Closing Day

Who has two thumbs and no longer owns a house? THIS GUY. It took around 6 months, but we finally closed on our old house in Maryland. It was a good house, and we would have been alright continuing to live there, but there was really no sense in keeping it once we moved overseas (it wasn't even close enough to DC for commuting... as I learned in the Spring). 

Bye, bye "Home" category in Mint.

One of the downsides to the Foreign Service, is that it's very difficult to plan ahead. I mean, you rarely know where you'll be living in a few years, so you're always in a state of flux. This starts pretty much from day one, since you don't know when or even if you're going to get the job. This can lead to some unfortunate housing situations, as happened with us. We ended up selling our house at a substantial loss. The market hasn't been great and rental values aren't really amazing (not to mention the incredible unreliability and headache involved with having renters), so we were pretty much forced to sell, when the market was flooded with houses. 

We're not the only ones; I know of people who have sold houses they've lived in for around 18 months or even worse, who literally got their offer letter for the Foreign Service on closing day for buying a new house. Of course the nice side of this, is that we can look forward to not having to pay for housing in the foreseeable future.

 

Two Years in India, Week 26: 26% Down

Well, here we are. A quarter of the way through my time in India! I've definitely been slacking on posting recently, partially because I got out of the rhythm when I was in Germany for training and partially because I've been working a lot. 

It's crazy to think that 26% of the way through our tour we're still (albeit somewhat due to laziness on our own part) unpacking. I can really understand why some of the Foreign Service old hats say you spend half your time "in transit." I don't have any profound insights for my quarter-way mark, so let me tell you about my week.

Monday, the mail room (which I'm the American in charge of) received their record highest number of diplomatic pouches. Something like three times the usual and twice the norm for the "holiday season." Needless to say, the area was pretty much packed full until people started picking up their boxes. 

On the computer front, we had some planned and unplanned outages that required extra hours at work. We have contractors here working on our facilities, who require my escorting from time to time. I went to the airport three days in a row and spent countless hours on the phone preparing for and executing one of our diplomatic pouch deliveries. I built spreadsheets and access databases. I went to several CLO functions and a couple appointments at the Med unit (finally getting those long overdue vaccinations). Most importantly I checked approximately 123490183249013 e-mails.

It all sounds impressive, right? It's probably not - we're a pretty laid back post compared to those of some of my compatriots. I mean, I still had time to take a few hours off and visit a craft show featuring crafts from around the country (at local prices... we bought way more than I'd expected) and to have breakfast with my retired upstairs neighbor (poori, dosa, and filter coffee, of course). 

Also, the Locally Employee Staff here are amazing. I've been told they're some of the best in the world (though, I doubt that's easy to objectively measure). I can confidently say that my job would be a gazillion times harder without the dedication, knowledge, and skill of my LES. I guess my point is that if I've learned anything from this job, it's that every day is different and there's always work to do. It's kind of a nice change from the last few years where I mostly sat on my butt doing the same thing every day. Besides, I get to go hang out on the tarmac at the airport!

I'm looking forward to another 74ish weeks in India. (NOTE: My previously estimate of 100 / 104 weeks in India is probably skewed now that I'm spending at least 4 weeks in training, not to mention vacations and R&R... oh well, I still like the idea of 1% per week)

Indian Driving License

Lock up your children and hide your pets, because I can officially drive in India! After many months of waiting (read: procrastinating), I finally applied for and got my "India Driving Licence (Tamilnadu)." I immediately flexed my newfound power by driving to work the rest of the week. 

My first impression of driving in India: Holy Crap! It's a heady mix of terror and exhilaration as you pretty much drive like a maniac and magically everyone around you anticipates your movements and casually drives around you. Don't get me wrong, it's not like there are no road rules. There are obviously tons of them, they're just unspoken... and I don't know them all (yet). For example, in the US you would never make a person going straight stop to let you turn onto the road. Here, there's no need to come to a complete stop before your turn... essentially ever. If that makes traffic stop to let you in, so be it.

Honking has different expectations here also. Motocycles ("two wheelers") regularly honk just to verify that you know they're there. With lanes being a fluid concept here, it makes sense that the 'little guys' are the most vocal. The cacophany of horns is a little confusing at first, but makes sense pretty quickly. Flashing your brights here means the opposite of what it does in the US, which was also confusing for me at first. It essentially means, "I'M GOING FOR IT!"

Writing about driving in India always makes it sound so bad, but honestly it's not. After five months in country, I have yet to see an accident! I'm told they're mostly caused by trucks and buses, generally at night, and in less urban areas. That makes total sense to me, because traffic does not move quickly here. I almost exclusively drive in first or second gear, and I rarely have the occasion to make it all the way up to third.

It's strangely liberating to be able to drive again... next challenge: getting gas!

Jury Duty

I imagine it's pretty rare to be super excited when you get a summons to jury duty. Don't get me wrong, jury duty is an integral part of our legal system and it is a civic duty to participate. I mean, if I am ever on trial, I know I'd like to have people like me on the jury. That being said, it's super unexciting to get summoned while overseas. Supposedly you can file for exemption... which I did and was denied. Due to the Thanksgiving holiday and massive time difference between India and my home state, I got to spend several stress-filled days thinking I'd have to book super expensive flights home. Fortunately, my denial was just a misunderstanding and I ended up being released from the committment, at least as long as I'm living overseas. 

Why We Skype

"This is why
Why we Skype
Why we stay up late
And this is why
This is why we Skype"

It might sound weird, but since we moved half way around the world, we actually seem to talk to our families (via FaceTime and Skype) more frequently than when we lived in the same time zone. That being said, we've come to realize something. Other than our parents, everyone wanting to Skype with us has an ulterior motive. Engagements and pregnancies seem to be the prime suspects. Don't get me wrong, we're flattered that people want to tell us and that they're willing to go through the effort of arranging a 'face-to-face' meeting. Of course, at first we thought they just missed our charming personalities and wanted to hear about India from the horse's mouth. Maybe I'm just underestimating the awesomeness of my blogging, but apparently that's all people need! :-D

The song has nothing to do with this post, but I like it, and writing a post named "Why We Skype" got it stuck in my head. 

PS: The video only plays in the US, sorry people elsewhere. You'll just have to go buy the album or something!