred's Kingdom (as i like to call it).

I wandered around for about 40 minutes and then decided to head out. Isn't it strange that if you are at a store late at night, everyone seems to need to check out at the same time? How is it at 10:45 at night, there were 3 lanes open and ALL of them had long lines. Ugh! I chose the one closest to the door that i was going to exit out of(also the shortest line). There were two people in front of me. As the lady in front is paying, another lady gets in line behind me. She stands so close to me i can feel her breathing on my neck. CREEPY! ANNOYING! GET OUT OF MY BUBBLE! (all that i was screamiing in my head as i stayed facing forward) I had only used a hand basket for my things so i placed it on the conveyer belt without unloading it. The lady in front of me starts to unload her cart on the converyer belt, and that is when i notice what she is buying. I counted...37 tv dinners. And a container of Tang.

I'm not against TV dinners. I just choose not to put that stuff in my body. Maybe they taste good to some people. The few i have tried in my lifetime have tasted like cardboard. Anyways, i am going to assume that they were on sale, and the lady buying them was a Fred Meyer employee so adding a discount, they must have been pretty cheap. Good for her. Bad for her body.

As i'm watching this lady get checked out with her 37 tv dinners, the weirdo behind me starts to put her things up on the conveyer belt. There was not really a lot of room up there, but she MADE room. She put as much stiff on there as she could and then grabbed it with her palms and "pushed" it all forward so that it scruntched everyone elses stuff up into each other. She must have been in a hurry....i guess. Cause...who does that???? Then, after she cleared some room for her things, she bent over her shopping cart and started to toss things up on the belt. She threw a loaf of bread at the the conveyer belt and missed and hit the gum rack above it. Still not sure if she knew she was now buying 7 packs of gum that were hidden underneath her bread. She then started to throw the rest of her things up there. I moved as far forward as i could. I am almost there...almost to the front to get checked out and get out there. As the guy checking people out grabs my basket, the lady in front of me (remember, with the 37 tv dinners) comes back and says..."wait, you forgot to ring in my coupon!" OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!! So the nice fella grabbed her bags and re-rung her dinners and Tang. This time not forgetting the coupon.

I spent nearly 20 minutes in the check out line.

When i move, i shall miss my late night Fred's Kingdom runs. But the creepies out in Issaquah at night...i will do fine without!

My Apartment - Update

So i know that in a previous post i said that i got my apartment rented and i was able to get out of my lease. But alas, that failed. The people backed out right before they had to make the deposit. I agree with them that it is really high, but i think that it's lame to let someone think that you will take the apartment and then back out. Makes it frustrating on my part. So, i put up another ad on craigs list on tuesday night and then went to bed. By the next morning at 10am i already had 16 people wanting to come take a look. That was exciting! I showed the apartment to two people yesterday and the fist person put in an application and was just approved as of today! YAY! Now all i need is for her to follow through and sign the lease and pay and then i will be home free! (literally!) Keep me in your prayers that this goes through fine!

ACCEPTED

I just recieved news this morning that my application was accepted to the school!! YAY! Now i can get started on applying for my study visa! Thank you all for your prayers!!!

January 12th, 2010

This morning my mom booked me my plane ticket! Thanks MOM!!!! LOVE YOU! We had so many issues with getting the ticket! Most/all airlines won't let you book a ticket that is round tirp with a return date a year out. Plus, for January, there were no open seats to get to Cape Town. (using flyer miles) So my wonderful mom, had to call everyday checking back in order to get a seat. This morning it finally paid off! I have a booked ticket from Seattle to Atlanta, then Atlanta to Johannesburg. Now i just have to have my dad book me a ticket from joburg to Capetown and i'm THERE! I will have to collect my luggage in joburg and re-check it back in for the flight to Cape Town, which can be difficult as the airport is a little hard to get through, but i'm sure i can figure it out. I'm not scared... much.

Please keep me in your prayers that my school application letter will come back ASAP so that i can get my visa application in. A week from this thursday will start the two month count down!

Q/A - part II

Like i said, you ask the question and i will answer them!
From a friends comment below "Maybe you can start at new Q/A thread... OK - are you (or your family) from South Africa? Why school in SA? Why for only a year? What will you do after your year, return to the States to finish schooling? Missionary work???"

