procrastination

When I was in grad school, my place was always super clean. This is NOT because I am a neat freak, but because I found that cleaning and organizing a closet was so much more interesting than writing, say, a 10 page paper on the benefits of a given medication or treatment. 

Now I am finding a similar pattern in that I will do pretty much anything to avoid packing for my upcoming two year stint in a country halfway around the world. One weekend, I spent hours downloading old photos to convert into electronic copies. Now I am updating my blog…

In the last few weeks, I have been working on getting prepared to leave my current school and getting excited about going to a new one. For some reason, my mind is just not grasping how quickly this transition is taking place. Three things have helped, though:

1. I started a countdown to the end of the current school year. I do not normally do this, as I don't want the days to rush by and forget to savor those little moments with students. Most students I work closely with are not looking forward to summertime away from school. However, I needed to be shocked into the realization that I don't have much time to say my goodbyes, help students transition, tear down my office, sort through all of counseling stuff (what stays, what goes in storage, and what must come with me overseas), and still do all the necessary daily aspects of my counseling jobs (...not to mention all the paperwork and packing in my personal life)!

2. I made a Prezi to announce my departure to my current students (all 580+ in grades K-5). It is a simplified version of one I made to announce to my adult friends and family. As I have presented it to classes, I have repeatedly watched the videos and caught the excitement of the students ("There's a mall!" "There's a POOL!" "I want to move there!" "We can Skype with or email you?"). This has helped me to accept that this transition is, in fact, happening.

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3. I received a care package from my future school (see the photo above). It contained:

• a fancy pen with the school's name,
• a t-shirt with the school's logo and mascot, the Dragons (why an XL, though? Geez!),
• a lanyard again with the school's name, and
• chocolate covered dates.

Even the package with Qatari stamps and Arabic writing were exciting! 

As my friend Sarah is fond of saying lately, "This is getting REAL!"

So I should probably start packing now, huh?