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.

Half a Life

Little Annika is now 21 months old.  This is significant because as of this month, she has lived in the United States for over half of her life.  She was 10 months old when we left China, where she was born.  Her citizenship is further solidified - at least for the time being - although her eligibility for the office of President of the United States is still a bit questionable (anyone recall the birther debates?)

This is particularly interesting to me because she is the only one of my kids to strike that mark so far.  Lilly lived in the U.S. until she was 2 years old.  She lived in China until she was 5 1/2 years old.  She has been back for 11 months.  That's nearly 3 years in the states, and almost 4 years in China.  She should crack that mark while we're still living in Virginia.

Sophia moved to China when she was only 9 months old, and has lived her the same 11 months.  At over 5 years old, her paltry 20 months in the states are a small fraction of her life.  Interestingly, China will likely remain her longest home for a long time.

Q & A

Scenario:
Macaroni and cheese is on sale for a fabulous price.  I will be moving to a consumables post in less than 1 year.

Question:
How many boxes of macaroni and cheese can I buy without feeling silly?

Answer:
8.  Eight is my limit.  Nine boxes of macaroni and cheese would have just looked silly.

Planning Ahead

So many little things remind me that our life with the Foreign Service will be different from our life before.  We plan to arrive in Venezuela in December of this year - essentially one year away.  Simply holding that knowledge provides a peaceful sense of stability that I haven't felt in years.

And the paperwork has already begun for our move.  I've completed a housing questionnaire.  I've told someone that I'd like to have a balcony and plenty of natural light.  I've set a short commute as my highest priority, and given preference to the neighborhood within a gated community where we can safely go for walks and play on the playground.

This evening I filled out the CLO information sheet.  The CLO is the Community Liason Office, and essentially runs the community center for the Embassy.  Here's a better description, from the State Department's website:

The CLO is among the first points of contact for newly assigned or arriving employees and family members, and provides pre-arrival information, orientation, and assistance with settling in at post.  CLOs identify the needs of their community and respond with effective programming, information, resources, and referrals. They serve as advocates for employees and family members, advise post management on quality of life issues, and recommend solutions and family-friendly post policies....
The CLO program is charged with building community spirit and enhancing morale at post. CLOs do not have official funding for morale/recreational events or programs and rely on self-supporting events or fundraising activities. CLOs depend on the volunteer efforts of employees and family members to share their time and their talents to address community needs.

They asked our names, ages and basic contact information. They asked about the capacities in which I would be willing to volunteer (I said yes to nearly everything). But they also asked some great stuff about the girls - favorite activities and hobbies, favorite foods, favorite colors. These leave me somewhat encouraged that we will get a warm welcome when we arrive.

Don't worry - my expectations are not set too high. And honestly, someone meeting us at the airport with a box of cookies would be a step up from our greeting in Shanghai.  But rumor has it that the employees and families living within the Embassy communities tend to provide a welcoming community, and this little info sheet certainly adds some weight to the rumors.

Adjusting

Let's be frank.

Its fun being rich.

More than that, though.  I mean, being rich certainly is fun when you choose to do things like travel internationally on a monthly basis, or try new restaurants every few days.  But separate from being fun, it is simply pleasant.  When you have more money than you need, you are able to weigh all of your options and choose the one you like the best.  Therefore, you end up living somewhere you love and eating food that matches both your values and your taste and health preferences.

The adjustment from rich to not rich has been challenging.

Dave's salary dropped dramatically in April.  And then we started paying for housing in June.  Not only have we been absent that line on our budget for the past 4 years, but we also began paying for that housing in the greater D.C. area.  According to Kiplinger's 10 U.S. Cities With the Highest Cost of Living, Washington, D.C. rings up at #7.  Housing eats up over half of our monthly income.

Preschool is expensive.  Travel to the Midwest is expensive.  Groceries are surprisingly expensive.  You know all of this - its certainly true in your household as well.  And after a few months of it, we had gotten it figured out.  By December, our household operated off of a tight but beautifully functional budget.  We did not draw out of savings, and we felt good about our frugality and self-control.

But January got messy again.  Insurance costs went up, as did our contribution to our medical savings plan.  We chose to begin tithing out of our monthly budget.  And we began to look ahead to our time in Venezuela.

Because of the frequent shortages off of the grocery shelves there, we are allowed what is called a Consumables Shipment.  That means that part of our household shipment to our new post will include weight for groceries.  We will bring along shampoo and chocolate chips - much like we did in China.  But we'll also bring along flour and diced tomatoes and olive oil.  So, in a sense, we will have the opportunity to do 2 years of grocery shopping at the end of this calendar year.

For a number of reasons, most of which I don't really know, most things cost more money in Venezuela than they do in the U.S.  So we would be wise to bring along anything we know we will want while we're there.  Suggestions are things like clothes and shoes for the kids; decorations and wrapping paper for all holidays; books; birthday presents.  All of these things would need to be purchased by the end of this calendar year.

So Dave and I have spent the last week or so poring over our savings, our retirement contribution, and our monthly budget, tweaking things here and moving this over to there.  Making changes and making plans.  We believe we have made it work, but its going to be tight.

A year ago, if I told you that I couldn't afford something, what I really meant was The price I would pay for that is more than its value to me.
For the next year, if I tell you that I can't afford something, what I really mean is If I pay for that, I won't be able to buy groceries by the end of this year.

I've gotta tell you - it was really pleasant being rich.

Rearranging

We've lived in this house for 7 months now, and we have nearly another 12 months before we will leave for the next home.  We have felt fully settled in for quite some time now, and it is too early to begin planning the next move.  So maybe we got a little tired of the status quo.

This past weekend we spent rearranging our house.  All three girls now sleep in the same room - on the occasion of Annika turning 21 months old.  They are each thrilled with the new set-up, and so Dave and I are pleased as well.  Annika's former nursery has received our futon and the girl's desk.  It has become a small den, with space to fold out the futon for guests.  This is good news for anyone planning to visit us over the next few months - previous to this change, you would have been sleeping on the sun porch.

The project for this weekend is to rearrange the basement.  That includes getting rid of most of our baby stuff - something I have struggled with in the past.  It also includes setting up an art space with an old table handed down from a friend.

The sunroom (former guest room) has become one of the loveliest sheds you will ever see.  The light is beautiful in there, and it is so comfortable on a nice day - but the bikes and the roller skates and the plant food all need their space, too.

The S* Word

Warning: This post contains adult language.

We drove nearly 11 hours yesterday.  Dave spent most of that time in the driver's seat.  We spent a fair portion of that time driving through near blizzard conditions. Dave became frustrated.  At one point, Dave said:

I hate this stupid shit.

A twin gasp came from the backseat, where Lilly and Sophia were seated.

Daddy!  You said the S word!

Dave prepared to apologize for his speech, when Sophia very gravely said to him,


Daddy, you really shouldn't say the S word.  Stupid is a very mean word.