Getting ready for my assignment

It looks like everything is confirmed now for my travel and stay in Santiago. Now I just need to get myself ready to go. This week I got my Hepatitis A shot (recommended for anyone traveling to South America) and also got some software on my computer that I should be able to use to call home. Unfortunately I don't think I'll be able to download Skype to my work laptop, but this software that they gave me should serve the same purpose assuming the test run tomorrow goes okay. I've also heard that google/gmail has a video chat mechanism?

Big shout out and thank you to my sister Lauren who advised me through my immunizations. I had to get Tetanus (Tdap, I think) and Hepatitis A, but it was very, very nice to have her advice since she is in med school and knows more about those things than I do.

I leave a week from tomorrow (Saturday) - I can't believe it's coming up so soon. I've got plenty to do before I leave, but first and foremost ZACK COMES HOME TOMORROW! Sadie and I have missed him so much while he's been in Europe for work. I'm not sure how much he's missed us though, as he's had some free time to explore Germany and also spend time in the most beautiful city of lights, Paris. Just kidding Zack - I'm sure you missed us but let's be honest, you got a pretty nice trip despite the fact that you had to work.

Oh, I meant to mention that I learned a very important phrase in Spanish today. It should prove to be quite useful for me. "Habla mas despacio, por favor!" (Speak slowly, please!)

And lastly, I had dinner with three of my best friends from Clemson last night - Alyson, Sallie, and Amanda. We went to Chili's, however we really did not pick it based on the fact that I'm going to Chile (my cheesy sense of humor thought it was funny though). We took a few pictures with my Droid:

Alright, enough blogging for one night. I am trying to finish reading Breaking Dawn (the last book in the Twilight series) before I leave for Chile!

Ciao!

Ticket confirmed

Big news. They booked my airline ticket to Chile yesterday! I leave October 8 and my flight home leaves on December 9 (it's a red-eye so I'll be home December 10th). It will be perfect to get home in time to enjoy the Christmas season. Wow, I can't believe I'm going to Chile! Details of my living accommodations are still TBD but I hope to get that confirmed today.

Chile called today!

At work, I typically get a lot of phone calls. Today, one of those calls was from Chile! It was two HR ladies...one Chilean and one American. They said they would take care of my bookings for my trip, so within a day or so I should have a flight and hotel booked! My dates are going to be approximately October 8 through December 9, depending on the flights. I'm excited but have butterflies over leaving Zack, Sadie, and home sweet home for so long. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have confirmed travel plans!!

This weekend I went home to visit my parents. It was a really nice weekend visiting my friend Melissa and her new baby boy Crosby. We also got to have dinner at Mary Mac's Tea Room with my grandmother, and this was especially fun because that is the restaurant where our rehearsal dinner was before our wedding almost 5 years ago! (Side note: I just looked for a picture to post from our rehearsal dinner and found NONE. If someone has any, please send them to me!) On Sunday, after church, we ate at Mr. Chu's Chinese restaurant (a long-time family favorite), and my fortune from my fortune cookie was quite timely with my upcoming travels:


Anyhow, it's about time for me to figure out what to do for dinner. Zack's in Europe right now for work and Sadie and I miss him so much! No complaints from me though since I'll be the one traveling in the near future.

Ciao!

Learning to Blog

My goal is to get my blog set up so that I'm happy with the layout and design before I (or if I) go to Chile. (More on the "if" later.) Not only do I need to get the blog set up to my satisfaction, but I also need to learn all the functionality of the blog. It doesn't seem like blogging is very hard, but I want to be able to easily post pictures and maybe even videos of my time in Chile. I want the blog to not only be a way to keep in touch with friends and family, but also a way for me to document the memories that I make while I'm there.

Now back to the "if." The only reason I say "if I go" and not "when I go" is that I still haven't finalized all the details of the trip with work. There is a lot of paperwork, and most importantly a plane ticket and living accommodations to work out. Things tend to change on a moment's notice in the industry that I'm in. Everything looks like my trip is pretty certain though and I feel pretty confident that I'll be going to Chile.

Now back to learning to blog. I think that no blog is complete without pictures. Photographs really tell your story. They take black and white words and bring them to life. They add color and dimension. I hope to post lots of pictures of my time in Chile, so to make sure that I know how to do this I'm going to give it a little test run right now.

If this works correctly, you'll see a picture of the sweetest pup in the world and a picture of two of the Spanish books that I plan to bring with me to Chile. (FYI - I took these with my cell phone - not sure what the quality will be.)

Sadie - our sweet German Shepherd

If you want to learn Spanish, you'll thank yourself if you pick up a 501 (cinco - cero - uno).

I guess that's all for now. Time to get ready to cheer the Tigers. We play Auburn today at noon and Zack and I will be watching from the comfort of the couch this week!

Ciao!

I have a blog...and a reason to blog!

I've always said that I would never start a blog unless I had a reason to blog. I've always liked the idea of a blog, and I secretly enjoy reading other blogs, but I've never really had any motivation to join the world of blogging myself. Now, however, an adventure may be in my not-so-distant future, and I feel like it is blog-worthy.

It is very likely that I am going on a trip! By trip, I mean business trip. And by business trip, I mean short-term assignment. It is extremely common for the company that I work for to provide opportunities for employees to travel and even work short-term (and long-term) all over the world. So while this has come as somewhat of a surprise to some people who I've told about this, it was less than surprising to me when the opportunity arose.

So the plan now is that sometime in early to mid-October, I will be finishing my current assignment in Greenville and taking on an 8-week assignment in our Santiago, Chile office. That's right...I will most likely be spending the fall in South America!

More details to come (once I get them), but I'm really excited about this possibility! Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of things that I am anxious about and will miss (Zack and Sadie!), but this truly is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

I've got lots of stuff I'm excited about sharing in this blog related to my trip, but since I've just spent 2 hours trying to get this blog set up (and I'm still not fully satisfied with it), I think it's time to call it a night.

Ciao!