First of all... our blogging took a backseat to job searching near the end of our volunteer experience. C.J. started a full blown job search of the solar electric industry on the East Cost, mostly focused on MD and VA, all remotely from Nicaragua. I was intending to follow him, so I didn't really start looking yet. I still wasn't blogging much though, partly because C.J. told me that some of my earlier blogs resembled suicide notes... they were too depressing. C.J. became the primary blogger pretty early on.
Oh so, one
thing that I was focusing on during this time was figuring out how to get Virginia home with us. I did a bunch of reading online and learned that Nicaragua has a bunch of rules for exporting cats, but the US really doesn't have any restrictions on importing them... strange. The first step was to get her a cat carrier that wasn't just a round laundry basket with a towel tied on the top... which is impossible to find in Nicaragua. I even went to the upscale pet store in Metro Centro in Managua, Escasan... no airline approved bags. Fortunately, I started looking early enough that I was able to buy one online and have it shipped to Pete from Daton, who brought it down with him when he came for the summer. Yay!So, with the bag taken care of, I had to focus on shots & paper work. My local, Ocotal, Vet helped me figure out which shots were required - as I recall it was Rabies and a tri-feline shot. Well, the Tri-feline was a refrigerated injection that they don't have in Ocotal, only in Managua, a 4 hour bus ride away. I wasn't too thrilled to cart my cat on a 8 hour round trip bus ride, so my Vet suggested that he could arrange delivery. Basically, delivery involves multiple taxi and bus rides for my little vile, all personally arranged... craziness. Surprisingly enough, the vile made it and Virgina got her shot. The next step was to actually take her to Managua to be seen by a particular Vet (I guess he was certified or something) and to get all the paperwork filled out.
Meanwhile, Virginia was the mom to three
adorable kittens that we called Sean, Sean Black, and Emilia. They were the cutest little things ever! All the locals were fighting for who would get to keep them. Pretty early on, I think before they were even born, we decided that their homes would be our host family, Frederlinda's family (next door, up the hill), and Reina's family (next door on the other side). All the kittens were going to be together! On our last day, we gave away the kittens, which worked out perfectly since they were about 10 weeks old. (Photo from left: Arele, Jeni, and Alex holding Emila, Sean Black aka Jackie Chan, and Sean aka Sol).Also around this time, the gate that I designed for the Solar center was being completed. The installation was underway on our very last day there! Our host family t
hrew us a little party the night before we had to leave and we had an emotional goodbye in the morning.The trip home was pretty stressful with the cat. It was quite a journey. 4 hours on the bus, an overnight in Managua, a taxi ride to the airport, a flight to FL, an 8 hour layover, and a flight to DC. Included in the overnight in Managua, we had plans to take Virginia to the special Vet for examination and then to go the the Governmental office that would issue us export papers. When the Dr. was examining Virginia we realized that the Tri-Feline vaccine had been expired at the time of the injection, so it didn't count. In addition, it needed to have been given at least 30 days before departure, so there was not time to get another shot! Fortunately, the Vet took pity on us and just simply changed the date of the injection on her record... he was reluctant to make the change since, as he put it, there is so much corruption in his country, but he was compassionate about us not getting caught in red tape - THANK GOODNESS! Whew, we got all of her papers in order - but not without a great deal of running around and stress.
When we got to the airport with Virginia, the ticket agent told us that someone would come to review her paperwork. We waited... we waited maybe 20 minutes. The agent went to go look for the guy... he couldn't find him. We started getting really nervous. The agent looked stressed. "Well," he tells us, "they guy you need to see didn't come to work today." We don't respond. "So, you all can go on through to security."
What? All that running around and they didn't even check the paperwork! Sheesh. When we got to the US, we took Virginia through the live animals and agricultural line at customs and the lady just says, "What do you have in the bag, a cat? Ok." What? so easy? "Do you have any food?" "Yes," "You can't take that into the country" So.... the food was confiscated, but Virgina was no problem at all!
When we got home it was culture shock all over again. I remember being so amazed that the laundry could be washed, dried, and ready to wear in only a matter of a couple hours. I took a shower, a hot shower, and I thought "it's so luxurious, and I can take a hot shower every day if I want to, every day for the rest of my life." It was so strange to think that we weren't going back to the other life, we were back for good.
We stayed with my parents for a few weeks while C.J. went on his job interviews. He got a job as a project manager with Standard Solar in Gaithersburg, MD. He considered the position his dream job - he would be managing the integration of commercial and utility scale solar electric projects! We got a little one bedroom apartment in Gaithersburg. It was a small space, but we were used to our mud hut, so we were happy!
I contacted my previous employer down in Newport News and they were happy to have me back for a few months while I looked for a new position up in the DC area. I went to live with my Grandmother for that time, which ended up being about 4 months. I was home with my honey by Christmas, and started my new position with the FAA on the same day that President Obama took office.
Two years later, we have a town home with solar panels on the roof, C.J. is the commercial projects engineering manager at Standard Solar, I'm still at the FAA, and we have a six month old son Joey! He is the cutest baby ever! Thanks for all your love and support through this journey!
