Lessons from Sunday

After getting the girls to sleep, Dave and I still had the energy to accomplish something.  We spent most of the day today socializing - the playground and lunch with a neighbor family, the pool in the garden on our own, and exploring the take-out pizza options with another couple.  One could say the day was rejuvenating, leaving the evening ready for getting stuff done.  We cleaned up the downstairs - living room, dining room, kitchen and various spaces for storage.  They're as good as they're going to get, and feel a bit spare right now but perfectly adequate.  The upstairs still needs some work - a den, an office, and 4 bedrooms all in various stages of unpacking.

In our conversations and our unpacking, we learned a few interesting things.

- The grocery stores are fully adequate for cooking, but entirely inadequate for baking.  Sarah and I searched for flour through one shop and couldn't find it.  I missed it in the shop yesterday, possibly because it wasn't there.  We did find vanilla and yeast, but no baking powder or baking soda.  And white sugar has been absent from the shelves for months, apparently.  If we want muffins anytime soon, I'll be putting together an order from the states.  Thank goodness for our DPO address.

- The international school in Caracas is top notch.  This we already knew, but its nice to have it confirmed by everyone we meet.  However, another assumption has proven to be untrue.  We had heard that Caracas held one of the few schools in Latin America populated primarily by international students.  International schools are very expensive, and apparently when the locals attend, they are the very rich locals.  In Asia, the very rich locals are very serious about education and create an intensive academic climate.  In Latin America, the very rich locals are more serious about being very rich and create a cliquish and bullying environment.  So, we were happy to hear that the school was primarily international.  But, the international community in Caracas is changing dramatically with the armed crime increasingly effecting diplomats.  Many embassies have sent their families home or even closed their Caracas embassy entirely.  Even within the U.S. community, very few older children remain.  And so the school has become more local.  At this young age, the cliques have yet to form.  And we have heard no rumors about bullying yet.  But we have heard that Spanish is the language of the playground, and without it many kids feel left out.  Sophia feels confident about starting school and making friends, but Lilly becomes more nervous every day.  My heart breaks for her beginning a new school midyear, and having to face a language barrier as well.  Prayers for a good friend for each of them would be welcome.

- The weird exchange rate situation hurts sometimes and helps sometimes.  The "official" exchange rate is what "official" business must be conducted in.  For instance, health insurance reimbursements are paid by insurance companies using this rate.  The (black) "market" exchange rate is several times higher than this rate, and pretty much everyone can use this rate in one way or another (our method is apparently perfectly legal, thus the parentheses around "black").  Thus, if we go to the doctor, we will convert, say, USD 10 using the market exchange rate.  We will then submit the receipt (which is in bolivars) to the insurance company who will divide the total by the official exchange rate and reimburse us, say, USD 40.  Pretty sweet deal if you're sick a lot.

Could you tell that Dave wrote that paragraph?  The exchange rate nonsense is simply ridiculous to me, and my mental energy is going to other things right now.  But we met someone today who made a tidy profit off of delivering a baby in Caracas!

- Apparently Caracas has a Lebanese community large enough to sustain some really tasty foods at the grocery store.  We snacked on hummus and pita bread this evening, but I've heard that everything from the Lebanese guy's little stand is tasty.

It may be that this is all we learned today, which could be why the day was not particularly exhausting.

My Keychain

Check this out:

This is the number of keys it takes for Dave or I to either enter or leave our apartment.

Well now, that's an exaggeration.  But only slightly.  It takes four keys to go through the doors between our home and the hallway.  That's one key on the steel door and another three on the bars.  There are more keys to get into the building - its not a complex, but a stand-alone condominium we share with probably 7 other families.  There are keys to the storage unit and to the garden and pool, but the rest are to get from the street to our living room.

And with this huge key ring, one would expect that we could at least keep track of our keys.  And yet, this evening Dave and I spent a few heartstopping moments searching the house for my misplaced set.  It was at the bottom of the diaper bag - about the only place something of that size could effectively hide.

My Journal

We haven't had reliable Internet access until now, so I've kept a journal on my iPad. From here on out, you should be able to follow in real-time. But let me catch you up to today...

 4:15am, Wednesday

Holy crap!
We left Chicago at 2:45 yesterday afternoon, right in the midst of the family Christmas festivities.  We skipped Aunt Jane's Christmas dinner in favor of salads and happy meals at McDonald's.  We all did well through Indiana, and we traversed Ohio quickly. But after about 10:00pm, things fell apart.  Between then and now, poor Annika has spent well over half the time screaming. Her voice grew hoarse just a few hours in.  She would wake Sophia, who would join the chorus, making everyone crazier.  Somehow, sleepy Lilly kept her head through all of this and remained quiet and peaceful in the back row. Hyped on caffeine, I managed the drive just fine.  Not hyped on caffeine, Dave still got no sleep and both of us expect very little patience with anything tomorrow.  Happily, everyone fell quickly into the room and to bed. We are all in close quarters, but the room has black out curtains and no neighbors on either side.  Hoping for a late, late morning.

 8:30am - The phone rings at full volume in a room full of very sleepy children.  Dave reaches for it and misses.  He stumbles, grabs it and drops it. It's still ringing at full volume.  Blessedly, the children are still sleeping.  He carries on the entire conversation inside the room of children, because where else would he go? The conversation begins soft and business-like, switches to strong surprise and then drops into an angry tone. It finishes frustratingly resigned.  Lilly is stirring. The rest of the girls remain asleep. The company who will ship our car to Venezuela has called. For them, this is the start of the first business day since they became our shippers. For us, they have held our contact information for at least 5 days, have left calls unreturned and emails unanswered while we tried multiple times to be in touch.  So far, Dave's voice is quiet and professional. They tell Dave that they'll be here in 2 hours, and want to know where "here" is.  Here, his voice has taken on a strong note of shock.  We've been expecting them in the late afternoon.  We have a to do list which is more than 2 hours long. Dave now takes on a firm tone, reminding the caller that we have done our due diligence and more, and stating that the car won't be ready for them until 4. Dave's really not a firm tone kind of guy, though, and he soon sounds resignedly conciliatory. They never told you? I understand. The closer to noon, the better. 11:30 will be fine. Dave dresses quickly, asks if I've seen the email from the landlord, then disappears to the garage to empty the car.  Lilly tries to assert perkiness, but falls back to sleep when I tell her to. Dave returns with a cart full of Christmas road trip detritus, and then heads to the house to pick up our last few things and drop off the keys.  The girls stay asleep. I can't check email on my iPad because my library book will disappear if I connect to the hotels wifi. It was due yesterday - such a lovely, if slightly unethical, little benefit of e-reading. The benefit no doubt extends to my not being able to see the note from our landlord right now.  Betty has never shown herself to be a nice person, and stood us up for our walk through, claiming the holidays and a sick family member precluded her from visiting while we were able to join her.  Not surprisingly, I'm afraid, once we left town the impending holiday stopped being a hindrance.  She is apparently nickel and dimming us on our security deposit and I'm dong my best to adjust to that fact before learning the details. After all, I'm still stuck in a dark hotel room with three sleeping children.  I need that library book.

9:15am - Lilly is awake, but willing to play quietly on daddy's iPad.

10:45am- Dave is back from the house, so leaving the keys is done. Our luggage is now filling the room in a rather humorous way. Fia and Annie are stirring, but not yet fully awake. Lilly is still quite content on her iPad.  The tasks ahead of us today are to feed our kids and keep them entertained while repacking all of our luggage, all from an airport hotel with no car. It sounds much more difficult than it is. Sleeping until nearly noon should provide us with chipper kids, open to the adventure of our hotel room. And we fly out of Reagan national airport, so we have plenty of restaurants within walking distance.  I think neither Dave nor I will complain about the early bedtime necessitated by sharing a room with young children. Not this evening.

 11am - The car people have arrived, 30 minutes early. Such is life. Sophia is still asleep, and Annika is still happy to feign sleep, so I have more time to remain quiet in the room. Dave may not do so well with that task, so I suspect everyone will be up within half an hour. It feels rather exciting, really. Crystal City, Virginia may not be a typical vacation spot, but I've no doubt we'll make an adventure out of the day.

