Around the World and Back: Life in Olympia

** Please note! This blog entry is about 1 year old! I never posted it while we were still in Oly. But it is an important part of my life story :) A more accurate date would probably be... September 20, 2014. **

Hey everyone! Yes, I'm still alive. Sorry for the radio silence lately! I am a little sad that I never got any of my Philippines memories/pics together for a blog post, but maybe that will be saved for another day.

Here I am in Oly, settling nicely into life here. The story of our move goes like this: We came down here in August to housesit and I stumbled upon my dream job. We started looking at houses and after a few duds we stumbled upon the one. Our lovely and gracious friends Allie and Matt tolerated us crashing at their house for 3 weeks while we waited to sign our lease and ever since then we've just been cozying it up. Sometimes things just come together so well that it feels like you are in just the right place at the right time and it feels like you must be dreaming!

My conflicting passions of wanderlust and desire to nest have been battling it out big time here. I haven't been abroad in almost a full year, which is a lot for me, as a person who prioritizes travel over everything else. However, my nesting side is feeling blissful in a two bedroom 1920's house with all the charm and character (and more space than I could fill with all my crap) one could imagine. There really aren't any big travels in my upcoming plans as funds are very tight here and will be for awhile. This is not a phase of my life where I am able to save up for big trips, but that's ok for now. I've had those phases and I will have them again. I am dreaming of visiting friends in Chile, Amsterdam, and New Zealand (always!!!) but knowing that now is not the time.

The dream job: Little General Food Shop. Let me tell you how I got this job, because it is one of my favorite stories. When Brian and I were in Oly for Allie and Matt's wedding last April, we went to breakfast downtown and parked outside a darling storefront. We stopped in and I immediately fell in love with the whimsical and simple design of the space. I found some local eggs and was gushing to the shop keeper about how amazing the place was, and she told me they had just opened that weekend. We chatted some more and we told her that we had tentative plans to move to Oly. After a bit of chatting I felt she was familiar in some way and discovered that she is Melanie of Tender Forever, whose music I love and takes me back to a very nostalgic time of my life. I was totally star struck and just felt so happy to have found this shop and chatted with a musician I admire - DREAM (sorry I keep using that word!! but really!)!

Fast forward to our housesitting time in August. We stopped into Little General again and Melanie was there so we told her we'd just moved there, chatted some more, and I dropped off my resume, certain there would be a file folder chock-full of more experienced resumes and certainly they must not be hiring and I'm sure everyone in the world will want to work at this shop and etc etc. I put it to the back of my mind, but an hour later I got a call from Kim, the shop owner, asking me if I wanted to come in for a chat. And that's how I got my dream job! This really happened, people. While I'm there, my boss trusts and respects all of my ideas/visions and gives me so much freedom to leave a bit of my mark on the shop. She is easy-going, creative, and has such a wonderful eye. Best of all, the shop is designed pretty much exactly how it would be in my imaginary shop, so I feel very comfortable there. Plus Kim and her family are so generous and have lent us so much beautiful furniture which has contributed to us feeling so cozy in our new house. The products we sell include lots of local, small-batch foods, plus lots of fancy picnic type foods from Portland, AND I get to sell my cards there. Pretty special. I am the main moderator of our Facebook and Instagram profiles so everyone should check it out and see how cute this place is :)

So yeah, I love it here a lot. Sometimes I imagine things to be a certain way and when I actually experience them, they are much different. That is not the case with Olympia. Reality has matched dreams. People are collaborative, friendly, community-oriented, and into DIY projects of all kinds. I have more time and exponentially less stress than I had in Seattle and I feel so comfortable. Brian has been taking online classes and the NW coziness provides a perfect environment for studying.

The future is still a question mark. I had told several people that Brian getting a teaching job and us moving abroad was years down the line, but that was incorrect - if all goes according to plan, he will be a certified International Educator by August of 2015, putting our potential moving-abroad date to this Fall (or late Summer)! Brian is currently fulfilling a teaching internship in Qingdao, China (home of Tsingtao beer) where he will be until early June, and then he heads back to Bangkok to finish the summer session of his teaching program. When he flies back to the US in mid-July, he'll officially be a certified teacher! His current internship is teaching History/Humanities to 8-10th graders at the Qingdao Amerasia International School. He has just started a couple days ago so I don't know too much about it yet, but he had the wonderful fortune of being awarded this internship on Christmas night 2014, thanks to his longtime neighbor, family friend, and guardian angel, Theresa. She is an extremely well-connected travel agent who happens to be friends with the founder of QAIS. After a chat with Theresa, Madame Zhang (founder of QAIS) set up Brian's internship and arranged to host him at her family home for 3 months while he works. Almost too good to be true! Beyond the internship, we're not sure what the future holds in store for us, job/location-wise. We'll keep you posted!

******************* TIME LAPSE ************************

Meanwhile, I'm holding down the fort here in Olympia alone. It is really sad to know I'll be away from Brian for 4 1/2 months, but the pain of distance is eased a bit by the fact that Brian surprised me with a proposal on February 17 (also my parents' anniversary!)! We are so excited and happy! No wedding plans yet as we have a lot of other things to figure out first, but it is a nice thing to think about when we feel sad being apart. :) I have also been keeping very busy between Little General and my new "second job" as Airbnb host. We finally were able to open our home to guests in January, and it's been a lot of fun! We've met some good folks and it is nice to have a little income to help out with rent (especially now that Brian is gone).

Here are some photos from the last few months!