Friday, January 15, 2016

And so it begins...

It's January in a PCS (permanent change of station) year.  You know what that means.

The cats' rabies documents are sent to the vet to see what they need and when, in order to reside in the EU starting this fall.  I think we actually have a rough plan in place for getting them to Germany without coming to the U.S. or even traveling alone, which is awesome.  The rabies titre is everything it seems, so we're on it.

The boys' (just the boys!) documents are in to the Frankfurt International School, except for the bus form (need a German address) and the recommendation letters from teachers, and semester 1 grades from this year (coming out next week).  Everything else is done.

Ian is plugging away on his prepping for Frankfurt items.  On Monday I'll set up our HHE mid-May and UAB early-June pack out dates to beat Ramadan and everyone else who wants to pack out on the same day but aren't thinking about it just yet.  Hah.

The cleaning out of closets and drawers and cupboards continues.  Becca is working on her room today.

We'll advertise the car in March for a June 9 delivery date.  We have a second car that we haven't been driving.  Bought it last summer and it basically sat but for a few times we've used it.  Found out it wouldn't start.  And wouldn't jump.  So we brought in a mechanic who said it needed a new engine.  That's not happening, and since the car was for Rebecca once she gets her license (half way there!) so she could get to basketball practice and such, it's rather annoying that we bought a lemon.  The car is older and we knew it had some quirks, but the engine shouldn't completely quit after a few months of not being driven. What to do with it now?? Suggestions?

Plans are forming for our home leave in the U.S.   Every 2-3 years, we're required to go to the U.S.to spend at minimum 20 working days being American.  It's an expensive forced vacation no matter how you look at it, and unless you're coming from WHE (the western hemisphere countries), you're faced with jetlag.  If you don't have a home somewhere that you can occupy for a month or two you're couch/basement/hotel/airbnb hopping.  With a rental car.  Throw in all the stuff we kinda need to do to not sit like lumps... because you're not allowed to work and the kids typically aren't in school.

So we're going to Florida for 2 weeks, then will make our way up the East Coast to my parents' home for a couple weeks (if they'll have us), while Ian has a week of FACT and then some time in DC while he has consultations.

Then to Germany.

No comments:

Post a Comment