Q: Am i or my family from South Africa?
A: No. We lived in Rustenburg, South Africa (google it) for 2 1/4 years from 1992 to 1994. My parents are missionaries and do construction projects.

Q: Why school in South Africa?
A: Why not? Currently I'm at a point in my life that i have no attachment in the USA besides family and friends. I don't have a car payment, or a house, and i am super close to being out of what little debt that i have. (it will be gone before i leave). So i feel that being 27 and single and not happily tied down, now is the time to get out there and experience the things this world has to offer and to take an adventure and so when God presented this opportunity, i said YES! Plus, one full year over there is about as much money as one quarter over here at a university. I could potentially get a full 4 year degree for the price of one year here at UW.

Q: Why for only a year?
A: I am only going for the school year. Which is January through November. The seasons are switched over there so they are just about to get out for their summer break. School starts up again on January 18th, 2010 so i am planning on going down there about a a week before that. Since i will be coming from out of the country i have to get a study permit (visa) and they only allow you to have one that last for one year at a time. Come next September time, I'm sure that i will have figured out if i want to go back or not. But at this time, i am only committing to a year as that is all I'm allowed to commit to.

Q: What will i do after i am done with this year?
A: Since i have not decided if i am going for longer then a year, i am not sure that i can answer this properly. For now, the plan is to come back mid November 2010 and be here for the holidays. If i do decide to go back, i would leave again the beginning of January. If i decided to stay here, yes, i can transfer my credits over to a new college of my choice. The school is fully accredited.

Hopefully that clears some things up! Let me know if you have anymore questions!

Pictures

Here are some pictures from my last trip down there October 2008.



This one is of Table Top Mountain.


This is my Dad and i on top of Table Top Mountain.


Mom and i on the beach.


Hout Bay, just a short drive from where i will live.


Dad and i taking a rest from our bike ride. Great picture spot.


Me, on a Harley, with a Barbie pink camera...perfect!


Just hanging out...waiting for the boys.


This is the spot where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Indian Ocean.


The Cape of Good Hope. Me and my gang.


Entertainment at the mall.

Application has arrived!

Late last night i recieved a conformation email that CTS has recieved my appplication (via soft copy) and are reviewing it. I have told them that i need to have the acceptance letter before i can apply for my visa, so hopefully they will be super quick! **Lord, please help my application go through smoothly and quickly! Thanks! Amen!!** Keep me in all your prayers!

Apartment

Oh, also, i just found out that i got my apartment rented, so that will save me a lot of worry and money and allow me to break my lease. YAY! Praise The Lord!

Still waiting...

So last week i turned in my school application. It's been really hard to get emails to go through over to South Africa at this time, so i still don't even know if they have recieved it. I am going to have to call down there and check on it. I need the school acceptance letter before i can apply for a study visa. i hate waiting. If i knew that they recieved it, maybe it would be easier.

Questions/Answers

I have had several people ask me lots of question, so i shall share some of those as well as the answers to the best of my knowledge.

Q: How long will i be gone?
A: I am planning on leaving early/mid January. School starts Jan 18th, so sometime before then. School then gets out for the year in mid November at which point i will return to Seattle in time for the Holidays.

Q: What type of school is it?
A: It is called Cape Town Theological Seminary. www.cts.org.za It is a small Bible college just outside of downtown Cape Town. Currently there are about 60 students i think.

Q: What will i study?
A: I don't know. Since i was in high school 8 years ago i have not done any college or schooling. So i have a lot of basic courses to start with. I will be taking all of those. You know, basic math, science, Bible classes. That sort.

Q: Where will i live?
A: I will live on campus in a dorm room. And yes, i will have my own dorm room and will not have to share. This will be a HUGE change for me since in a two bedroom apartment i can't even handle a roommate...and now i have to share a bathroom with 10 other ladies? UGH!

Q: Won't i miss my family?
A: Of COURSE! I will miss them LOTS! As well as all my friends! But i think that for now, at this point in my life, this is the right thing to do. I will see my parents a few times throughout the year as the college is the place they come when they take all their trips down to South Africa, but i also have many friends over there already as well. I was just at the school last October (2008) and so i even know some of the students. It's only a year! It's not forever!

and finally...

