(For the record, I am feeling better today. I got out of the house last night and am working out of the house today. That seems to help, especially since I’m still so used to having our dog at home with me. I think the main trigger to my sad feelings comes when I don’t hear any jingling collar tags or feel eyes burning into me while I’m eating.)

So today, I’ll post a random thought on why I’m not on Google+ (yet).

If you haven’t heard, there’s been some buzz on the internet (mainly Facebook, ironically enough) about a new feature Google is offering called “Google+”

Like many Google initiatives, this one is starting out by invitation only. I suppose this is intended to make techies feel elite and cool when they get in. Or maybe it’s intended to limit the traffic while Google works any bugs in the new feature. At any rate, the coolness factor is part of it, whether intentional by Google or not.

I received one of these coveted Google+ invites five days ago. I opened the email, read the advertising about why Google+ is going to be so cool, and promptly decided NOT to join.

All my techie friends are baffled and angry.

Okay, so here’s my reasoning (flawed though it may be).

Point One: I never join a new techie fad until I’m sure that it’s caught on and it will be worth my time to join. I don’t have the time or patience to be hip on everything that’s currently internet-news-worthy. The nature of the web is that something can be outrageously popular one day and completely forgotten about the next. That’s exciting and fun for a lot of people. For me, it’s tiring and time-consuming. So I wait for the best of the best to push through and change non-internet culture before I really get on board.

Point Two: Google+ is a direct confrontation to Facebook. Facebook does social media amazingly well. In my opinion (and stats seem to support this), Facebook pretty much has the monopoly on social media in most of the world. And now Facebook has successfully taken online marketing/monetizing social media to an unprecedented level, and I think they’re doing a good job and being decently ethical in the process.

Google does an incredible job of searching. I will never not use Google as my search engine (unless China makes me) because it is simply better than the competitors. I would say Google (and its email system, based on amazing abilities of searching) has the monopoly in its sector of the internet.

So it kind of irritates me that Google is trying to take over the entire online world. I know businesses are supposed to expand, expand, expand. But I don’t really like the idea of all of my most important online activities getting sucked into one giant place. Even if that place is really good at what it does. I feel better knowing there is some healthy competition between two really good, potentially really scary companies that have access to basically all of my personal information.

That being said, if everyone in the world (and more importantly everyone I know) drops Facebook and replaces it with Google+, I will most likely follow suit. After all, the point of social media is connecting with people. And if there’s no one left for me to connect with on Facebook, I’ll have to join Google+.

According to ZDNet, Google+ is predicted to surpass 10 million users by the end of today. Facebook currently has 750 million active users. So we’ll see how the numbers play out in the coming months. Of course, this may all become irrelevant if we don’t get to access Facebook and Google much in China I suppose that’s another reason for me to hold out on Google+!

Nostalgia is an interesting thing to track in myself as we go through this pre-transition period. There’s a lot to be done – sorting, cleaning, packing, visiting, selling, etc etc. In the midst of all of that, some days I feel emotionally strong. I’m focused on the present and what needs to be done. I’m enjoying time with loved ones and making the most of each moment.

And then other days (like today), for no reason at all, I get in a sad funk. I start to think about the future and how much needs to get done. I have a brief panic attack and start going into hyperdrive on all the aforementioned activities (I’ve already posted 4 new ads on Craigslist this morning.) And hovering over it all is this emotional sense that we’re leaving and about to go through an unprecedented transitional time. I miss our dog (who we gave away last month when we still thought we were leaving tomorrow). I feel overwhelmed by the choices that need to be made in sorting through our things and figuring out what to pack. I feel sad when I think about loved ones we will keep in touch with – but things won’t be quite the same. I think about the many things that I’m going to miss – our church, our apartment complex, riding bikes to the forest preserve down the street. The past and the changed future begin to overshadow the present, and suddenly, I’m not enjoying the moment.

I know that this will pass. Tomorrow I’ll probably enjoy the day’s activities again. I’ll be able to focus on stuff that needs to get done without having it remind me of all that we’re leaving.

But for today, I have to remind myself that a) it’s okay to feel nostalgic and miss people/things and b) change is part of life. It’s tempting to let myself think that if we would just stay here forever, none of these sad experiences would have to happen. But when I’m honest with myself, I know that’s not true. Life changes, people grow, jobs come and go. You can’t escape or avoid transition, even if you stay in one place. So we might as well embrace the things God puts on our hearts and risk anything and everything to follow His leading.

When I get in these funks, the one thing that lifts my countenance is knowing that God is unchanging. Wherever I am, however I feel, He is the same. And His character is trustworthy. His decisions are perfect. His plan is good. When I don’t know the answers, and I feel angry/confused/sad/misunderstood/hurt, He is still Love.

When I was selling Cutco Knives after my senior year of high school, my boss told me, “Anything worth doing probably won’t be easy.” Well, by that logic our move to China must be REALLY worth doing.

Why I wish I could teleport

Angel and I figured that the most difficult part of this whole process would be finding jobs in China. While that did challenge us, this past month we’ve also have been challenged in lining up our departure date and visas.

Here was our original plan (as outlined in our previous post): We would leave the U.S. on July 14th and fly to Hong Kong. From Hong Kong, we would take the bus into Nanning, China (in the southwest), and volunteer at an English Camp for high schoolers run by JHF (our organization) using a Tourist Visa to get into China. After the camp ended on July 28th, we would go back to Hong Kong and change our tourist visa into a work visa. When we finished that, we would then take the bus from Hong Kong to Tianjin just in time for the beginning of the school year. Easy enough, right?

Well, we were a little surprised when we got our work contracts from Tianjin Foreign Studies University (TFSU) about a month ago. Looking through the wording, it turns out that the school will only reimburse us for the ticket if we fly into Beijing (the capital of China, located in the north). We had already had purchased our tickets to Hong Kong for the 14th to make the English Camp, but we thought, “Easy to fix, we’ll just let TFSU know we’re flying in early and start our work visa when we’re done with the Engish Camp.” Still pretty easy!

This is when it started to get complicated. Our recruiter at TFSU told us that we can’t fly in early, because no one will be there to greet and register us. We can’t be in China without being registered. Also, she told us that we can’t get our visas changed in Hong Kong. We’ll have to fly back to the U.S. and convert them at the Chinese Embassy in Chicago. She informed us that we’re free to do the English Camp, as long as we’re willing to shell out $3000 for two roundtrip air tickets. What to do…

Decisions, decisions…

We called our friend who helped us get our jobs and used to work at TFSU. After some back and forth between him, the school, and us, we pretty much concluded that the camp is not going to happen for us. The school, fortunately, was able to make an exception for us to fly into Hong Kong instead of Beijing at least, but there’s no way that we can go to the camp without having to come back to the U.S.

So, our problem was mostly solved, except for the ticket. We’ll have to move the date to be mid-August from mid-July. Online, we read that it’s going to be a minimum of $250 to change our tickets! I called in to Cathay Airlines to see if anyone could help us. After a total 30 minutes of being on hold, I was told that we could not only change our tickets free of charge, we’ll also get a $57 refund per person, since the price of the ticket dropped! Well…that was easy.

Our new plan

We’re happy to have our visas all figured out and our flights set up. We’ll be in the U.S. until mid-August now, wrapping up loose ends and saying goodbye. August 12th we’re flying into the fabulous city of San Francisco, and leaving for Hong Kong on August 17th.

With all of the back and forth, this month has been a trial. We’re glad to get over this hurdle, but we know it still won’t be easy from here…but at least we’re pretty sure it’ll be worth it!