Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Relocation Stress Numer 1

No doubt the first of many! So we have an gorgeous little dog called Matilda - she is 2 1/2 years old and is a "Shug" 1/4 Shitzu & 3/4 Pug! Super cute, quirky black hairy character! I wanted another baby when our youngest started full time school - so my husband bought me a puppy, worked for a little while. Anyway - easy to export her to Mongolia, rules are simple - but airlines do not like to fly "snub nose dogs" this makes sense to me now that I know about it - as the brachiofacial dog breeds are renowned for having breathing problems and therefore have larger health risks associated with them when doing long haul flights!However as the owner of a beloved snub nose dog - this is a really tough deal to work through! Yes we can take her with us, there are airlines who will likely take her. But as Mongolia is not an approved country for export to Australia she would then have to spend 6 months in a facility in Soeul before entering Australia for the 30 day quarantine. Not fun for anyone! Is it safer to send her home now as a young and healthy dog to either family and friends for 2 years - I think so rather than risk her not being able to come home at all. But I tell you it just makes me want to cry. I was wondering how you take a dog out in -40 for a wee, but I think I will stop thinking about it for now!

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Recon to Ulaan Baatar is a go!!!

Today we received our e-tickets for our visit to Ulaan Baatar (UB), Mongolia - to see if we are up for the challenge to live there for 2 years! It made start thinking, planning, wondering (worrying) about a million things....and I thought now is the time to re-start and re-task my little blog! In hindsight - I should have started a blog when we were moving to the UK and chronicled our amazing adventures here - maybe I will do a summary at some point! I am very good at taking
photos, scrap booking memories and keeping tickets of events - but the idea of a blog to record the memories and experiences coupled with the ease of sharing them is appealing! So my new goal it to stick at this blog thing! We have had the most amazing 3 years in Gerrards Cross and they have flown by so quickly. Here we are on the cusp of a mind blowing adventure! Although we have not yet formally accepted the position in UB in our heads I think we up are for it! The kids are all quite keen - most days anyway! We fed them tidbits of information and photos over the time that Jeff was doing a project there recently. Plus the fact we can all go and have a look - see the school, housing and area before we make our final decision is fantastic and crucial to the success as a family of making this move a good one. So, it's going to be a wild ride - of that I have no doubt - but nothing worthwhile was ever gained easily I believe and there is a lot to be gained from this journey ahead. Now - what to pack??????