One Year Later

on the train to Dundee, 12 Aug 2010

Later this week we’ll be celebrating the one year anniversary of our arrival in the United Kingdom, having arrived in Dundee, Scotland on 12 Aug 2010. It was one year ago this week when we were living with our friends on Queen Anne, overwhelmed with excitement, ready to embark on this new adventure. It was one year ago this week when we were also experiencing degrees of sadness about making such a drastic life change, leaving everything familiar behind. One year later and, though our excitement has dulled a bit, as has the sadness, we’re moving forward with every confidence that we made the right decision.

Mike has adapted to being a student with greater ease than either of us had expected and is looking forward to his future career as an artist or, at the very least, in the art field.  Duncan of Jordanstone was the perfect programme for him, allowing him the freedom to be creative and to pursue his specific interests (right now, subconscious drawing) and is fully supportive of his artistic growth.  Mike is really looking forward to returning to his studies next month and we're both really looking forward to his first university field trip in October, when his class will travel to Venice for a week to attend La Biennale (and I get to join him).

After a rough start, I’m now doing much better but I'm still struggling a bit with this transition; there are both good days and bad but the bad days are occurring less often nowadays.  I’m optimistic about returning to Dundee, too.  We’ve almost secured a flat (just waiting for confirmation) and, based on pictures and location, it’s sure to be better than what we had there before.  Additionally, my job prospects have improved after my summer in London temping with the Scottish government.  I’ve made some great connections down here with people who know Dundee and who’ve already proved exceptionally helpful by making introductions and pursuing leads on my behalf.

Within a year, in addition to parts of England and Scotland, we’ve seen Paris and parts of Mallorca and have been to Sweden.  Plus, to celebrate one year in the UK, we’re off to Baden Baden, Germany this weekend for our second, and final, mini-break of the summer. 

London, summer 2011

We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished this year and there is no doubt in our minds that we made the right decision, both for immediate adventure as well as long-term foundation building.  Looking back, although a year in Puerto Rico would’ve been amazing, we’re glad Mike was accepted at Duncan of Jordanstone.  Looking ahead, our future is much brighter than it used to be.  

2011 Hello, 2010 Goodbye

As we bid farewell to 2010 we'd like to take this opportunity to thank the year for being kind to us.  We experienced a lot of change this past year but we're grateful it was due to anticipated events and we weren't hit with any surprises.  We're not fond of surprises.

We'd especially like to thank our amazing friends for all their help this year.  We're not ones to ask for help unless absolutely necessary and this year we had to go to that well a few times.  Luckily, we have cultivated amazing friendships with amazing people and we're truly grateful for their help over this past year.  

We're also very appreciative of the places we were able to travel to this past year.  2010 saw our first Asian and European experiences as well as some great travel experiences state-side.

  

As far as our hopes for 2011, of course we hope for the best: good health and happiness.  Our resolutions include learning a new language, more European travel, Desi would like to enter one or more writing competitions, and Mike would like to develop more professionally as an artist.

We hope 2010 was kind to you and that 2011 brings you good health and happiness as well.  Happy new year!

Looking Back

As we prepare to depart for our winter break holiday we wanted to take this opportunity to review our first four months in the UK.

Arriving a few weeks prior to Mike starting school made for a smart move.  We were able to explore our new surroundings while waiting for internet and phone connections without anxiety.

While we lived in Seattle we would enjoy long walks along Lake Washington or from the light rail station to our home.  During this past summer we especially enjoyed walking around our temporary home on Queen Anne.  Happily, our walking tradition continues here in Dundee.  Mike walks Desi to work every morning for her 6AM start time and is usually there to pick her up when she gets off in the afternoon.  These walks will vary as Desi changes jobs but we enjoy this time together and are happy our walks have survived the move.

It took us a few months to get settled but we think we've begun to form a comfortable groove.  We've got friends whom we can go to with our cultural questions and we're even beginning to have a social calendar again.  Desi is enjoying the last few days of her first job in the UK and Mike is celebrating the end of a successful first semester.  Best of all, we didn't experience any catastrophes, which is something we're always grateful for.

As far as the Purge of 2010, there are many things we miss having but overall we're enjoying living simply and light.  When we first moved here we wrote down all our possessions, which didn't amount to much.  We think that list has stayed about the same over the months, a few more kitchen necessities but a few less clothing items.  There are also a number of items we wish we hadn't brought.  For example, Desi has a couple of lovely pairs of stilettos that she chose to keep but that she'll never wear.  Perhaps keeping her hiking boots or trainers would've been wiser?

