How much is too much?

I am a believer that life at post is what you make of it.  I truly believe I could be happy in any post.  Maybe not as happy as I could be in say London or Madrid; but nonetheless there is good and bad about each post. 

So I wanted to start this by telling you how much I love Paraguay.  Sure there are things that drive me crazy, the coke store closes in the middle of the day everyday (yes, I know it is sad that the coke store is on the top of my list, but if you know me you know I love Coke), drivers think they are the MOST important person on the road, buses stop every 30 feet to let people on or off, everything is closed on Saturday after noon (so get your errands done early)!  But Paraguay has so much to offer.  All in all the people are so nice and want to help, in general they love Americans, I can walk pretty much anywhere (in my neighborhood) during the day without a second thought, we have hot (yes blazing hot) and cold (actually really chilly) seasons, we have a pool in our yard, and there are even some extra benefits we have a maid, and a cook, gardener, and massage therapist that come to the house once a week.  It would not seem that I have much to complain about.  In fact I dare say (being so far away from family aside) the pros out weigh the cons. 

However, our housing here has been one big headache.  We were put in a house that although lovely was unable to be repaired when it rained.  It rained inside every time it rained outside.  So after some pleading from those in housing we decided to move.  We put the request in with the embassy and were given a house with a whole different set of problems.  From day one my 4 year old has been sick.  I reported the smell of mold to maintenance and the health unit.  We spent months fighting to get someone to fix the issue.  I even switched his bedroom with my older son because I thought that might help. People came over to the house with moisture readers and told me that the house was in fact very moist, "but there is nothing we can do about it.  We live in Paraguay, it is humid."  I finally gave up the fight knowing we only had 6 months left. 

In April we returned from a trip and our floor had a bubble in it.  Not just a little bubble a bubble that was about 5 feet long and 4 feet wide.  So in early May the work finally began.  When they pulled up the floor there was so much mold they could not relay the floor.  They cleaned it and let it dry (only the 5x4 section of it because there must not be mold anywhere else).  It dried for nearly 2 weeks before they finally relayed the floor.  Once it was relayed the repair guy told me that when they finished the floor we would need to be out of the house for 12 hours.  They would start about 8 am and could probably return to the house around 10 or 11 at night.  Really??? What am I supposed to do with my kids for all that time?  So I told them to wait to refinish the floor until we moved. 

Now we have the exact same issue in another part of our house.  The direct exposure to the mold has caused breathing problems and headaches for everyone.  Even keeping my kids away from the area it is still in the air making everyone feel under the weather.


Although housing issues do arise when living stateside (I have had my fair share) dealing with them while living overseas adds a different kind of stress.  It is not in my power to fix it.  We can't just move.  And we run the risk of pissing off the people we work with/for.  And this one has been especially hard because my husband (the state employee) has not been here to advocate for our family, so we have in a way been swept under the rug, so to speak. 

So although one would think the pro's out weigh the con's of living here, once you factor in our housing experience, for me, it quickly leans in the other direction.