Thursday, 2:10pm We finished our day in Arlington uneventfully, without ever even stepping outside into the rainy, cold weather. We made our flight this morning with no trouble and with all our luggage, and it looks as if we'll be spending the afternoon in the Miami airport.  We checked 4 pieces of luggage and 6 boxes, all packed to remain unopened until Caracas.  At check-in we learned that all Latin American flights hold a temporary embargo on boxes as luggage.   We intend to leave all of the checked luggage here at the airport, because the girls and I will be on our own tomorrow.  So we need to repack from here. The airport. We pushed through to baggage claim, gathered each of our 50 pound bags, and then looked around hungry. As it turns out, Miami is not an airport with a big food court outside of security.  Dave discovered the lone Burger King in another concourse and is on his way.  He has not yet discovered a luggage store.  Next steps still up in the air.

9:38pm - A few hours later, and we are the proud owners of new luggage.  We bought a nice combination of high quality luggage and cheap-duffels-we-used-to-cover-our-boxes.  Upon checking them into the storage room, we learned that the change added a few pounds and we now have a few bags which are over the baggage weight limit for American Airlines. Not sure what that's going to look like.  Annika's fever has returned and she spent most of the day asleep - although she did perk up tremendously each time we rode a shuttle bus. Riding a bus is the ideal pastime for our 2 year old. She was briefly in heaven.

Outlook for tomorrow: Dave has work and will meet us at the airport at 3.  I am wimping out, and plan to stay at the hotel until then. We have a large suite where annika can sleep late and also nap. The hotel has a pool, a Starbucks and 3 restaurants. We have some new Christmas toys in our bags. I have a book I want to finish. We are taking a lazy day, and will just have to explore Miami Beach on our next trip. We will land in Venezuela around 8pm, gather our belongings, and still be over an hour from home. I expect to get there around 11pm, with some very tired kids.

Saturday, 12:32am - We pulled up in front of our building at 10:02 pm. We turned out the lights for the big girls at around 11:30.  They slept until 9am this morning. I am hoping for a repeat performance. The apartment is easily twice the size of our last place and has loads of funny quirks.  I wish our things would arrive soon, so we could fully settle in, but we will make due with what we've got.  Hard to sleep tonight - I'm itching to organize and unpack. And the sheets are scratchy, too. 10:06pm - We spent most of the day exploring the quirks of the house, and unpacking our luggage.  We have loads of storage in ths house, which is disappearing surprisingly quickly. Still, the size is quite comfortable and the layout is pleasant. We don't have a balcony, but the airflow through the first floor makes you feel as if you are outside. We have a small garden below with a rickety playground, a place to grill and ride trikes, and a small pool. This has the girls quite excited.  They've cheered many times today that they love our new home and especially the pool, and hope we can live in Venezuela forever. This after tears yesterday, crying out I hate moving; I miss my friends. I hate Venezuela.

Our neighbor, two houses down, took me to the grocery store this afternoon. We did a quick driving tour, in which I learned where we live in relation to the embassy and the mall, I determined that driving in Caracas will not be scary, and I felt carsick from the ups and downs and twists and turns of driving up and down our hill. Our neighborhood is lovely and hilly, but only very walkable for the truly strong of heart. I am afraid I was a poor conversationalist the entire time. There was simply do much to take in. I made the poor man walk every aisle of this grocery just so I could feel the place out. I came out with an odd hodgepodge of groceries, a fairly large bill, and the confidence that we can live off of the stores here without too much trouble.  Notwithstanding the empty shelves due to shortages on sugar and the like, I found the store to be better stocked and with more western goods at more reasonable prices than City Shop in Shanghai. But do note - I probably felt the best about City Shop on my first trip there.  One interesting difference, though - Shanghai's City Shop was an expat grocery, and this place was not.

We are exploring this new world slowly, in concentric circles. Today, as a family, we explored our home and our building. Tomorrow we will venture into our neighborhood - a circular drive with a guard at the entrance. We hear there is a park with a small playground.  Baby steps. We have plenty of time.

Sunday, 10:15am - Lilly is melting down. She misses her friends and her school.no doubt she misses familiarity and a regular routine. We are sleeping until we wake up and eating when we realize we are hungry - usually right after blowing up at someone. We still have holiday for the next few days, but I promised a homeschool routine starting the day daddy goes back to work.  Sophia seems to be happy, after having a short fuse for the past few days.  Annika is staying close to us, preferring to be held nearly all the time. Her fever has disappeared, but she is still behind on sleep and clearly overwhelmed. Bringing boxes full of new Christmas toys has proven to be a blessing, the girls can spend hours having their new fairies and ponies explore the living room and it's surrounds. Dave and I tire quickly, but remain in good spirits. Our bed and sheets are uncomfortable, but the breeze in through the windows and the view out of them makes it hard to stay grumpy.

Limited Access

Just a quick note, as Internet access is not easily available to me right now. What's this about having to pay for wifi inside a hotel room? Nonsense. We beat the winter storm to Virginia - saw no sign if it, although I believe our entire route was pounded with snow within a few hours of our passing. Annika screamed the majority of the time between 9pm and our hotel check-in at 4am, so we did very little the rest of the day. Caught our flight just fine this morning and the girls are asleep in Miami right now, while I'm in search of some Cuban food for Dave and I. Annika's fever returned, Lilly is dangerously low on sleep and Dave and I carried headaches all day. Prayers for fresh, healthy bodies tomorrow would be wonderful.

The Christmas Letter

It's Christmas morning, by just a few minutes.  Santa has come and gone and I've finished watching Its a Wonderful Life.  The house is quiet and I ought to get to sleep myself, as the girls will be awake with the first light of morning, I have no doubt.  Still, a quick moment for an annual Christmas message.

This December must go on record as being the most stressful for our family.  Dave studied for his Spanish exam, worried over it, and passed it.  Immediately thereafter, we began to tear down the house and quickly ship it to Venezuela.  We've been in hotels and families' homes for over a week now.  We've said too many good-byes, gotten too little sleep and eaten precious little vegetables this month.  Sophia and Annika have both had fevers over the past few days, and little Annika woke up with night terrors this evening.  Dave still can't kick the cough and exhaustion that he's been carrying since before his exam.  Lilly is acting out in her own way, although the presence of her extended family has calmed her considerably.  Over the past 5 days, we've logged about 1,200 miles.  Over the next 4 days we expect to log another 2,000 more.  It has been and continues to be a stressful month.

But the blessings surrounding us continue to astound me.  We have already been connected to 6 people at our new home - four of whom have been assigned as volunteers to help us out, meeting us at the airport, taking us to the grocery store, introducing us around.  Another two people we already have some level of relationship with and will feel as if we're meeting up with friends when we see them again.  Such a blessing!  Our home is being set up, and we hear its lovely with all new furniture.  The weather in Caracas is always pleasant and the vistas are said to be beautiful.  The school has a very strong reputation and the embassy community seems happy and vibrant.  We have so much to look forward to.

And thank goodness for that, because the blessings from this past 18 months in Arlington make it hard to leave.  Dave enjoyed his job working on Human Rights and Democracy issues with China for his first position with the State Department.  The girls and I enjoyed his hours once he began studying Spanish full-time.  We benefited from fabulous schools, teachers and friends.  We were lucky enough to land on a lovely block, and to feel at home amongst our neighbors right away.  We were blessed to land immediately at a truly incredible church, and to build relationships that we look forward to extending when we eventually return.  Lilly and Sophia played soccer, sang in the church choir and spent a lot of time swimming in the backyard or climbing trees in the front.  Annika spent most of her time charming the socks off of everyone she met, and tagging along with her sisters.  Dave and I get so much joy out of watching them interact with each other and their peers, and seeing them learn and grow - each of them astound me.  And watching their resilience and positive attitudes through the changes of the past month has been truly inspiring.

Rampant crime and gun usage make us nervous about moving to Caracas, and the popularity of express kidnappings terrify us.  But the recent events in Newtown, Connecticut remind us that our safety has never been guaranteed and the only true resource we have is prayer.  I've been praying the common benediction from Numbers over my children every night lately,

The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
and give you peace.

It has been particularly apt for us during this season, but seems the right way to end this post as well.  We covet your prayers, we miss each of you, and we look forward to the journey ahead of us.

And today, we celebrate Christmas together with our family.  Truly it is a Merry Christmas!

The Last Day of School

Today was the end of our time in Arlington, and the girls left for school with heavy hearts.  They each got a quick pep-talk about how its okay to be sad, but its also okay to push the sad thoughts out of your heart with happy thoughts instead.  Neither of them ate much breakfast.  Sophia came home two hours later, after throwing up in class.  Its been a stressful week, with too little sleep and practically no fruits or vegetables.  The poor child is beyond exhausted.

