Plan B

For those following my exploits to move to China, you'll know that things have been incredibly frustrating. Like... INCREDIBLY frustrating. We're possibly just over a week away from actually being in China and now things might be falling apart.

The process we've gone through to get things authenticated and verified might be one of the least efficient methods I've ever participated in, and that's not necessarily anyone in particular's fault. There is a language barrier. There is a cultural barrier. Things are implied and not received, expected and not executed. It just happens. 

To boil things down, it's come down to a matter of finances. Travel from here to Los Angeles is not cheap. Renting a car (since we can't trust ours on long trips), paying for gas, lodging, food, and then finally the processing fees involved with getting authentications and visas are, well... expensive. Like, really expensive for two people still trying desperately to pay off student loans. We made the trip out to Los Angeles a few weeks back and made a little mini-vacation out of it. We didn't go overboard by any means (my Disneyland trip was actually free) but it was still pricey to do that. Basically, we knew we couldn't do it again if our applications weren't accepted. Luckily, they were.

But now, only days away from our expected departure, with plane tickets just a mouse click away, we have finally received instructions on obtaining our visas. I won't go into the details, but suffice it to say that we are expected to make another week long trip out to Los Angeles. Oh, and did I mention Elizabeth and I just quit our jobs and no longer have an income?

We are trying to work with our would-be employers to rectify the situation, but things aren't looking great. Don't fear for us, though. We're practical people. We have a Plan B, albeit a much less exotic plan. 

I'm a journalist. I worked in Las Vegas, I can find work down in Phoenix. It's not ideal, but it'll do. We have made the preparations to leave our current residence, so that's kind of set in motion, but our destination isn't quite set in stone yet. Phoenix isn't what I had in mind, but just a quick search found several jobs I qualify for there, I have plenty of friends that would let us stay with them, and we even found apartments we can afford. We will be fine.

I just hate the idea that I've spent so much time, money, and effort in trying to get this all done and now it may go up in smoke. Still, our TEFL certifications don't expire, so we can always recover and try again when our finances improve. I just have to realize that it's better to cut your losses then continue pushing forward when there's a cliff up ahead.

Like I said though... either way, we will be fine.

Be Excellent to Each Other.