So much is happening, so fast

I finally have a few quiet moments to write an update on our life in GTMO.  Our life here is constantly on the go, in demand, and in the midst of it all, maintaining sanity.  I've said it before, I really did not expect to have such a full schedule living here, but I do and just about every minute is accounted for, unless I just choose to ignore an event or an appointment or my job. That wouldn't be good.

Speaking of jobs.  I have a new job and this one actually pays me with real money, not hugs and kisses.  I am now one of three Social Service Assistant and Linguist for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), right here in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.  I knew they were here all along but never really researched their purpose.   The fact that they are known by the acronym IOM didn't help either.  We have so many different company acronyms around here its confusing.  My first year hear I chose to not work outside of my fitness job because I wanted the flexibility to be home for my kids, raise my youngest until he was ready for school and because I really wanted to have fun and do everything I could do here.

Now that I finished my degree, have pretty much done everything there is to do and feel more comfortable with either kids home alone or kids in school/day care for part of the day, I feel the time is just right.  Still, full time is not what I want.  The job was posted in our local Gazette and one of the requirements was that the applicant must speak Spanish fluently.  Then I heard my dads voice in my head saying "it's important to know more than one language, you never know when it will come in handy."  Well look at that, it did and he was right.  I applied, interviewed, and was hired, even after I told them I had scheduled vacations and days off coming up... this is sweet!!

I am now in training, working four hours a day, five days a week.  A few evenings a month and on-call once or twice a month over the weekend.  That's never difficult since I can't really go very far.  The pay is great and the hours are VERY flexible.  I really could not have asked for a better way to use my degree (Social Studies/Humanities) and my experience working with people.  I have always had the desire to work in an environment where I can truly make a difference in the lives of others,  not because some paper or statistics says it, but because I can see it with my own eyes.

Improving lives and making changes, one person at a time. That's what really matters.

Other than my new job, I am still teaching at 6am four days a week, train the teachers once a week, and volunteer at the Assisted Living Community once a week.  The kids have four weeks left before school is out. Emily will get a job, hopefully in the Marketing department for the base, Nate will truly LOVE going to the youth center Summer Camp, and Jonathan will continue to split his time between friends and the Child Development Center (CDC) part time.

Michael is finally Dive Certified and we went on our first dive together with another group.  It was so much fun.  Best way to spend the second half of mother's day.  Can't wait to do it again.

The mango tree decided to overproduce all it's fruit in one full swing.  I can't even attempt to count how many mangos I have peeled and frozen, cooked, drank, eaten and given away, yet my yard sits littered with a full spectrum of not quite ripe to fully eaten mangos.  It's a little overwhelming and sad that I can't give these away because everyone has too many.  On the bright side, it's really great to be eating mangos that I get to pick from the tree.  They are the sweetest, juiciest, best mangos I've had since I was 7 years old.

Next week my friend Mary is coming to visit for a few days...very excited to have company again!!

Aside from all we have going on, all is well.  Hope you are all doing well.

Until next time!

Terie

Another beautiful Sunday afternoon

As much as I sometimes crave a little cold air outside, less biting bugs, and maybe even a little snow, there is so much more to be missed from days like today.  I have been here a year and two months and last year at this time I was still in awe of the view from just about any point on this corner of the island.  We have a splendid view of the bay and often we see sail boats, fishing boats, pontoons and other non-motorized water vehicles go by.  It reminds me of being on vacation, particularly on Sundays when everything seems to be quiet and calm.

I like to take Honey, our Lab, for a walk early in the morning when the air is somewhat cool.  Midday I like to sit outside and enjoy the breeze, reflect on what I've accomplished and what awaits in the following weeks. It's just nice to really take the time to just BE.  I for one admit I have given up that time and I miss it, a lot.  I decided to take back my ME time.  Because we're only here on this base for a short while and I want our time to be memorable.

Soon our family will be visiting and we can't wait.  As most people do here when the family is in town, there are plans to go everywhere...the beaches, the pool, the restaurants, the night life (what little there is), walks, hikes, and of course time to just BE.

Can't wait... ten days and counting!!

Until next time, go BE who you want to be and enjoy everything you are and have.

Terie

So long, farewell... Adios!

Fare winds and following seas my dear friends!

Everyone gathers at Ferry Landing Pier to say goodbye :-(

After the Ferry takes off many jump in the water and swim after them...

...then they stop, wave one last goodbye and swim back to shore!

Being in the military (and sometimes even working for the military) means having to say goodbye to friends on a regular basis.  It's our way of life. We don't like it. We don't enjoy it. But we realize that this is the way things roll and we must adapt and overcome.