Q: What will you do with all your shoes?
A: I'm selling some of them. (let me know if you are size 7.5) I'm taking some of them, and I'm storing some of them. It will be hard because i am not shipping anything over to the school. I am just taking with me what i can carry. (plus sending stuff with mom and dad when they go down on another trip) So my awesome selections of things i have here will not be the same as over there.


If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!

Tv-less

Not having cable to watch has proven to be very productive! Even though i didn't watch that much tv in the first place, what little i did watched took away time from the things in my life that needed to be done. I spent 2 1/2 hours at starbucks working on a project yesterday...i was alway jealous of people who said they would sit at starbucks and do things like that. I would think "how in the world do they find the time!" now i know! Even though i loved being at starbucks, i did not get very much done. I was too distracted by people watching. But i found that i love to do that sort of thing.

I just downloaded the form that i have to fill out to get a visa. It's 26 pages long. I reviewed it and i only have to fill out about half, but still, it made me realize what a big adventure i'm about to go on. If i have to fill out several forms, and just one of them is 26 pages...then this is serious! Right now i'm trying to figure out how to get medical insurance that will cover me for here in the state as well as oversees. More difficult then you might be thinking.

I just checked the weather in Cape Town for this week and it's supposed to be in the mid 80's all week long. It's a nice spring week there! I love that i am going to go down there right before our winter hits and just as the summer is peaking! So great!

So EXCITED!

maybe a little early.....

So, i had a list of things that i need to get done before i leave. Canceling my cable and internet at my apartment was one of those things. I called today to see how much it would cost me to get out of my contracts with each company. My internet company said it would be $200 but then said they would waive the fee, so very nice of them, but my cable company said that i would have to pay $20 a month for the remaining months of my contract. Which ends in January. So i went ahead and cancelled my internet, as i still have yet to use it at home anyways since i set it up in July, and i also cancelled my cable. I think i may be jumping the gun a little bit as i still have the school application sitting on the back seat of my car. I should most likely get accepted into the school BEFORE i start ending my amenitites here...right? Although, i have been thinking of getting rid of my tv for a while. I find that i either don't watch it at all, or i sit down and watch it for 5 hours straight. And after that 5 hours, i feel as though i have just LOST that 5 hours to ....nothing. My life is in no way better or benefited from whatever it was i just watched. I feel that i would get way more done in my life if there was not a tv around to be distracting! So, as of today, it is no longer on. I have better things to do with my life.

Visa Visa Visa

I am SO stinkin confused. How do you get a student visa? The government website that i have been looking at doesn't tell you how to get one, it just has links that circle around through each other. I even looked at the SA embassy website. Nothing. UGH! So frustrating. I don't even know where to go from here.....

The word is out...

This week has been a little hectic in trying to figure out all that i need to get done in order to leave. I have only apx 90 days till i leave and there is a lot to be done! (more then i realized) There is a lot to do still as i have only just started filling out the school application. I am planning on getting everything turned in by the end of this week. Hopefully it won't take too long to get the acceptance letter and then i can forward it onto the embassy to get started on my student visa. These two things are the only hang ups. (besides the outragous price in airline tickets)

Each day i get more and more excited! It's hard to focus at work as i am always thinking about things that i need to do. Such as, cancel gym membership, cancel netflicks, cancel cable, cancel internet, take care insurance down to minimum, move out of apartment, store things i want to keep, sell things that i would rather have money for then keep, plan for all the holidays that i will miss and get cards made for everyone's birthdays that will happen while i am gone, etc....

I am dreading telling my grandpa the most. I love him so much and i highly doubt that he will make it the whole year that i am gone. I don't want to leave him. His health is failing and if he does pass away, coming home would not be an option as tickets are just too much. hhmm....sad.
I will miss him calling me "bluebird" or "slug-bait" depending on the day and his mood. I will miss him talking trash while we play a game of Rummy in his room. I will miss him giving me $20 everytime i see him cause he thinks it takes a whole tank of gas to come see him and he just wants to help out. I will miss him leaving me messages on my voicemail not realizing that it IS voicemail and then getting mad that i'm not responding. I will miss him....