In just a few months we've been able to visit a fair number of Scot cities and towns, places we probably would never have seen if we didn't live here.  Because our time in Dundee is limited we really want to make every day memorable, which we were really good at in the beginning but have since slackened a bit, allowing life to take over.  We've been consumed with adapting to our new location, which has provided us with a good foundation but not necessarily with memorable experiences, more just general knowledge.  Hopefully, upon our return in the new year we'll get back to making each day memorable.

Greetings From Scotland

We are finally online at our new home in Dundee, UK.  We've been struggling for these past three weeks without Internet access, with only our occasional trips to the library providing us with any news from our past lives, but as of 01 Sept we are now online.  JOY!!!

On 11 Aug we flew Air France direct from Seattle to Charles de Gaulle in Paris, landing on 12 Aug.  After a very short layover of only about an hour we flew onward to Edinburgh.  We breezed through Customs and Immigration, the former of which didn't seem to exist, and jumped on a bus to the train station.  Of course, jumping onto a bus when carrying eight very heavy and large bags is more desire than fact and we found this aspect of our trip to be very difficult indeed.  By the time we boarded the train to Dundee we were very sweaty and slightly irritated with the whole endeavor.  Perhaps next time we'll eliminate more of our worldly possessions so we only have six bags to maneuver?

Upon arriving in Dundee we took a cab to our new flat.  There was some initial confusion with our keys and Desi was stuck waiting outside with all the bags for about 15 minutes while Mike ran around campus with John the Janitor looking for Janice the Landlord.  Eventually, John the Janitor received the permissions he needed in order to let us into our flat without Janice the Landlord's help.  He was an excellent guide, providing us with a short tour of our new home, before letting us settle in.  Janice the Landlord eventually showed up (she had taken a long lunch with her daughter) to give us our keys and repeat everything John the Janitor had said since we were unsure of the accuracy of our comprehension the first time around (the brogue will take some getting used to).

These first few weeks in Scotland have been surreal.  Because Mike is not in school yet and Desi hasn't started working we're caught in this pseudo-vacation mode where we are filling our days up with sightseeing and exploration and not really interacting much beyond financial exchanges with the locals. Mike's Freshers Week begins tomorrow though and we will most likely start interacting with the locals a whole lot more from this point forward.  Our pseudo-vacation is coming to an end and life in Scotland will soon begin.  Wish us luck!

What We'll Miss

It goes without saying that we'll miss our friends.  But, our colleagues and jobs are definitely high on our list, too.  Both of us have great jobs, ones that we enjoy and that we're good at.  We both have great coworkers, people who make our jobs that much more enjoyable.  They will be missed.

We'll miss the Pacific Northwest.  We didn't get to explore as much as 11 years might suggest.  We should have spent more time in Canada and on the Olympic Peninsula.  We should have explored the eastern side of the mountains more and other parts of Oregon and Montana.  We should have spent more time on the coast.

We'll miss Shiku's Honey Roll and Joey's Blue Cheese Fries.

We'll miss our little Columbia City house.

The Journey

In April 2008 we identified our short term goal.

In September 2008 we formulated the Two Year Plan.

Today, we have our UK visas in our hands and we leave for Scotland one week from tomorrow. 

We have been dreaming about our new lives in Scotland for two years and it is finally happening.  Now, when we talk about exploring the Highlands or taking the train down to Edinburgh for a day or spending the weekend in Bruges we'll be planning instead of dreaming.  We often end our conversations nowadays with the question, "who are we?"

We plan on enjoying these next few months and truly ensconcing ourselves in our new surroundings before we begin formulating a new short term plan.  We have worked very hard, and given away a lot of stuff, to get to this point and we deserve a celebration and a bit of rest. 

UK Updates

On June 23, we received our student housing assignment.  We have a one bedroom flat in Dundee, confirmed with deposit.  We can pick up our keys upon arrival Aug 12.  Our lease goes through June 24, about a month after Mike completes his first school year.

We also just submitted our visa applications online this morning.  We have our appointments for biometrics on Monday and will then submit our supporting documents to the British Consulate in Los Angeles for review, no later than Tuesday. 

We'll probably opt for priority processing for our visa applications, since we have to submit our passports with the documents and we want to make sure we get them back in time for our August departure.  Processing takes an estimated 2-12 weeks but with priority processing ($150 USD extra per application) they should be processed within 48 hours.

