Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Officially official... for now

We received the offer late last week. Exciting stuff since this is the beginning of the move! It had specifics such as documentation for Visa applications, salary, timeframe, etc. Having the paperwork in hand makes it real, so we are cautiously optimistic!

First step is applying for the visas. That can take 6-8 weeks. So I have compiled everything I can (marriage certificate, birth certificate, passports). We also needed criminal records so Brian and I went to get our background checks on Saturday morning. That was an adventure.

We went to a state agency to fast track it (in lieu of going to a police station, getting fingerprints there, then going to this agency for the background check). This agency did it all, and had a line. Shocker. Anyway, Brian went first for the fingerprinting. From my seat in the waiting room, it appeared that he wasn't doing as he was told by the petite woman taking his fingerprints. She wasn't very happy with him! We transferred care of Marion when he was done and I went to go get mine done. A few seconds later he came in and said that Marion had a diaper emergency, that he was going to go in the hall to change her, and was leaving my purse in the waiting room. with at least 10 strangers. all waiting to be fingerprinted.

Ahhhh no.

So the woman taking my fingerprints said he could bring it in the room where I was. He did, left, and we had a good chuckle about it. Only a man stressed about a poopy diaper stinking up a waiting room would do that!

We will get those background checks in 5-10 days. I wonder what it will say? Do these things include speeding tickets?

After we get the visas and the okay from the Zurich office, we can book our flights. THEN it will be official in our minds. Well, at least mine. Brian says he won't believe it until we are taking off.

On the home front, we have our open house this Sunday. It is amazing the amount of crap we have collected in our house. We have taken multiple loads to storage (aka Mom and Dad's basement) in order to get ready for this event. And we have done all of the little things we should have done awhile ago- paint closet doors, put house numbers up, fix trim in the basement. The house looks awesome! And the market in our neighborhood is great. Makes us sad to leave but hopefully whoever buys it enjoys the house, area, and neighbors as much as we do.

So obviously we have been busy. But I will definitely keep updating as things progress- which they should do quickly now since our expected departure date is the first week of June!

1 comment:

globalclarkes said...

"Managing your expectations" is what we call it when you don't believe it until you see it...or in your case, until you are landed in Switzerland.

You all are going to have an amazing experience! I woke up this morning and realized how long it had been since we left the US. Time flies by so quickly you'll be practically a local before you know it. :-)