Santa Claus and Tovlis Papa

Merry Christmas!

Tovlis Papa (or თოვლის პაპა in Georgian) is Snow Grandfather, a Christian gift-bringing figure in the Caucascus area of Europe (well according to wikipedia.....) and you know who Santa and we are......

Christmas has come and gone in our household....but the country of Georgia celebrates the orthodox Christmas on Jan 7.....so it's the holiday season that doesn't end......well at least not until next year. It was quite surreal to run to the grocery store on Christmas day and everything was open and like any other day....

I will try and resist de-Christmasfying the house until at least the Georgian Christmas (that should allow some late straggling gifts that have been sent to arrive and be opened around the tree as well), but it will be tough given I've taken the tree down on the 25th before...lol. Now if only some our belongings (such as the UAB shipped 3 1/2 weeks ago....meant to take 2-3 weeks) will arrive and it will feel just like Christmas being reunited with our belongings.....the joys of this new adventure.

House Tour

Made It!

After what seemed like a series of flights that would never end (adding to the fun getting very little sleep on the flights) we have finally made it to Tbilisi.  We left a week ago last Sunday. Tbilisi doesn't have many flights, the primary way of traveling here is via Munich. However, if you go that way you get the joy of spending somewhere between 9-13 hours in the airport since the Lufthansa flight in to Tbilisi doesn't leave until after 9pm Munich time (and gets in to Tbilisi after 4am!). However, the great people at the State travel office found a flight on KLM/Delta that would only give us a 3 hour layover in Amsterdam! The rub is we would have to leave on a Sunday since Georgian Airways (our connecting flight to Tbilisi) had only 2 flights a week between Amsterdam and Tbilisi - Friday and Monday. So we opted to leave early and depart on a Sunday....

Well just over a week ago, a winter storm descended on the Northeast and snow and ice started to fall in Washington DC. We kept an eye out to see if our flight would be delayed, but we lucked out and it wasn't (whereas quite a few other flights that day, and then later that week quite a few of my classmates who were departing to their respective post got delayed due to the storm). Deb's dad picked us up from the Oakwoods and took us to Dulles. We had to get a cab to take some of our luggage and Mason rode with me in the cab. We had a total of close to 13 pieces of luggage, which made for an interesting check in....

We arrived at Dulles. We were dropped off at the Delta entrance but then had to ferry all our luggage to check in with KLM. We knew we were over our "free" allotment of luggage and were going to have to pay for the extra pieces (State authorizes 2 pieces of luggage per person, so we should get reimbursed for the 1 extra piece per person). However, we still had to pay for it all. The lady with KLM started to argue with me about our amount of luggage and I wasn't sure if she was trying to talk me out of taking them?! I finally had to say "look, I'm going on a two year work assignment. Unless you are going to ship them for free I have to take this luggage and I'm fine paying with it!". Total tab before reimbursement, $975!

Since we had some time to blow before our flight, Deb and I had some free United lounge passes we decided to use. It was nice to get some snacks and drinks and charge up our various iDevices before boarding the plane. Soon enough, it was time to board the flight. We knew our flight was going to be full, and since we had 2 carry on bags per person, the KLM gate agent gate-checked some of our bags free of charge. We did have one casualty as a result - we had Deb's laptop in one of the bags (outside pocket) and now the lcd panel no longer works, probably as a result of getting thrown around by the luggage handlers. The employee checking our bags told the kids there would a surprise onboard, which prompted Mason to ask the first flight attendant he saw on the plane for it (which she had no clue what he was asking for). Once the doors were shut and the plane was being prepped for departure, the flight attendants did come by with a little goody bag for the kids. It was a drawstring bag with a finger puppet, some colored pencils and activity pages (trip passport/diary type thing). Due to the previously mentioned weather, departure took a little longer than usual as the plane needed to be de-iced.

The KLM flight was relatively uneventful. We all enjoyed watching the flight tracker. After we ate, Deb tried getting Clarissa to get some sleep and made a pallet for her on the floor. Just as Clarissa fell asleep the flight attendant came by and told Deb that Clarissa couldn't sleep on the floor. Getting picked up woke Clarissa up and caused her to have a complete meltdown, crying kicking and screaming. I decided to switch places with Deb and let Clarissa sleep on my lap - Deb was at her wits end, mad at the flight attendant for causing her to wake up Clarissa, tired and unable to do anything to calm Clarissa down. Clarissa fell asleep in my lap, and Deb got some dozing (along with Mason, who had made Deb his bed). Oh, personally I got a little ticked at the lady sitting in front of Mason. As soon as we were airborne she reclined her seat fully right in to Mason's lap. Then once we started our descent in to Amsterdam, she told the flight attendant she needed to sit in the front of the plane because she needed to be the first off or she'd miss her connection. So when she went up front, she kept her empty seat fully reclined (which the flight attendants didn't fix when they did their final walkthrough before landing).

