Righty-o then

I started this blog to chronicle our family's adventures while we are on sabbatical in the US, Mexico, France and Singapore from July 2006 - June 2007. There are three of us. Me, my husband, and our 10 year old daughter.

We leave in 5 and a half weeks, on July 22. We've already had some exciting moments, like waiting for the arrival of crucial paperwork from France. Of course it arrived, and Al has his visa already - Emi and I have to wait a bit longer as our visas are dependent on his being issued. Emi is going to go to school in France, and she had to have the Mantoux test and BCG vaccination for TB before she could enrol, both of which, she assured me, were excruciatingly painful.

The itinerary is approximately thus:

22 - 24 July: a couple of days to warm up on the beach in Honolulu.

24 - 1 August: Anaheim - the deal sweetener for Emi is a trip to the Disney Parks

1 - 10 August: San Diego - the deal sweetener for me is San Diego

10 - 26 August: Cuernavaca, Mexico, where Al is running a 2-week course at the University of Mexico

27 August: one night in Paris then on to Montpellier, where we pick up our leased car and drive to Aniane, where we will be staying for the next 9 months.

The plan is to return via Singapore, where we will stay for 3 weeks while Al catches up with colleagues there.

I'm hoping to catch up with friends in the UK and also to finally meet my German penfriend, Gila. We have been penfriends since we were 13, and we have never met!!

Some days it seems like forever until we go, it's like waiting for Santa. Other times departure day looms ahead like a root canal appointment. We still have lots of admin things to get through, but we have accommodation organised, a car leased (a Renault Clio! I hope it's a red one!), and our air tickets booked.