Paperwork and Preparation

It’s been a little while since our last post. We’ve been so busy with preparations for our trip as well as making sure we are getting everything done that we need to do during our final year at FMS. We have been busy with FCAT tutoring,  End of Course Exam Prep, meetings, teaching, and the like. It’s going to be very refreshing to go to a new place. Both Shannon and I have about had it with this FCAT stuff. It seems the entire focus of teaching in Florida has gone from educating and moved towards testing. Then testing our testing. Then testing the testing of our testing. Teaching is a largely thankless job, but we knew that when we signed up for it. A lot of the reason we did it was the opportunity to truly make a difference in the lives of young people, mold the values of students in their most impressionable ages, and hopefully along the way inspire a few if possible. The reality of public education at the moment appears to me to be straying further and further from those opportunities. I agree with promoting good teaching and accountability to ensure it, but not at the expense of good teaching and what education should be. I really hope to find my next opportunity to be refreshingly different.

As far as our preparation for this trip, it’s been a long laundry list of to-do lists. We were expecting all of it and it is about as difficult as we anticipated.  So far this has included getting a written letter from our doctors to prove to the consulate that we won’t be bringing cooties to Ecuador (I got my cootie shot in 1994), updated passports, obtaining transcripts, copies of our teaching degrees, hunting down our birth certificates, preparing to sell our stuff, getting background checks to prove we aren’t a modern version of Bonnie and Clyde (we aren’t…yet), and we still haven’t gone to the consulate to get our visas. Shannon has done a lot of shopping to prepare, and as a result we have a new favorite Shannism that resulted from this conversation.

Shannon-"I need a lot of boots and clothes to go with the seasons. For winter."
Justin-"I don't think there is much in the way of seasons there. It's on the equator. They said it would be between 45-75 almost all year round."
Shannon-"Yeah, well even if there aren't any seasons, you still have to...you know dress for seasons."

To be fair, I want to make clear that while I found the comment funny, in no way am I trying to make fun of her. I am crazy about her and couldn't do this trip without her. I just like to find humor in everyday conversations.

I don't think Howie has been introduced in this blog yet. This is Howie:

He's an 8 year old St. Bernard-Australian Shepard mix. He and his fur are greatly looking forward to moving away from balmy Florida and towards the cool climate of Quito. I have taken Howie to a few vet appointments to get him squared away with his shots and to prepare for him coming with us. We did find out that there are some difficulties in bringing a dog to another country. There are two options, each with their own set of unique complications. 

Option 1:

Bring Howie as baggage. If we can bring Howie as baggage, the fees are considerably cheaper. He would be stowed in his crate beneath the plane with food and water. He would need a health certificate, up to date shots, and an airline that accepts pets. This would be the least painful of the options but there are some restrictions. He can’t come with us if the temperature during our departure is above 85 degrees, which it will almost certainly be in Florida in August.

Option 2: We ship Howie as cargo. If this is the approach, we need to get his shots up to date, bring a health certificate, bring paperwork saying we are bringing him as cargo, get additional paperwork certifying he is well enough to travel, and the fee is substantially more. In addition to that, we would have to hire an Ecuadorian customs agent to inspect and approve of his arrival. He would also be held in a quarantine-like situation for 24-48 hours.

We ended up settling on Option 1. IF we are able to find a place before we move down and IF the temperature is suitable, we will be bringing him when we go. In all likelihood, he will be staying with Shannon’s parents while undoubtedly being spoiled with cookies and belly rubs until they are able to come down for a visit a few months after we move in. It makes the most sense financially but it’ll still be odd not having him around all the time for those few months. He’s been at the door every day when I got home for the past 7 years or so. It’s all for the best. We’ll get him down there and he’ll be frolicking in the Andes Mountains with alpacas in no time.

There seems to be still so much more to do, but as we get closer and closer I am getting very excited.  Last week we received our flight confirmation so that is booked and we are all excited.

Anyway, we venture off to the consulate this Thursday and hopefully we won’t run into any more issues, although if our past difficulties experiences have any indication for us for some reason it won’t be easy. I'll be sure to update how that went as soon as possible.