This whole visa application process is very stressful.  It is the only thing preventing us from truly celebrating our upcoming move.  Once it is settled, hopefully in our favor, we'll be able to move forward without any concerns.  Except, of course, Desi will still need to find a proper job in Dundee.  But, that's for another day.

Moving Day

This past Saturday was our official moving day.  We borrowed Jason & Duana's Element and Shannon's truck and proceeded to pack the remnants of our Seattle life up and out of our Columbia City home. 

Shannon was having a yard sale in a neighborhood with better traffic exposure than ours, so we dropped four car loads of stuff off at her place where her and her friends sold it for us while we continued the move to Jason & Duana's place on Queen Anne. 

We will never be able to repay Shannon for her kindness over this past weekend.  Her time and effort and willingness to help was so very much appreciated.  It was Shannon that inspired us to look at art schools in Scotland for Mike and it is Shannon that keeps us motivated and inspired towards this goal.  She is amazing and we are lucky to know her.

We are also immensely grateful to Jason & Duana for allowing us to invade their space over the next few weeks. They worked hard to give us a place of our own in their home and they have already made us feel welcome and comfortable. We are truly lucky to have friends like them.

Besides making time for dinner with Jason & Duana to celebrate our first night with them, our Saturday was almost entirely spent moving.  We called it a night at around midnight but, although we were seriously wiped out from all the heavy lifting and emotionally draining act of losing everything we've accumulated over the last 13 years, we did take a moment to observe our new surroundings and to celebrate our situation.  We are, after all, on our way to Scotland. 

Sunday morning we were up and out by 7:30AM to finish our move.  We had two car loads for the dump and three car loads for Goodwill before we finished up around noon.  We were exhausted, energized, sad, happy, and thoroughly grateful to our amazing friends for everything they did to help us throughout this process.

All things considered, this process has unfolded amazingly well.  For example, if we didn't rent our house early we would've waited until the last minute to do what we just did, resulting in us living our normal life rather than experiencing this alternate reality which is reminding us of what amazing friends we've made over these past 11 years in Seattle.  Now, because we had to move early, instead of just coasting to our move in August and inevitably forgetting these last few weeks leading up to that move, we're creating memories which we will cherish for a very long time.

Purge of 2010

The act of purging one's worldly belongings is hard.  We didn't think we were terribly attached to any of our things.  We also didn't think we owned very much.  But, over these past couple of months, we have found both those notions to be false.

We have given away, sold, or discarded most of our possessions, including our first major purchases, Desi's wedding dress and accessories, Mike's art, pictures, and a whole lot of junk.  Although most of these items will never be thought of again, the actual act of purging them is what makes this process so difficult.  And, though most of these items will be forgotten, there will no doubt be a time in the future where something pops into our head and we ask ourselves "didn't we used to own..." or "I wonder what happened to..." and that's when we'll remember the Purge of 2010.

Tickets Purchased

We bought our one-way tickets to Edinburgh this past Thursday night.  We fly on August 11th on Air France/Delta to Paris and then on to Edinburgh.  From there we'll grab a train north to Dundee.  We should arrive in the early afternoon of August 12th, plenty of time to grab our keys from the university housing office and move right in to our student housing flat.

We still need to both apply and receive our visas as well as confirm our student housing.  But, student financing has been finalized and both our houses have been rented and now we have our tickets.  In less than two months we'll officially be expats and living in Scotland.  The Two Year Plan realized.

Columbia City, You Were Good To Us

On June 26th, Mike and I begin our move to Scotland with a short detour to the west side of Queen Anne.  We have to be out of our cute little 1931 Columbia City bungalow by June 28th, when our new tenants will be moving in.  Expecting a 4-12 week vacancy, we were planning on remaining in our house until our August move to Scotland.  But, because our house rented in, what we believe to be, record time (less than two weeks), we've had to make alternative arrangements.

Our closest Seattle friends are allowing us to squat in their mother-in-law apartment on Queen Anne for six weeks.  This arrangement will allow us to spend more time with them than ever before which, we hope, will provide for fond memories of our last weeks in Seattle.  Additionally, in our 11 years in Seattle we have never lived on Queen Anne.  So, not only will this experience provide us with more time with friends but it will also allow us an opportunity to explore Seattle further before leaving it.

We don't foresee ever moving back to our Columbia City bungalow, or to Seattle for that matter.  And, realistically, we may never see our first home again.  It has been good to us though, especially these last few years, and we count ourselves lucky that we bought it when we did.  Even the bad times - no heat, no hot water, flooded basement, broken sewage pipes - are turning into good memories and we will, no doubt, look back on these years quite fondly.