We scheduled farewell parties for each of the girls this afternoon, and Lilly made us proud.  We arrived at 2:00 and her teacher shared that Lilly had been pretty quiet and somber all morning.  She ate her cookies quietly and didn't smile at us much.  But when the snacks were finished, she stepped up.  She handed out good-bye cards personally to everyone in the class, and she took the seat of honor to answer questions about Venezuela.  She knew more than I expected her to, and had great answers to questions like Why do you have to leave?  When we finished, her classmates attacked her with hugs and she left in high spirits.

Sophia recovered from the morning by spending much of the day on the hotel couch watching cartoons, but her party was still off due to school puking rules.  She walked to the door and waved good-bye to everyone. The other kindergarteners sent virtual hugs and called out their good-byes.  Honestly, I think she prefered it this way.  Her stress was physical, and hug attacks would have been difficult.  She preferred to curl up in a ball.

Each teacher made a lovely parting gift for the girls, of a notebook filled with letters and pictures from their classmates.  The highlight of Sophia's is the friend who says I will miss you because you are going away.  The highlight of Lilly's is the many different ways to a second grader could write Venezuela:

• Vaniswala
• VenesWhaleA
• Venoswala
• Veneswala
• Beniswela
• Weniswela

Portable Christmas

December has been a month of celebrations.  We celebrated Sophia's birthday the day before Dave took his test.  We celebrated that he passed that very night.  Most of the rest of the month has been consumed by packing and cleaning and shopping and making arrangements.  But last night, we took a break from moving to celebrate Christmas as a family.

We have been out of our house since Friday, when the movers packed everything up and shipped it to Venezuela.  But we had a small tree in the house, and we now have a small tree in our hotel, along with some of our other Christmas decorations.  Our efforts were rewarded when Sophia walked into the hotel room for the first time and pronounced It feels just like home! 

And last night, that little tree stood surrounded by gifts. 

Family Christmas began right after school, when Dave and I met the girls on the playground and rounded them into the car.  We headed straight toward Merrifield Garden Center, to meet what was rumored to be the real Santa.  We arrived at 4:30 and didn't meet him until 6:45, but I heard very few complaints from the girls.  Santa had his own little house, decorated with a nativity, an advent calendar and plenty of lights and stuffed Santas to keep their eyes busy.  The free popcorn probably helped to pass the time as well.

 I believe the girls doubted this would be the real Santa Claus all the way up until they met him.  But after leaving his lap, everyone became convinced.  This year, we met the true Santa Claus.  He knew that Lilly is the smartest kid in her class.  He knew that Sophia loves to paint and draw.  He knew they were not going to get a real live puppy dog, although we were surprised to hear him promise an American Girl Doll!  We had some conversations afterward about Santa and his memory.  Either way, the visit was magical and the girls were in awe.

Back to the hotel for presents, and then flashing lights came in from the parking lot and we ran out to meet the Santamobile.  We didn't snap any pictures because we were in such a hurry just to catch them - we had to toss the girls over a fairly tall fence in their stocking feet so they could catch up!  The Fire Departments in this area have a holiday tradition of sending out decorated fire trucks with Santa Claus riding on top - although my girls informed me that last night, it was simply a stand-in on the truck.  They hand out candy canes and fire safety information and generally add an air of magic to the neighborhood.  Their magic topped off a fabulous Christmas - and I don't think anyone felt any less at home in the hotel last night.

Such a Week!

I last posted on Tuesday, and oh so much has happened since then!  Allow me to catch you up - and my apologies for not posting sooner!

wednesday:  Dave took, and passed, his Spanish test.  He walked out of the exam room with no confidence, and was surprised when they told him he passed.  He went through some check-out procedures in the afternoon, visited with the doctor who pronounced his shoulder fully healed, and then met us at a happy hour to celebrate all of the recently diploma-ed Spanish speakers.  The conversation was entirely in English, and I enjoyed the chance to meet many of Dave's colleagues and see him as the social one while I minded the kids.

thursday:  Life entered warp speed.  Done with class, Dave is also done with work until his first day of work in Caracas.  We both spent the day tearing apart the house, and running last minute errands.  We sorted and packed and stuffed into Ziplok bags.  We made last minute runs to Target.  We went to bed at 2am, about 3 hours short of being finished.

friday:  Expecting the movers to arrive at 10am, we awoke at 7:30 to find them already parked outside the house.  I almost threw up.  We were not ready.  However, the movers were both kind and helpful.  They went about their business without any of my help while I finished organizing the upstairs.  They packed our air shipment, our sea shipment and our consumables shipment.  Hence the organizational mess.  We are allowed 800 pounds in air shipment, and we expect to receive this in early February.  We did not come anywhere near meeting our sea shipment allotment - this is everything else, and it will arrive somewhere between mid-March and early May.  Our consumables are basically an extra shipment of groceries, and this will arrive alongside the sea shipment.  We are also storing things at my parents' house in St. Louis, and giving things to my niece in Chicago as well as carrying over 500 pounds of luggage onto the airplane.  The logistics were incredible, and the morning was stressful.  However, at some point I gave up the idea of being in control of my move and simply trusted the movers to get everything there well.  Within each shipment, nothing is organized so unpacking will be messy.  And I believe I shipped most of our socks on the slow boat.  Otherwise, everything went just fine.

saturday: Compared to the previous three days, Saturday was a breeze.  The logistics of packing for the next few weeks are complicated as well, but seemed quite simple when compared to the day before.  We organized, we cleaned, and we cried for the families in Connecticut.  The children who died at Sandy Hook on Friday were 6 and 7 years old - the same age as Sophia and Lilly, respectively.  We could picture all too clearly the scene in each classroom, and could not begin to imagine the pain felt within those walls.  We stayed close to each other all day. 

The girls spent the afternoon and evening at a good-bye party hosted by our neighbors and their best friend.  All the neighbor kids were there, and the girls had a fabulous time and left feeling loved and valued. 

sunday:  We went to church this morning.  We cried some more for the families in Connecticut, and felt the loss of this our church home.  We prayed together with friends, prayed together with the pastor, and hugged the girls' Sunday School teachers good-bye.  We felt comfort that although we may never return to our home, our block or even the girls' school, we will be back in Virginia and we will return to our church.

Dave and I spent the afternoon packing again, while the girls both enjoyed a last playdate with a best friend.  The day was good, but the evening was hard.  It seems that a weekend of last playdates will wear on a 6 or 7 year old, and the girls both melted down once we reached the hotel.  Our family has a Sunday night ritual of watching a movie and eating pizza together.  We have this ritual precisely because of times like these - our surroundings, our friends and our home may change, but our family and our Sunday nights will always remain the same.  We picked up a pizza and came back to the hotel to watch our movie.  Except I forgot to pack the movie.  And we picked up a fancy pizza, which the girls didn't like at all.  An hour of Nickelodeon and a few oranges simply didn't fill that comfort zone that Movie Night usually holds.  We had a lot of tears, a lot of hugs and an early bedtime.

this week:  The movers return tomorrow to pack the things going to storage.  This is most of our furniture, all of our outside stuff (bikes, patio furniture... sniff, sniff, sniff) and any cold weather items.  The landlord hopes to do her walk-through on Tuesday afternoon, so we will be spending the rest of tomorrow and most of Tuesday cleaning the house.

Lilly and Sophia will return to their regular routine, with school most of the day, playground in the afternoon, and supper and homework until bedtime.  Hopefully this will help to stabilize the household.  Good-bye parties on Thursday, and we will take off straight from the school for Christmas in the Midwest - and who can be sad about that?

Last Day of School

This is the last day of Spanish School.

I finish my correspondence course this afternoon, with one final phone call with mi mentora.  Then I will have either a 1 or a 0+ in Spanish; this is on a 0-5 scale, where 5 is a native speaker.  Its not much, but at least I'm on the scale.

Dave's last day of class is today as well.  He tests tomorrow morning.  Assuming he passes his test, he'll be done with work for a few weeks at that point.  Prayers for good rest and a calm mind tomorrow for him.

Will keep you posted!

News!

So much has happened this weekend!

The top story, of course, is that Hugo Chavez is dying of cancer and has named his successor.  Big news!  This speaks volumes about the stability in Venezuela over the next few years.  That he will likely not be the president is a little scary - although the possibility has been there all along.  That he has named a successor and voiced support for the democratic process and the constitution's protocol could actually lead toward a calm transition.  Such interesting times!

