We booked our apartment in Singapore today. On my long list of things to do, that is one of the biggies. It feels good to have that secure.

It seems like it will be a great place to live: it’s centrally located, it has two bedrooms, it has three pools. Those were three of the items on our wishlist. It isn’t right above an MRT, but it’s about 1.2 km to the green line MRT, which gets the kids to their school, gets me to NIE, and gets me to two of my assigned schools. It’s 1.9 km to the red line MRT, which gets me to my other assigned school.

I just sent in my flight requests to Fulbright. As soon as I get my flight information, we will be booking the flights for my husband and our kids.

With each step, this is even more real.

In class today, one of my students asked me: “Hey, I heard you were leaving and doing something. Is that true?” Others chimed in, “Yeah, we read about that last year! You’re leaving us, aren’t you?!” “Who’s going to be our teacher?!?” Like teenagers know how to do, they were freaking out. I reassured them that they would be in good hands; my colleagues student teacher will be hired as my temporary replacement. “Wow. You all planned that well!” They said that with too much surprise in their voices. Of course we planned that well.