Getting To Work

Living someplace temporarily always give a different outlook.  Every good idea either begins or ends with “before we leave.”  We did a pretty good job of checking some of those off of our list.  We’ve already been to the beach and to Colonial Williamsburg.  We’ve begun checking off the museums of the Smithsonian, and we’ve eaten loads of burgers and milkshakes.  We’ve begun to stock our kitchen with wonderfully useful, long-lasting kitchen tools, although that list seems to grow faster than it shrinks.  We’ve begun the dirty work as well.

I have begun a relationship with an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor.  After facing sinus infections abroad, where I had little trust for my doctors and even less trust for my prescribed medication, I decided to seek a better answer to the problem.  I’ve been referred to a Speech Pathologist (rather interesting) and to an Allergy Nurse so far, and am on my fifth dose of antibiotics for the calendar year.  My understanding is that each Embassy employs a nurse or even a doctor to serve the Embassy community, and that many people feel comfortable using them as their family doctor.  I am looking forward to the rest that will come from having our medical professional provided when we arrive, but I’m taking advantage of specialists while we’re here.

The girls are taking advantage as well.  Little Annika has been to a Speech Therapist and an Audiologist, as she has not begun speaking yet.  Although we spend a lot of time running around meeting appointments and making them fit into everyone’s schedules, I am thankful to be surrounded by such a wealth of medical professionals.  Dave and I have been to a psychologist for advice on raising our kids, after some serious behavior issues have arisen in our household.  We figured that discipline issues are best addressed when the kids are young.  But also, that this connection may be valuable in the years to come, with all of the stress we have planned for our girls.

Also, Lilly and I have begun studying Spanish.  She takes an after-school class twice a week.  I work on Rosetta Stone whenever I can snatch half an hour.  My goal for Lilly is that she gain enough vocabulary to recognizes snatches of words and phrases once we arrive, giving her the confidence to learn more.  My goal for myself is to build my vocabulary and a bit of an ear for the language through this school year.  Once Sophia begins kindergarten in the fall, my schedule will open up considerably and I hope to begin a more intensive Spanish course that last semester here.

It is my goal for everyone in our family to speak Spanish by the time we leave Venezuela.  Annika will have no trouble - I hope she can attend a bilingual school when she is ready for preschool, and I plan to have her spend some time with our Spanish speaking ayi during the day.  I hope that Lilly and Sophia can build a relationship with ayi as well, and I expect they will have Spanish in school every day.  For myself, I hope to have enough language to get by when I arrive.  If I never train myself to work in English there, my language skills will build quickly.

The work has begun, but within a season of rest and plenty.  The goal is just to be diligent.