In much lesser news, Dave and I got an insane amount done this weekend.  My in-laws swooped in for a quick weekend visit, cared for our kids all day yesterday, and we were reminded how much two adults can accomplish in a day without any children.  We crossed everything off of our to do list, enjoyed a tasty lunch and a delicious dinner out, and neither of us got a headache in the process.  Such fun!

We purchased all of our Consumables yesterday, in a massive buy at the warehouse store nearby.  We filled up 3 carts and the entire back of our mini-van.  We overspent our budget.  And we do not plan on buying paper towels again for the next 2 years.

Dave tests on Wednesday.  Should he fail the test, we won't pack out on Friday.  So, he's spending the next few days thinking, eating and breathing in Spanish.  I'm spending the next few days organizing and cleaning the things in my house, and putting bottles of shampoo into Ziplok bags for safe shipping.  We'll also be celebrating Sophia's 6th birthday - but this year, I bought the birthday cake.

I look at my weekly calendar, and I can't believe we're already here.  Within the week, total craziness begins.  And I've got to admit - I'm really excited.

News of the Day

Dave found this in the Washington Post this morning:

Norway Closes Diplomatic Mission in Venezuela, Citing Rampant Violent Crime

Its not much of a picker-upper, so if you'd prefer to skip reading the entire article, I've give you the highlights:

"Norway will close its embassy in Venezuela because of rampant crime in the South American country."

"The government of President Hugo Chavez estimates that more than 14,000 people were killed in Venezuela last year. That gave the country a homicide rate of 50 per 100,000 people and made it one of the most violent countries in Latin America and the world."

"Kidnappings for ransom have grown rapidly over the past decade, with abductions reported to police rising from 52 in 1998, when Chavez was first elected, to 618 in 2009. Security experts say the real number of kidnappings is much higher because most cases aren’t reported to authorities."

Also worth noting today is Psalm 4:8:

I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, oh Lord, make me dwell in safety.

Santa Claus

In the midst of this upcoming move, our family is also fully enjoying Advent and the Christmas season.  We have a small tree in the living room, covered with disposable decorations and one small string of lights.  It will move to the hotel with us when we begin pack-out.  We're reading the Advent calendar every night and we're playing lots of Christmas music around the house.

Annika, who is 2 1/2, feels that she is experiencing everything for the first time - and such a magical month this is for her!  I recently sang the song Santa Claus is Coming to Town.  She interrupted me to ask:

She:  What is Santa?

Me:  Santa is the man who brings presents on Christmas.
(you really should have seen the wonder on her face as she took this in)
She:  Is he going to bring presents to me?

Me:  Sure.  He brings presents to all the good little boys and girls all over the world.

She:  I want Santa to come right now.

Me:  He's coming soon.  He'll come on Christmas.

She:  I want Santa to come right now.  I want to play with him.  He will be my friend.

Ever since, she has been justifiably enamored with this Santa who will bring her presents on Christmas.  She frequently asks if she can go to Christmas now?  Yesterday, she wore a red dress with a white fur collar to church.  We told her she looked like Santa.  She took it to heart, and didn't allow any of us - including the ladies in Sunday School - to call her by her name.  No, I'm Santa.  I'm going to bring you presents, she would reply.

Its going to be a fun December!

Prayer Requests

Our family attends The Falls Church Anglican here in Virginia, and we enjoy it very much.  The teaching is strong, the preaching makes us think and the worship strengthens us.  We walked into this church on our first Sunday in Virginia, making the decision not to "church shop" but simply to stick the first decent place we stopped.  Happily, God placed us in a very convenient place and we've been attending nearly every Sunday since.

At the end of the service this morning, the worship team began singing one of my favorite songs.  It made me sad to realize that we won't have this community, this worship, these sermons in our lives for the next few years.  But sadness just couldn't get a good grasp this morning, because the words of the song made me think of how God's provided an amazing community for us each placed we have lived.  How can I but believe that He has another one prepared for us in Venezuela?

It humbles me to know that people from all of our past communities are following us and praying for us at this time.  Thank-you!  As this move continues to ramp up, our family covets your prayers.  Here are our specific prayer requests:

•  Dave takes his Spanish test on Dec. 12th.  If he fails, all motions toward Venezuela will freeze and we will remain in Virginia for another few months.  This would be fine, but certainly not preferable; at least because we have no confidence that the landlord would allow us to stay!  Please pray for calm and peace while Dave studies, and that God's will prevail during the exam.
• Lilly feels very sad to leave her school and her friends.  Please pray for a smooth transition for each of the girls.  We pray that God is preparing a perfect place for each of them, with a wonderful new teacher and classroom and some fabulous new friends.
• We are sad to leave our church.  We pray that God provides us a strong Christian community in Venezuela, where we can make good friends and continue to grow.
• We have a lot to do over the next few weeks.  Simple prayers for peace, patience and extra energy will get us through smoothly!
• We will drive to the Midwest and back again in a very short span of time, and then fly on to Miami and then Caracas.  Prayers for safe and smooth travel will carry us all the way.
• And lastly, feel free to begin praying now for our safety while we live in Venezuela.  Caracas has an extremely high crime rate, with gunned robberies commonplace and kidnappings all too real a part of life.  Uncle Sam will control our lives in many ways, in attempts to keep us safe - and for that we are grateful.  But adjusting to the safety conditions and the controls around us will be difficult, and keeping all of the members of our family from harm will require constant vigilance. 

Etiquette and Protocol 101

Dave and I reversed roles today.  He stayed home with the girls while I attended a class at FSI.  When I came home, the house was clean, the chores were done and the girls were pleasant.  I walked into the house with a head aching from so much new information.  So, clearly, Dave wins as the stay-at-home parent.

I must admit - I was not expecting to learn much today.  I thought I knew most of the rules of etiquette, and I thought that protocol was essentially the same thing.  So much to learn!  For example:

- Never call the Ambassador by his or her first name.  Never.  Like, even if he's at a BBQ in your own backyard.  Like, even if she's sitting next to you in the bleachers watching your kids play basketball on the same middle school team.  Like, even if you're playing squash together.  Never.  Should he ask you to call him by his first name, you should reply, "Yes, Mr. Ambassador."

- Always stand up when the Ambassador and/or their spouse enter the room.

- Ambassador must be a very lonely job.

Of course, we discussed much more than just how to treat an ambassador with respect.  Table manners took up over half of our day.  I learned that I hold my fork as if it were a shovel rather than a dining utensil.  Also, I learned how to eat escargot.  I learned that changing name cards at a dinner party can result in international catastrophes, offending a country by not properly recognizing the rank of their representatives.  I learned that there is an internationally recognized ranking of diplomats, and that the ambassador who has been in the country the longest will always sit to the right of the host at a dinner party - this is Protocol.

The nicest lesson, though, is one that comes reinforced more and more often as I get older.  We learn rules of etiquette so that we know how to behave when invited to a formal dinner party.  Should we choose to entertain, we essentially set our own rules.  It is not necessary to have multiple forks and sherry glasses on the table - an American BBQ with plastic plates is perfectly acceptable.  Bring your personality forward, and pull off whatever you choose.  Without offending the French Ambassador and causing an international calamity, of course.

Progress

We have visas in our passports, and we have those passports in our possession.

We have notified our landlord that we are leaving, and begun the checking out process.

We have purchased and wrapped all of our Christmas presents, and I'm making progress on all of our Christmas cookies.  A small (portable) Christmas tree has been purchased, decorated with disposable ornaments, and stationed beautifully in the corner of the living room.

We are about halfway through with a complete inventory of our house.

I have nearly finished the girls' applications to school in Caracas.

Not only that, but the laundry is done and the dishes are all washed.  Now, the bathroom...

Less Than 3 Weeks

Dave has less than 3 weeks until his Spanish exam.

He's getting nervous.

Should he pass, life will kick into high gear and we will immediately begin packing out the house.
Should he fail, life will relax a bit.  We will take a longer vacation for Christmas and we will move a month or two later.
We are rooting for him to pass, leading to a smoother transition for everyone (and, sadly, a rather stressful Christmas season).

Prayers are welcome.