Saying goodbye is never easy.  In the civilian world, where people rarely move and when they do they generally stay put for more then two years (and I really mean generally speaking),  you take your time getting to know the people around you.  You assess the personalities, the likes and dislikes, the kid's ages, and overall relationships around  you and then you begin to form relationships with the people who most fit with your own lifestyle. Nothing wrong with that. Except that it takes a long time to go through that process.  Time is something we don't have on our side.  Immediate family is something else we don't have.  Therefore, we must form bonds very quickly. We learn to embrace the differences in others and learn to trust, and I mean really trust, our neighbors from day one.

To someone in the civilian sector saying goodbye to someone you met a couple of months ago may seem like a simple, ok a little sad, but nothing to write about.  To us, particularly here in Guantanamo Bay, saying goodbye is quite an event and you really only have to have known that person a couple of months to have tears flowing into the bay.

Over the last few weeks we have had several friends leave.  They were like sisters to us all and we miss them dearly.  Each time we celebrated their new adventure by going to the beach or the pool, by taking them to lunch or bringing them dinner.  There were several parties, afternoon tea, coffees and finally a toast to bid them farewell as they took the ferry that would eventually take them to the airport.

Today was the last of them, at least for a few weeks.  Our good friend and her family left the island and is now headed to another island on the other side of the world (and I mean that literally).  She was an avid participant in all my fitness classes, she was a hard-worker, a fun, happy, sweet, beautiful girl.  I wish her the best in her new adventure and hope to meet up with her again in the future.  I've only known her 6 months but I feel like I've known her for a lifetime. It was hard not to cry when the ferry took off and headed to the other side of the island.  It was no different with the others that left before her.  Happy for them but really sad to see them go.

I love all my friends.  Thankfully, I have the ability to form bonds very quickly and lucky for me, the people I've met and have made a part of my life are amazing, wonderful, and the most awesome people anyone would be lucky to have as friends family.

I don't know how we'll ever do this but I do hope someday when we're all beyond the military and child rearing years we meet again somewhere.  I can almost see a book coming out of our lives as military spouses, civilian spouses working with the military and as sisters living in Guantanamo Bay!

My advice to everyone, civilian and military, don't wait to meet the people around  you.  While we may do this out of solidarity, we must also remember that life is too short to waste it trying to figure out people.

Just add smiles and kaboom, instant family!

Until next time,

Terie

Proud Moments in Pictures

I love taking pictures.  My kids used to call me "mammarazzi" because it seemed like I was always trying to catch every special and not so special moment on film (and now digitally). I'm not necessarily good at catching the shadows or certain special details that some professionals catch, but what I do have are the most amazing stories for every single picture I take.

I take pride in being a positive, energetic, generally happy person.  Now that school is out for me (yeepee!!) it is much easier to wake up happy too.  If not for my pictures I might have forgotten how much fun we've had and I might not realize how much I was really doing amidst final exams and written essays.  I still wonder how I managed to do it all and managed to smile each and every day.

Today I'm just sharing a few pictures of proud moments that I did not miss and I have the pictures to help me always remember.

Sent my first born off to college, we stayed in touch, he managed to get on the Dean's List and finish the first year with a bang!  I miss him so much but I'm always happy when he's happy.  We are so proud of him :-)

My little artist managed to amaze me yet again with another interesting self portrait.  I can barely manage stick people so I really don't know what talent gene pool she's taking after. I love it when she draws herself or others in a short period of time and doesn't realize how talented she is.  Anyway, we are proud of her and her improvements!

My little swimmer.  He started off screaming at the idea of getting in the pool and now he is jumping and swimming.  How crazy is that.  Kids learn so fast and adapt so quickly.  Now he's fearless, which makes me even more afraid.  I must keep my eyes on him at all times.  We are proud of him for taking such a leap in his swimming lessons.

Little Miss Scientist here announced that she wanted to grow up to protect endangered animals.  For her diorama she chose the Mountain Gorilla, learned all she could about them and then during the fair, shared what she learned with other adults and children.  We are so proud of her for persevering and completing this project.

So I think it goes without saying that we only have four kids, Ha! Kidding!  That we are proud of our kids and so happy that they are happy in everything they are doing.  I'm glad to have these and hundreds of other photos to go back and relive these very special, proud moments in pictures.  They don't have to be organized, in an album, or in a scrapbook (that would be cool but let's not kid ourselves) I'm just happy to have them.

Have a fantastic week everyone!

Terie

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