Challenges of Relocating

I’ve concluded that arriving to a new overseas assignment with the State Department is much like going through the Army’s boot camp.  You are initially stripped of all your belongings (except two suitcases and a carry one).  You are only given the bare minimum needed to survive (a welcome kit).  You get the run around by all sorts of installers, repairmen, and GSO service providers who are apathetic to the struggles you are facing.  It sometimes appears that they have colluded and are enjoying putting you through the painful initiation process as they say things such as, “we need you to fill out all eight forms again,” or “the previous tenants did just fine without a door handle on their front door.”  For the first few days, adjusting is difficult and you continually ask yourself, “is this job worth all this trouble.”

Within a few days, you begin to experience small victories.  You venture outside the empty, echoing house to visit the nearby grocery store.  It takes a while to figure out the labels on the strange products, understand people’s accents, and make sense of the funny-looking money in your pocket, but in the end, your fridge is stocked.  Then, you get a cell phone that makes you feel less vulnerable and more in control.  Afterwards, you find a Wi-Fi hot spot and e-mail your family to let them know you are alive and arrived at your destination. Each day that follows brings a few more minor accomplishments such as getting a log-on at work, making a friend, and learning who is helpful and who is unhelpful at work. 

After a couple more days, you start to see more signs of normalcy.  The kids have their first play date.  Everyone’s comfort items arrive; for me, it was my guitar. The first sign that you have passed through the worst is when your son goes a day without saying, “I want to go back home.”  

Before hanging up the “Mission Accomplished” banner across your new home, you wait for the kids to get in school and for your shipment of belongings to arrive.  However, you feel a sense of progress and competence when a new arrival walks into work and asks, “How do I turn on the water heater at home?"