Moving in the Foreign Service 101

As you can imagine, a big part of life in the Foreign Service is being prepared to move every few years.  Sarah and I like adventure, and she never likes to be in one place for too long, so we don't mind that so much.  Plus, we aren't pack rats, so we generally don't have too much to move from place to place (at least we didn't until El Señor arrived).

But moving from country to country with Uncle Sam's help can be fraught with red tape and other complications.  When we moved from one apartment to another in Arlington, we just rented a truck, moved all our things in one day, and then set up shop in the new place.  Not too bad, logistically speaking.  Not so in the Foreign Service.  Where to begin?

First off, you have to decide where all your stuff is going to go.  Your options include:

1. Personal Items - Stay in your suitcase and travel with you.
2. Unaccompanied Air Baggage (UAB) - A 600 lb. shipment that arrives at your new Post shortly after you do.
3. Household Goods Shipment (HHE) - All the rest of your stuff, it usually comes to your new Post by boat, and may not arrive for months after you do (depending on customs requirements).
4. Storage - The USG will store things for us while we live overseas free of charge, which is a great perk, especially if you are moving to a very tiny flat in London. 
5. Trash - Sadly, not all of your possessions can go on to enjoy the bright lights of London.

So you have to start by asking yourselves the following questions:

Do I need to take this in my suitcase?  Will I use it while I'm on home leave?  Should I put these baking pans in my UAB, which arrives about ten days after I get to London?  Or should I put it in my HHE?  Are we going to need this couch?  Wait, let me look at the pictures of our apartment again.  How big is the living room?  And does that look like a closet?  Do you think we could fit our winter coats in there?  Should I leave some of the coats in storage?  Well, if I'm going to do that, why don't I just throw them away?  Why do we have so many baking pans?!?  Will this toaster oven work with the voltage in the UK?  Do we need to buy MORE CURTAINS?  WHY DID YOU THROW THAT SET OF CURTAINS OUT SIX YEARS AGO?!?  I TOLD YOU THEY COULD HAVE COME IN HANDY!  AND YOU WANT TO SELL THAT THREE-MAN TENT WE HAVEN'T USED IN SEVEN YEARS?!?  ARE YOU CRAZY!!!

As you can imagine, sometimes emotions run high.  Moving by itself is pretty stressful, but when you add the elements of deciding what goes in which of those five piles and when, it can be a bit complicated.

Plus, in the Foreign Service, your house size will vary greatly over the course of your career.  I'll admit, we basically live in a palace here in Juarez.  This home is easily twice as large as any place we have ever lived in.  London, on the other hand, will be just a tad smaller.  After that, maybe we'll be in Zimbabwe, where we'll live on land big enough to necessitate its own guard shack. You never know, which, I suppose, is part of the fun of this line of work.

Finally, unlike in the real world, in the Foreign Service the movers often come pack out all of your stuff weeks before you actually depart Post.  So, then you're just stuck in your big empty house with your government-issue furniture and the "welcome kit," a collection of sheets, towels, and cooking items meant to keep you alive before you actually leave the country.  Thankfully, Sarah in her infinite wisdom, had us make a bunch of dinners in advance and freeze them, so we'll be sitting pretty for the ten days between pack-out and our departure.

Sounds fun, right?!

In this line of work, a lot of effort goes into closing each chapter of your life, and I'm sure they'll be plenty to do to start the new chapter once we get to London.  But we wouldn't have it any other way!

Catching Up Before We Head Out of Town

Sorry it's been a while between blog posts.  Perhaps, now that I am a bit more active on Facebook, I forget to update my blog quite as often.  Or it could just be that Sarah and I are insanely busy right now.  We are leaving Post in 15 days!  Back in November, when I realized we only had five months remaining at Post, I predicted that November and December would go by quickly because of all of our holiday travel, but that January, February, and March would really draaaag.  I was very wrong.  If anything, I feel like time is speeding up!  We have movers coming to pack up all of our stuff this Thursday, and I still have a lot of logistical stuff to finish up at work.

Thankfully, Sarah always knows how to plan ahead, so we've got pre-made dinners waiting for us in the freezer, dropped off ten bags of stuff at Goodwill, sold a bunch of stuff to other folks at the Consulate, and prepped most of the house for packing.

So, let's briefly sum up what the Petersons have been up to in for the first quarter of 2015.

• We spent early January scheduling out how to prepare for our move, since we did most of the work on Saturdays. 

• We took a road trip to Roswell, NM.  Here we are at the International UFO Museum.  El Señor was not impressed (neither was I). 

• On that same trip, we also made the trek through Carlsbad Caverns, which was awesome!  I definitely recommend it if you're ever in the area. 

• El Señor has developed a love affair with magnets.  Seriously, for a few weeks in January, the only words he could say were "mama," "dada," and "magnet."  

• We celebrated Sarah's birthday with a surprise party at work!  Happy belated birthday, babe!

• We finally (sort-of, maybe) got our housing assignment!  It's not 100% certain, as the London housing board still needs to vote to approve it, but we are hoping to move into a very nice three-bedroom flat about two miles from the Embassy.  Fingers crossed!

• Sarah's mom came for a visit.  We had a great time with her, and managed to take our little guy to the El Paso Zoo, which he really enjoyed (except for the elephants).  

• Liftoff!  Right around 18 months, El Señor finally learned to walk.  There's no stopping him now.  He just loves to run (drunkenly) all over the house, and he is also picking up new words all the time.  We have officially entered the toddler stage, I suppose. 

So that's the brief summation of our activities here in the Borderland for the last few months.  I'll try to post a few more times before we leave.  Hopefully, once we have all of our stuff packed out, things will be a bit quieter.  Talk to you soon!