PSA: The blog is in the process of getting a makeover. I don't know yet what it will look like, public or private, etc., but I have wanted to get back to writing for a long time and am finally finding some moments to do so. Also, I promise not all of my posts in the future will be sad and reflective, but today's is. If you prefer to wait for the happy post, just hang tight.
This post is a simple story that illustrates how I've fallen head over heels in love with Iceland, and now it is breaking my heart. There are so many things we have loved about being here, and this post will not begin to attempt to capture and describe all of those things. This is just a simple reflection that hit me as we walked home from school today.
Today my oldest son said something out loud that made me simultaneously realize the challenges that lie ahead, but also one of the many things that I have loved about Iceland. Iceland is thoughtful, kind, loving, and most of all, Iceland cares about children. Iceland cares about children in a way that I have never experienced elsewhere. The way that Iceland engages with children and helps them to grow into strong, confident beings has changed me as a mother, an auntie, a friend, a person. Today as we were walking home from preschool, my oldest son said to me that they took a field trip to the playground of the school he will go to next year. He said that all of the kids who will be moving to that school went together and they met the lady who works on the playground. It seems like such a small thing, but it is one in a list of many things they are doing to begin to integrate the children into the school they will graduate to next year. There's no anxiety for him about the school, but rather he's excited and comfortable there already in October of this year because they've already been to the school to visit and play on multiple occasions. And this is where foreign service life can sometimes stop you in your tracks.
Most of you know of course that he won't be going to that school. We will be leaving next summer. He doesn't realize that yet and it seems like a bridge we don't need to cross yet, but my heart broke when he said those words out loud. Iceland, I love you, and in that moment, I also despised you. Why do you have to do kids so well? It would be so much easier if we could just say it has been mediocre and move on to the next thing, but you have been so good to us and especially to my kids, and that is truly one of the things that has made our time here so magnificent. I know that whatever lies ahead (still uncertain) will be great in its own way and will also have its ups and downs, but for better or worse, it will not be Iceland. I can only hope it does children as well as Iceland, that it treats them like equal members of society and nurtures them in the same way, but I have my doubts. I am grateful for what we have experienced so far here and for the months that we have left I am grateful for what Iceland has given us and I am sad to think about what it will be like to leave it behind.
Particularly after this morning's news on the state of the world, I feel compelled to write. Shock, Sadness, Disgust, Anger, Fear, Pride...all emotions I experienced this week after hearing the bad news. This has been a difficult week for the foreign service community. On Tuesday, the anniversary of 09/11 we lost four incredible men carrying out the work of diplomacy in Libya. Today the violence has spread and 65 embassies and consulates have issued emergency messages about violence. When the news first came about Ambassador Stevens (before I had even heard that we had lost 4 men) I felt personally very saddened. It's a hard feeling to describe, but there is a closeness that comes with joining foreign service. I think it's partially because from the outside our lifestyles seem so strange that we instantly bond with one another sharing in the commonalities we have without having to explain a thing. My parents both called the morning of the 12th to check in and express their sadness and anger at the news. My dad even mentioned to me how it felt different having such a personal connection the state department than if he had heard the same news without that. It is a strange feeling. You feel like you've lost a family member and probably in the backs of our minds we are all thinking about those we know serving overseas right now and those who are here who will be overseas again at some point. That danger is always there, although we're not always as aware of it. This week has certainly highlighted that.
There have been several op-eds and articles written in light of these events that have highlighted the work of US diplomats overseas. I think it is important for people to see these to grasp that one small opportunity that can come with this terrible tragedy and highlight the importance of the work these public servants do. I have heard people say that diplomats just attend parties or that it's a glamorous lifestyle, but that's simply not the case and while it's unfortunate that it takes a terrible tragedy for people to grasp this, I think this is an opportunity to share about the work they do. I could attempt to write it in my own words, but there are so many good articles floating around I am just going to repost two recent favorites:
I am proud of the work that my husband and his colleagues carry out on a daily basis. They too often forget that it is extraordinary work. Even with the danger, I know we all believe (families and diplomats alike) that the work is extremely important and it must continue. Thank you to anyone reading this who is in public service and to those of you who don't know exactly what diplomats do and are taking the time to learn. My heart goes out to the families of Ambassador Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty.
"So we will wipe away our tears, stiffen our spines, and face the future undaunted. And we will do it together, protecting and helping one another, just like Sean, Tyrone, Glen, and Chris always did. May God bless them and grant their families peace and solace, and may God continue to bless the United States of America."-Secretary Clinton, Sep. 14, 2012
Happy New Year! I can't believe it has been over a year since either of us posted, which tells you what kind of a year it has been. With the dust settling a bit in our lives I am once again back at blogging and am really looking forward to it. Brian and I had really hoped to do a Christmas letter this year, but it just didn't happen. We still have hopes of getting a Valentine's day letter out...time will tell.
I decided to title this post the same as the last post I wrote because that really is the theme in our lives right now. Blog entries are meant to be short, so I won't go through the list of things I'm thankful for right now, but I will tell you that our life has changed in a big way over the last year. Since I last wrote we are back stateside (in DC for a tour), have purchased a house and welcomed our bundle of joy Colin Richard into this world. While there are so many things I could write about in this post, there is one timely story that I feel compelled to share and seems to be a good one to kick off the blogging on the theme "So much to be thankful for".
On the night of December 3rd Brian and I put Colin to sleep as usual around 8:00 pm. We were excited to be in our new house that we had just moved into before Thanksgiving. Around 1:00 am, Colin woke up and was very fussy. He was crying and crying which is very unlike him. Being the weekend (and that Brian is such a wonderful husband) Brian was up with him rocking him and walking with him to calm him off and on. At about 2:15 we made the decision to bring Colin in bed with us because he had been so upset. It's just so unlike him that we were worried about him and thought it would help us all get some sleep.
At 3:30 I decided I was going to feed Colin. He usually gets up to eat around 4:00 anyway and since he had been so upset I decided feeding him a little early might help him. He had switched from all out crying to more of a lethargic moan, but still seemed irritable. When I sat up to feed him I nearly fell over and felt very faint. "What's wrong?", Brian asked. "Did you sit up too fast?" "I don't know" I told him. "I feel really dizzy...you take Colin and let me just lay back down for a minute while I pull myself together to feed him". Brian walked with Colin while he cried for a few minutes and then I tried to take him again. I sat up and again was immediately dizzy. This time I also felt sick to my stomach. I wanted to try and feed Colin, so I took him and Brian walked around the bed to lay down. "I feel dizzy too" he said. Within 30 seconds of him telling me he was dizzy his knees gave out and he hit the bed. I couldn't believe it. What was happening? It's so unlike Brian to be sick. "We're tired" Brian said. "Maybe we have food poisoning" we said to each other. Brian laid down and tried to get comfortable while I attempted to feed Colin, but Colin wouldn't eat and that's what prompted me to realize there was something much bigger going on...that all three of us were affected.