We got in to Amsterdam. First stops were to grab some breakfast and brush the funk off our teeth. Schipol has a kids play area, so we let the kids run around there to burn off some energy before we caught our next flight. Interesting thing was you go through security again at each individual gate. Luckily we hadn't brought any food but the partially drank bottles of water had to be abandoned to get on the plane.

Our next leg was on Georgian Airways - which was interesting to say the least. The plane wasn't even 1/4 of the way full, so Deb stayed with Clarissa and Mason and I had our own rows. Only one of the two bathrooms on the plane was in operation, and the working bathroom, appeared as though it got skipped on cleaning when the plane was turned around (time wasn't an issue, since the plane was parked and unloaded before we ever arrived). There were "liquids" on the floor, and they kept running out of toilet paper (I think the last hour or two there was none in it).

When they served "lunch" you really didn't have a choice. Mason and Deb had some pasta with a couple saucy meat like chunks to the side (even though vegetarian had been ordered), I had some couscous and a meat like substance. I ate it all because I was starving, I don't think Deb and Mason ate much of theirs. Clarissa and Deb fell asleep and slept most of the flight, Mason slept a good portion of it. I didn't get any sleep. After a 4-5 hour flight we prepared for landing in to Tbilisi. We came in over the snow covered mountains and landed in our new home.

Some embassy staff and my office sponsor met us at the airport and helped us through Customs. Georgia takes a digital photo of everyone who comes through, and Clarissa decided she didn't want her photo taken. We finally got through customs and claimed all of our bags. We had checked Clarissa's car seat and put it in the car (Embassy staff won't drive a child who is not in their car seat). Clarissa decided she didn't want to be in the car seat and proceeded to have meltdown #2. We finally got her buckled in and started to make our way to our new home. Which will be a post of its own!

Not Everything Transfers...

Prior to joining the Dept. of State this past July, I was working for a few months for the Dept. of Navy in Charleston SC. It was only 5-6 months, but I did accrue a little bit of vacation/sick leave (that originally I planned to use for our 5 year anniversary trip in July to Hawaii, but DoS came a'callin...) as well as a little bit in my retirement account. Plus, I had my health insurance (including dental, vision, dependent care/flexible spending account). I was told that everything would automatically transfer over. Come to find out, not everything transfers over (at least without some help).

When you start with the Dept., you are told it can take a few weeks for your first paycheck to show up. That's fine, as that usually is the case with most new jobs (you have to be put in to the payroll system, etc). When I got my first paycheck, I saw that my portion of my health care had been deducted from my check, but nothing showing my dental, vision, dependent care/flexible spending account. I emailed State HR to find out what was up, and also called Benefeds (they are the party that manages dental and vision) as well as FSAFeds. Come to find out, I had to call them to let them know I changed agencies. Kind of opposite from the "everything transfers"I was told....

It took me a few weeks to get that straightened out, but finally my dental, vision, dependent care/flexible spending is now being deducted as I signed up for.

Next up, vacation and sick leave. I'm sure at some point it would have transferred over, but some classmates of mine found the quick way (if you are just starting, don't do this first thing. Wait a few pay periods and if nothing has transferred yet go this route). First, make sure you have your FINAL Leave and Earnings (L&E) statement from your previous agency. I didn't have access to my old payroll system so I had to jump through a few hoops but I finally got it. Next send a copy of the L&E statement to "Pay Help" letting them know you you transferred from another agency and you would like them to transfer your sick and vacation balances. Presto, they will transfer it over and you will see it on your State L&E statement within 1-2 pay periods.

Other than the dental/vision and FSA portion, I'm sure the vacation and sick leave would have eventually transferred over. The rest, well it doesn't automatically "transfer over"....

Pin Cushion

Part of the joy of being in the Foreign Service is you get to get vaccinated for oh...everything before you go to post (and sometimes in between posts). I stopped by the medical center today during our lunch break to drop off Deb and the kids vaccination records. I cannot find mine, and my doctor does not have them in my files.

When I dropped Deb and the kids records off, the nurse asked if I  had mine. I told her I didn't and my doctor couldn't find them. She then got an evil look on her face and started laughing.  Looks like I'm getting everything (at a minimum I estimate 5 shots on my first round)!

Half Way....

So we when driving up to DC back in mid-July, we had no idea how long we would be here. It made it tricky for deciding what clothes to bring (well not too tricky, winter isn't very cold in SC....we don't really have any winter clothes). By the end of July though, we knew where we were going and our approximate departure date. So the other day, Richard and I realized that we are about 2.5 months into a 5 month stay.....while it seems we've been here a while (as well as just got there)...it's almost time for us to move on as well....eek!