Car-less In Seattle

In May 2004 we decided to buy a car that we would keep forever.  We were tired of the car buying experience and wanted something that we would love, and that would last, longer than it took to pay off the car loan.  Mike did hours of research, including reading articles, attending the International Car Show, visiting a couple car dealerships to speak directly with salesmen, and then finally making the purchase.  We put a lot of effort into making an educated and responsible decision and we wound up buying a gorgeous and fun 2004 Acura RSX Type-S.  This was Mike's dream car and he loved it. 

We sold Mike's dream car yesterday.

The selling of Mike's dream car makes us car-less in Seattle, changing our day-to-day life and affecting us more acutely than anything we've done thus far in our preparations for relocation.  We felt it's loss almost immediately, after just selling it and wanting to run to the ATM to deposit the money we had just received we realized that there would be no more "running" anywhere. 

Going car-less is a life changing event.  We have to change our mindset and it won't happen overnight.  But, because we don't plan on having a car again, at least not while we're abroad, we'll have plenty of time to get used to our new state of being.

Stop the Presses!!!

Mike just received an "unconditional" offer from the University of Dundee.  They've reversed their initial decision.  Mike's been accepted!!!

Mike is going to apply for both financial aid as well as his visa this weekend.  If he is granted a visa then Desi will apply for hers, since hers is wholly dependent upon his.  Apparently, these items are equally as important as the University's acceptance and can be more difficult to achieve.  If we don't get any one of them then we can't move to Scotland.  So, basically, it's not a done deal yet and Puerto Rico is still a very attractive backup plan.  But, as of now and until we hear differently, we're moving to Scotland baby!!!

The Portfolio Did It

Mike received news last night that his application to Edinburgh College of Arts was "unsuccessful."  As disappointing as it is to be rejected from four schools, this bit of news does clear the way for our move to Puerto Rico.  Honestly, we couldn't be happier!

Regarding post-mortems, Mike has already heard back from the University of Edinburgh with suggestions to strengthen his application for next year.  Apparently, it wasn't a lack of college credits that sunk his application at the University but his portfolio.  So, rather than taking more college classes for credit this summer, Mike will be taking art classes, wherever he can find them, to strengthen his portfolio.  We're looking into his options now.

Everything Must Go

Last night we completed our first purging session of the month.  The target was this large, random closet that we've been using to store all of our useless crap - in addition to useful stuff like games, blankets, and coats - over the past seven years and have managed, despite its size, to stuff it completely full.

We emptied the closet completely and then separated the items into three piles: 1) Keep (these items will be coming with us to Puerto Rico), 2) Sell/Donate (these items we'll try to sell at our yard sale next weekend and donate whatever remains), and 3) Discard.  Happily, our largest pile was Sell/Donate.  This means that although we no longer want these items they're not absolute junk and we weren't storing them for no reason. 

Surprisingly, we had to make some hard decisions throughout this process.  We truly didn't think we were sentimentally attached to anything we have.  But, we realized early on that most everything we have has some memory attached to it and there were a few items where it was physically difficult to place in Sell/Donate.  But, at the end of the night logic prevailed and we are now very happy with the contents of that closet - two boxes filled with blankets and purses/bags and a few jackets.

Next stop: kitchen.

Mission: Renovation

Desi met with the realtor this past Friday and although the news was good it was not as good as we had hoped.  We've decided we can't, and shouldn't, sell our Seattle home in this market and that we have no choice but to hire a property manager and turn it into a rental property while we're in Puerto Rico.  Desi plans on speaking with some property managers this week and hiring one by the end of the week.  We'll then spend the month of May getting our house ready to rent.  We've got to depersonalize the place, paint it, finish some unfinished projects and get rid of a lot of clutter. 

This weekend we've already replaced all the kitchen cabinet hardware, which should have been done when we first moved in seven years ago.  We also got rid of most of the books we've accumulated over the years, selling them to Half Price Books.  It was sad getting rid of our book collection because books mean a lot to both of us but our frame of mind right now has us moving around a lot in the coming years and heaving boxes of books from house to house seems unnecessary.  We hope to be able to restart our book collection someday, though.

We've got a long list of things we need to do to the house by the end of May in order for this place to rent quickly.  We've got seven years of renovations to complete in one month and if the past tells us anything it's that we're not motivated people.  But, the promise of living a few months on a Caribbean island seems to be giving us the push that nothing else has for quite some time.