By some miracle of God I was reminded of a story my dad told me about a woman that works at his office, Lori. Her family was affected by carbon monoxide poisoning a couple of years ago and I remember my dad saying how they had passed out, had headaches, were throwing up. "Could this be carbon monoxide?" I said to Brian. So, Brian ran downstairs to do a quick google search and within moments hollered up to me that he thought it could very well be carbon monoxide. The webpage said to get any air possible, so Brian opened a couple of windows and took a few deep breaths before heading back upstairs for us. As Brian came back in the bedroom I panicked. I was worried about Colin. I remember thinking that if Brian and I were as sick as we were that Colin must have been much worse. I took him in my arms and left the bedroom and that's the last thing I remember. Somewhere between there and the bottom of the stairs I lost consciousness. Brian heard me fall and came out to find me at the bottom of the steps. Colin was beside me, face up in his swaddle looking stunned. Brian says that I was still responding, that I said I was ok and to take Colin. He took Colin and went to the entry of our house where he propped open the door and sat with Colin to recover. I regained consciousness at the bottom of the steps. I remember waking up wondering why I was where I was, but remembering that I needed to get out. I got up and headed for the door, but I lost consciousness again in the entryway. At that point Brian decided it was too risky to leave me. He came in with Colin in one arm, grabbed me with his other and used all his strength to pull me out of the house. Once we were out and getting fresh air we began to talk about what to do. Because the CO made us so stupid, we considered driving to the emergency room and finally settled on calling 911. I had been able to grab a jacket and Brian's cell phone just after I gained consciousness on the steps. We called 911 and then we waited...for what seemed like an eternity, but was only 3 minutes. I am ever grateful to the firemen and ems teams that responded to our call that cold winter night. We were huddled together on the boulevard with my fleece wrapped around the 3 of us and I've never been so happy to hear sirens. I had made a phone call to each of our families during the time we were waiting to touch base. I really didn't know what was going to happen. When the firemen arrived I asked one of them to take Colin and get him warm and as soon as they lifted him out of Brian's arms, Brian collapsed.
The details of what ensued after are not really important. What is important is that we are all ok and we all made it out alive. Colin having an ear infection that night saved our lives and I really have to believe that there was someone much greater than us running the show that night. Colin came out the best of the three of us with no bumps or bruises from the fall. I have never been more aware of what it means to have life, have each other and appreciate one another.
So, this post is about saying thanks to each and every one of you that has been a part of our lives and that is so special to us. We can't tell you how much we appreciate you. If you don't have carbon monoxide detectors in your house/apartment/rental property/fs housing, please please go out and buy a couple and tell our story to others so that this doesn't have to happen again. The source of the CO turned out to be a gas boiler next door to us and because we share a wall the gas was able to seep through the walls, so please don't say "we don't need those because we have nothing that could give off CO."
As I'm finishing this post I am sitting here literally laughing out loud at the giggles my 5 month old is putting out. The company of his soft cookie monster toy brings him so much joy and he has brought so much joy to our lives. I hope you take a moment today to remember the important things and take a step back from the small things in life to enjoy each moment that you can.
More blogs to follow soon and I promise they won't all be this serious!
Well, as Brian said in his post, we've had a wonderful last few months (Yes Mr. Flynn I know that it has been a ridiculously long time since I last posted...thanks for keeping me honest). I did start working in July and I have to say I have really enjoyed the consular section. Aside from gaining a deep understanding and appreciation for what Brian is doing, I have learned a lot of new things, gotten to know people at the embassy on a much more personal level and had a great time over the past few months. In addition, it has helped me take my focus off of how difficult things can sometimes be in this country. While I have really learned a lot in the section and enjoyed my colleagues, I've decided that the actual job that I'm doing at the embassy is simply not a good fit for me. I have made a decision to leave the consular section at the end of the year and will be starting a new position at the embassy in January.
With all that's been going on, here we are with just under a year left in Venezuela. The first few months really seemed to creep by, but now we find the time flying and asking ourselves where it has gone. As we chatted the other day, Brian and I both realized that most of the places we wanted to see while we were here have since been checked off our list (Angle Falls, Panama, the beaches here, Chile) and we only have a few "must dos in Venezuela" left. I used Shutterfly to create a volume of pictures from our first year here and as we looked back we were astonished at all we've been able to do. Despite some of the difficulties we've faced, we wouldn't change it for the world!
While we love foreign service life and the privileges it brings, you all know how hard some of our days in Venezuela have been. As we approach the new year, I think Brian and I are both thinking about the new year and our onward assignment to DC. It's funny in the foreign service....often times people look at you like you're crazy when you say you're going back to DC or they say "I'm sorry" when you tell them where you're going. They see it as a disappointment, perhaps because we're all so used to the privilege of traveling and living overseas. For us, that is not the case at all. We are both EXTREMELY EXCITED to be going back to DC for a post and think the timing is right for us. For Brian's career, the job is an excellent fit and now that I've been out for a tour I have a better idea of what experiences and contacts will be good for me to get in DC before heading overseas again. There are a lot of things we missed about the states being here and we plan to take full advantage of them while we're home (watch out Starbucks, Trader Joe's, Target...here we come!)
I don't have much to add beyond that at this point. I feel like I could write so many blog posts right now to share with you all the great travel adventures we've had since I last wrote. I guess working really did consume me. For now, I'll keep it simple and say happy holidays to you and loved ones around the world. As we are surrounded by so many wonderful friends here, our wonderful friends at home who are so patient with us and so committed to our friendship and our loving family who is always there for us no matter what, I am constantly reminded of how lucky we are to be where we are and to have what we have. Wishing you all exciting adventures in the new year to come. Merry Christmas!
I'm making a promise that I no longer am going to start posts with, "I know this has been a long time coming..." In a conversation with my mom the other night she asked about the blog and posting and she made a good comment. She said that the lack of posts simply show that we've settled into life here in Caracas and that things now are fairly normal. I'm happy to report that Steph and I continue with our positive attitude efforts and feeling as though we've made a life for ourselves here.
Since our last post in July, (ugh!) we've definitely had a lot going on. Steph started work in the Consular section back in July. She's conducting visa interviews, the same as I am. I think it was a big change for her, but we've been able to put the extra income to work. This summer we received our onward assignment. We'll be heading back to Washington, DC around September/October, 2011. I'll be doing a two year tour as the Public Diplomacy Desk Officer for the Baltic and Nordic Regions. Basically, I'll be working with the Embassies in: Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Greenland. From DC I'll be advocating on behalf of my region for cultural grant money and support. Additionally, I'll be the person in Washington who sends out press guidance to the region. I'm really looking forward to getting both press and cultural experience, and living in DC should provide some great opportunities for Steph as well. I'll let her comment more on what she may or may not be doing. Since we're heading back to DC we've been thinking more and more about purchasing some sort of property there. With Steph working we've been able to really start working on putting something together for our future, which is extremely exciting for us.
In addition to looking forward, we've had a couple of great moments over the past few months. Over Labor Day, my cousin Renee and her husband came to visit us. We had a lot of fun catching up and showing them around Venezuela. I think they were impressed by the natural beauty of this place, but at the same time understood many of the disappointments we experience because of how badly things are going in this country. Also, in October we met up with our friends Justin and Rebecca in Panama. It was great to get out of Venezuela for a while. We enjoyed having Taco Bell and Dairy Queen all in the same day at the mall. We also had a blast seeing our old friends and sharing a new country with them. After they headed back to the States, we continued on to San Blas, on the Atlantic side of Panama. We spent two days on the islands, relaxing and reading. We've posted pictures of the place we stayed and the natural beauty there.
We're getting ready for the holidays coming up and will be looking forward to spending some time in Minnesota over Christmas. We'll be working on some more posts and hope to hear from you all soon.
So I have to be honest, I started this post 4 months ago when I had reached my 1 year anniversary of being in the Foreign Service. It's funny to look back and realize that I was in such a different place back then than I am in now. To get things started, I'll include what I originally wrote: "Well, it has been quite a while since I last posted. I could take up time and space to explain all the reasons why, but instead I'll try to be as concise and honest as possible. There are two reasons why I haven't blogged in a while. First, I've been busy. I know, I know, it's so cliche and isn't everyone in the world busy with something. To be honest I'm still just adjusting to all the things that are new in my life and that take extra time. Additionally, visa demand is so high here in Caracas, that by the end of the day I'm just exhausted from head to toe. The second reason is that lately I have felt like I haven't had many good things to blog about and I really didn't want to share my frustrations with all you readers. Venezuela can be a very frustrating place and people simply live in a bubble where they only worry about themselves.
The post ended there because I had to run and get something else done that evening with Steph. I never came back to it and I'm glad I didn't finish my own little rant/tantrum. It's interesting to look as see where I was only three months ago. Additionally, as hindsight is always 20/20, I find it fascinating and a little funny to reflect on my very own personal culture shock. I commented to Steph just yesterday on how I've been feeling life here in Caracas for us feels so normal. After coming back from our first of two R&Rs in Minnesota in May, it was a really hard adjustment to come back to our life here because it's just so different. Now, it feels as though we have our own life and the things that seemed to consume us are just a part of that life we share. Now, I still don't understand why it's okay to make a left turn on a red light, but not when there's only a green light (where in the US you can yield and turn), but at least now I can laugh about it (most of the time). There are definitely some things that I really don't like about the culture here, and some things I'll never get used to, but as I was explaining to Steph, I feel as though the things we have in our life simply overpower that now.
We really do have wonderful friends and a great community here. More than that, I feel as though Steph and I have found our niches in so many ways. I've already brewed three batches of beer here at home. The beer here is weak and not very tasty, so this is a great thing to share. The latest batch is called "Culture Shock Ale" as a tip of the hat to end my own little pity party. Also, Steph and I have had the chance to get out and see more of Venezuela. We recently returned from a 5 day trip to Canaima National Park where Angel Falls (the worlds tallest waterfall) is located. I think she's planning to post about that soon. I know she's promised pictures to many people as well. Finally, Steph recently started working in the Consular section with me conducting visa interviews. It's been an adjustment for us to work together in the same office, but more so for her to return to work and have it be such a change from what she did in the past. It will take time, but I think we'll enjoy the extra income, and I think she likes having a little more routine in her day.
Another thing coming down the pipeline is the move we will be doing soon. I know, I know, another move... I think we've become famous for the number of moves we conducted. We'll still be here in Caracas, and still in the neighborhood, but we had been dealing with some major mold and maintenance issues in our current apartment for over 3 months, so we're being moved into a cleaner, healthier apartment down the street. We'll be losing our killer view of Caracas, but it's a small price to pay to have a healthy home. We're excited to get into our new place and are looking forward to getting settled in and making that "normal."
Well, that's about all I have for now. I'm going to try to put more posts up more frequently now that life is what it is. We'll be bidding on our next assignment in late August/early September, so I at least need to post something about that once we're assigned.
Well, the first order of business is obviously a final report on the bugs. I seriously doubt this will be the "final" report on bugs, but it's final for now. Here it is: Steph: 3 Bugs: 1
A solid win for me! I am happy to report that we have not had any moths in our kitchen for probably 3 weeks. The ants have been completely eliminated with my Terro traps (a plug for them) and I have only found 1 roach since my last report and he was dead, meaning the poison is working. Hooray!!! It's much better not to have to greet my little friends each morning.
To celebrate (and also because we have been dreaming about it for a long time), Brian and I took a trip to Chile. Many of you know that I studied there for about 6 months during my undergraduate studies and that Brian came to visit me during that time and saw part of Chile. We both loved it and have wanted to go back ever since, particularly to see my host family and to do wine country. This trip was about a 10 day trip and was centered on seeing the things we saw when I was there as a student but Brian didn't have a chance to experience, visiting my host family, checking out Santiago and seeing the vineyards. It was amazing!!! Here are the highlights:
Santiago-What a wonderful city.....we enjoyed a lot of time just metroing from neighborhood to neighborhood and walking around to enjoy the parks, get a feel for the city and enjoy a pisco sour or cafe here and there. We had some wonderful food and met up with a colleague of Brian's who works there. We had a great time and returned for a day on the back end of our trip before flying out. I think Fuente Alemana was Brian's favorite part (I'm hoping he might have time to write this week and share a bit with you).
Vina del Mar/Valparaiso-Not even sure where to begin. Obviously in Vina we spent time with my host family. We had such a great time catching up and they were blown away by Brian's Spanish, so that was fun. Chilean hospitality always amazes me. Before we left lunch with my host family, they presented us with the hand crocheted table centerpiece that my host mom had made almost 6 years ago when Brian and I were married and she has been saving for us ever since. Along with that came 2 boxes of artisan alfajores and a bottle of pisco (Note: Alfajores are an incredibly indulgent and wonderful Chilean treat. They consist of two pastries sandwiched together with manjar and covered in chocolate. Pisco is the traditional Chilean liquor. They mix it with lemon juice and sugar to make a pisco sour or with coca cola to make Piscola. If you want to see a Chilean get angry, just mention that you heard the Peruvians actually invented Pisco.) So very Chilean and so much hospitality I don't even have words. In Valparaiso we spent time wandering the hills. We walked up to Pablo Neruda's house on the top of one of the highest Valpo. hills and took some pictures and enjoyed the huge murals that are part of the open air museum on our walk down. It was really fun and we got a great day for it.
Wine country-Here again, so many highlights...We tried to see a variety of vineyards and wineries while we were there and really feel like we did that and still had time to relax. We saw an organic, biodynamic winery owned by one of the largest wine producers in Chile (Emiliana), one of the most modern facilities for producing premium wine in the region (Lapostolle), a smaller boutique vineyard where we talked with an 86 year old man who was the owner and founder of the brand (Laura Hartwig), enjoyed a four course tasting lunch with wine pairings at House of Morande and stayed at a luxury hotel at one of the vineyards that was absolutely beautiful (Matetic). We are looking forward to hopefully being able to find some of our favorites from these wineries when we're home and sharing our enjoyment of them with you.
So, as you can tell, we had a wonderful trip. We're missing Chile a little bit, but more than anything it made us look forward to planning more adventures there. I think it is a country we will return to many times...so much to see.
I'm finally getting around to getting pictures organized and posted on a site accessible for everyone. Chile pictures and some Venezuela stuff's available at www.beckmannsabroad.myphotoalbum.com. For some things you will need a password and we're only making it available to people we know (such as our apartment). If that's you and you want to see the password protected stuff, just send me an email (steph_beckmann@yahoo.com) and I'll set you up. Looking forward to hearing from some of you soon!
Well, you can probably guess what this post is going to be about....that's right folks, we've got bugs. Now I'm happy to report, unlike some other parts of the world, that ours are relatively small and harmless and I have waged an all out war on them.
