The time when:
- I spend more hours at the dentist and doctor’s office than my house, in a futile attempt to get every last thing addressed in the U.S.’s unmatchable but spendy healthcare system.
- I start kicking myself over how much crap we amassed in the last X year(s) and panicking over whether we’ll be over our weight limit.
- I labor for hours over just how many jars of spaghetti sauce, black beans, coconut milk or salsa we’ll need for the next two years (I went with 48, 96, 48 and 40, in case you were wondering).
- I walk into Whole Foods and ask for 48 jars of spaghetti sauce and four-dozen packs of whole wheat noodles and get asked if I’m doing a fundraiser or something.
- I unsuccessfully try to find a store with a snow shovel in July (I eventually gave up and went online).
- I fill three carts at Target and require two team members to help me get it all to my car. A smarter person would have done it in multiple shopping trips, but I was determined to get my extra 5% off for my Redcard birthday discount!
- I start second guessing our choice to go to X place (in this case, Almaty) and begin freaking out over whether I’ll make friends and find a job I like.
- We make the rounds to family and get in some quality time with them before we disappear for a year.
- We say our goodbyes to the dear new friends we made in our current home and lament the fact that our “love ‘em and leave ‘em” lifestyle causes pain to those we befriend. Hopefully they’d still say it was worth it.
What I can say is that while the end of a tour is never easy, at least the process is familiar now, which comforts me somewhat. We are eager to begin our new tour in Almaty in two weeks’ time and hope you’ll check back then and follow along with our adventures as we learn to navigate a new city, language and social customs. We are ready for all the delight, challenge, and learning Kazakhstan has in store for us…