University of Dundee

Mike received notification this morning that his application to the University of Dundee was "unsuccessful."  We're actually quite relieved because our hearts are now set on Puerto Rico.  If he had been accepted to Dundee we would've had to make a very difficult decision.  Luckily, our decision, thus far, is being made for us. 

Mike is waiting for one more school to respond, the Edinburgh College of Arts, before we can move full steam ahead towards Puerto Rico.

A Giant Thank You!!!

For the last year our best friends, Luis & Alysha, have been managing our townhome in Salt Lake.  Whenever we expected a vacation renter Luis & Alysha would prepare the home for occupancy and be on call in case anything was needed by the renter.  Recently we found out that they were going above and beyond, leaving a bowl of fruit for the renters and a basket of granola bars and snacks for their convenience.
 
Upon checkout Luis & Alysha would confirm there was no damage or property missing and ready the property for new renters.  They also handled cable installation and a myriad of other details that property management requires.

Recently, in conjunction with other preparations for our move to Scotland or Puerto Rico, we decided to sell our townhome.  Luis was going to sell it for us but he's been busy with his own life.  So, we decided to get a realtor and Luis & Alysha were on hand to interview possible realtors in our absence.  Unfortunately, having only bought the place in Feb 2007, plus with the economic downturn, our property has not appreciated enough to cover both realtor commissions as well as remaining balance on our mortgage.  Thus, we determined hiring a full time property manager, rather than remaining as a vacation rental, would be the next best solution.

Luis & Alysha promptly began interviewing property managers for us.  We found one we liked and signed up with them.  They determined our place would rent faster, with longer leases, if it was unfurnished so Luis & Alysha jumped into action, renting a truck and packing up our place so it would photograph vacant and lease quickly.  They did this all after just returning from a vacation.

We're not sure what we did to deserve such amazing friends but without Luis & Alysha we would be lost.  We have developed a dependency on them that transcends property management.  After all, it is Luis that we are leaning on most heavily in relation to our move to Puerto Rico.  He has family there and has traveled there and is already making inquiries on our behalf.

We hope we have an opportunity to thank Luis & Alysha for all their help in a way that shows how much we appreciate everything they've done for us.  They are amazing people and fantastic friends and we are lucky to have them in our lives.

Puerto Rico

As of this past weekend, we've decided to begin working under the assumption that Mike will not be accepted into any Scotland schools for fall 2010.  He's planning on requesting post-mortems from the schools to determine what he needs to do to strengthen his application for next time but, in order to stay sane, we're moving on.

Mike's plan is to gain another 10-15 college credits during summer quarter, which should satisfy the entry requirements for the MFA program at the University of Edinburgh.  Afterwards, and instead of waiting around for another year here in Seattle, we've decided to move to Puerto Rico where we hope to enjoy some Caribbean weather for a few months before Mike starts school in fall 2011.

Mike plans to apply to the same schools in Scotland for fall 2011.  He's also going to apply at other schools in the UK and Europe and, as a last resort, he'll apply at any schools in the States that have programs that interest him (this will probably include Providence, NYC, Chicago, and Washington DC).

We plan on living in Puerto Rico for less than a year (September 2010 through July/August 2011) but expect it to provide us with some much needed heat and sun.  We also hope to become skilled in Spanish and Mike hopes to learn to surf.

There is still some hope of being accepted into a program in Scotland for fall 2010 but we're actually pretty excited about our Puerto Rico idea.  Perhaps it's because we're finally in control of our future again, or perhaps it's due to the novelty of a different future than what we've been expecting for the last two years, or perhaps it's because we'll be living on an island paradise in the Caribbean?  Regardless, we're no longer treading water but actually moving forward with our lives.  It's both liberating and thrilling to finally have a concrete plan and if this one fails we have no one to blame but ourselves.

Glasgow School of Art

Mike received notification this morning that he was not accepted into the Glasgow School of Art.  This would not be surprising, since we knew how competitive it was going to be, except for the fact that he received notification two weeks ago that he had made it to the final round and was being invited for a phone interview.  This bit of news increased our expectations, allowing us to believe that he actually had a pretty good chance of being accepted.  His interview was a week ago and Mike ended it feeling pretty good about his performance.  Unfortunately, for whatever reason, Mike did not make final cut and we will not be moving to Glasgow this year.

Our hopes for relocating to Scotland this year are now in the hands of only two schools: Edinburgh College of Art and University of Dundee.  Both schools would be amazing opportunities for Mike.  Our fingers are crossed.