Ants: Ants are a pretty common thing here. I think the ones that we have came in on a bag of sugar and quickly made themselves at home. They are little sugar ants and they do little more than drive me crazy building their highway across the kitchen. Unfortunately for them, when the first HHE shipment arrived (last Friday), my Terro ant traps also arrived. Within a day I had them under control.
Bugs: 0 Steph: 1
Cockroaches: Yes, it's disgusting, but cockroaches pretty much come with the territory here. I did have to laugh when our housekeeper asked if they were big ones or small ones that we had. I said big ones and she was relieved. She said those are the kind you just kill and throw out. The little ones get into everything according to her. So, GSO helped me out by putting some goo down on the drains and I put down some traps with a lovely snack that they can take to their nest so that if we find them at all, they will be dead.
Bugs: 0 Steph: 2
Indian Meal Moths: Well, I saved the best for last. These, quite frankly, are making me absolutely crazy. They are a kind of moth that comes in on flour or grains (probably some beans or flour from the grocery store) and they feed and breed in those things and in your cupboards. We have thrown away so much food it makes me sick and I have cleaned the cupboards inside and out at least three times. Every morning we come into the kitchen to find at least one of these little guys perched on the ceiling. I curse them, kill them and wait for the next day to see how many I will find. At this point we have no idea where they're coming from. There's nothing left for them to live on. We have cleaned everything and have not found anything that looks like the webbing they makes, etc. All of my rice, pasta, flour, sugar, anything they might like is now in the freezer. The cupboards are bare with only tin cans remaining. I did talk to a friend who had these in Guyana and she said it takes a while to get rid of them, so I'm hoping we're still winning. In the meantime, I ordered traps for these little guys on Amazon. The good news is...every day there are less of them. The last two days we have only found 1 or 2. The bad news is...I'm still finding 1 or 2 a day.
Bugs:1 Steph: 2
As you can see from the scoreboard, I'm still winning. I hope to be reporting the final score along with victory in my next blog post
Single handedly keeping the do it yourself pest control industry in business from Venezuela! S
Greetings from Quito! At this point I know many of you are thinking, "what...Quito"? What's goings on? Let me take a second to explain. This is a great update for any FS spouses who might be reading this wondering if I will ever find work as "fsowannabe" posted in the comments under my last blog. I hope you are inspired!
As you all know, I have really been looking hard to find something that would be fulfilling, interesting work for me in Caracas that would allow me to utilize my skills. I do not want to demean embassy jobs for spouses in any way, because for many they provide a good option. The problem has been that the opportunities that have been options for me have just not been a good match for me. A couple of weeks ago, a friend mentioned a development project proposal in Ecuador and told me they were looking for someone to help them translate their proposal and fit it to the formats requested by the funding organization, etc. She asked if I'd be interested. Those of you who know me well already know the answer to that question is obvious. About a week later they contacted me and decided they wanted to hire me on a short term contract. After speaking on skype a few times, they also thought it would be a good idea for me to come to Quito for 10 days or so to work on the proposal with them. So, that's how I got to Quito...without Brian :-(.
I have to say that Quito is absolutely fantastic. Although I have been working from about 8:00-8:00 nearly every day, what I have seen of the city is wonderful. It's modern, they have lots of green space and the prices are shockingly cheap compared to Caracas. It was cold and rainy today (something I haven't seen in a really long time) so I needed to buy something to keep warm. I bought a hand knit wool sweater at the artisan market for $12. Incredible! Aside from that, the people that I have interacted with here are outstanding, "chevere" as we say in Venezuela. They are very warm, patient and welcoming people. In addition to the people and the place that are so great here I am also loving my work. I have found that even though I have been working so much and arrive at the hotel absolutely exhausted at the end of the day, I am enthralled by my work. It is one of the most intriguing projects I have ever worked on and I feel privileged to be included in the discussions I have been a part of here. This could be the catalyst I needed to go ahead an launch my own consulting business.
As I said when I opened this post, I hope any FS spouses who might be discouraged or willing to give in because they haven't found interesting work are energized by my post and that it gives them some hope that something's out there. For me it just took talking to a lot of people about my interests, time and patience with finding the right thing.
Tomorrow I'm planning to get up early and go to Mitad del Mundo which I'll have to write more about once I've seen it, but I heard it's pretty cool. Hope all is well wherever you are reading this (especially you in Caracas Bri)!
Happy new year everyone! Wow...absurd, I know. It has been way too long since we've written. I don't know what happened exactly, I guess the holidays. We spent a lot of our time over the last several weeks preparing for and enjoying the Christmas season. It was really great. We were able to skype with family so that we could watch each other open gifts and almost felt like we were together for a celebration. It was really fun! Brian and I also hosted a Christmas day dinner in our apartment. I ordered Christmas dishes, got everything ready, prepped the food, etc. and we really enjoyed the day with friends.
I've been thinking about the blog and there are several things that I'd like to share that I haven't had a chance to share with you yet. In an attempt to not overwhelm you with everything in one post, I think I'll try and do several posts over the next couple of weeks to catch up and then once again resolve to post more often.
When I think of fireworks in the states, some very fond memories come to mind from 4th of July and other big celebrations where family and friends would gather to watch well orchestrated fireworks displays set off by organizations or officials. Since we arrived, but particularly since the holiday season started, we have discovered that fireworks in Venezuela are very different. Here, almost anybody can purchase commercial style fireworks to set off at home and they are relatively cheap. They purchase and set them off for children's birthdays, anniversary celebrations, "let's have friends over and show them how much money we have parties", etc. Apologies for the sarcasm, but people definitely do use fireworks to see who can display that they have more money to buy better fireworks here. One thing Venezuelans love to do is party and even birthday parties for 3 year olds here involve chair covers, jumping castles and fireworks.
From about December 15th -January 5th there were fireworks nearly every night. Sometimes they were close, for example on the 23rd there was a fire behind our building caused by 8-11 year old CHILDREN setting off fireworks on the patio, and sometimes they were far away and beautiful. We spent many nights sleeping with our earplugs in as we adjusted to a somewhat barbaric tradition. It was definitely a cultural adjustment. On Christmas eve, Brian and I found ourselves feeling very angry that our neighbors' children were once again on the back patio shooting off fireworks after we had just had a fire in the back yard the day before and it took the fire department 40 minutes to respond with a truck that didn't have a hose long enough to reach the fire. While I'm still not happy about it and would hope that it'll be different next year (or we'll be out of town for Christmas), but by New Year's eve we realized that we are never going to change the Venezuelans. Seeing how fireworks safety is managed here gave us a greater appreciation of some of the protections we do have in the states (what?!?!? 7 year olds shouldn't be responsible for putting on the fireworks show for the adults?!?!?!?!)
The culmination of the fireworks was on New Year's Eve. The tradition here is to set off fireworks at midnight. Here's a short video taken by our friend to give you an idea of what it was like:
It felt a bit like a war zone, but it was pretty amazing to see from way up on the hill. So, that's fireworks in Venezuela. Can't wait to see what they're like for independence day here. Hoping you had a wonderful Christmas and wishing you a happy new year!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! What a wonderful day we had. I have to be honest and say that I never imagined our first Thanksgiving overseas could be as fantastic as today was. Brian and I have been in Caracas just over a month now, and I am amazed at the wonderful friends we have made here. As I have mentioned before, I am blown away every day by the generosity and kindness of the embassy community here.
