It’s funny how quickly we adapt to changes. I feel so settled into this new life already. Sure, there are many areas to still sort out (like my home art studio) but in so many ways it all feels normal now. I’m deeply missing my friends from Istanbul and my family and friends back home but I'm glad to have found some fabulous people here in Saigon who are amazing additions to my expat family. 
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I kicked off the weekend with my Annual Art Club Lock-In. Friday night 20 of my 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students joined me and two other chaperones for a night of art making and shenanigans. This event is truly the highlight of my teaching year, it allows me to connect with my most dedicated art students and celebrate what brings us together - ART! My youngest sister Autumn was able to join us for the night also!

Saturday Kim joined Josh and his other groomsmen to get fitted for their tuxes to wear at Amanda and Josh's wedding ceremony. After a LONG nap on Saturday (the Art Club kids stayed up until 5am and I peeled them out of bed at 7am for family breakfast) Kim and I joined our friends Nikki and Katrina for their first bonfire of the summer.

Sunday morning started with our (Kim's) famous tacos, breakfast style : ) We spent some time trying to track down answers for our many questions regarding getting the pets over to Burma. After being on hold for ever we finally got to talk to someone from Korean Air who told us that we in fact did not have to import the pets into Korea if we are only changing flights (as long as it is with the same carrier). WOOHOO! So we finally sent the itinerary to my school, I posted a screen shot below. It will be almost 30 hours in transit with only 4 of those being layovers. It is going to be a looooooooong journey that's for sure. To celebrate we got ourselves some FroYo from the new place in town : )

The warmer weather finally arrived on Monday when it got up to 85* out. To celebrate we had an impromptu swimming excursion with some of the family. Dad ran around and threw everyone in the water which was just warm enough to be comfortable. We ate pineapple, threw sticks for the dogs, and enjoyed thawing out after the brutal winter we have had. 

The rest of the week for me involved staying very late to grade a couple nights as well as attending a retirement gathering for my principal, George Sincerbeaux. A great leader, I could not have asked for a more supportive administrator to work with for the past two years. He is going to be very missed by everyone at Rowe.

For Date Night this week we grabbed my little bro, Drew, and headed to a new Chinese food place in town. Set up with a buffet, we enjoyed tastes of a variety of our favorite oriental foods - including sushi!! We were very impressed with the quality and would defiantly return if the opportunity arose. 

While Kim was busy catering an event at work I was able to FINALLY start packing!! Although I didn't make it very far I managed to turn the house into shambles in the process. I doubt very highly that we will have a clean house ever again before we move. Since about 90% of the items in the house are technically mine it is going to be a lot of work on my part to go through everything and decide what needs to be packed for storage, what can be given away, and what few items will be going with us. 

We started thinking about what items we will be taking with us. We have decided not to ship anything over and just take what we can bring in suitcases on the plane with us. I have no idea how well this is going to work out but that is the plan right now. We have begun a packing list of items that we are going to bring with us. Right now it is no way complete but it is a start: 

Memorial Day weekend marks the unofficial start of summer in Maine (and I am sure many other states). For the long weekend we took to the woods for camping with Amanda, Josh, and Meg. We decided to stay close and went to a new campground in Turner called Martin Stream Campground. Arriving Friday night I could feel the stress leave my body as we pulled into our plot of land. Our tent cowered in size under the other tents as we squeezed our air mattress into it leaving only enough room for Ellie's bed, but of course it didn't matter. Nothing mattered, even the fact that we forgot to bring cooking tools and fashioned our own fork and spatula out of wood and tinfoil. I managed to start the fire all by myself one morning : ) We spent the weekend relaxing, drinking, kayaking, talking, and having a wonderful time. 

On Monday we joined the family at my Dad's house for a BBQ. It's these little things that I know we are going to miss when we are in Burma.

Kim has been fighting a battle with eczema of the hands for over a decade now. Her hands flare up every couple months and when they do her palms become itchy, dry, peeling, and extreamly painful. On our way back into town on Monday we noticed that they were getting inflamed more than what normally happens during a break out. About a year ago she was hospitalized for a week from an infection that got into her hands and spread to her blood stream. With this in mind we decided it was best to head straight for the ER and it was a good thing we did. The doctor informed us that it was indeed infected and spreading up her arm again. They immediately put her on IV antibiotics and had her go back after 8 hours for another dose. She then spent Tuesday in a soft cast to help the inflammation go down. Although her hands are still broken out at this point, we are happy to report that there are no longer any signs of infection. Our hopes are that when we are in Burma she will be working with her hands less and will be able to give them time to rest and heal.

Wednesday afternoon, while Kim was getting her next round of immunizations, I joined some of my fellow teachers at farewell dinner for a retiring co-worker. It was a lovely afternoon with great people and a fantastic view to boot.

For Date Night Thursday, we picked up burritos from Guthries and ate in : )

Myanmar wise we have been scoring the internet for more information on traveling with our pets and finding the right itinerary to match. Hopefully we will have some progress on this next week because this is the last week of school for ISM and I'm sure people will be harder to get ahold of after they get out. 

I did get an email from the HR officer I have been communicating with at ISM about the military coop that has recently occurred in Thailand. It reassured me knowing they are aware and on top of things of this nature. Here is the email: