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!