Today started as a lazy morning. Brian used his creative cooking skills once again to whip up sweet potato pancakes and bacon in the kitchen. It was really nice to be able to just hang out and visit and enjoy our coffee. It really felt like the weekend. Around 3:00ish, we headed to our new friends' house. It still didn't really feel like Thanksgiving. Several embassy families were in attendance and the hostess had prepared a traditional turkey along with several side dishes (mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potatoes, mushroom and potato gratin, lentils). The food was great and the company was outstanding. I really enjoyed getting to know some of Brian's colleagues better. As the sun faded and the city grew dark, we sat with our cups of coffee and pumpkin pie and suddenly it felt like Thanksgiving. I looked around the table and realized just how lucky we are. Today I feel so blessed, blessed to have family that is so caring you can feel their love from afar, to have new friends here that already feel a bit like family, to have friends from different stages in our life that are thinking of us and wishing us well, to have a beautiful place to live and an opportunity to explore a new place with my best friend. I am truly blessed.
So, yes, for those of you out there wondering what it's like to be in a foreign country for Thanksgiving, it's a bit strange. We missed being with our families and I don't think that's something that ever goes away. It was always hard even when we were in the states. What I can say, however, is that being with people who share lots of the same traditions and who can come together to share those in a place that feels foreign is a really neat experience. Someone once told me that we're the most patriotic when we're away from the US and I definitely think that's true for me. It was almost like we had this great secret today when we walked into the street all dressed up to head to dinner in the middle of a Thursday. Venezuelans looked at us strangely and I felt like we had this insider secret about our own traditions and our own special holiday. The few people I did talk to about it were really interested in hearing about our traditions and the history of the holiday. It was fun to share something that is special to us and is truly American.
Well, I have lots more to share about things we've done since I last blogged, but today was so wonderful and feels so very American that I think I'll leave it at that tonight. To all of you who are a part of our lives, thank you! Happy Thanksgiving!
It has been quite a while since I last posted on the blog. I guess it goes to show how I've been entrenched with life at the embassy and getting used to the new job. I'm thankful that Steph has been able to post on occasion to keep you all up to date, and I think she's starting to feel a little more settled.
Work has definitely been keeping me busy since we landed a month ago, yesterday. It's very strange to think that 9 months have passed since I started A-100 and an entire month has gone by since we first landed in Caracas. Time has definitely flown by, and I think for the most part we have been having fun.
One thing that has really kept Steph and I sane since we've arrived is cooking and exploring the culinary side of Caracas and Venezuela. Without any of our stuff our apartment does feel quite empty. Additionally, with security restrictions and the lack of a car, life in the apartment can make you feel a little captive at times. We have really tried to battle these feelings through our weekly trip to Chacao Market, bumming a ride from someone at the embassy each week. Chacao has exposed us to new fruits, vegetables, seasonings, and cooking methods. The vendors as we've gotten to know them have become very open in sharing tips and telling us what they'd be doing with our purchases for the week. Our little adventures out have opened our eyes to new things and I think have sparked a little extra imagination with our inner chefs.
Over the past couple of weeks Steph and I have had some difficulty just spending time together. With work, embassy events, adjusting to all the new things, and just sheer exhaustion we find ourselves going to bed early and also trying to find some quiet time for ourselves. One thing that has brought us together is the kitchen. During these past two weeks Steph and I have been working our way through some of the basics of Latin American cooking... which also means we have been... (gasp) frying. Last week we braved "tostones" which are fried, mashed, plantains. Plantains are a little like bananas, but more starchy. The end product comes out somewhere between a big flat french fry and a donut. A little sweet, a little starchy. After reading this I realize my description kind of stinks, but you'll just have to come and visit us to try them out as I think we're now getting the hang of it. Other attempts have been made at making fried Yuca (another potato like product that I think turns out better than french fries... now if I only had a chocolate malt to dip them in) and Tequeños. Tequeños are white cheese that is wrapped in a bready wrapper (almost like an eggroll wrapper, but more bready) and deep fried. They're kind of like mozzarella sticks but with bread, not bread crumbs, and no tomato dipping sauce. You can buy them pretty much anywhere, including the baseball stadium. We have been taking pictures of all of our wonderful kitchen creations and we'll be sure to share them with you all...that is as soon as our newly ordered camera cord arrives.
Well, life has definitely been an adventure since our arrival, and there has easily been a lot of adjusting to do. Life is simply... different. We are of course heading in a new direction and are at the beginning of our own little journey. As you've probably gathered from some of the stories that Steph has been able to share, we have definitely had our share of "adventures" since we arrived. I am confident in time that things will settle, but until then, I guess we'll just have to confide in filling our stomachs with good food and discovering Venezuela, one bite at a time.
Well, the last couple of days have been very up and down for me. Yesterday, unfortunately, I was very down. I definitely feel a bit homesick and I'm missing all of you. I also really miss Target. It was a hard adjustment in DC to adjust to not working, but this is a really difficult adjustment. I miss the target culture, the people, the challenging work, etc. It's hard to start a new life where you feel like people just don't understand where you came from and who you are. So I spent a good part of yesterday morning at home crying.
Today, I woke up and decided I had the choice of either being at home and crying, or enjoying the day. I chose the latter and I've had a really great day. I ventured out to the gym for the first time today. It's a nice little gym at the embassy. So far I don't know of any personal trainers here, which is really what I need, but one step at a time. For now I just want to commit to going at least three times a week. It's about a 10 minute walk from our apartment, so it's definitely doable.
You're probably wondering about the title of the post. Well, yesterday I had quite the surprise at the bottom of my water glass. I was really thirsty having arrived from my walk to the embassy and I chugged my glass of water and got a mouthful of sand. Yuck! I was so grossed out. We just found out that we need to wipe off the bottles that arrive with bottled water with bleach water before we load them. I also took the bottle off the tank only to discover that the tank for the water was also lined with sand. It was gross, but everything is disinfected and ready to go now. No sand in your water if you come to visit :-).
We've decided to hire someone to help out in the apartment a couple of times a week. This will also allow me to be on my own schedule and not to have to be home for water delivery, repairs, etc. It's our first time ever doing this, so we're definitely learning from others. We'll let you know how it goes.
The most exciting news of today is that our turkeys arrived. Every year the embassy offers employees the option to order turkeys. They are really nice turkeys and I think they may ship them in from the states. In our typical overzealous fashion, we ordered 3. Now we have them all sitting our freezer. Hopefully we will get our stuff by Thanksgiving so we can enjoy the turkey, the stuffing and all of our favorites for the holidays. Off to pick up the apartment...Brian informed me packages have arrived from Target which means our new bedding is here. Yeah!!!!!
Wow, sorry to be so silent. Both of us have been really laid up the last week or so with what they call the Caracas crud. I'll spare you the details of how fun it has been, but suffice it to say it could also be known as The Revenge of Caracas, "turista" and a number of other names. Not fun. On top of that, I seem to have gotten H1N1 or some variety of influenza last week. On Friday I got a nasty cough which developed into something that sounded like pneumonia and I had a terrible fever Saturday and Sunday. It has been absolutely miserable, but I'm happy to say that I'm on the mend. Hopefully by the end of this week, I should be back at 100%.
