Better than a funeral

I'm getting to like this idea of moving abroad more and more. It's like having a funeral, only better! So many friends telling me how much they'll miss me. People making an effort to come and visit me, take me out to dinner, ply me with drinks, promising (threatening?) to come and visit once I get to Cork! And, unlike a funeral, I get to be there to enjoy all the eulogies! :-) Seriously though, I guess it takes a big shift like this to make it clear to you how you're appreciated by the people in your life. I should have done this years ago!

Practicing stick shift continues whenever I have the nerve ... actually, at least once a day. I've been doing it by halves. I haven't gotten a chance to practice in my friend's old Beemer again (she assures me it's still running, at least as well as it was before, so I didn't really kill it!), but I realized that my Passat has a Tiptronic transmission which gives me the option of manually shifting the gears when I'm in Drive. I've been practicing on the way home from my practice, and anytime traffic isn't too hectic. It's oddly seductive. Now that the initial terror has faded and I can practice this piece by piece (i.e., no clutch), it's much more interesting than I'd expected. Maybe I'll even come to prefer a manual transmission, who knows?

More good news about the car situation. I found out that I'm not stuck with trying to get someone to take over my lease on the Passat. I can sell it! Volkswagen doesn't care - as long as I get enough to pay them off, they don't give a hoot. Such a relief for me! I'm thinking I might just wait till the last week before I leave and sell it to CarMax. No muss, no fuss. I won't make much (or much of any) profit, but it'll be off my hands. Whew!

So, I've pretty much told everybody about The Big News. The only people still in the dark are my supervisors/administration at my day job and my private practice clients. They won't get the news until all the paperwork is finalized - I'm only waiting on the psychology/government folks in Ireland to approve my training and degrees ("Yes sir, I'm a real psychologist and I might actually know what I'm doing") and then I'll be eligible for my work visa and can start winding things down here.

What friends are for

Encouraging. Holding your hand. Telling you that you can do it. Not blaming you when their car explodes!

It's been brought home to me even more sharply this week just how great my friends are. Whether they're far away or near, in touch with me daily, weekly or just every few months, blood or just "as good as" blood. Every time I've told someone new about The Big News, I've gotten only positive affirmations and expressions of support. Not to say there haven't been some jaws hitting the floor, but not one person has pooh poohed my decision or told me I'm crazy. Quite the opposite, I've gotten offers to help me pack, to sit with me while I'm sorting through crap I should have thrown out long ago, to send me care packages once I move, to come out and visit me once I'm there (I've gotten LOTS of those!), and to help me build up my tolerance by trying out various Irish pubs in the area (a friend's gotta do what a friend's gotta do, right?). That's not including the especially longsuffering friend who willingly got into her own car, admittedly one on it's last legs and not in use, to teach me how to drive a stick shift. She was kind enough to tell me I did quite well for a first-timer, even after the poor car started smoking and giving up the ghost! :-)

So tell me, who could ask for better friends?!

Biting my nails

Yippee! I got the job!! Now, for the terrifying part - actually making the move to Ireland.

Now that I've submitted my acceptance to my new job and started telling friends and family that I'm definitely making the move (most say they admire my adventurousness, but I know a couple just think I'm crazy), my stomach has begun tying itself into major, horsepill sized knots! So many decisions to make: do I rent or sell my wonderful little townhouse? What do I do about my car lease? Am I going to run out of money before I get there? Will I be able to find a good, nondenominational church to join? But, those are the big (i.e., "grownup") questions. Maybe just as important - how do I keep up with my favorite TV shows (Grey's Anatomy, Lost, Battlestar Galactica) without paying an arm and a leg for iTunes downloads, and are there any hairdressers in Ireland who actually know how to do black hair?!

So far I haven't found any answers for the latter questions, but I have found a great website with answers about a lot of the nitty gritty, practical questions I wouldn't have a clue about. You have to pay a fee ($40) to join the full version site, but I think it was worth it - check it out here