Impressions

Hi all, it's about time I wrote again, I know! It's been a great couple of weeks as I've been getting settled in and acclimated to things here. I'm still living in a hotel, which isn't ideal, but it could be a lot worse. I've found out that I am assigned permanent housing now, but once permission is granted from Washington to sign the lease, the landlord will have to do several upgrades, so I can expect to remain in hotel status for another 6 weeks or so.

I am a step closer to be accredited, which is good news. My application has been sent out, so I expect within a week or so I should receive my carnet (accreditation from the Venezuelan government). It'll be great to start the process of having my things sent from Washington! Maybe my housing will come out to have perfect timing with my things arriving from Washington :) I'm in a bit of a holding pattern right now. It's a bit difficult to be too independent with no car and not being within walking distance of many things, but I'm taking advantage of everyone's offers to do different kinds of things, so it's not getting old yet. I joined some other employees in a league of pick-up soccer this week, which was VERY fun. I look forward to doing that again.

I'm also taking good advantage of the hotel pool when I get the chance (on weekends since they close at 6:00 pm on weekdays), which is great. I love the fact that the weather is so nice here. It's generally in the low to mid 80s. It does rain in the afternoons quite often, but not for long. And once it rains and stops the weather goes back to being nice again.

I'm enjoying the work too so far. It's fun to finally feel like I'm contributing to the department a bit after being new and in training for so long (not that I've learned it all by any means, but I am able to help cover some of the load of the visa interviews). Hopefully I'll be up to speed within a month or so!