A lot has happened here since we first wrote upon arrival, but I am going to try and keep this as concise as possible so that I don't bore you. I am currently not working, so until I find a position, I will try to keep the blog up to date on a pretty regular basis. Some of you probably noticed Brian's wonderful handiwork at the top of the blog. Don't you love it? I do!!! We (he) added clocks for Venezuela, MN and DC so it's easier to keep track. You guys all went off of daylight savings, but we stayed the same, so now we're 1 1/2 hours ahead of MN and 30 minutes ahead of DC....weird.
Since we last wrote I think one of our biggest highlights in Caracas has been Chacao market. The past two weekends we have gotten up early to go to Chacao market with friends and buy fresh produce, chicken and some things that can be difficult to find at the regular supermarket here. It is a fantastic experience. If you have ever been to a Latin American market, this one is probably pretty similar...lots of smells, easily overwhelming with lots of vendors in your face right away trying to sell you things. Our second weekend was much easier to navigate and we have already found our favorite vegetable stand. The seller remembered us the second week and he has quite the sense of humor. I was able to find the final ingredients I needed to make a couple of kringles which I've been wanting to make for people who have been so helpful to us since we arrived. The almond flavoring, powdered sugar and whipping cream were hard to find, but I got them at Chacao. I look forward to sharing more with you about our chacao purchases. Last week I think Brian had the best find in locating the cheese/bacon vendor.
We were so excited after we got back from Chacao that we were able to cook our own food. Brian even made our version of a local avocado and onion sauce called guasacaca. I was so proud of our first meal I took a picture. One thing it would have been nice to know beforehand was that we are supposed to bleach all of our vegetables. It might seem strange to some of you to be ingesting bleach, but it's only about 1 tablespoon per gallon of water and they say it's the best thing to do to kill anything that might be on the veggies or in the water.
We were also warned about eating raw veggies at restaurants when we go out. We were aware of this, but I guess you sort of get in a comfort zone. We have eaten at two really good restaurants in our neighborhood. The first is a sushi place, which was some of the best sushi I've ever had and the prices were really reasonable. The second place is called Rey David. It is a really interesting restaurant/shop that is considered to be amongst the nicest in the area. They also carry imported products that are hard to find other places (for example sour cream can't be found anywhere else in the city). It's a really great place! After we ate there, however, we warned by someone not to eat the apples served with their sandwiches...perhaps that was the beginning of our being ill. Anyway, it has been fun to discover the new places close by particularly being that Brian and I are such foodies.
I have made several friends since we arrived. I have to say that the best part about this post is the community. There are so many wonderful people here who have had me over for coffee, taken me all over the city, invited me into their homes, their families and I could go on and on and on. It's fantastic. The job situation is still very much up in the air for me, but only time will help that.
I will spare you all the details of what has been happening since our last post, but what is exciting is that we got internet in the apartment and we just found out recently that we will be able to attend the marine ball. Two tickets opened up. I'm really excited. A friend took me to the dress shop today to rent a dress for the event because I didn't pack one in my suitcase. The prices were very reasonable (ranging from 50-90 per dress). I picked out a blue one for this year. It should be a fun event. Can't wait to share pictures.
On that note, some of you are probably wondering why we haven't shared any pictures. Well, it turns out we forgot to pack our camera cord to upload pictures to the computer in our suitcase, so we're stuck until we can order one. Hopefully it won't be too long.
Finally, I hope any of you who take a nice relaxing bath or a lovely long, hot shower on Friday or Saturday will think of us. Caracas is currently in the midst of a terrible drought. That coupled with lack of maintenance on the current system has led to the government declaring all Caracas residents to be 2 days a week without water. We will be ok. Our building has a holding tank and the water should last enough for basic things for 2 days, but it still strikes me how real the water shortage is and how difficult conservation efforts can be. As with many others in the city, we will be filling our tub on Thursday to be sure we make it through the weekend without a hitch. If you're interested, here's an article with a bit more info. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8339247.stm. I also highly recommend searching for the Chavez speech on 3 minute showers on You Tube for those of you who speak Spanish.
Again, sorry we've been out of touch. I think we're back up and running and you can count on hearing from us on a pretty regular basis. Take care!
Since Arriving in Caracas we've had very spotty internet service. The series of logs below are a combination of those written by Steph and Brian offline until we've had the opportunity to post them. We hope you enjoy our He Said/She Said post on our arrival...
He Said:As I sit here(Saturday, Oct. 25th) in our brand new living room, utilizing a "borrowed" internet connection, I'm watching the clouds inch their way across the sky just barely above our apartment. As the sun rises begins to break up the low cloud cover, the Andes are revealed towering over the sprawling urban scene in the valley below, I realize that we definitely aren't in Kansas anymore... or Minnesota, or DC, or the States.
She Said:As I write this (Thursday October 22nd), I am sitting in our new living room looking out onto the city.We have an absolutely astonishing view from both sides of our apartment.Strangely enough, this place felt like home almost immediately after we walked through the door.Perhaps it was because we had heard a lot about what to expect and the place is beautiful.Brian has commented several times that the living room/ formal dining space is probably larger than the entire square footage of any apartment he and I have ever lived in together.I think that’s true.It’s beautiful and we are very happy with our new place.
He Said:Well, we've finally arrived! After almost 8 months of training, preparation, time apart, moving, and everything else that has occupied our lives, Steph and I just got into Caracas this week. About two weeks ago, I wrapped up training and my consultations in DC to officially end my "in-training" status. We spent a little over a week at home in Minnesota taking one last opportunity to say good-bye to family and friends. A big thank you to everyone that contributed to throwing our going away parties while home. Also, thank you to everyone that came, it was so great to see you all. It really was a great trip and we were so lucky to have time with nearly everyone we wanted to see. As we got on the plane to head back to DC where we would then leave for good, Steph and I reflected on how lucky we truly are to have such wonderful people in our lives.
She Said:Before we left for Caracas, we spent some time at home with family.We thoroughly enjoyed our time at home (even the snow) and loved having the time to spend with family and friends.I wouldn’t have traded it for anything.The best part about being home was seeing those we love.We enjoyed all our special time together including time at the tomato farm, playing with kids, watching movies, eating breakfast together, enjoying a glass of wine, you name it.We had two going away parties while we were home, which were both fantastic.In that time, we got to see lots of extended family and friends and had a chance to share our journey with others.In addition to the parties, the last day we were home, we had a combined family dinner and that was one of the most difficult days of my life.To have everyone I love spending time with at one table together, knowing we won’t see them for at least the next six months, made me really sad.As all who were there can attest to, I pretty much cried through the entire lunch.It was a really hard day for us and going to the airport was difficult as well.
Our families have been phenomenal throughout this process.Although some of you are not intimately familiar with foreign service life, you can probably imagine that we ask our families to support us in very unique ways and to redefine a relationship with us in very different ways.I can only imagine that it’s difficult from their perspective to be asked to participate in foreign service life and to support us in something that they themselves do not know very well and did not choose.They have been fantastic in their willingness to help us with mail forwarding, skypeing, keeping copies of important documents, listening to us in hard times, and on and on and on.In short, they’ve been great and I want to be sure to thank them for being so wonderful.We love you guys and we hope to see you soon!!!
