Thursday, August 14, 2008
Different Playgroup, Different Day
Today Gray and I joined in on a Foreign Service playgroup at a park here in Falls Church. You guys probably don't know, but a previous client of mine is here with her husband. He is in Urdu language training right now and they leave for Chennai, India in October. When she was in labor at Northside I found out that he had passed the FS Exam and was really excited for them. At that time JohnPaul had also turned in his application, but it was still a distant dream for us. Anyway, I contacted her to find out where they were when we got the notification that he was officially accepted. As fate would have it, she and her (now 14 month old) son arrived here to meet her husband 8 days before Gray and I arrived.
We had dinner down by the grills the other night and today I hitched a ride with her to playgroup. There were three other moms there. One's husband an FSO (Foreign Service Officer), one's husband with DS (Diplomatic Security) and another husband is with USAID (United States Agency for International Development). One of the moms sells Arbonne and is coming over to give me and my friend a mini-makeover tonight. I am looking forward to that though. Makeup is on my list of things to stock up on so I thought I would give it a whirl. Plus she and her family were in Nairobi the same time that I was there, so conversation should be good.
We had dinner down by the grills the other night and today I hitched a ride with her to playgroup. There were three other moms there. One's husband an FSO (Foreign Service Officer), one's husband with DS (Diplomatic Security) and another husband is with USAID (United States Agency for International Development). One of the moms sells Arbonne and is coming over to give me and my friend a mini-makeover tonight. I am looking forward to that though. Makeup is on my list of things to stock up on so I thought I would give it a whirl. Plus she and her family were in Nairobi the same time that I was there, so conversation should be good.
Fly like an eagle, into the future...
A cute pick of Gray outside of the bird exhibit at the National Zoo on Monday 8/11.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
D.C. Adventures (Serena)
Gray and I arrived Saturday morning. Short and uneventful flight. I am just happy to leave the stress of "finishing up" in Atlanta. I know we aren't in Serbia yet, but in my mind we are just stopping through D.C. for a nice long vacation before our flight out in late September.
The weather here has been unbelievable. We were transported through time to the beginning of a beautiful fall on the East Coast. High of 80 degrees, cool and dry breezes. Downright chilly evenings with the windows open. Okay, back to reality. I know it's just a fluke and that the heat and humidity of August is on its way back beginning tomorrow, but to me it was like a secret welcome to my new adventure. This is the weather I live for every year. And it was waiting here for me upon my arrival-a brief whisper to comfort me and let me know that I am on the right path. Enough about my obsession with temperate climates.
Gray and I have conquered the Metro and are armed with our maps. We've been to the zoo, the State Department building, Albert Einstein and managed a long stroll through Georgetown (most of which he slept through). I haven't been to Georgetown since I stayed for three days right before flying out to Kenya for Peace Corps in September of 2002.
The exterior of the apartment buildings resemble barracks, but the interior gives way to modern comforts and our two bedroom is pretty spacious. Plenty of room for visitors (hint, hint) with a large second bedroom with full bath. Grayson wears himself out daily thanks to the pool, playground, tennis courts and sand volleyball court on site. It's nice and we will settle in just in time to pull up our tender roots and re-plant a bit further away. Looking forward to it though!
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Day 16 – Post Assignments
By JohnPaul
Okay, I know… I haven’t written in a while… but I thought I would wait until I have some real news. Here it is, short and sweet.
We’re going to Belgrade, Serbia!
Okay, I know… I haven’t written in a while… but I thought I would wait until I have some real news. Here it is, short and sweet.
We’re going to Belgrade, Serbia!
Monday, July 28, 2008
Day 8 – Pack-Out Blues
By JohnPaul
So… our pack-out got totally screwed up today. Between me and Serena we received five confirmations about our move… or more importantly when the movers were coming. They were supposed to come today to pack the house in boxes to get it ready for the movers who are coming tomorrow. In theory, once the house is packed it should only take the movers a couple hours to load the truck. Well… I’m not sure how that is going to go since the packers didn’t end up coming today. Or at least we cancelled them when it got to 2:30pm and still no sign of them. To add insult to injury, my mom volunteered to entertain Grayson for the day so Serena and Anita could coordinate the move. So now, for tomorrow, Anita is on Grayson duty and Serena has to meet the packers at the house at 6:30am… because the movers are still scheduled to be at our house with the truck at 9am tomorrow morning. Brilliant, huh?
I did have a funny conversation with the packer today… at around 5pm, when he called me to confirm for tomorrow. He was like “they called me around noon. I was on my way to pick-up the truck and my crew around 2:30pm when they told me not to worry about it today.” He sounded very confused. I was like, “well you were supposed to be there first thing this morning. I’m not sure why you didn’t know about it until noon… since your company has been confirming with me for the last two weeks.” He didn’t seem to be very with it. But, all in all it is our fault. When we met with the VERY “with it” moving company rep for our pre-move consultation he asked us what kind of customer service needs we wanted to make sure things go well. He used examples like timeliness and movers that don’t smell… Serena and I being new to this world of having movers didn’t say anything. In hindsight, I hope the movers are lathers up with deodorant tomorrow… for Serena’s sake… since timeliness doesn’t seem to be a strong point.
Take care,
-JP
So… our pack-out got totally screwed up today. Between me and Serena we received five confirmations about our move… or more importantly when the movers were coming. They were supposed to come today to pack the house in boxes to get it ready for the movers who are coming tomorrow. In theory, once the house is packed it should only take the movers a couple hours to load the truck. Well… I’m not sure how that is going to go since the packers didn’t end up coming today. Or at least we cancelled them when it got to 2:30pm and still no sign of them. To add insult to injury, my mom volunteered to entertain Grayson for the day so Serena and Anita could coordinate the move. So now, for tomorrow, Anita is on Grayson duty and Serena has to meet the packers at the house at 6:30am… because the movers are still scheduled to be at our house with the truck at 9am tomorrow morning. Brilliant, huh?
