Whirlwind

I haven't forgotten about updating my blog...I keep thinking about it, just never find the time to do it!

After a week of getting a lot of the necessary boring stuff done, I went for a very short weekend trip to New York with a group of 4 friends from church. We drove up late Friday night, spent the night in Newark, then took the train in to the city on Saturday morning. We left at about 11 pm on Saturday night, getting us in bed in DC by 5:00 am, but we all still made it to church on Sunday! It was a great trip and we saw a ton for the short amount of time we were there. I will put the link to my picasa web album up when I have all the pictures there.

Since we got back, I've been in a whirlwind of trying to do everything that needs to be done before I leave. I recently found out I can mail boxes of things to myself that I'll want sooner than my household shipment will arrive in Caracas, so last night a friend came over to help me organize and pack 4 small-medium sized boxes, which I mailed this morning. I should get them within a couple weeks, as opposed to the couple months or so for my household shipment. Next on tap will be packing my suitcases, so that I know what to keep out when the movers come on Friday. I've been copying important documents, trying to sort what can be shipped by what means (aerosol, liquids, etc. have restrictions).

Another friend from church has agreed to store my car until it can be shipped, which is a huge blessing/relief. The moving company says they can't ship it until I am accredited after arriving in Venezuela, so it will likely be a couple to a few months before I have it at post. I am not too worried about that at this point, though, since I will be glad to learn about driving from the marines until I can drive my own car.

I have been in general security briefings yesterday and today, and tomorrow will have a country-specific one. I am still waiting to be able to pick up my visa. It has supposedly been issued and sent back from the Venezuelan Embassy to the State Department, but no one in the visa office has seen it. I have a feeling it will all get resolved at the last minute (sometime this week), but there's always the chance I'll have to push back my departure by a day or two (or several).

I just found out that Joanna received the pass she applied for a few weeks ago to come and visit me this weekend! We're so excited to get a chance to see each other once more before I leave the country. Dan will plan to come up sometime on Saturday to visit as well, so I'm sure we'll have a nice time together.