From a foreign service spouse perspective, if I had it to do over again, I think I would have reserved our packout and departure for after the family visit.The main reason I mention this is simply because of all the extra baggage we were carrying around.Airlines these days have gotten very particular about carryon luggage and we were confronted each time we flew with whether or not our backpacks would fit, a couple of times with issues with our rollerbags, etc., etc.We had been very careful about packing everything we needed for home in our carryon luggage, but that meant they were bigger than they probably would have been if we had packed out after we went home.I know this seems like a very small thing to worry about, but what I learned from this trip was that moving to post is very stressful as is without any added stressors.The last thing FS families need is airlines stopping them and suggesting they need to check more luggage or asking them to stop and try to fit their bag in the carryon “test space”.
He Said:After one short night in DC (due to a couple of airline delays) we wrapped up a few loose ends and headed to the airport. It was the first time I had ever had to use a cart at the airport, but it was an easy concession when we rolled in with 4 suitcases, 2 carry-on, and 2 backpacks. It was made clear to us to pack as much as we could bring as the delivery of our stuff may take awhile. We listened to people's advice, and this was the result. After an extended check-in process, Steph and I were happy to be rid of the bags and on the plane to Miami. Once we landed, we were checked into our hotel on South Beach and enjoyed a couple of nice meals. We took in the local stone crab, which was great, and were able to also enjoy a great cuban meal at a little restaurant just down from the hotel. I had my first taste of "café con leche," the famous cuban coffee, which I realize now in Venezuela definitely won't be my last.
She Said:After leaving MN we headed back to DC for one last night.Brian had to do a couple of things to checkout in the morning and then we left for Miami.For me, Miami was a wonderful respite.Brian had to work, so his thoughts on the city may be different, but I was able to catch up on sleep and felt more prepared to face the journey ahead of us when we left. While we were there we stayed at a place called The Angler’s Boutique Resort.This is a little plug for them if you’re every in Miami.It was a really marvelous place to stay.It is a boutique hotel, so it is very unique and Brian and I had a 2 story tower room.The ground floor had a sitting area with a tv, bar area, stereo system with sound dock, coffee tables.There was a spiral staircase that led up to the bedroom and bathroom on the top floor which also had a tv.It was a cute place that was comfortable and relaxing.For us, it was perfect and just what we needed before our trip to Venezuela.I had one day to explore and got to enjoy breakfast on South Beach with fresh squeezed orange juice, shopping on Lincoln Road, a manicure/pedicure at a really nice salon and dinner with Brian at a great little Cuban place.It was fun!
He Said:After a day of meetings in Miami and one more night in the hotel, we repacked our carry-ons and were off to MIA one more time to get on the plane to Caracas. I have to admit I was a bit nervous at the airport. It has been sometime since I flew internationally, this is the first time I will have to truly use a foreign language, and the one-last-goodbye phone calls to family didn't make things any easier. I survived, and we boarded the plane. The flight was only around three hours long, and the views of the ocean and the coast Venezuela as we approached were breathtaking from the air. As we deboarded the plane and made our way through customs, we realized quickly we were back in Latin American time when it took 45 minutes to get our bags... after we had already waited a half-hour to get through the initial customs section where they verify our visas. We were met at the airport by my friend James, who I had gotten to know during training and softball this past summer. The hour long car ride (mostly due to traffic and the fact we had to climb 3000 feet to get through the Andes) passed quickly as we caught up and listened to James' stories from the past couple of months. Finally, the van pulled up to our new home for the next two years. Our apartment is very nice. A three bedroom place with a large living room and views of the city from both sides. We will be sure to post pictures once we are up and running full time with internet, which should be this week. After an introduction dinner at a local Arepas place (a typical Venezuelan meal - kind of like a sandwich) Steph and I turned in to get ready for the first day at the Embassy.
She Said:In the morning we left for the Miami airport.Sitting at the gate, we were both very nervous about what was ahead. I think it was a combination of nervous and excitement in anticipation of a new life ahead.When we arrived in Caracas, we passed through Customs with no problems and were kicked out into the bustling airport arrival area.It is, as many people have described it, a sea of people and you are looking for the one familiar face.Luckily ours was easy to find and we headed for the apartment.Traffic was horrendous and it took us over an hour to arrive at our place.We got there with no problem moved our things into the closets and then went to a traditional Venezuelan restaurant for dinner with Brian’s new colleagues.Again, everyone was so welcoming.We had someone pick us up at our apartment, people to enjoy dinner with, and yet another colleague that came and helped us learn how to work our new alarm system and get settled in.We couldn’t have ordered a better welcoming committee.Although we were exhausted once we got home, we did take the time to put our own sheets on the bed and put our bathroom towels out.It was a nice touch that really made it feel like ours instead of a hotel.I would highly recommend this to FS families.
He Said:The first couple of days at work for me are spent handling all of the in-processing necessary for me to transfer from DC to Post. Steph joined me for the first day as many of the short briefings I have to attend are really for her too. I have not really been able to to much work yet, but I realize it's a process. It has been nice to be able to ease in a little bit, get to know other folks in the embassy community, and not be required to use my Spanish full-time quite yet. We've really enjoyed our time here thus far and look forward to the many adventures to come. Last night we joined some friends from the embassy for sushi at a mall just down the road. Interestingly enough, it turns out that sushi is really popular here and it's actually quite good. We enjoyed our little dinner outside and the short taxi ride back up the hill (everything's on a hill here in Caracas) to our apartment. This morning we'll be heading to one of the outdoor markets with friends to hopefully secure some more food. It takes a while to get set up down here, so for the time being we are reliant on borrowed money and rides from others. We'll be looking forward to getting some vegetables and meat into the kitchen and finally being able to cook dinner for ourselves.
We miss you all very much and are looking forward to sharing the many adventures to come!
She Said:This morning (Thursday, Oct. 22) we got up early to catch a ride to the embassy.We had a full day of administrative procedures, which was complicated by the fact that our sponsor got Dengue Fever last week.He has been very ill and therefore has not been able to carry out a lot of the responsibilities that a sponsor would typically complete.I hope it doesn’t sound like I’m complaining, I’m not, and there’s absolutely nothing he could have done to prevent it, it simply means that we have to ask others to fill in for him and I feel like a bit of a burden to the folks who have helped us out.
Since we arrived, the thing that has struck me the most is the sense of community within the embassy and the kindness of all the people we have interacted with.That kindness and willingness to help has been visible in each and every person we have met at the embassy.I couldn’t choose one best part about today, so I will write two.In addition to the people at the embassy being so helpful to us and making the arrival as easy as it can be, I am already loving the food.We had café con leche this morning once we got to the embassy and learned about Marón which is like café con leche, but with an extra shot of espresso.We agreed we’ll go with Maron in the future.For lunch we had traditional pabellon criollo at the cafeteria and it was really tasty.
As I sit here tonight (Thursday) reflecting on how much our life has changed over the last year, I am excited about the opportunities that lie ahead.I can see already that this will be a great opportunity for Brian in terms of his foreign service career.I also know that for me, this will be a wonderful life experience.Regardless of the path I choose to pursue in terms of career here in Caracas, I know that my life will be full and wonderful.Being back here has also helped me regain a confidence and a voice that truly defines me.My passion for culture and language seems to have risen to the surface again and I am enjoying every minute.
Looking forward to sharing more adventures with you all soon (supposed to have internet in the apartment by Wednesday October 28)!
