Well it is bidding season again and as usual excitement, anticipation, sweat, stress, excel spreadsheets the smell of burning the mid-night oil as tales mag, blogs and other Internet research is exhausted and a myriad of other things have begun to fill the air. WHAT!?!!? Bidding is not like that at your house??? Okay, I guess I just gave you a little in site as to what my husband has to live with every few years.
I love that Jill has asked the FS blogging community to post the pro's and con's of living at their current post. I would like to preface my comments by saying this is my first overseas post, so we really don't have anything to compare it to. So my elation here (because many here as not as happy as I) might simply be because I don't know there is better out there.
Pros
1. Great fresh fruit and veggies most of the year.
2. House hold help is cheap. I know it might seem tacky to put this on my list of pro's, but I like having household help. I like not dragging my kids to the grocery store with me. I like that my bathroom is cleaned everyday and that I know my baby will probably not put a bug in his mouth because the floors are swept, mopped and vacuumed every day. And honestly I like my maid, I think she is nice and she loves my kids.
3. All in all it is pretty safe to live here. Yes, we still have petty crimes here and there has even been reports of con artists posing as people from the embassy to steal televisions. But there is very little violent crime (especially against Americans). We still shouldn't walk after dark alone, or take public transportation, we should involve ourselves in political rallies or argue with drunk people about soccer.
4. Activities. There are many activities to participate in for a reasonable cost provided you can find the time. Horseback riding, MMA, tennis, swimming (still looking for a team), golf, cooking, art, dance, music, singing and I'm sure many more.
5. Super awesome supportive community. I don't know if it is because we are a small embassy, or because there are just really cool people here right now, or if it is just because I'm awesome so everyone wants to be my friend, but I love the people here.
6. Can I add a 6??? The embassy works M-Th 7:30-5:30 & F 7:30-11:30 This is super awesome for everyone except DEA, military, and DS. Those people generally end up working late anyway. But for the rest of you out there it is great!
Cons
1. Getting home is not as easy or cheap as the rest of South America (although it should be getting better we will have a direct flight from here to Miami starting 3 times a week in November---provided you want to go to Miami). It takes me about 24-27 hours to get to Utah.
2. Paraguay is NOT an exotic travel destination, and travel around South America is not super cheap. There are some cheap flights to Buenos Aires, or Santiago ($200 RT.) But as a whole it is like flying at home, watch for the deal and hope for the best.
3. No one is singing the praises of the schools here. Don't get me wrong we feel like our kids are getting an alright education, but it is what they would be getting from an average public school in the states. I was hoping for more intimate classrooms, and more challenging course work. (Also the school is 75% Paraguayan students and only 15-20% US --- I might put this in my pro's too, but many people have put it in their cons as far as learning for their child goes.) I think it increases time in which your kids learn Spanish but slows other subjects down, especially in the lower grades. However, there is an hour a week of "Guarani" that many people hire private tutors to go to the school to help make up for that difference.
4. Traffic, I hesitate to list this as a con; not because traffic doesn't suck as bad as it does in other places. And really it might not even be the traffic but the totally insane way the traffic flow was laid out with all the one-way streets and lack of a left hand turns. None-the-less it is something that drives me crazy here, but it is nothing compared to most other posts.
5. There is no doctor on post. There are several doctors and a couple of decent hospitals in the area. However, we happen to be a mosquito magnets. We had only been here about 3 weeks and my one year old got Hemorrhagic Dengue Fever, which a local doctor (with US credentials) diagnosed as a respiratory infection. (We have not been back to see him!) At the beginning of this year my 12 year old got the very typical strain of Dengue Fever. So having a doctor at the embassy would be nice, but after a year here we have figured out the in's and out's of health care here.
Hope this was helpful. Happy hunting! And my the odds be ever in your favor.
