Time to stock up...

Tomorrow is a big day…Chris and I are renting a car (and not just an economy car, a full-sized one) to go spend an entire day and lots of money buying “consumables.”

What are consumables, you may ask…well, by the government’s definition, they are “expendable personal property that is used up, as opposed to wears out.” So think things like my favorite breakfast cereal (Quaker Oat Squares), toilet paper, kitty litter, toothpaste and Windex. But not batteries....they've made it very clear that batteries are definitely NOT consumables. In general, things (food, toiletries, cleaning supplies) that are either unavailable, hard to find, or really expensive overseas. Going to Tbilisi, we get 2500 lbs. of  consumables for our two-year stint…approximately half of which we’ll probably use on this shipment.

So, that means tomorrow, we’ll be headed to Sam’s Club to buy cat food and aspirin in bulk, which we’ll then have to store in our apartment until mid-December when the moving company comes to pack our things.  

Thinking about what we should buy is overwhelming….I mean, we probably don’t need to buy a lot, but since this is our first time living overseas and we have the opportunity to ship the stuff, we figure we might as well. But thinking about how much toilet paper you might use in a year or how much food your cats are going to eat is a little difficult….

In any case, tomorrow be a fun adventure. And then I'll get to feel like a hoarder for the next month, living in my apartment stocked with a year's supply of face wash, cat litter, paper towels.....

No More French!

Alright, so I know it’s been over 3 months since I wrote my last post. I’m going to blame that on French classes, which turned out to be a whole lot of work. I mean, I knew that learning another language would be hard, but having to spend 5 hours a day at school speaking French, plus 2-3 hours each night at home studying really does drain your energy.

In the end, I did not get my 3/3 on the first attempt, but instead got a 2+/3. And luckily, since I work for USAID and not the State Department, I only had to retake the speaking part of the exam. So, after another 4 weeks of training, I passed the speaking part last week! Hooray!

Now it’s on to preparations for moving…which is more complicated than I expected. To go overseas, you have to have book your tickets and schedule the movers to come pack up the 4 different shipments – Household effects (HHE) which take a month or more to arrive, Unaccompanied Air Baggage (UAB) which hypothetically arrives in a couple weeks, Consumables (food/toiletries/etc that are generally unavailable or too expensive at post), and Long-Term Storage.

BUT, before you can buy the tickets or get packed up, you need your Travel Authorization (TA). And, before you can get your TA, you need to have your Memorandum of Agreement with budget from post and complete a couple of trainings. BUT, before you can take the trainings, you need to pass your language test and get the scores over to USAID.

So anyway, I’m working on all that stuff for the next few weeks. I have our tickets tentatively booked for December 19^th, and our stuff will tentatively get packed up on the 12^th…everything in life is tentative right now. Except for our trip home for Thanksgiving – that will definitely happen and we’re looking forward to it.

Stay tuned for exciting updates now that life includes more than French again!

Catinca

So, shortly after Chris arrived in DC, we decided to look for a new friend for Wally. Since Tiger's departure, Wally has been a little extra needy (read, annoying) and so we started our search. Probably more accurately, Chris started the search. For those who aren't aware, Chris is a maximizer, so he put a lot of time into looking at cats online. Eventually, we agreed to go visit one who was in a foster home nearby. He was super cute and friendly, so we tried to adopt him. Unfortunately, the rescue group had some crazy conditions, such as feeding only wet, grain-free food to the cat, and when I said we wouldn't do that, we were doomed. After another week of calling every vet we'd ever been to, they told us we were denied because our cats hadn't been to the vet every 12 months. (Yes, I admit, sometimes it was more like 18 months between their vet visits. I'm an awful pet owner).

So after that awful experience, we decided to go back to the Humane Society, where we'd gotten most of our other cats. We went to one over in Virginia that had lots to choose from, and after our first visit, we hadn't decided which cat would fit best with us and Wallace. So Chris went back a few days later on his own and came home with the beautiful kitty below:

This is Catinca!

We named her Catinca to go along with Wallace's "The Fall" themed name. Catinca is the name of the actress who played the little girl in the movie (not many female characters in the movie...).

She has been an awesome addition to our family. She gets along well with Wally and she loves attention and cuddling. She was rescued from a house that was keeping her in the garage, where she had fleas and mange and wasn't in good health. Now she's happy and loved, despite the fact that we don't feed her grain-free food :)

Until next time...

Georgia on my mind...and French of course....toujours le français

So today was interesting because my future supervisor that I'll be working with in Georgia is in DC for a few days, so we met up after I finished French class today. It definitely reaffirmed for me that I am going to one of the most amazing countries and will have some great opportunities while I'm there, both for work and for play! I'm going to get to be involved in the whole process of program design, procurement, and implementation, as well as lots of opportunities for training and travel, both in Georgia and to other countries, for work! Not to mention lots of great places close enough to make for interesting weekend trips. Plus, my boss reminds me a lot of our friend, Matt Allen (yes Matt, I think you have a long-lost relative working for USAID). Plus, my two colleagues who have already made it over to Georgia have been emailing lots of info and posting great pictures. I can't wait to go!

Last week, I had my 12-week French evaluation. I got a 2/2, which is where I'm supposed to be at this point. I was so relieved to get it over with. Learning French at FSI has been...interesting. Particularly since it's not a language I'll be using once I get to my mission. I feel slightly disadvantaged because the others have a real motivation to learn since it'll be important for their everyday lives, not to mention their job. For me though, it's just a box I need to check before I can go out to post. I'm still trying to take advantage of the opportunity and get as much as I can out of it, but some days I have no motivation. I'm on my third teacher now. The teaching styles are quite different and can be very hard to get used to...I know some people have had teachers they've absolutely hated. I haven't had that experience (yet), but I can see how could happen. The whole system seems a bit strange...lots of people don't successfully pass their language test on the first try, which leads to additional weeks of training. And since USAID pays for our training by the week, it seems like it's to their benefit to keep us there a little longer than originally planned. I'm hoping that I can get my 3/3 on the first try, but I won't hold my breath. I still have a long way to go...

I'm Still Alive!

Well, nearly three months have passed since my last post and a lot has happened since then. Most notably, Chris moved to DC on June 1st! Here's a quick run-down of life until Chris got here. I'll write about what's happened since in my next post.

Mid-April: My kitty, Tiger, wasn't acting like himself. I got worried at about 8:00pm and took him to the emergency vet (in a cab - awesome). Unfortunately, he was suffering from kidney failure and in a lot of pain, so I had to say goodbye to him :(

The following weekend: Erin came to visit! Hooray! We went to a club Friday night, saw a movie, had some Georgetown cupcakes, and went to the zoo to see the baby lions.

The next day: French classes started. Life basically ended.

End of May: Mom and Dad spent a week in DC. We went to Arlington Cemetery, rode a canal boat in Georgetown, saw Hangover 2, went to the Memorial Day concert at the Capitol, went on a moonlight monument tour (photos), ate at the fish market...actually, ate at a lot of places.

The next day: Chris arrived!

Check back soon for more info on life since Chris moved to DC and my thoughts on French training at FSI...