We have done a good bit while here in DC: 2 trips to the National Zoo, 2 trips to Wheaton Park (Clarissa is in love with train and carousel rides), innumerable trips to Smithsonian museums, Lincoln's cottage (who knew Lincoln was the first commuting president!), tons and tons of walks to the close by playground (as well as scope out new playgrounds), hang out with my brother and his family and my parents. The kids have started swim lessons, dance, gymnastics, and scouts (anybody want some popcorn?!?)......so to summarize....normal, crazy busy (and I used to fit work into that).

Oh....btw the way, I have been working on those last two blog posts for a while....bits and pieces here and there. I have no clue whatsoever how people with multiple school age kids can homeschool them all at once. I am just working with Mason (and its an online school, I don't have to plan anything just go through the assignments with him). Since we need to finish the semester before our departure date, I'm going to have to do a little double time to finish a few of the courses.....eek! Hopefully (especially once I'm done with consumables/HHE pack out), I will have more time to blog.

Doing Science....

I'm a science dork...no big surprise to anyone who knows me. I take pride in being a fountain of useless knowledge of science factoids (how many people really know that spanish moss and pineapples are in the same plant family...didn't think so). I even subscribe to an online magazine just to get cool science research fixes......

I've had my fair share of fun field (and lab) work since college....working on fishing boats in Alaska (well technically in international waters, since I think I only was on land maybe 4 days the whole 2 months I was up there), circumnavigating Catalina Island for dolphin research on 3 day trips, pipetting like a pro at the genetics company...to name just a few, but you get the picture. I think my favorite field work has been helping with the HERA dolphin captures.....in situ field work at its best.

Cliffnotes version.....dolphins are sentinels for humans. Given we can't (easily) get permits to draw blood, remove blubber (I would gladly donate some though!), and poke and prod to check the health of humans based on contaminant loads, dolphins are the next best thing. Given dolphins live the water we play in and eat a lot of the same fish and shrimp we do, by checking out them it gives us a way to guesstimate/correlate to human health. If dolphins in an area are healthy then the sea food is probably okay for humans to consume frequently.

Anywho, back to the story. I was able to help when I was a graduate student with the dolphin captures back in 2003 and 2005 (I was preggo in 2004.....since dolphins can carry toxoplasmosis (ie reason you don't have kitty litter duty while pregnant) I couldn't go out due to the safety of Mason growing in my tummy). Teaching high school chemistry, put a bit of a damper on my field work opportunities (and field trips would make me miss it so much). So, when asked if I could volunteer and help with photo-ID, I jumped at the opportunity.

Being on the photo-ID team, meant riding in style on the catch boat. This particular boat had wet areas to stand and wetter areas to stand....staying dry while on the boat pretty much wasn't an option. While showering when under way, we watched for dolphins. As part of the photo-ID team our jobs were to make sure the dolphins hadn't been previously capture this week (we'd put pink and blue tags on them which can be seen from a distance), as well as make sure the dolphins were old enough to be captured. Any calf under 2 was avoided and Moms with older calves were avoid as well because they were likely pregnant! Both of these were avoided so we wouldn't put them under too much stress and cause health issues. All females were ultrasounded in the water (how cool is that) and the majority were pregnant (which is good in terms of population health!), so they would be released right away.

Looking for Dolphins

Once captured, photo-ID's job was to photo document the dolphins body. We would take pictures of healed shark bites (tons of those....in fact one afternoon we caught 3 sharks ourselves! After untangling from the net we would throw them back....Sharknado Charleston....hee hee). We also took pictures of other body scars (stranded feeders tend to have a lot on the side they strand on), their teeth (old dolphins have lots of worn down teeth), photos of the tagging and branding of the fin, and any health ailments (infections/diseases/etc). Pretty much....we were dolphin paparazzi....up close and personal style!

Waiting to do some science :)
The white board allowed for good pictures of the
dorsal fin with a measurement scale along the side
and bottom as well removal of background
objects that could distort the fin profile.

There was a huge team of veterinarians and other scientist who were: conducting exams, monitoring the animals vitals, processing samples, etc., while we were sneaking in for pictures (and don't worry this was all done with a Federal permit allowing the harassment of marine mammals.....hence the lack of photos of our grey aquatic mammalian friends). Upon completion of the exam, the dolphins were released and monitored for an initial surfacing. Samples are sent back for distribution to different scientist/labs we were collaborating with. I feel the most interesting part will be to compare samples caught this year with samples from 10 years ago.....and we did have a number of recaptures from prior years.

For safety reasons, since the Charleston waterways vary from hard, sandy bottom to soft, pluff mud full of oysters shells, we have to wear rubber soled shoes while on the boat so we were ready to jump in the water with a moments notice.....so at the end of a week....I was rocking an awesome ankle tan line (even with sunscreen reapplication bordering OCD)!