"Thirty is hot..."

When Belle was learning Celsius temperatures, her teacher taught her a rhyme: "30 is hot, 20 is pleasing, 10 is cold, and 0 is freezing."  One of the teachers who has been working in Abu Dhabi for awhile posted this recent information for all of the US (non-metric system) people: 10C=50F  28C=82F   36C=96F  40C=104F  48C=118F..... So hello, heat wave says this northern girl!

The good news...

I came home to find an envelope from the NH Secretary of State's office, so part one of the document authentication is complete AND I received a phone call from the NH State Police Criminal Records people, who have promised to send me my criminal record report (I filed the initial request almost two months ago - this is request number two) after it is processed tomorrow. Yay, me!

Then I went to the US Department of State and downloaded their lovely cover letter for step two of the authentication process (which the website says will take 15 days, but other people who have already completed this step have indicated is closer to 30 days). I'm going to express mail it tomorrow (well, technically, Rob will be doing that as I have one more day of school before vacation) and keep my fingers crossed that this part will take only one attempt and I will return from Virginia to find copies of all the NH paperwork I need done.  I do have to contact Plymouth State (again) and ask for a letter that states they are accredited so I can send that to the UAE Embassy. And the last part of authentication: verify that we aren't taking any restricted medications or those will need to be authenticated too.

I received my first newsletter from the ADEC to begin preparing for the next school year, and I have started to move out of the positions I currently hold at my school - handing off the school wide summer reading program, winter carnival ball planning, and beginning the process of cleaning out my classroom.  I've started to list (and sell!) my vast library of books on Amazon - so if you want something, please let me know. We are planning on having a mega yard sale Memorial Day weekend (so mark your calendars) - with sales starting earlier if spring really has arrived.

Tomorrow night, I am going to go to church and make Ukrainian eggs for Easter (for those of you familiar with my artistic talent, this should be interesting! Thank goodness my church is not judgemental!).  Saturday morning, Belle and I are off to Virginia with Katie Courageous to visit Audrey & Josh.  I'm going to take everyone's advice and spend as much time as possible with everyone I can before we leave on our grand adventure. Please let me know the best way to get in touch with you so we can see you all before we go. Summer always goes by so quickly and I have a feeling that it will be even more so this year.

Less than forty school days left and only 16 weeks until the first group of teachers (which may include me) fly over to Abu Dhabi...