And with that, we realized that we've got a lot of food in this house.  Assuming that he passes, we have less than 3 weeks of preparing our own meals in this kitchen.  As it turns out, we have about a month's worth of food in our fridge, freezer and pantry.  To use it all up, we've planned out our meals for the entire month.  Excluding milk, fruit and yogurt, our grocery list is only 3 items for the rest of the year!

Deliver Us From Evil

I'm finding it hard to concentrate lately. Urgent things keep popping into my head, which need to be transferred to lists or accomplished immediately.  I keep leaving phone calls unreturned.  I keep finding wet laundry in the washing machine.  I really ought to be studying Spanish right now, but I've just got to finish a few things at the computer first.

Yesterday in church, I had this same trouble focusing.  During the prayers, my mind raced and my heart only stretched toward God for moments at a time.  I tried to rein myself in by the second half of the Lord's prayer, when something struck me.  Here's the line I was on...

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil...

That but struck me as significant.  I don't think that but is simply a transition word from one thought to the next.  It suddenly occurred to me that deliver us from evil is in a direct juxtaposition with lead us not into temptation.

I always read deliver us from evil as, in my own parlance, please keep us safe another day.  But I don't think that's what we're talking about here.  If this follows directly after my plea to keep me away from temptation, then it must mean please keep me from doing evil things.

This shook me up a bit, and continued my lack of focus through the sermon.  I can't tell you what the preacher meant to communicate to me yesterday, but here's what I got:

Simon Peter was a real character, very dynamic.  He was the very first person to correctly identify Jesus as the Christ, and Jesus praised him highly for that.  And then in the very next paragraph, when Jesus explains His plans to die for our sins, Peter tells Him to dial it all down quite a bit before someone gets hurt.  Well, Jesus gets pretty mad and yells at poor Peter.  And at some point here, Peter learns that serving God is not all wine-out-of-water and finding-lots-of-fish.  Serving this Christ he chose to follow will take him down a very dangerous road.

When He taught us to pray in the Lord's prayer, I don't think Christ instructed us to pray for our own safety.  I don't think He makes any promises about that.  We are taught to pray against doing evil, and being tempted by evil.  And I can do that.  But if y'all wouldn't mind, maybe you could pray for the safety of our family?

List #4 - Timeline

By now you've probably noticed - I love lists.

Not only is there the spreadsheet of lists in Microsoft Excel which I've been systematically explaining to you.  There's also the notebook of lists, with prices at different stores and items prohibited from shipments per diem per city.  And then there's also the shopping list for Thanksgiving, and the shopping list for Target, and the Thanksgiving agenda (because if I don't write it down, it won't all be done on time!)

And this brings me to the most important list of all.  The Timeline.

The Timeline began as a To Do List.  And then I noticed that I was only adding lines to the list, and never rereading the previously added objectives.  And so I rearranged my list.  If you're one who loves lists, you know that two List Operations are particularly satisfying - Crossing Off of lists and Rearranging lists.

My list is now arranged by things to do BEFORE THANKSGIVING, things to do over THANKSGIVING WEEKEND, things to do BEFORE DEC. 1, things to do Before packout and things to do After packout.  This makes the whole project much more manageable.  It means there are only 7 things I need to do before Thanksgiving.  Of course, not included on that list are the things on my Thanksgiving agenda, sitting here underneath my right elbow.

This may call for a new list.

List #3 - Consumables

We've been shopping a lot lately, and asking a lot of questions lately.  Space is becoming at a premium in our basement with the bags of paper towels and boxes of clothes, everything sorted out by their final destination.  I'm sending more questions on a daily basis, and receiving answers every day.  I'm feeling more in control and more comfortable with this move every day.

But still overwhelming is List #3 - Consumables.  Shops in Caracas have trouble keeping basic items on the shelves - things like milk and meat, coffee and toilet paper can disappear from the grocery shelves for days or weeks at a time.  This is because Hugo Chavez has some crazy policies.  He has instituted price controls on basic goods - goods like milk and meat, coffee and toilet paper.  Stores can not sell them for higher than the prices set by the government.  Unfortunately, the price is set so low that most producers can not afford to produce them, either.  This is a vast oversimplification of the problem, I'm sure.  But it begins to explain why we get to bring our groceries with us.

A consumables shipment is yet another destination for our household goods.  Some of our household will travel by air, arriving a 3-4 after they leave America (now, Venezuela will not allow them to leave America until we have been there for 3-4 weeks, so that's a bummer).  Some of our household will go into storage, where we will not see them again for years and years.  Some of our household will ride on the slow boat, arriving in Caracas months after we have been there.  This is the furniture and the boxes of books and the things that make our home, but which we can live without (we will have a furnished apartment).  The consumables shipment should travel on the slowboat as well, but it follows different rules.  The consumables shipment contains consumable items, not only food but also things like wrapping paper and baby wipes.  Its crummy that we will have such trouble shopping in Caracas, but the consumables shipment will be a real blessing.

At this point, though, planning consumables leaves me feeling overwhelmed.  First, we have to decide what to bring.  Which groceries do we need over a two year period?  How quickly do we consume a whole bottle of olive oil? 

Next, we have to figure out how long each item will last.  It may be 6 months before we see our consumables, so quick expiration dates are out.  And groceries keep surprising me with their short expiration dates.  Natural peanut butter should not sit on the shelf for more than a few months, although peanut butter with sugar added can last for over a year.  Olive oil and honey can last nearly indefinitely, but jellies and jams are questionable.  Luckily, toiletries and paper products will easily last the test of time, and so a good portion of my shopping list is without thought.  Well, except for the diapers.  How many diapers will we need?  How many Pull-Ups?  Presumably, Annika will be potty-trained within the next 6-9 months, but what about sleeping through the night?  And what about wipes?

I'd better stop - this is becoming overwhelming.

List #2 - Shopping

Every move involves shopping.  But in this move, we would prefer to do our shopping before we leave rather than after we arrive.  This is true for a number of reasons, ranging from choice and personal preference to cost.  America tends to be a pretty cheap place to live;  stainless steel soap dishes may not be available in Caracas, and they will certainly be costly.

There are some things we know that we will need.  For instance, we currently have one bathroom.  That means one soap dish, one bath mat and one shower curtain.  I believe that in Caracas, we will have three bathrooms.

Also, Annika is outgrowing her crib.  In Caracas, she will sleep on a twin bed just like her sisters.  She needs bedding.

But beyond the basic moving needs, we also have some stuff we know we will miss.  Wrapping paper is uncommon in most of the world.  So, we're going to bring 2 years worth of it.  Apparently, kids toys and books are pricey in Venezuela, so we are going to stock up on gifts for birthday presents.

The girls will wear uniforms at their new school, so we need to buy navy skirts.  The list goes on, although it is pleasantly short.  The newest addition to the list?  We believe that neither our DVD player nor our television will work in Venezuela.  Those will hurt... and be awfully fun!

List #1 - Questions

As of today, we plan to arrive in Venezuela in 55 days.  Two months feels like an appropriate amount of time to plan an international move, so I don't feel much stress.  But at the same time, with 55 days and counting, time must be used wisely and I have begun to plan.

I alluded earlier to making lists.  I've made quite a few.  I've got a spreadsheet full of lists.  The first list is of questions.  When I'm brushing my teeth, I suddenly think up a question about the move. When I'm at the grocery store, I wonder if I should pack apple juice.   When I'm vacuuming, I wonder if I'll have any carpet.

So far, I have 33 questions.  The largest number of them surround our home.  The embassy will choose our housing for us, so we will not need to seek out a home after we arrive.  Our first night in Caracas will likely be spent at our own address.  Our home will be furnished, and so our shipment can be full of rugs and dishes and toys.  But how many bathroom rugs will I need in this new home?  And will we need blankets on the beds?

Other questions are about our lifestyle.  I'd love information on any international churches.  Is there a women's Bible Study?  If there's not, should I bring the materials to start one?  And what about the school - will the kids bring their lunches and need snacks?  We have a consumables shipment for Venezuela - that means that we can ship a certain allotment of groceries on top of our regular household items - and I have no doubt that granola bars and fruit snacks are cheaper at Safeway than in the commissary.  Do we bring our bikes?  What about our cell phones?

