The Journey Home - Part 1

Calamity...

That should be the title for this year, so far.

One after another... 

Mostly centered around returning from Hong Kong, but not limited to it.
I touched briefly in May about our move, but decided to give more details.

You haven't lived fully until you move to Hong Kong with 3 teens, 2 dogs, 2 birds, acquire a lizard and attempt to return home...

I have been so shell-shocked from the entire experience, (starting in about January when Todd agreed to the New York Job and progressing to recently) that I really have not felt like even recording much.
I tend to default to just wanting to put negative things out of my mind...

However, I am having a moment of clarity through the haze of chaos, stress, and crisis, so I shall try and record the events that have happened...  I mean life continues on whether or not you record it, right?  And we will all look back and laugh at some point as well, yes?  

Ok, let me start this with -- Part 1...
(Sorry if it is only semi-coherent, just recording this gives me anxiety!)

Part 1 of the final journey to get EVERYONE home to the U.S.!

Todd gave his HK job a 30 day notice the end of January, and was due to start the New York Job on March 3rd.  However, Krystin didn't graduate high school until June 20th, meaning we were tethered to Hong Kong until that date, at least.  As such, even at the onset of this journey, it was to be a challenging plan, but that seems to be typical for us.

I was very stressed about the entire thought of returning back to the states, not because I didn't want to, I DID.... I am not a city person. I am just not.  Hong Kong was a compromise for me, because it was unique and magical.  Our flat in HK, when we first moved there had huge open windows that faced the Ocean.  The open view saved my sanity.  However,  they started building a high rise shortly after we moved in directly in front of our window blocking the view, and as it went up and blocked our view my sanity went down...   Hong Kong is a unique city nestled in the middle of the Ocean and mountains,  but still it  is a city (in fact, one of the most densely populated cities),   it was super crowded always,  our flat was very small and we had 5 pets in it (yah), you can hear and smell all of your neighbors above, below and next to you, we had no car, shopping was no less than insane (which was necessary daily), and the air quality was awful (which was really the hardest for me). I couldn't go outside without getting sick.

 So, why would I not want to move home?

For the love of this little girl...

My baby, my Indy.

A year prior, we had considered and even planned to move home to California.

City life was starting to get to me.  I was getting more and more claustrophobic, which really is hard to snap out of. You can't even see the stars at night and the air made me so sick, I felt there was  no escape.  Did I say, I am NOT a city person? Oh my.  I always knew that, but now know it without a doubt.  

Well, before we moved to Hong Kong with all of our lovies, I double and triple checked EVERYTHING to make sure, when we wanted to return home it would be a smooth transition. As smooth as can be that is.  One of the deciding factors on whether  or not I would actually move to Hong Kong was the birds.  They had to be able to return home, and if they had to be quarantined (which I read they would be) it would have to be a home quarantine, which I had read was possible and acceptable.  

I contacted the USDA officials about it.  Their response was honestly my deciding yes or no factor.  If they had to go to a USDA quarantine facility rather than home quarantine or if that was even a possibility - I would NOT have moved to Hong Kong.  However, they responded in writing that they are US citizens and a 30 day home quarantine would be acceptable.  Sweet!  We left, and I kept copies of all of the communications for proof! 

 A year later when we were applying for the import permit, from the USDA they put on the permit that they had to go to the USDA quarantine facility.  Long and short of it, the person that worked for the USDA who told me in writing they could do home quarantine was wrong and was no longer with them...   I was completely devastated to say the least. 

Before we left for Hong Kong, our local California vet warned me about the USDA bird quarantine facilities in Los Angeles.  She looked me in the eyes and said,  "your birds will die if they go there." Hence the reason I made sure that they wouldn't have to before going to Hong Kong.  So, when we found out about the mandatory quarantine at the facility, I decided then and there we would just stay in Hong Kong forever.  I could not even stand the thought for one second of my bird dying alone and feeling abandoned in a quarantine facility. 