That's right folks, you read correctly, round 1. After weeks of trying to gather immunization records from the various places Brian and I have lived, I arrived at FSI to find out just exactly what I needed before we head out. A recommendation for any of you who are thinking you may want to go overseas at some point in your life.......KEEP YOUR IMMUNIZATIONS UP TO DATE. As the nurse reviewed my most recent records (from graduate school, so can't blame mom for this), she slowly read off the shots I should have had up to date, but did not. Tetanus booster (needed in 2006) and Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B series vaccinations that I started while I was in college, but never went back to complete. This means that in addition to the strange vaccines I have to get for going overseas (Typhoid Fever, Yellow Fever, Rabies Series), I also have to get a tetanus booster and complete the hepatitis A and B series. Those of you who know me also know that I hate shots, so this was not good news for me.
In any case, I got my first round today and have to go back for another round in a week or so and then once more before we head out to Venezuela. I found it interesting to hear from the nurse that yellow fever vaccine is in short supply right now. I will actually have to go to a private clinic to get that one before we leave and she recommended a regular flu shot.
So, 3 shots today, next week I'll have another 3, another 2 before we leave for Venezuela, a flu shot at the local pharmacy and a yellow fever shot at the travel clinic. 10 shots before we go and one Hepatitis B in March once we're at post to complete the series. This is one part of traveling that I do not enjoy. Looking forward to a happier blog post next time around.
Good morning all! It's a beautiful day out here in Hutchinson, Minnesota and I am on day 3 of my time here. I am really enjoying it. Thanks to all of you have tried to get in touch with me about getting together. I haven't forgotten about you, I really just needed to get on the ground and reclaim my sanity. I have had beautiful weather and while I have been working on a few logistical items, it is a huge relief to just have some time to relax with family. I'm excited for Brian to arrive this weekend and for our trip to the State Fair!!
Since I last wrote, we have a couple of new gadgets in our apartment, which I'm very excited about. The first unique gadget that I have to share with you is the Magic Jack:
This little device can travel with us anywhere in the world. All we have to do is plug it into a USB port and we can receive phone calls on our very own Minnesota number. We just plug a regular cordless phone into the other end of it and it works like a normal phone line. It's pretty cool. We've been testing it out and the call quality is fantastic. If we have the computer off or closed, the phone will go to voicemail, which we can check either on the phone or through email. It's pretty amazing. We'll be distributing the number privately to those who are interested.
The second device, as many of you may have guessed, is our GPS device. We have heard that this is a really great tool the first couple of weeks in Venezuela. It allows you to record locations you have been to that you may want to visit on your own in the future so you can find your way there without always having to have someone familiar with the neighborhood tag along.
Outside of our new gadgets, we have been receiving reports about shortages. The latest reports are showing shortages of sugar, coffee, rice and toilet paper. Aside from the obvious necessity of toilet paper, any of you who know us well know that the item that most concerns us from that list is coffee. I was shocked to hear about the coffee shortage, but apparently it relates to strained trade relations with Colombia in recent weeks. I guess we'll be stocking up on some Archer Farms Breakfast Blend when we leave and hoping for care packages with coffee in them!!!
Looking forward to seeing many of you on this trip and during our October visit.
Well, I know it's a little unfair that a little less than two weeks ago Steph entered that I would be taking my final Spanish test and that I'd wait until now to officially post the results. BUT, I wanted to be able to contribute a little more than just an announcement, so here's my attempt at a review with some insight:
Ends:
As Steph preluded to, yes, my final Spanish test was two weeks ago. Please notice that I said "final." Yes, I passed!! It's hard to believe that after 17 weeks of language training I was capable of going from almost nothing to having the ability to converse and hold up my end of the conversation. While it was very exciting to finish my test and feel the great accomplishment of having completed language training, it was also very sad to leave the halls of the Spanish department. I will definitely miss my old schedule, the same thing everyday of getting up at a decent time (6:30), going to class, studying, short lunch, class, studying the rest of the afternoon, and then practicing my conversation with Steph at night when I could. It's amazing how comfortable a schedule can be, and I will actually *miss* the structure... I can't believe I actually just said that... wow, how times have changed.
Beginnings:
As you've probably picked up in my posts over the months, there usually really isn't any messing around when it comes to scheduling training within the State Department. So of course in classic style, I finished my Spanish training on a Tuesday and began my job training on Wednesday morning at 8:30 am. Right now I am in the basic consular course, affectionately named "ConGen" within the Foreign Service. The purpose of this six week course is to give us officers the basic legal and institutional knowledge to be able to do our jobs once we've gotten on the ground in country. For me, being the policy geek that I was in a past life, it is really interesting to be carrying around the text of the Immigration and Nationality Act to be able to do my job. Those of you that have been following the blog will note that this is the same class that Steph took and aced so many weeks ago. I guess it's an expectation that I will follow in her footsteps, but of course I've just gotta get the job done too.
The loss of a set schedule has been tough, but luckily (and yes I am saying luckily) there is enough work that I am able to keep an 8-4ish day of sorts. I miss the consistency of my language schedule, but appreciate the variety. Any given day I can be learning new computer applications that I'll be using at post, studying immigration statutes, or even conducting roleplays to simulate situations I may be faced with once we are in Venezuela. The broad spectrum of things that I may face in this position are definitely intriguing. I'll keep you posted as the class progresses, but please wish me luck!
Reminders:
Since my last post there have many things that I have been reminded of and wanted to reflect on briefly.
Spanish: Looking back, I have to say that I was really lucky during my Spanish training. To be able to go from almost nothing to competent in 17 weeks really was an accomplishment. I know that I have to attribute much of that to the amount of work I put into learning the language, but I was also extremely lucky to have the professors that I did during my time in language. I can honestly say that each professor I had contributed something significant to my learning. Be it helping me grasp the grammar rules, or gaining the ability to control the language with a limited vocab, I am amazed when I now get into a conversation in Spanish with a native speaker and can hold up my end. I have said many times that I was looking forward to the moment that I could finally speak. Now, I'm looking forward to the ability to USE the language. Also, one more thing I have to recognize; I am EXTREMELY lucky to have Steph in my life to practice and help me with my Spanish. She has always been my motivation in learning this language, and to be at the end of one road, learning, and moving forward together from here on out operating in a second language will be a real treat. I am so blessed to have her in my life and can't wait for this adventure. A major goal in our lives...achieved!
Reasoning: The other thing I am reminded of often when we are here in DC is the reason we got into this life in the first place; service to country. I have always been a big believer in national service, and being here in DC for training has provided me with many reminders of why this job is important to me. This past Sunday Steph and I ran down to the Memorial Bridge connecting DC to Arlington Cemetary to see the funeral procession for Senator Ted Kennedy. All politics aside, the spontaneous show of respect and patriotism to him and his family as the funeral procession went by (with people clapping, waving, and showing their American flags) was awe inspiring. It reminded me of how lucky we are to be Americans and that I have a whole lot to be thankful and give back for. I remember way back over three years ago when I began this process I thought that consular work was similar to working in the DMV. After learning more about the possibilities of stopping terrorism, protecting the American public from individuals that shouldn't be here, and providing services to Americans abroad, I realize there's a lot more to the job than just pushing paper. I'm glad to know that by doing my job overseas I'll be able to say thank you, for everything I gain and have gained as an American, everyday.