I'll spare you the rest of the list.  Happily, the embassy has someone on staff to answer all of my questions.  She (or he) is the Community Liason Officer (CLO), and a large part of her job is to help me move in to Venezuela.  She'll arrange our orientation and hook us up with both a professional sponsor and a social sponsor.  The professional sponsor will meet us at the airport when we arrive.  The social sponsor, I believe, will show us the grocery store and the playgrounds and hopefully have kids ready to play with our girls.  Each of these 3 are ready to answer any and all of our questions (and probably had many of the same questions before they arrived).  I've been nervous to begin asking questions, because I don't want to look crazy with my deluge of requests for information.  But I have been well assured that the CLO took this job because she loves helping folks through their move - and I'll admit, I think it'd be a fun job.  So she can look forward to regular emails and plenty of questions from over the next 55 days.  I have a feeling my list of questions will grow, rather than shrink.

My most pressing question this week:
How do I find the time to plan a move, study Spanish, and care for my children and myself?

I worry she won't have an answer to that one.

Real Time

Last summer, we learned that our next post is Venezuela and that we are scheduled to arrive in December of 2012.  Last summer, December 2012 seemed decades away.  This summer, December 2012 seemed decades away.  And then rumors continued that Venezuelan diplomats rarely leave for Caracas on time, and December 2012 seemed both far away and fictitious.

It was hard to take this date seriously.  We've settled in nicely around here, and as no one else is living here temporarily, its easy to forget that we are.  The questions surrounding our departure date made the timeline hard to consider.  I did begin Spanish in September, and I have made no commitments to anything after the beginning of December.  But honestly, I figured that would give me lots of free time come January and February.

I may have been wrong.  Our visas may begin processing tomorrow.  I won't share the details with you (its kinda fun to be on the secret-keeping side of info which moves on a need to know basis).  But should they begin processing tomorrow, we will likely stick with our scheduled departure date, arriving in Caracas around December 31st.

The news made me excited - knowing our plans a bit more firmly makes life much less complicated.  Soon after, the news became sobering.  This means I have only 2 months to plan our move;  and only 2 months left in this home, at this church, at this school and with these friends.

So, tonight I begin making lists.  The next month and a half, I will slowly check off those lists.  And December - should our move come on time - will be manically full of moving deadlines and holiday cheer.

Pokens

At some point, a long time ago, our kids missed that they're called "shots," and they named them "pokens."  As in,  

"We're going to the doctor?  Are we going to get any pokens?" 

This happened so long ago that Dave and I don't really call them shots either.  The language is fully engrained in our family vocabulary, much like ayi, and, oh, I'm sure there are more of them.

Today, there was no school because of teacher-conferences.  As a side note, I love days with no school.  And I love teacher-conferences.  I have amazing kids.  But back on topic.  Since we had a weekday wide open, the whole family spent the morning in the State Department's clinic.  I got three pokens - yellow fever, rabies and the P from DTap.  Apparently, I only ever got the DTa part.  Each of the girls got yellow fever and rabies - they're current on both their Ps and their MMRs.  That's the extra one Dave needed - MMR.  We walked out with three oral doses of something else, maybe Typhoid - Sophia and Annika are too young to take the oral dose, so that's another shot for each of them.  Although, rather amusingly, Sophia will become old enough about 3 weeks before we are scheduled to leave.  We are considering adding a regimented oral vaccine to those specific 3 weeks, just to avoid another poken. 

In this family, we really don't like pokens.

We have two more appointments already scheduled, because rabies is a series of 3.  I think there are a few extras coming on those days, and I may need to schedule one more appointment because, Mom, did I have MMR when I was a kid? 

The girls were amazing.  They knew we were going to FSI, and they even knew we were going to the clinic.  I told them we had some work to do to get ready for our move to Venezuela, and so they quietly read books in the waiting room while Dave and I updated health forms and immunization charts.  Dave and I went in first;  little Annika watched as I discussed with the nurse, and worried for me a bit.  And then we told Lilly, who began crying immediately.  Sophia soon got wind of what was going on, and very bravely sat in the hallway repeating to herself, I love shots!  I love shots!  She revealed to me later that she did cry a little bit when she got the shot, but that's all.  Annika sat on my lap and took it like a champ - with her eyes on the stickers and the sucker, literally her eyes on the prize the whole time.

And then, given the choice between lunch at McDonalds and playing at the playground, they chose the latter.  On top of the glowing teacher conferences, I couldn't be more proud of my kids today.

But I'm not looking forward to those next few visits to the clinic.

Fast Times in Caracas

Last night, we watched a movie which took place in Caracas.  In Secuestro Express, a crew of thugs express kidnap a very nice lady.  It was a good movie, but didn't paint a particularly positive picture of safety in Caracas.

Earlier this morning, we received the Caracas crime report from the embassy via email.  Lets just say it didn't offer much comfort.

Hugo Chavez was reelected about a week ago, and so we see little to no change in the near future.  In fact, the weekend of the elections were marked by hyper security and prohibitions on alcohol.  They were also marked by standard murder levels - 59 people killed over those two days.  This all too clearly illustrates that even when Chavez chooses to reign in violence, his actions do precious little.

Currently, we plan to arrive in Venezuela at the very end of the year - that is, in the very last days of December.  However, diplomatic relations are in such a state that we can not rest assured of that day for at least another few weeks.  I'm split on my opinion of this - I love Arlington, and I love how safe we feel here.  But January is a perfect time for transition, and I am eager to begin this next life.  So, I am fine with leaving this decision to God and the American government.

Steady Progress

People keep reminding me that we're only a few short months away from our move date.  I can't really relate to that date.  Life seems to move along at the same speed it has taken for the past year.  In fact, it feels as if it has slown down.  We've enjoyed visitors this month, amazing weather, some fabulous teachers, and some really great rec league soccer games.  We spend less time in the car and more time outside, and its hard to live anywhere but the present these days.

But we are making steady progress toward the goal of leaving in December.  I'm studying Spanish 5-8 hours per week, which I'm realizing is not enough time to make any real headway in learning Spanish.  However, I'm also discovering that Spanish is fairly easy to learn.  Dave's doing quite well in his studies, and on track to be a strong speaker by the end of the year.

We received our diplomatic passports a few weeks ago.  Today our family were all medically cleared for worldwide availability.  And tomorrow Dave picks up the regular passports for Sophia and I (hard to believe there was time for them to expire!)  The fun thing about passports is that our family of five will travel with 10 passports in hand - the official diplomatic passports, for official travel; and the regular blue passports, for personal travel.  Each needs to be present, in case the last stamp if in a different passport!

Dave's put together an itinerary for pack-out and travel over the last few weeks of the year, and we hope that his itinerary will be followed.  It seems that the Venezuelan government is in a bit of a tizzy over diplomatic visas.  That is, they don't choose to give them out on time.  Our government may be involved in a tit-for-tat style action over this, which makes international politics feel a bit like fifth grade recess.  No matter - the implication for us is simply that we may or may not leave for Caracas in December.  We move forward planning for a December move, and hope that all correct contingencies fall into place.

The more interesting contingency occurs next week - Venezuelans hold their presidential election on October 7th, and this should be one worth watching!

Like Cogs Slowly Grinding Back Into Motion

Its been a quiet year in Arlington, our hometown. 

We've spent the past year settling into our current lives, and we've settled in quite comfortably.  We've spent precious little time or energy thinking or worrying about the next step.  We've simply focused on the current.  I decided sometime last year that all things related to the Move should wait until September.  We are scheduled to begin life in Caracas in December, and so September seems a logical point to begin planning.

We have reached the last week of August, which is also the last week of summer.  We're spending it at the pool.  We're staying up later than we ought to, because we're breaking back into the habit of waking to an alarm.  We're deliciously relaxed.  My To Do List for next week is silently growing while I enjoy these last few days with all of my girls surrounding me.

But yesterday, we did take one of our first steps of preparation.  Our family took a field trip down to the Main State Department building to apply for passports.  In our Virginia complacency, Sophia and I had both let our regular passports expire, so there was that to do.  But our travel to Venezuela will be as diplomats, which requires a diplomatic passport.  I believe this is partly to serve as solid identification of our diplomatic status in the country.  I believe it is also because our travel and customs rules are different when we travel as diplomats.  For instance, none of our luggage is to be inspected.  Our diplomatic visas mean that we carry our luggage straight through customs and are not subject to those laws.  We also get a shorter wait in the passport line, although I imagine that's more to do with different laws and questions than with keeping us from waiting.

