Saturday, January 16, 2010

Treasuring my space and time

An empty family room=large play area for kids

First I whine. Yes.. I miss my stuff. You would think I'd take this down time to do what I always wanted to do. The problem is that when you have nothing do, having nothing in the house only adds to the pain. Does that make sense? Probably not.

My household goods either arrived in this week's barge or will be here in the next one, about 2 more weeks. No, in the grand scheme of things that's not really a long time but I guess when you're in the middle of things it feels like an eternity.

Internet is slow and many of the programs I enjoyed, i.e. Hulu.com and any video streaming program, are blocked due to the limited bandwidth. We need to purchase calling cards to call home or risk paying $5 per minute. Cable TV - well we get very few channels and having come from the world of DVRs, it is sort of annoying that I can't pause a show to answer the phone or get the door. So if you want to watch something, plan to be there on time.

On the bright side - because there's always a bright side :-)

Getting calling cards is really not an issue. They have those machines all over the place and you can get $5, $10, $20 cards and costs only 0.9 cents a minute to call the states and only a little more to call the Dominican Republic. They have become part of my grocery list so I always have one handy. No more three hour chats over the phone=more time to play.

TV and Cable -- well we didn't always have a DVR so yes we were spoiled but again if we really want to watch something we plan for it, if not then we have more time to play outdoors and play family games. It's amazing what how spoiled we are and how much we take those things for granted. I remember becoming annoyed when the Internet back home was slow for no good reason - it was never as slow as it can be here during peak hours. So we plan when we go online and never spend as much time on it as we used to.

The best stories are in the books we're reading - no slow Internet, no power outage, can stop and start at will--a book is much more fun.

Finally the kids - because the house is empty, they can ride the tricycle indoors if it's too hot outside!! That is a lot of fun and according to them, pretty cool!!

'till next time!

Terie

7 comments:

  1. Hello..just reading your thoughts here.
    I'm bj...and not sure how I got to your site but glad I did.
    Good luck on this adventure of your life. I need to go back and read how you ended up here....
    Come by when you can...
    xo bj

    ReplyDelete
  2. WOW... that's a LOT of space in that photo!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Why is the bandwidth so limited?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We only have one internet provider and everything is done via satellite because of our remote location . The provider is capable of more bandwidth but at a much higher price than most care to pay. I have internet and phone with them and already pay more then when I had all three in the states. It's manageable, but coming from real high speed in the states is always an adjustment. We make it work.

      Delete
  4. HI! Just found this blog! We are due to PCS to GTMO March15-April 15th...Im searching and searching for any and all info I can find!!! (Clarkjucntion@gmail.com) if you feel like sharing on a more personal level! Thanks for the info already provided!

    Ashley

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello and thanks for visiting. I sent a message t your email but was returned as undelivered. Please check to see if you received the second message. I'll be happy to correspond.

      Delete
  5. Hi Terie! Love the Blogs, especially the pics. My wife and I are considering coming to GTMO and I'd love to "pick your brain". Would you mind answering some questions via email? Thanks. Dan (dkiser77@yahoo.com)

    ReplyDelete