I did have a funny conversation with the packer today… at around 5pm, when he called me to confirm for tomorrow. He was like “they called me around noon. I was on my way to pick-up the truck and my crew around 2:30pm when they told me not to worry about it today.” He sounded very confused. I was like, “well you were supposed to be there first thing this morning. I’m not sure why you didn’t know about it until noon… since your company has been confirming with me for the last two weeks.” He didn’t seem to be very with it. But, all in all it is our fault. When we met with the VERY “with it” moving company rep for our pre-move consultation he asked us what kind of customer service needs we wanted to make sure things go well. He used examples like timeliness and movers that don’t smell… Serena and I being new to this world of having movers didn’t say anything. In hindsight, I hope the movers are lathers up with deodorant tomorrow… for Serena’s sake… since timeliness doesn’t seem to be a strong point.
Take care,
-JP
Friday, July 25, 2008
Day 5
By JohnPaul
Whelp… today was the last day of the first week… only five more to go, maybe. The catch phase here is “Well, it depends”. As you can imagine, the world being such a big place, although there is specific training… once you get to post things can be different. Ah, the adventure!
Our pack-out is Monday, which I can only imagine will be an adventure of its own. Being that the moves couldn’t schedule us until the 28th, I have completely lucked out of having to deal with those logistics. But, Serena on the other hand? Well, I can hear the anxiety in her voice. Imagine putting everything you own into piles: Unaccompanied Air Baggage (which will meet us in DC), Temporary Storage (which will join us at our first post), and Permanent Storage (with will join us when the adventure ends… however long that is). My hats off to Serena for taking care of that for us. I can’t even imagine.
Speaking of Monday, our bid list is due on Monday. Bids are the list of possible posts in order of preference. I went ahead and turned mine in today. I feel a whole lot better getting that out of the way so I can stop obsessing about it for the weekend. Belgrade is my number one… I have been telling the others in my group (all bidding on the same locations) that if they bid Belgrade as their number one I’m going to break their legs… but being a fairly nice guy, I’ll make sure I get them to the hospital. You know? You have to keep karma balanced.
Although, the others don’t seem to be as lucky when it comes to knowing what they want. I’m a pretty decisive guy though. Tonight a group of us are all getting together to watch videos about some of the posts on our bid list. About half of my orientation class are living in the same complex, and being that I have a one bedroom apartment (the rest have studios) I have been nominated to host our little party. This is perfectly fine with me… I can just stay in my room. Which is awesome, because I am so drained… and with the hectic schedule… stress of starting something new… the anxiety of not knowing what is still to come… and not having my family here to share in the adventure (yet)… as let me to start feeling a bit run down. Today was a half day though… and I have a weekend to chill. All of us here staying at the Oakwood complex seem to be feeling the same way and plan to stick close to home… no exploring DC.
I’m hoping after this first weekend I’ll feel up to venturing out. Both sides of my extended family live in the Baltimore area and I want to get out and visit. But this whole thing is still very new. There is a lot to process. I’m looking forward to rest. Doing laundry. Getting my footing in DC. Once the first full week is under my belt, I think I’ll be ready to take on the rest of the city.
Take care everyone!
-JP
Whelp… today was the last day of the first week… only five more to go, maybe. The catch phase here is “Well, it depends”. As you can imagine, the world being such a big place, although there is specific training… once you get to post things can be different. Ah, the adventure!
Our pack-out is Monday, which I can only imagine will be an adventure of its own. Being that the moves couldn’t schedule us until the 28th, I have completely lucked out of having to deal with those logistics. But, Serena on the other hand? Well, I can hear the anxiety in her voice. Imagine putting everything you own into piles: Unaccompanied Air Baggage (which will meet us in DC), Temporary Storage (which will join us at our first post), and Permanent Storage (with will join us when the adventure ends… however long that is). My hats off to Serena for taking care of that for us. I can’t even imagine.
Speaking of Monday, our bid list is due on Monday. Bids are the list of possible posts in order of preference. I went ahead and turned mine in today. I feel a whole lot better getting that out of the way so I can stop obsessing about it for the weekend. Belgrade is my number one… I have been telling the others in my group (all bidding on the same locations) that if they bid Belgrade as their number one I’m going to break their legs… but being a fairly nice guy, I’ll make sure I get them to the hospital. You know? You have to keep karma balanced.
Although, the others don’t seem to be as lucky when it comes to knowing what they want. I’m a pretty decisive guy though. Tonight a group of us are all getting together to watch videos about some of the posts on our bid list. About half of my orientation class are living in the same complex, and being that I have a one bedroom apartment (the rest have studios) I have been nominated to host our little party. This is perfectly fine with me… I can just stay in my room. Which is awesome, because I am so drained… and with the hectic schedule… stress of starting something new… the anxiety of not knowing what is still to come… and not having my family here to share in the adventure (yet)… as let me to start feeling a bit run down. Today was a half day though… and I have a weekend to chill. All of us here staying at the Oakwood complex seem to be feeling the same way and plan to stick close to home… no exploring DC.
I’m hoping after this first weekend I’ll feel up to venturing out. Both sides of my extended family live in the Baltimore area and I want to get out and visit. But this whole thing is still very new. There is a lot to process. I’m looking forward to rest. Doing laundry. Getting my footing in DC. Once the first full week is under my belt, I think I’ll be ready to take on the rest of the city.
Take care everyone!
-JP
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