A year later, Todd's enchantment for Asia was waining, and when he was contacted by a company in New York for a cool opportunity and help with relocation he wanted to do it!  I was like, "Hell No!"... NO, No, NOOO, NOO, no and not a chance in the world EVER NO...   So, I was really not excited about it, even if I was super depressed from being so claustrophobic all the time and I was home alone way too much.  Todd and the kids were gone a LOT. Just not a good combination.  I still was NOT willing to even consider moving, because of my baby bird. I begged him to not consider moving, but he was so insistent that he contacted the USDA quarantine facility in New York. Didn't even know there was one in New York.  There are only 3 in the U.S. that take birds.

The vet in charge at the USDA facility in NY was really nice, even called us in Hong Kong to answer all of my MANY, MANY questions.  The LA quarantine said they could not accommodate special diets or any other special requests, no updates, no interaction, period.  However, the NY Vet said the birds could have whatever diet we wanted, they would even buy them fresh fruits/juices etc, just give them instruction.  They said they would even set their isolette with all their things from home, branches, toys, etc, however we wanted.   He, also, said they had the BEST handler that loves the birds who would text with us and keep us informed (you aren't allowed to visit the birds for the entire 30 days).  He was really nice and really did make me think, if they had to go to quarantine they might have a chance  at this place.  However, everyone I would talk to would say stuff like, "Yah, New yorkers say what you want to hear and then do what they want."  I was like, What?!!?!?  NO!  And the fact that the birds are never usually locked up at home and would have to be for 30 days without seeing us, freaked me out, so either way, I still just didn't want to do it...  

Somehow, Todd convinced me that he NEEDED to give the job a try and the birds would be ok.  I didn't believe him, but didn't really feel I had a choice. (He refused my begging about staying)...  We got all the paperwork in order for the birds to return home.  You have to get export permits from Hong Kong, Cities approval, and an Import permit from the US, which we arranged and all was set.  The only last thing to do was to get the Vet Health Cert from the HK government for the birds within 5 days before they get on the plane, no sooner.  Really it is a simple thing, they just look at the bird and stamp the form.  That is it. Seemed everything was in order. 

As if having your youngest child be in her last year of high school wasn't stressful enough!  Ha!  Try adding an international move in the middle, with extra special consideration about pets...  No time for pouting about my babies growing up too fast for sure.   

I went with Todd, a week before he was to start the NY job, to California to arrange shipping our cars from storage to New York, and hopefully arrange for all of our stuff in storage to be shipped too.  

I won't lie. It was really nice being back in California.  The big open skies.  The fresh air.  The sunsets. The Stars. The Targets.  The Mexican food.  Ok.  It was nice to be home.  

I really missed it. I was feeling a little more hopeful, albeit cautious.

 It was the last week of February, and Krystin wouldn't graduate until June 20th, so Todd would be gone about 4 months... I am usually a mess when he leaves for one night, let alone months.  I can't sleep when he is gone. It is even harder when there is a 12 hour time difference.  He tried to make it up to me and surprised me with a couple days at Disneyland.  He knows my weaknesses.  I really enjoyed our trip, even if it was in the shadow of him going to New York and me returning to Hong Kong alone.  

Two days before Todd was to head to New York, as we sat in our hotel in California, we received an email from the Hong Kong Vet official (actually a really nice man).  The email was to notify us that the W.H.O. had changed the Alert Status in Hong Kong, which in turn put a ban on ALL birds leaving Hong Kong.  He knew we were planning on leaving with them, and wanted to make us aware immediately.  We didn't know that was possible.  We were told our birds were U.S. citizens.  We had all the permits!  The only thing we didn't have was the HK Vet Cert, which they now could not issue.  We were told that the ban was put on indefinitely, and would remain in effect until the status was changed by the W.H.O. ...  

If I was not freaked out before, I was then!  When Todd quit his previous job, we gave up our visas to stay in Hong Kong.  Our current visas would expire in June.  Todd was starting a new job in New York in two days, and not only could we not legally stay in Hong Kong, but we really couldn't afford living in Hong Kong and New York simultaneously.  UGH!

Getting on the plane alone, flying back to Hong Kong, knowing all this was overwhelming.  Amongst other things that we had to take care of that I am not even going to get into.  I truly feel badly that the kids had to endure the stress of all of this, especially Krystin in the middle of her last year of high school with all of her AP classes, sports and college stuff.

They will never be able to say it was boring being our children. 

That is for sure.

Stay tuned for Part 2