Oh! Caffeine, you DEVIL!

I knew I shouldn't have had that second cup of tea. I'm wired on caffeine with nothing to do, and after three hours of solid work on the computer writing report cards and kindergarten speeches, I should be somewhere else. Like a zen garden, meditating. I feel a bit like I just took my best friend's last Ritalin, and he's passed out in the bedroom while I'm out in the living room on my roller coaster. I mean laptop.

I had procrastinated for nearly a week, trying to get out of doing the last of my teacher duties. It's hard to believe that a week from now I'll say goodbye to my title Teacher Cody (no, not Mr. Rothery, that would imply I'm qualified to do this!). No more report cards, speeches, tests, words of blessing, kissing butt to the parents, saving my butt from the director, explaining what a butt is to my Chinese assistant teacher... It will all wash away on the flight to London.

Nine days to go until we leave Taiwan. The apartment finally burst from anticipation today, and our belongings are scattered throughout. We have the good fortune that our room mate has been away in Turkey for a week and won't be back until the day we leave (we'll probably meet in the airport crossing paths, actually), so Rob has decided the best way to pack is to lay everything out in a swath on the floor to get a visual. The mountain of clothes is intimidating; I don't want to throw anything away. Clothes are expensive, and some of them hold sentimental value, so I'm torn; I also want to wash away this sloppy image of myself I've created here and want to start fresh in England. I would definitely be embarrassed walking around London dressed the way I dress here.

When we first knew that we had a tight baggage restriction, our first impulse was to ship everything that wouldn't fit in our ONE bag each. The British Airways luggage allowance is 23kg per checked bag, but they also only charge £75 per extra piece, which is about the same as shipping. The major benefit is of course having the bag when we get there, and not having to wait around for the postal services to get it to the UK. Plus, we get to keep our bag, whereas if we chose to ship, it would be contents only. I'm a little concerned with being at the other end. Will public transit allow us to travel with so much luggage on hand? Given my recent experiences with the rules and regulations the Brits like to follow, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if there was a luggage restriction on public transit.

Oh, speaking of which, I wrote a nice letter to the folks at the UK Visa office and explained my visa situation to them. They were very understanding and told me to come in with my passport and I could have my visa changed. As far as I know I don't have to pay any extra fees for this. I only hope they don't have issue with the fact that I'm officially in visa overstay mode. Rob said I shouldn't worry, though; they granted me a visa, all they are doing now is extending the date. My current Taiwan visa issues shouldn't be a concern. Cross your fingers for me, I think I'll find out tomorrow.