So, our black passports are in process and our family will travel with 10 passports in hand when we move.  Other processes have begun, slowly as well.  Dave has been studying Spanish full-time at work since the beginning of July.  He is a good student, but feels that he is an average Spanish learner in his class.  Although he expects to pass in the 6 month allotted time-frame, he almost hopes to fail his test at the end of December.  You see, Venezuela has been rather snooty about handing out visas to their American diplomats.  No one has left on time for the past few months - most folks receive their visas after a few months delay.  Dave and I both like the classroom lifestyle that he enjoys right now, and he'd love to spend those extra few months studying Spanish.  More likely, he will pass his test on time but we will not move in December without visas.  We will likely be in Virginia a few months into the new year.

This causes some stress for our family.  We allotted a budget which allowed us to live comfortable in Virginia until December.  Those extra few months will be difficult.  We will need to cancel our lease with one month's notice, but we may move within a few weeks of receiving our visas and lose our security deposit.  Also, I'm unsure how to explain this to the girls.  Come December, we may not finish school with the knowledge of when we will move.  Possibly the girls will leave their classrooms in December without a visa, and it will arrive a few weeks later - in time for us to arrive in December.  A crazy month that would make - but it is what we are hoping for.

So, we plan for a December move.  And we begin that planning soon.  I plan half-heartedly, knowing that those plans will likely all be canceled for a later move - one I will not have the time to plan.  But I cannot complain too much.  I like life in Virginia.  And I like planning.

Said at the Smithsonian

Dave had the day off on Monday, because a truly fabulous storm knocked out power all over town over the weekend.  Luckily, our power stayed on and we enjoyed a 3-day weekend.  Happily, the Smithsonian also had power, and so our family explored the Freer Gallery of Art and some of the gardens surrounding it.  A few interesting tidbits from our kids:

Smithsonian lady:  Where are you from?
Lilly:  America.
Smithsonian lady (seeming rather thrown): Yes, but what part of America.
Lilly (without pause):  St. Louis

Dave and I were both surprised by her answer.

Later, in a Chinese garden modeled after the Temple of Heaven in Beijing:

Sophia:  That looks beautiful.  Can we go there?
Mommy:  We have been there, and it was beautiful.
Sophia:  Where is it?
Mommy:  Its in China.
Sophia:  Will we ever go to China again?
Mommy:  Probably.
Sophia:  Good.  I'd like to see what it looks like.
Mommy:  You mean this garden?
Sophia:  No, I mean China.  I'd like to see what it looks like.

We have passed some pretty significant milestones in this house.  Dave has finished his job with the Department of Human Rights, Democracy and Labor.  He has moved on to Spanish language training at the Foreign Service Institute.  We have lived at the same address for longer than 364 days - a first for our Sophia.  Annika has lived in the U.S. for over half of her life.  Lilly will very nearly miss that goal when we leave for Venezuela in December.

Enjoying Mundanity

Life has become much simpler over the past few weeks.  Dave finished his job in DRL, and is now spending his days at FSI - that's the Foreign Service Institute.  He's currently is class, learning how to process visas - that will be his job in Caracas.  At the end of the month, he will transfer into Spanish.  That will bring some stress back into his life, but will still keep his days to 8 hours.  Ah, it has been lovely.  And then last week, Sophia finished preschool.  And so ended the daily commute.  My life has become much more relaxed over the last few weeks, and at the onset of summer, things promise to become only more relaxing.  I haven't posted much lately, because life has become beautifully mundane.  That will certainly change as we begin ramping up for Caracas, with its lack of security and its political instability.  But for now, I'm enjoying the mundanity of life in Northern Virginia.

As part of that simple life, Sophia wrote me a story yesterday.  Saved here for posterity, and for your enjoyment:

Translated above in red, but also below:
    This is a Mommy and a kid.
    They are going to a party.
    The kid is shy, but the
    Mommy
    says "You are
    Pretty."  To Mommy  Love, Fia

Love the story, and the supportive mom.  Love that she spells party PRD.  And also love that she looked at a picture of a white woman and a black child and naturally imagined them as mother and child.

In the Right Place

Dave is in China right now.  He's staffing his Under Secretary - that's the head of the Bureau on Democracy, Human Rights and Labor within the Department of State.  I posted earlier that these two weeks in China are the pinnacle of his year working the China desk within this bureau.  That could not have become more true with the news this week.

Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng rather impressively escaped house arrest and appeared in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing only days before Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived for this big summit.  The news coverage has been exciting, with new bits of the story breaking every few hours over the past few days.  And I'm getting nothing more than random texts from Dave, who is right in the thick of it.

Again, I've got to admit that I'm pretty jealous.

And a little bummed.  Because Dave's supposed to get on a plane tomorrow morning and fly home to be with us.  Glad he's spending his time on such worthy endeavors.  But a little jealous of his time, too.

TCK

I like to indulge myself, thinking about how different my childhood was from the childhood of my own kids.  I suppose that's normal - my childhood was certainly different from that of my parents.  But I still find it striking how many parts of their young lives I will not be able to identify with.

As Third Culture Kids (TCKs), our kids fall into this psychological category of people who grew up outside of their passport country, away from their parents' homeland, and as foreigners in their resident state.  Add on the complications of moving every few years, and you can begin life as my children as well.

But don't worry - although there are some pretty typical psychological responses, there are also loads of benefits of this life.  And I'm meeting plenty of young adults (and older adults) who grew up abroad and are not only well-balanced but also pretty enjoyable.

This little video got me thinking about it:


So Where's Home? A Film About Third Culture Kid Identity from Adrian Bautista on Vimeo.

Culmination

After nearly 4 years living in China, Dave began working on China within a few weeks of his new job with the State Department.  Since last May, he has been working in the Democracy, Human Rights and Labor section with a focus on China.  He's enjoying the chance to focus on China more academically and politically, and certainly to think about their human rights issues.  He's becoming an Old China Hand.

He finishes the job in less than a month - which may disqualify him from eligibility as an Old China Hand; I assume Old is more than 5 years.  Anyway, he finishes this job in a few weeks, and will happily finish his work on a trip to China.  Dave leave this Sunday for 2 weeks in the middle kingdom.  He's busy preparing for the trip, and looking forward to his time there.  He'll catch up with his coworkers, and have a very different work day than he did while we lived there.

I'll admit that I'm a little jealous.  The girls are, too.  We're not really wishing we could relive so many Chinese experiences - I remember well the bad customer service, crazy driving, and people spitting on the sidewalks.  But we're all a bit reminiscent of our old lives.  Going back to China feels like going home.  I think that's why we're jealous.

Although, there are certainly things that I miss. 

I miss the food.  Chinese food is fabulous.  The stuff they sell on the streets is cheap, flavorful, and often healthy.  The stuff Wendy made was always amazing, so much healthier than what I cook, and so cheap - plus, I got to eat it with Wendy every day.  The restaurants were yummy - both the local Chinese places, and the world-class Western places.  The produce was big and fresh and cheap.  Grocery delivery was free.

I miss the lifestyle.  We lived in an urban city, and we really lived in the heart of it.  We walked whenever we could, and we metro-ed the rest of the time.  We did occasionally have a driver, but used him primarily for the school commute.  We walked to the grocery store and the markets, to the park with the carnival rides on weekends, and to the many restaurants in our neighborhood.

I miss the housekeeping.  Although I don't miss the cockroaches or the rats, the peeling paint or the dysfunctional heaters, the bad landlords and the squirrely agents, I do miss having a housekeeper.  Never washing my own dishes or folding my own laundry bought me so much time.  Someone wiping up daily meant that my bathroom mirror never got spitty and the floor never grew hair.

I miss the community.  I belonged to an amazing group of women who met weekly for Bible study.  Lilly went to an amazing preschool, with a small and lovely community surrounding it.  Lilly and Sophia attended a fabulous elementary school, with warm teachers and involved parents.  Wendy kept me company in our home every day, and we ate lunch together regularly.

I could go on, but I won't.  We have lived in this house for a few weeks shy of one year.  Its been a simple move and northern Virginia is lovely.  How funny that now that I've settled in America, I feel homesick for China.

Once Dave's trip is over, he has a few days off and then he goes back to school.  His schedule will change, and his hours should improve dramatically.  We're looking forward to a summer of Daddy home for dinner every night and evenings walks before bedtime.  And of leaving China behind for now, to draw our focus more keenly onto Venezuela.

Feeling Better?

I sat down this afternoon to post on a news story that I read earlier today.  A Costa Rican diplomat had been kidnapped in Caracas.  According to the Boston Globe, he was the fourth diplomat or diplo-family-member kidnapped in Caracas in the past 6 months.

But when I checked Google News this afternoon, the story had changed.  The top story was now from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and with a much better headline:  Diplomat Freed After Venezuela Kidnapping Ordeal.  The story says that he's back with his family just over a day after disappearing.  That's good news.  The story says that although the abductors demanded a ransom, they released him under police pressure and with no money paid.  That's good news.

And so I wonder - should this story make me feel safer about our next city, or should it make me feel nervous?

Feeling Old

I was talking to my health insurance company on the phone in the kitchen, while the girls colored in the dining room.  The woman on the line asked my birthdate.

Lilly looked up from her coloring and said, "You were born in 1977?"

I nodded my head.

She gave a thoughtful hmm reply, and then went back to her work.

But Sophia's head jerked up.  She looked almost worried as she quietly said, "Does that mean you were born in the time of the dinosaurs?"

For the record:  No, it does not.

One Year Anniversary

We have been here for 1 year!

Its a bit difficult to measure anniversaries, as changes continued to happen weekly this time last year.  But in the last week of March, Dave celebrated 1 year of active membership in the Foreign Service.  We celebrated by having Catherine over for homemade ginger ale.  She is a member of his class, celebrating that same anniversary.

The girls arrived a few weeks later than Dave, but are able to celebrate anyway.  They arrived only a few days before Palm Sunday, and in time for Easter.  The week before Palm Sunday, they told stories about the parade they would take around the church... because they remembered from last year.  We celebrated Easter dinner with close friends we met in Shanghai;  and we plan to celebrate with them again this year.  It is unusual for us to celebrate the same way twice, and feels so relaxing.

Sophia has yet to surpass the 1 year mark in any home.  I expect that to happen come June, but we can not lay claim to that landmark yet.

It feels nice to pass an anniversary and feel settled, rather than ready for the next thing.  Venezuela still feels too far away for planning.  But as we hit this anniversary, I realize that we will not have another one.  From here on out, every experience will be our last in this area.  This is poignant only because the girls are feeling settled here.  Everyone around them is settled, and the community has a history which they have laid claim to.  The local elementary school has an annual basketball game - Lilly was impressed that KU also has March Madness, but she is quite confident that the NCAA copied her elementary school.  She is looking forward to next year's game;  Sophia will be in kindergarten, and therefore eligible for a ticket.  She is particularly looking forward to next year's game.  I do not have the heart to tell them that next year's game will happen without them.

Its nice to feel settled, and to feel at home.  Caracas will be good, I think.  And transitioning is for another month, far from now.

Highway!

Our little Annika has taken her own, sweet time to speak.  But now, at 22 months, she's enjoying copying our words, and sometimes adding in her own.  When she wants something, she will sometimes tell us what she wants... with a word.  Its awesome.

We went to the playground yesterday, and she communicated beautifully:

Annika:  Sing.
Mommy:  You want to swing?
Annika:  Yes.

Annika:  Un, Two, Un-Two!
Mommy:  You want me to push you?
Annika:  Yes.
Mommy:  One, Two, Three!

Annika:  High
Mommy:  You want to swing high?
Annika:  Yes
Giggling as I pushed her higher, she made up a new superlative.
Annika:  High!  High!  Highway!!

A Time of Rest

Lilly stayed home sick from school last week.  She never mentioned any symptoms and she never complained.  She simply slept.  Usually the first one to wake in the mornings, she couldn't lift her head to eat her breakfast, so we kept her home.  She stayed so exhausted for 3 full days.  For whatever reason, the poor girl needed some rest.  After her week of sleep, she is back to waking before anyone else in the house.

I often feel that this is my time of rest.  Life in northern Virginia has been surprisingly easy, and peaceful.  So far, each of our schools and all of our teachers have worked out well.  Each of us have made friends easily.  We happened upon a fabulous and energized church (amusingly, it is also in a time of transition).  We can communicate simply with our family, by quick phone calls or text messages.  We've had visitors - loads of visitors.  And they only stay for a few days at a time.  We have very little extra money, which means we spend a lot of time cooking at home and we frequent the many parks in the area.

Life is busy.  No doubt life is busy.  Annika and I spend a lot of time in the car, ferrying around her big sisters for their varied school schedules and playdates.  Things will only become busier in a few weeks when Lilly will add soccer to her schedule.  Dave continues to work long hours.  But as a junior officer, he benefits from comp time.  Now that he is within sight of finishing this his first post, he is taking comp time whenever he can snatch a day.  This means plenty of 3-day weekends, adding to the leisurely feel of our time these days.

And as Dave prepares to transition out of this job and into language training, he looks at a more regular schedule and shorter days.  He feels some anticipation toward going back to school - studying language full-time is difficult for anyone, but especially for adults who are used to leading and succeeding.  Language training is a trying time for most FSOs, from what I hear.  School starts for Dave in May, and so do shorter work days and longer evenings.  We are looking forward to a quiet summer within swimming lessons and lots of evenings on the back porch, eating something off the grill.

While Dave will continue his schooling into the fall, Sophia will begin kindergarten at the local public school.  She will be full day, and will be in the same building as her big sister.  Annika and I look forward to walking the girls to school in the morning, walking again to pick them up in the afternoon, and possibly not picking up the car keys all day long sometimes.

Life in China became routine, but it never became peaceful or simple.  Here, I know how to solve most of my problems - and that brings a certain sense of calm.  Crime continues to escalate in Venezuela, and the political situation is currently interesting but could become quite tumultuous in the next year or two.  I do not expect life to be peaceful this time next year, and it was certainly not restful this time last year.  Life tends toward the boring in our house, which is not a way I would want to live forever.  But for a season, I've no complaints.  For this week, this month, and for the better part of this year, my soul is at rest.

Research

There's one Venezuelan place in town.  In the entire D.C. area, there is only one restaurant serving authentic Venezuelan food.  I suppose I shouldn't be surprised.  In fact, I should be glad that I live in a metro area which serves any Venezuelan food.  It just comes as a bit of a shock - there are Chinese restaurants on every corner.

In celebration of Chinese New Year, and in celebration of Dave's birthday, and in lieu of a homemade dinner which did not turn out nearly as well (or as early) as planned, our family quite spontaneously went out to dinner last night.  Dave got to pick the place, and he's been itching to hit up La Caraquena since we learned about it.  The chef is Venezuelan, and so are a large portion of the dishes. I kept saying that the time wasn't right.  The girls needed to be in the right state of mind for this restaurant.  We don't want them to leave dinner thinking that they don't like Venezuelan food.  Dave argued that his birthday was the perfect moment, and so we went.

I am no food writer, so I won't make an attempt.  Suffice it to say that Dave and I enjoyed everything.  The menu was rather short, and Venezuelan only made up about half of the dishes.  We ate only Venezuelan food - well, with chicken strips and french fries.  Dave and I really enjoyed everything we ate.  In fact, some things really surprised us.  The girls loved a few things (plantains with cheese) and turned up their noses at others (rice and beans with spiced meat and fried eggs).  Poor little Annika sat in a feverish daze, as she has been fighting something nasty all week.

Now we know that when food is available, it'll be tasty!

What We've Been Reading

When we passed the one year mark, Dave and I began to focus on learning more about Venezuela.  I mentioned earlier that we've picked up a few books by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, a nobel prie winning author from neighboring Colombia.  His books still intimidate me, and few other titles show up when we search.  However, I have discovered a few interesting journalists through Foreign Policy magazine.  These tidbits fuel my belief that we will arrive in Venezuela at a very interesting time in their history. 

Caracas or Bust was published on Jan 9 of this year, and writes about the relationship between Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.  It is my opinion that both men are a bit nuts, and that their meetings must just be crazy-making.  They stand together as crazy men who hate America, which is not a particularly strong stance.  Interesting, certainly.

But even more interesting was Peter Wilson's story from Jan 6 titled The Skyscraper Slums of Caracas.  In the article, Wilson describes a stunning housing situation.  In a country of nearly 28 million people, 8 million of those folks are homeless.  Chavez has commandeered unfinished parking garages and office buildings to change into public housing, leaving the city without needed architecture and public works, and leaving far too many people living in unfinished parking garages... excuse me - temporary housing.  The story is staggering, and the photojournalism of Inside David's Tower illustrates it strikingly.

My Venezuela library remains quite small, but my interest is growing rapidly.